Charmed and Lethal Chapter 1 Preview

Chapter 1

Renee

The thought of pulling into the mall parking lot made my heart thump. I hadn’t been there since Daniel had been killed three years ago, and I wasn’t going to let the churning in my stomach stop me today. Not on Daniel’s angelversary. Lydia, my best friend, hadn’t taken her eyes off me since we got in the car at her house. Her concerned gaze didn’t help my jumbled nerves.

“Are you sure about this?” she asked.

“Positive. Besides, I have you, right?” I forced a laugh at her blank stare and parked.

Lydia placed her hand on my arm, “We can come back.”

“No,” I slid away from her touch and climbed out of the car.

When Lydia walked around the car, I linked my arm through hers and made our way to Oakwood Mall. Instantly wincing, I scanned the food court for the high-volume screech and zeroed in on the metal pole of one of the carousel’s horses. Lydia nudged me as she spoke. I nodded, but couldn’t focus on her words due to the simultaneous chatter around us. I shook my head and motioned to the main corridor. Like I was coming back down a mountainside, my ears popped. “Oy…” I wriggled my fingers inside my ears. “What were you saying?”

Lydia faced me. “I was wondering where you wanted to go first.” She narrowed her eyes, “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah. It was just noisy over there.”

Her gaze darted questionably to the food court, then back on me. “Okay, but if it gets to be too much...”

“We’ll leave.” I pointed toward the sports store. “Let’s go this way.”

I made my way over to the sparring section with a relieved sigh. The store was void of customers and noise, except for Lydia’s solo thumb performance against the racks. “Hey, look!” I lifted the packaged sparring gear. “Do you remember going to the Dojang with me?”

She nodded.

“I miss it, sometimes.”

“Then you should go back.” She held up her hands in surrender when I gave her a pointed look.

“Let’s keep moving.” I motioned out of the store and led us past several other vendors until we came to the elevator. As we waited for the opening of the doors, something echoed wildly in my ears. I glanced at Lydia to confirm she’d heard the same thing, but she was pulling her hair into a ponytail, still humming the pop song from the sports store. At the sight of Whitney and her friends from school in the elevator, I inwardly groaned.

“Nice pants, Lydia.” Whitney smirked over her shoulder as we rode the elevator down. The clanging noise rang in my ears again and I looked up toward the ceiling. It had to be the cables of the elevator. “Is your mom sleeping around too much to afford anything else?”

Whiny laughter refocused my attention. I squared my shoulders and narrowed my eyes. “I think you grabbed the wrong lip product, Whitney. What you’re looking for is the white tube that reads ‘glue stick’. It will look so much better on you.”

“Shut up, Sparks!” Whitney snapped. “If we were on the mat, I’d give you the beat down you deserve.” She sneered as the elevator doors opened.

I stepped right up to her, “Is that a threat?” I may have been half a head shorter, but I was fast.

Before we could do anything, a sudden gust of wind sent Whitney and her friends stumbling out of the elevator and into a lady’s drink. The red slush went everywhere. I couldn’t help but laugh as Lydia and I stepped out and around them.

When I glanced at Lydia, she was just staring at her hands. I waited to see what she was doing, but she grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the chaos.

“Something weird is happening.” She whispered.

“Yeah, you’re not laughing.” I threw a wide-eyed gesture toward Whitney. “Justice was served, and I didn’t even touch her!”

“Exactly!” She looked panicked. “You didn’t touch her. There was a gust of wind, Renee. Wind doesn’t just come out of an elevator.”

“Listen,” I linked my arm through hers to stop her from talking with her hands again, “let me look at the store first, then we’ll go, okay?”

She studied me for a moment but nodded in agreement.

We walked to the store that had remained vacant for three years. It still looked the same—blacked out windows, locked doors, and not a soul in sight. The area reminded me of death. I hated it, and I hated that the memory of Daniel’s lifeless body sprawled out on the floor, bloody and mangled, always surfaced. Scanning over the windows, picturing the crime scene, I saw a reflection of a man in the distance staring at us. I spun around, but he was gone.

“What’s wrong?” Lydia followed my gaze.

“There was a guy,” walking toward the back door, I searched for what I’d just seen. “He was right here.”

Lydia raised her brows. “Maybe we should go?”

I kept scanning the area, checking around corners and darkened areas, but there was nothing. Finally, Lydia’s hand on my shoulder stopped me. I swallowed, let out a frustrated sigh, but allowed her to steer me toward the exit.

In our silence, the whistle of the wind picked up a swirl of leaves scratching together to break free from their carrier. The hair on my arms stood on end at the same moment Lydia stopped walking. “What? Did you see the guy?” I glanced her way and skimmed the cars until I spotted mine, calculating the distance in case we needed to make a run for it.

“No. No guy. Just… more of a feeling. It’s probably nothing," Lydia whispered. Eyes wide, she searched the area. "Let’s walk a little faster.” She linked her arm through mine and pulled me forward.

