Beyond the Veil - J.C. Kelley (ready to read books TXT) 📗

one tonight with that jerk Colby, in fact. I met him outside on the porch. “So,” I said, turning to lock the door, “where’s this place you told me about?”On the way home last night, Tyler revealed that he had found out about this abandoned building in the darker part of town. Apparently it had a view perfect for fireworks. I was acting nonchalant, but I was burning with curiosity. “Oh, a little out of the way, but it’s worth it, Kay. It really is.”“You’re not going to go all soft on me, are you?”He tried to cover up his blushing face with a sneer. “Of course not. Just trying to be nice. You’re the sissy who’s into this wimpy fireworks crap anyway.” He sped up, probably not realizing that I’d already seen his face. “Yeah. Whatever.” Guys were such idiots. Always making such a big deal about being the alpha. I snickered; Tyler’s shoulders hunched and he quickened his pace until he was panting. I jogged up to him, grinning wickedly. “Macho-Man, you tired?” I teased.He narrowed his eyes and pulled away. “I hate it when you do that,” he huffed.“Do what?”“That eye thing. Most of the time it’s cool but tonight…I don’t know. They just look—different.” I opened my mouth to question him further, but then became aware of a crashing whoosh up ahead. “The ocean?”“Hm? What about it?” “Why did you take me to the beach, Ty?” I wondered. “But, how do you—?” He paused, cocking his head to the right. “Crap. It was supposed

to be a surprise, you know.”I ignored his complaints. “What beach are we at?” I waited for a response, but heard none. I whirled to face him. “Ty, what beach are we at?” I repeated edgily. He suddenly found a particular interest in the road. He glued his eyes to it like his life depended on it. And you know what? At that moment, it probably did.“You don’t know, do you?” And then my best friend puffed out his lips and pouted at me like the whole thing was my fault. I lost it. “Do you know how alike the beaches here are?”“If they’re so similar how do you think I can memorize which one’s which just by looking at them?”“That’s the same reason why we’re going to have a hell of a time getting back home!” I started to head back but he pulled me to a stop. “But we’re almost there!” he whined. “Kay. Kay

,” he said. “No. You know I hate being lost. There’s no way we can make it back after dark.”“Kayla.”Shit

! My full name. He’d said it, the bastard. That, coupled with the big green eyes he flashed at me, took down my defenses faster than the speed of light. I instantly wasn’t mad at him anymore. In fact, I think I felt…bad

about upsetting him. My shoulders rose as I heaved an enormous sigh of defeat. Ty’s face lit up like a match, he dragged me toward the crashing sounds without the slightest hesitation. When we reached the water we made a sharp turn left and trudged through the sand for another ten minutes or so until we came to an abandoned building. “Jesus Christ!” I muttered under my breath. The thing had to be ten stories at least. The top two floors were leaning at such an extreme angle that I was shocked it still stood. Though the windows had been boarded up the wood looked like it had been rotting for years. Patches of wall could be seen through the various holes in the first floor, probably pushed in from past storms. There was a rectangle of empty space where the door had once been; the bottom of a staircase was barely visible on the inside from where we stood. The fact that no one had noticed this monster since now was even more mind-blowing. Hotels and apartment complexes obliviously surrounded it. “What do you think?” Ty asked earnestly. I peered at him, noting the tense shoulders and tight face. He looked so cute and scared! He wouldn’t even look me in the eyes! I had to mess with him.“About what?”His breath came out in one huge puff, his shoulders sagged. “About that building, right over there.” He gesticulated to the pathetic wooden structure. I blinked stupidly and followed his gaze, pretending to have just noticed it. “Oh,” I said in a disappointed tone. “I, uh, I think it’s cool.”“Oh. Okay, then.” He turned around and began to head back. I watched him go a few meters or so, torturing him just a bit more, then erupted in a fit of laughter. He whirled around with a look of bewilderment. “Dude, you’re such a chick, it’s awesome,” I cackled. He opened his mouth to most likely yell at me, but was interrupted by flashing red and blue lights. I looked up to see if they were fireworks, but the sky was clear and silent, though it had gotten considerably darker since when we’d started our trek through the hot sand. The blinking lights turned off, the sound of a car door shutting came from the front of the old building. Crap. The police. I guess they didn’t want “riffraff” like Ty and I snooping around. We raced through the large hole and up the seemingly endless spiral of stairs. We passed countless number of doors and hallways that branched away from the steps, but we didn’t even hesitate. I was about to remind him of just how much trouble we would get in if we were caught when he skidded to a stop at the last door on the right. “You ready?” he asked. For a few seconds I was caught between opening the door and running back home before the cops saw me. I couldn’t shake this nagging feeling at the back of my head…. I mentally shrugged it off, throwing open the door to reveal an old faded brown rooftop. I was relieved to breathe in the sweet scent of night as I stepped confidently outside, instantly perfecting my balance on the poor excuse for a ceiling. “This is awesome

