An Inner Darkness Book 5 Bay City paranormal

Thanksgiving,” Lee added.
“We’re happy to have you.” Bo turned to look at Sam. “You ready to go?”
    “More than ready.” Twisting around, Sam smiled at Adrian, who stood silent and uncharacteristically pale beside his mother. “Adrian, can you open the car door for your dad? He’s kind of got his hands full. I’ll get yours and Sean’s bags.”
    “’Kay.” Adrian slipped both arms around Janine’s waist and squeezed. “I love you, Mom.”
Tears welled in Janine’s eyes. She bent and hugged Adrian hard. “I love you too, sweetheart. We’ll see you tomorrow.”
Nodding, Adrian pulled away. He hesitated only a moment before giving Lee a brief hug as well. “’Night, Lee.”
    Lee patted Adrian’s back. “Good night. See you tomorrow.” Sam followed Bo and the boys out to the car and got behind the wheel while Bo settled Sean into the backseat. He set the bags beside the car and popped the trunk so Bo could stow them.
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Ally Blue
    Adrian plopped into the seat beside his still-sleeping brother. Sam watched him in the rearview mirror. “You did good tonight, Adrian.” Adrian’s lip trembled. “I was scared, and Mom got mad because I wanted to live with Dad, and that made me mad and…” The boy hung his head so that Sam could no longer see his face. “I let them out. It was my fault.” The whispered words overflowed with guilt and fear, and Sam felt a stab of empathy.
    He knew what guilt felt like. How it could weigh a person down.
    “It wasn’t your fault,” he said. “Those things, whatever they are and wherever they come from, they know how to use our emotions against us. They find people like us, who have these special abilities, and they use us to get to our world.” Struck by a sudden idea, he twisted around to study Adrian across the back of the seat. “Did you feel like you could hear them, in your head? Like they were talking to you, only without words?” Adrian’s head snapped up, his eyes huge. “Yeah. I thought…” He trailed off, but Sam thought he knew what the boy was thinking. The same thing he himself had wondered at Oleander House, when the dreams plagued him and the alien thoughts invaded his mind night and day. I thought I was going crazy.
    “You’re not crazy,” Sam told him just as Bo climbed into the front seat. “I hear them too.”

    Bo darted an apprehensive look between the two of them. “Hear what?” Turning back around, Sam gave Bo’s hand a quick squeeze before starting the car.
    “We were just talking about the portals. It helps to talk about it.” Bo nodded. He glanced over his shoulder at Adrian. “Are you okay, son?” “Yeah.” Adrian leaned against the seat and stared out the window. “Just tired.”
“I know you must be. Go on to sleep, if you want.” Bo gave his son a sympathetic smile before turning to face front again.
    They made the drive home in silence. By the time they reached their apartment and got the boys inside, Adrian’s eyelids were drooping. He brushed his teeth and changed into his pajamas and was sound asleep by the time his head hit the pillow. Sean slept right 172
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An Inner Darkness
    through being carried upstairs and tucked into bed. Bo kissed both boys’ heads before switching off the light and following Sam into their own room.

    “What does Adrian hear that you’re hearing too?” Bo finally asked after he and Sam had gotten ready for bed and lay curled together beneath the covers. “And why did he think he was crazy? He already knew the portals were real.”
    “The beings on the other side can communicate with him. They talk to him, just like they do to me.”
Bo made a small, distressed noise. “Oh my God, Sam. What do we do? How do we stop it?”
Sam could barely see Bo’s face in the dark room, but he knew the man must be horrified by what he’d just said.
    “We don’t.” Sam touched a finger to Bo’s lips to stop his outraged protest. “I’ve been thinking about this all the way home, and I think that level of connection might be why Adrian and I can act as a conduit without becoming catatonic. I think that might also be why those things don’t seem to harm us.”
    Bo’s eyes glittered in the dimness, searching Sam’s face. “Are you sure?”
“No. I don’t think there’s any way to be completely sure. But it makes sense to me.
    He not only got through tonight without being harmed, mentally or physically, he also managed