It was hard to ignore the bad feeling in my gut, the rolling of tires on pavement, or the distant screech of a car belt. I turned toward Lydia for answers, but her concentration was on the mall. Jerking my attention toward the nearby woods, the chirp of a tree frog ripped through the air so loudly, it hurt my ears.

When I heard the swift rhythm of another set of footsteps, Lydia raised her brows, confirming the same ominous feeling I had. I turned in time to see the shadow of the man from before right in front of me. My stomach twisted when he reached out and grabbed me. As Lydia's muffled scream trailed away, a moment of hysteria crawled up my throat.

Adrenaline pulsed through my veins, providing a burst of energy, knowledge, and confidence I had never felt before. An overwhelming heat surged through my body.

My ribs were constricted.

Breathing felt impossible.

I knew what I needed to do.

Lifting my chin, I jerked forward and slammed my head into the man’s nose—his bones crushed beneath my forehead. Huh. I’m not as rusty as I thought. Wailing out an animalistic growl, blood gushed from his nose as he clutched his face. I broke free. Though for a moment the sight of blood made my stomach twist, I found my footing and stood ready and alert. I’d earned my blue belt in taekwondo, but hadn’t practiced for three years. My odds in this fight sucked.

Reminding myself to focus with a quick, calculated breath, I held up my hands and balled them into fists. I knew I didn’t look intimidating, but under the circumstances, I wasn’t sure what else to do.

As we stared at each other, the man’s blood-smeared mouth lifted into a wicked sneer. He lunged forward, obviously confident in his ability to win, but I jumped into a spinning side kick and knocked him to the ground. He lunged at me again. This time I followed with several combination moves to his chest and head—punches, kicks, spins—different moves my body somehow executed perfectly.

“Now!” The command came out muffled.

Two large, muscular beasts with enormous pointed teeth ran at us from either side. Not long after my fist connected with the snout of one of those beasts, my back burned at the pressure of a pair of claws ripping into my skin. Forced to the pavement with an agonizing cry, a high-pitched scream pierced my ears. I spotted Lydia across the parking lot, horrified as a pale blue flicker of light radiated from her hands and burst into flames. In any other situation, I would've laughed at the way she swung her arms wildly, but at this moment the result was very effective. Judging by the growing brilliance of the blue flame, things were going to end unpleasantly for those around her. Instantly, the beast Lydia was fighting flew into the side of a dumpster as though a tornado had swept him up and tossed him about. The piercing pain at my back that held me down relented, giving me the chance to move. Pushing through the pain, I swiftly jumped to my feet, wrapped my arms around the beast’s neck, and twisted. The bone snapped. The furry body fell limp to the ground.

I froze. I’d just killed an animal.

My stomach churned. As a wave of heat washed over me, I jerked to the side and allowed the remnants of lunch to come back up onto the pavement. Breathing deeply, I wiped my mouth and caught sight of the beast’s eyes. They were human. Gradually, the rest of his body changed. His snout shortened, his torso and limbs grew longer, and his fur disappeared, revealing a naked man lying on his side.

He was human.

I backed away quickly and looked for Lydia. She was staring at her hands again, which were now empty of any blue flame, looking as terrified as I felt. Walking forward, I joined her in the middle of the courtyard. We glanced around in search of our attackers, but the area was vacant.

“We need to call the cops.” I pulled my phone from my pocket and dialed the number with shaking hands. Lydia sniffled beside me and I paused then sucked in a deep breath, “In and out.” I motioned for her to copy me, “That’s it.” I looked at my phone, “Any idea what I should tell the police?” I placed the phone to my ear as Lydia took another deep breath but shook her head. When I moved to straighten my shirt, pain shot down my back. I reached up and felt the area that throbbed on my shoulder.

Lydia gasped, “You’re bleeding!”

“It must’ve been when that thing was on me.” I waved it off with my free hand. “I’m fine.” The police picked up the phone. “Yes. I need to report an attack.” The man on the line asked for a detailed description. “There were three of them. I broke one guy’s nose and the other two beasts looked kind of like big dogs. They might have our blood under their claws, but they may be fingernails now because they changed. I’m not sure how this…” The man on the line interrupted telling me not to prank the precinct again and hung up. “Hello?” I gritted my teeth, “Fine, I’ll call the FBI.” I mumbled to myself and started searching online for the FBI’s number.

Lydia grabbed my phone and stuffed it in her pocket. She opened her mouth, but gasped when a cat crept out from underneath the dumpster, hissing as it hurried down the alley. I shook my head and waited for her to continue. "Calling the police didn’t work. We’re not calling the FBI.” Lydia let out a deep sigh. “Should we just go?”

I glanced around, knowing something needed to be done, but sighed and nodded.

She helped me slowly move from the vacant parking lot to my little sedan near the mall’s entrance. Pulling the doors closed, we both just sat there.

Lydia broke the silence, “Do you think… should we go after those… things?”

