Only Shadows

Chapter 11

Brie

"Well?" Leo asked, stepping into the room and closing the door behind him. "This is what you've been tied up with lately?"

Brie bounced her leg rapidly, gathering her thoughts. "Um, maybe?" she finally said. "What are you doing here?"

"All outdoor practices were canceled because of the rain. You missed my text." Leo crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe. "Now tell me what's going on."

"I didn't want to tell you because it wasn't my secret and you were busy on Saturday night plus I thought it would be more fun than scary but that was stupid because we've probably unleashed some kind of ancient evil horror into the world," Brie blurted out. She took a deep breath.

He furrowed his brow. "So it's legit? The video?"

"Yeah, we were all there," Caleb said. He tapped his finger against the table. "Whatever that, that entity is, it seems real enough," he added as the door flung open and Ren burst in.

"You started without us?" Ren asked, inserting herself into the middle of the group.

"Were we meeting? Anyway, you just missed Izzy's video," Brie said.

"We were meeting. For tutoring," Caleb said.

"You shot footage, too?" Ren asked, reaching for Izzy's phone.

"So much for closing the door," Izzy said, grabbing her phone first. "We really need to stop meeting in this library."

Brie fiddled with her pencil and cleared her throat. "Let's all-" But she froze mid-sentence as another girl stomped into the room.

"What did you do to my drone, Caleb?" the girl asked.

"Y'all," Ren said, standing aside with a sweeping gesture. "May I present my sister, Dara."

Dara's deep brown eyes sparked in anger as she swept a long lock of wavy brown hair behind her ear. She wore a pale green dress with Mary Jane sneakers the color of desert sand. She looked like the heroine of a feminist fairy tale as opposed to Ren's Cyberpunk vibe. Otherwise, Brie could see the resemblance. When Dara's eyes flicked her way, Brie realized she was staring. She busied herself by doodling cubes in the margins of her notebook.

"I didn't realize it was your drone," Caleb said.

"Did you think it belonged to Ren?" Dara asked, curling her fingers around the top of an empty chair. Her southern drawl was stronger than Ren's.

"I didn't want to think about it," he admitted.

"You're new," Ren said to Leo. She tilted her head to the side and studied him like a snack. He always attracted attention. At just under 6 feet tall, Leo usually showed off his lean, muscular body in shorts and form-fitting athletic shirts. He styled his hair naturally, in a medium-length afro with short, sculpted sides.

His amber eyes sparkled with the same mischief as Ren as he nodded at her. "Leo."

"How do you guys know each other again?" Izzy asked, gesturing to Dara and Ren.

"We used to be neighbors," said Caleb.

"They dated," Ren said at the same time. Izzy gave Caleb a side-eye as Brie felt her stomach drop.

"For two weeks," Dara said.

"In eighth grade," Caleb added. "We lived on the same street until my mom got married."

"They split when Dara realized she's gay," Ren said, popping a grape into her mouth she pulled out of thin air. Brie's heart lightened.

Caleb closed his eyes and sighed while Dara tightened her grip around the back of the chair. Her nails were painted a light, opalescent purple. "Knock it off, Ren, or I'm leavin' you here. Caleb, tell me what happened to the drone. The electrical system is toast an' the readings make no sense."