Chapter 6 Private Threat

The walk home from the old gym is long. Usually, I like the quiet of the night. I like the way the streetlights hum like bees. I like being a ghost because no one talks to me. But tonight, the air feels different. It feels heavy, like a storm is coming. I keep my head down. I pull the straps of my bag tight against my shoulders. My fingers are cold. I am thinking about what Jaxson said in the gym. “Someone was following you.”

I live on the edge of town. The houses here are small and old. The yards are full of tall, yellow grass and rusted cars. There are not many streetlights on my road. It is very dark. The shadows of the oak trees look like long, skinny arms reaching for me. Every time a leaf moves, my heart jumps.

I hear a sound behind me.

Scuff.

It is the sound of a shoe hitting gravel. I stop walking. I hold my breath. My heart is beating so loud I can hear it in my ears. Thump. Thump. Thump. I do not turn around. I listen. The wind blows through the trees. A dog barks far away. But I do not hear the scuff again.

"It’s just the wind, Maya," I whisper. My voice sounds thin in the dark.

I start walking again. I walk faster. My sneakers make a fast rhythm on the pavement. Left, right, left, right. I reach the corner of my street. I see my house. The porch light is yellow and dim. It is a weak light, but it looks like a lighthouse in a storm. It looks like safety.

Scuff. Scuff. Scuff.

The sound is closer now. It is not the wind. It is rhythmic. Someone is walking behind me. They are matching my pace. When I walk fast, they walk fast. When I slow down, they slow down. They are playing with me. They want me to be afraid.

I don't look back. I run.

I sprint toward my porch. I can hear my own breath. It sounds like a gasp. I reach the wooden steps. I fumble with the keys in my pocket. My hands are shaking so hard I can barely hold them. I pull the keys out, but they slip through my fingers. They hit the porch with a loud clink.

"No, no, no," I mutter. I drop to my knees to grab them.

As my fingers wrap around the cold metal, I look toward the street. A person is standing under the big oak tree across the road. They are wearing a long, dark coat. The hood is pulled up over their head. I cannot see a face. I only see a dark shape. They are not moving. They are just standing there, watching my front door. Watching me.

I grab my keys and bolt inside. I slam the door. I lock the deadbolt. Click. I lean my back against the wood. My lungs burn. I try to be quiet so I do not wake my mother.

"Maya? Is that you?"

It is my brother, Leo. He is sitting on the old, saggy couch. The TV is on, but the sound is off. The blue light from the screen makes him look pale. He has a white bandage on his hand from working at the garage. He looks at me and sees my messy hair. He sees the fear in my eyes.

"What's wrong?" he asks. He stands up slowly. He is big and strong, but he moves with a limp. His back still hurts from the night of the fight—the night Jaxson Thorne and his friends changed our lives.

"Nothing," I lie. I have to protect him. If Leo knows someone is following me, he will go outside. He will look for a fight. He is already on probation. If he gets into one more fight, he goes to jail. I cannot let that happen. Our family needs him. "I just... I thought I saw a big dog. A stray. It jumped out at me and scared me."

Leo looks at the door. He looks at me for a long time. He knows I am lying. He can see my hands shaking. But he is too tired to argue. He just sighs and sits back down. "Go eat, Maya. Mom left some soup on the stove. It’s still warm."

I go to the kitchen. The floorboards creak under my feet. The air smells like onions and old wood. I look out the small window over the sink. I move the curtain just a tiny bit. I look at the tree across the street.

The shadow is gone. The street is empty. The wind moves the grass, but no one is there.

I can't eat. My stomach is tied in knots. I go to my room and lock the door. I sit on my bed. The room is small and quiet. I pull my phone out. My hands are still cold. I check the school's "Gossip Page," expecting the worst. But the page is quiet. No new posts.

Suddenly, my phone vibrates. A new message. It is from a number I do not know.

UNKNOWN: Check your messages, Ghost.

There is an attachment. I click it. My heart stops.

It is a photo. It is dark and grainy. It was taken through the high window of the old gym. In the photo, I am sitting on the bench. Jaxson is sitting next to me. He is leaning toward me. My hand is on his wrist. Because the photo is blurry and the light is dim, it looks like we are sharing a secret, romantic moment.

The photo has not been posted online. It was sent only to me.

The text follows: The King has a secret. And now, I have yours. Don't forget to bring the medical tape tomorrow, Maya. I'll be watching. If you tell anyone or Jaxson about this text, the whole school sees the photo. And your scholarship? Gone.

I drop the phone on the blankets. I am shaking. This is not just a mean joke. This is blackmail. The Shadow isn't trying to ruin Jaxson yet. They are trying to control me. They want me to keep treating his injury, but they want me to know that they own me.

I look at my medical bag sitting on the chair. I think about the smell of the eucalyptus oil. I think about the way Jaxson’s pulse felt under my thumb.

If I tell Jaxson, he might lose his temper. He might go looking for the person and make things worse. But if I don't tell him, we are both walking into a trap every time we meet. I realize I can't meet him at the gym tomorrow. The gym is a fishbowl. It has too many windows. It has too many shadows.

I need to find a new place. A place where we are safe. A place where there are no windows.

A place where the shadow can't follow.