,” I said, gazing up at the sky as the first of those overly bright balls of fire exploded above the town; the fireworks had started. I now knew why Ty had gone to such lengths to bring me here. The view was the most beautiful thing I’d seen. He smiled warmly and walked cautiously to the edge. “I knew you would love it. Now we can see the fireworks better than anyone else.” He sat down and began inching further out until his legs hung over the side of the building. I plopped down next to him. “How’d you find out about the rooftop door?” I asked, swinging my legs over the ledge.“I don’t know. I was bored, and I’d already explored the rest of the place.”“Well, thanks for showing it to me.” I could feel an unknown heat rising to my cheeks and knew that I must be blushing for some reason. It must be puberty messing with me

, I thought, looking away to hide it. He shrugged.” Yeah, well,” he mumbled. Huh, this wasn’t going well, was it? I sighed loudly. Nothing. Not even a blink. “Sigh

.” He glanced at me. “Hm?”I leaned over and gave him a big wet kiss on the lips. I think I was more surprised than he was. I’d actually done it. And it…tasted like bacon. How odd. He must’ve snuck some on the way out of my house—He grinned and kissed me some more.Whoa, whoa, whoa! What was that? I hadn’t even planned on the first one! What the hell was I supposed to do the second time around? Oh my gods, I couldn’t do this. I wasn’t prepared. How was I supposed to—He pulled away, a little breathless. At least he

seemed satisfied. “What took you so long?” he asked.I shrugged, hunched over to hide my face again. “I don’t know. To be honest, I’m just glad I did it right.”“Speaking your mind can really ruin the mood, you know.”Huh? “What do you mean?”He chuckled and leaned in to kiss me again but then he saw my face. “What?” he asked, concerned.I shook my head and motioned for him to be quiet. I’d definitely heard something. I could practically feel another presence nearby, and it was bothering me. I wanted to say it was the cops, but it didn’t feel like a bunch of fat guys munching on doughnuts and drinking ale. I surveyed the other buildings, peering into the shadows until my eyes settled on a particularly dark corner on a nearby roof. There wasn’t anything that odd about the shadow; at least that’s what I thought until I spotted a pair of black eyes staring back. Tyler followed my gaze, jerking back when he noticed the thing crouching not twenty meters away from us. I saw movement to my left, noticing another pair of dark eyes looking at me. Squinting at the other patches of roof that weren’t lit by the streetlights and fireworks, I realized that there were more. Many, many more. After a signal from the eyes I’d first seen, the things stepped into the light.Gargoyles. My best friend and I were surrounded by gargoyles. That’s what they looked like, anyway. They had skin and bones and muscle and all that, but they had snouts and horns on their heads, and huge bat-like spiked wings sprouted from their backs. Their eyes were pits of darkness that could see right through you. What was this? How was this even possible? Was I in another dream?“Get away from her!” Tyler swatted away a gargoyle who had been reaching for me. Faster than I thought possible, it grabbed Ty by the neck and lifted him off of his feet, constricting his airway. Ty struggled and managed to kick the creature in the knee before his eyes glazed over and rolled back in his head. It was right about then that I started screaming bloody murder. I let out a series of high-pitched screeches that could break glass. Actually, it did.The windows on all of the buildings around us shattered, and the old rooftop started to crumble. It was very effective, to say the least. The gargoyle choking Tyler was forced to drop him so it could cover its ears along with the others. The roof started to shake and I lost my balance, my screams cut short as I fell. I hit the ground, rolled away from the monster, and reached for Tyler. Before I grabbed his limp arm, he was dragged away by a black-gloved hand. My gaze traveled up the arm, coming to a stop at a slim girl’s face. Apart from her pale brown hair and complexion, she was covered in black from head to toe. Her pockets and belt bulged from silvery objects; upon closer inspection, I realized that they were knives and guns. Behind her, several teens dressed in similar attire came crashing through the door, led by a muscular blonde boy. Oh gods, what had I gotten myself into?I was so shocked that I didn’t even feel the roof breaking until it gave way under me. I grabbed frantically at the brunette girl’s hand, but not quickly enough. She watched in horror as I fell to the concrete more than one hundred feet away—as I plummeted to my death.Holycrapholycrapholycrap

. That’s what ran through my mind when I realized I was going to die. Holycrapholycrapholycrap

. That’s what ran through my mind when an ashy claw wrapped around my waist and hoisted me up just before I smashed into the ground. Oh, thank gods. I looked up at my savior with a smile that disappeared when my mind registered the fact that a claw was wrapped around my waist. One of those devils had me. I did the most embarrassing thing I’d ever done: I screamed like a little girl.I looked back at the old building, thinking of the teenagers dressed in black. They had tried to help me. But they were nowhere to be seen. Fat lot of help they were. I guessed I’d have to get away on my own. I kicked and scratched at the creature holding