Shadow & Smoke

Chapter 3

Steading my shoulders with his hands, I realized that the brick wall wasn't actually a wall at all but instead, a very large man. Standing over six-foot-three, Elijah was a local firefighter at the nearby firehouse. He'd welcomed me to town the first week I opened the shop when I accidentally set off the fire alarms when I tried to sage the place.

Gorgeous and fit, he appeared to be more braun than brain but that couldn't be further from the truth. Getting to know him in the short time we'd known each other, I realized how intelligent he truly was. He liked to read mystery and thriller novels and I still keep a copy of his favorite author's new releases for him.

It didn't hurt that he had dirty blonde hair and eyes like expensive blue sapphire. He wasn't oblivious to the fact that he was gorgeous but he was humble about it. That's why every woman in town—from puberty to elderly—was smitten with him. Let's just say that he did a lot of helping people cross the street or carry groceries when they could appear helpless enough for his assistance.

Old lady Gardner was the worst of them.

I would laugh if I wasn't in the midst of being thoroughly fucking terrified.

Since then, he'd been someone I thought of as a close friend and that said a lot considering I was very closed off and didn't let anyone see the real me. I even allowed myself to be somewhat vulnerable with him and occasionally asked him for help with small maintenance things around the bookstore. It was hard for me to ask others for help at all.

It was in helping me one of those times that he caught me sorting through a large stack of books while cross referencing my e-reader. When he asked me what I was doing, I explained that I intended to read all of those books in the coming month. Astonished by the sheer volume of pages I planned to read, Elijah stuck me with fond nickname Nerd. Oddly enough, it made me feel welcomed to town and he was my first real friend made outside of the bookstore.

Once I was back to being balanced on both feet, I still clung to Elijah with terror-wide eyes and heavy, ragged breaths. I glanced back at the dimly lit bookstore and of course, there was nothing and no one chasing me.

At least that I could see.

However, I still felt like whatever had been up in the loft was still there with me somehow.

"Whoa!" Elijah's voice rose in worry as he noted my disheveled appearance and the way I clung to him with one hand and my purse with the other. I had dropped random things from my bag along the way but I didn't care. As long as I had my car keys, I would make do.

I began to ramble on incoherently and Elijah tried desperately to calm me down enough that I'd make sense.

"Breathe..." He coaxed and I tried to steady my breaths so that my words were understandable.

"I..." Sentences refused to form as a dozen thoughts rushed to my mind at once.

What the fuck was that?

What was I supposed to do now?

How could I ever go back into my own fucking store?

Was I cursed?

One of my only friends must thing I'm absolutely insane.

Forcing myself to breath slowly, I was able to finally formulate my thoughts into words.

"I..." I stuttered. "I'm sorry..."

"Sorry?" Elijah stared down at my much shorter self, his light brown eyes narrowed in genuine concern. His long, dark hair fell haphazardly into his face but he ignored it and focused only on me.