Twilight: Bay City Paranormal Investigations, Book 3

the sun’s disc sank below a bank of clouds on the horizon. Being in love sure does change things.
    “Does it ever,” Sam muttered.
Bo gave him a puzzled look. “What did you say?” “Nothing.” Pulling his scarf more snugly around
    his neck, Sam hunched his shoulders against a sudden blast of cold, damp wind. “So when do you want to head back?”
    “You’re not ready to go already, are you? It’s not that cold.”
Sam chuckled at the teasing tone in Bo’s voice. “Yes it is, but I’m not ready to go back yet. Just wondering if we should leave before the sun finishes setting. You know, so we’d have the best possible chance at catching a look at this thing people are seeing.”
“Hmm. Probably should.” Twisting around, Bo beckoned Dean over. “Dean, Sam suggested we should go before the sunset’s complete, so we’ll have a better chance of witnessing the reported phenomenon.”
“Sure thing.” Dean snapped two more photos in rapid sequence, then turned his camera off and let it dangle from around his neck. “Why don’t I run the video camera this time, Sam? That way you’d be free to do the psychic thing.”
Sam nodded. “Suits me. Bo, you want notes or EMF?”
“Notes. It’ll be easier for you to take EMF readings than take notes while you have your psychic senses extended.”
“True. So, when do you want to go?”
“Aw, let’s wait just another minute.” Pushing between them, Dean slid an arm around each of them. “This is absolutely the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. I don’t want to miss any of it.”
Bo laughed. “We can come back tomorrow.”
“Yeah, but what if it snows?”
“Unless we get a full-on blizzard, we can still hike up here,” Sam pointed out. “It’s not a difficult trail or anything.”
“That’s true.” With a sigh, Dean let go of Bo and Sam. “Okay, well, it’s already starting to get pretty dim out. Want to head on back and get started at ground zero?”
“Yes. Just let me tell Lex and Carl what we’re doing.” Bo hurried over to where their hosts stood talking with Dean’s friends from the trail, spoke to Lex, then trotted back to Sam and Dean. “All right, let’s go.”
The three of them headed back to the path. Beneath the trees, twilight had already fallen. Bo pulled three powerful flashlights from the bag, handing one to Sam and one to Dean. He switched on the third and swung the beam in a wide arc. Branches and rocks cast weird shadows in the bright light.
As they walked, Sam let himself sink into the waking half-trance he’d come to prefer for psychic work. He felt Bo press the EMF detector into his hand and smiled when Bo’s fingers brushed his.
“Here we are.” Dean, who was in the lead, veered off the trail when his flashlight beam picked out the big boulder in the woods. He raised the video camera and began sweeping the woods. “Don’t see anything yet.”
“Neither do I.” Bo glanced at Sam. “Are you picking up anything?”
“No. Nothing. Just that same dead energy.” Sam shone his flashlight on the EMF detector. “EMF’s three point three and steady.”
Tucking his flashlight under his left arm, Bo scribbled in the notebook. “Let me know if you pick up anything different, or if the EMF reading changes.”
Nodding, Sam followed Dean through the underbrush. Bo brought up the rear. They were very close to the big rock now. It glowed like a ghost in the gloom.
Dean rounded the edge of the boulder and let out a shout. “Fuck! It’s here, hurry!”
Bo was moving before Dean stopped talking. He jogged to Dean’s side, recording the time and location in the notebook as he went. Sam followed, switching on the backlight on the EMF detector to keep an eye on the reading. He couldn’t help noticing the way Bo grimaced and kept his full weight off his right leg.
“Keep filming,” Bo ordered.
“Right.” Dean held the camera with a steady hand in spite of his initial shocked reaction to seeing the thing. It hadn’t taken Sam or the rest of the group long to notice Dean’s crisis mode was an icy calm he’d no doubt learned during his years in the emergency room. It was a good thing to have during a paranormal investigation, where things could turn strange and frightening very suddenly.
Sam rounded the corner of the rock just in time to see a nebulous black blur dart from a clump of trees not far from the boulder and scurry off into the darkness. It made no sound in the mat of plant detritus on the ground, which