An Inner Darkness Book 5 Bay City paranormal

fixed.”
    “But I lost control,” Adrian whispered. “It was just Sean being a little jerk, and it made me…” His gaze cut to the broken light. “It made me do that . What am I gonna do when we’re back in the other house? What if I get mad again?” Bo hesitated, chewing his lower lip and looking more lost than Sam had ever seen him. His silence lasted just long enough for Adrian to draw his own conclusions.
    Shoving Bo’s hands away, Adrian backed up, looking stricken. “You think I’ll make that thing come out, don’t you?”
140
www.samhainpublishing.com
An Inner Darkness
    Bo stood, shaking his head. “Listen to me. Everything’s going to be okay. This was just one little incident. It doesn’t mean anything bad’s going to happen at your mom’s house.”

    The words were spoken with confidence, but the truth showed in Bo’s eyes, and Sam knew Adrian saw it. Without a word, Adrian spun around and ran into his and Sean’s room, slamming the door behind him.

    “Shit.” Bo rubbed a hand across his forehead. “Now what?” Sam looped an arm around Bo’s shoulders, leaned in and kissed his brow. “You want me to go talk to him?”

    “No, I’ll do it.” Bo gave him a wan smile. “I think he could use another session with you later on, though, after he calms down.” “Of course. We were planning to practice some visualization today anyhow. He’s been doing extremely well on learning control. I’m actually kind of surprised this happened.”
    Sean’s uncharacteristically subdued voice broke into their murmured conversation.
“Hey, Dad? Is Adrian all right?”
Bo walked over to his youngest son and kissed the top of his head. “He’ll be fine.
I’m just going to go talk to him for a minute, then I’ll be back to make breakfast, okay?”
    “’Kay.” Sean sat up on his knees to peer over the back of the sofa as Bo headed toward the boys’ bedroom. “Me and Sam can clean up the glass while you’re talking to Adrian.”
    “That’s a very good idea,” Bo agreed. “Just make sure you put on some shoes first.” Bo caught Sam’s hand and squeezed it on the way to Sean and Adrian’s room. Sam squeezed back, giving as much encouragement as he could. Squaring his shoulders, Bo tapped on the bedroom door, turned the knob and swung it open.
    Once Bo shut the door behind him, Sam turned back to Sean with a smile. “Okay.

    Let’s get this mess cleaned up. You want to vacuum?” Sean’s eyes lit up, and Sam chuckled. For reasons Sam couldn’t quite fathom, Sean loved to vacuum.
    www.samhainpublishing.com 141
Ally Blue
“Yeah.” Sean pointed to the pile of assorted footwear beside the front door. “My school shoes are there.”
    Sam grabbed the shoes from the pile and handed them to Sean. Struck with a sudden thought, he sat beside the boy while he pulled on his shoes. “Sean? Don’t say anything to your mom about this, okay?”
    Sean blinked at Sam, surprise in his eyes. “How come?” Howcome indeed? Not knowing how to explain without telling Sean things he probably wouldn’t want to hear, Sam settled on a partial truth. “She wouldn’t like what happened. She might not think it’s safe for you and Adrian to stay with us anymore.” Sean’s eyes widened. “I won’t tell her.”
    “Great. Thanks.”
    Sam pushed to his feet and headed for the hall closet to fetch the vacuum. Sean followed him like an eager puppy. Fishing the vacuum out of the closet, Sam let Sean roll it into the living room. He watched with an indulgent smile while Sean plugged in the machine and started cleaning up the glass littering the floor. The sight of Sean singing the SpongeBob theme song while he worked brought a surge of fierce protectiveness through Sam’s chest.
    Please, let Bo and me be able to keep them safe. Please.

    Sam wished he could believe someone was listening.

    ***
    Sunday passed without further incident. Sam and Bo dropped the children at their school Monday morning and left, hoping for the best. Nine days passed with no word from Janine, Lee or either of the boys. Bo did his best to keep up the illusion of normality, but Sam could tell how worried he was. Nearly every night, Sam woke in the small hours to find Bo curled on the sofa reading or watching TV. He never tried to push Bo to talk, just settled beside him and held him until he dozed off again.
    By the day before Thanksgiving, Sam was exhausted from worry and lack of sleep, and he knew Bo felt even worse. Stifling a