“I doubt we’ll be able to track them.” My focus distanced for a moment when another thought popped into my head. “Why don’t you come to my house and we’ll come up with a plan.” I had no desire to drive all the way home by myself.

“I was just about to invite myself over.” Lydia sat with her hands in her lap. She scrunched up her nose, still staring straight ahead in her own little world. “We’ll clean and bandage your back, too.” She faced me. “It looks like it hurts."

I shrugged in response, sucking air in between my teeth at the pain.

"What am I going to tell my mom?" Lydia shuttered.

“I’m planning on not telling my mom anything.” Trying to fight back the tears that wanted to break free, I turned the key in the ignition. We needed to leave this parking lot. Every now and then a distant bush looked more like a dark figure. I pressed down on the gas pedal and turned out of the lot with a screech. It was imperative we left the odd turn of events behind in the smell of rubber and smoke.

My sanity depended on it.

The full moon cast shadows along the road as we drove down the highway. I followed my dirt road down our ten acres toward my white, two-story house with black shutters. My mom had left a message on my phone earlier in the day to inform me she was taking on another shift at the emergency animal clinic, which meant she wasn’t home.

Lydia and I climbed the porch steps inside to the living room. “You lay down.” She pointed to the couch. “I’ll get the first-aid kit.”

I took a couple of breaths to work through the pain before lowering myself to the couch. Minutes later Lydia walked back into the room holding a bottle of rubbing-alcohol, cotton balls, gauze, and the emergency pack of needle and thread.

“No stitches.”

“You sure?” We exchanged a brief look before she soaked a cotton ball with alcohol. “O-kay…”

As she lightly dabbed my back, I squeezed my eyes closed at the sting and grunted into the cushion of the couch. “Earlier at the mall,” I glanced her way trying to distract myself, “you were the one who created that huge burst of wind, weren’t you?” The cuts must have gone deeper than I realized because the burning intensified.

Lydia sat back on her heels, waving her hand across my back to provide a continued rush of air. “Yeah. After nothing else happened, I thought my mom had slipped me one of her happy pills.” She paused. “Did you see the blue fire in my hands, Renee? Freak alert.” She softly sang out then glanced back over at the wound on my back. “It needs stitches.”

I shook my head. “Mom will know something’s up. I’ll just change the bandage.” A light blue glow appeared over Lydia’s hands. “What’re you doing?”

“Nothing. I swear!” Her eyes widened. “It’s just happening. I can’t explain it, but I think…” She moved closer. “I think I’m supposed to use it on your back.”

“What!?” I shouted. Lydia bolted forward and quickly pressed her hands against my skin. I screamed at the top of my lungs. Then instantly the pain subsided, and the area Lydia had placed her hands went numb. I felt nothing but the warmth of the light blue glow.

“It’s healing,” Lydia whispered. “Wait,” Lydia pressed her palms against my wound again, but nothing happened. She sat back in confusion. “It stopped. I don’t understand.”

Sitting up, I reached over my shoulder to feel the wound. The three, deep claw marks from before only felt like scratches now. “That was incredible.” I stepped back and adjusted my shirt. “Ooh,” I giggled, “my back feels all tingly.” I smiled at Lydia’s wide-eyed expression. “I don’t know what’s happening to us, but we survived an attack that involved mutant humans, Lydia. You have to admit that’s pretty awesome.”

“I don’t have to admit anything. It’s creepy.” She set the first-aid kit aside and redid her ponytail. “We just need to sit down and go over what to do.”

“After that, I know exactly what we’re doing.” I laughed. “We’re finding out what we’re capable of and we’re doing it tonight.”

“Really? Tonight?” Lydia groaned.

I grabbed a clean shirt from the laundry basket as we headed out the back door and tossed the bloody one in the trash. “I need to know what it all means.” I slipped the shirt over my head as we crossed the railroad tracks to the old barn behind my house. It was overgrown with weeds and shaded by trees. They looked eerie in the moonlight but created privacy.

We walked in silence for a while, just listening to the crickets chirp, reveling in the peace of the countryside.

“Feel any better?” Lydia asked.

“A little. You?” I glanced at her.

She shrugged.

Stepping up to the barn, I bent down and maneuvered myself in between the two planks of wood to get inside. Lydia slipped through after me and walked to the middle of the barn, coughing once from the kick up of dust. “Not much has changed.” I mumbled.

There was a hole in the roof, so the moon’s light filled the space where we were standing. “Well, we’re here.” Lydia clapped her hands together unenthusiastically and stepped back. “You go first. Let’s see if you have any real athleticism to go along with your crazy strength.”

“Okay.” Blowing out a quick breath I walked down the length of the barn, crouched down, sprang forward, and flashed past Lydia. I ran up the wall, flipped over backwards then landed on my feet. “Tah-dah!” I twirled around and raised my hands.

“Watching you show off is like a slap in the face. Really.” Lydia deadpanned.

“I can’t help it. The urge to move is strong, young Padawan.”

“Guess it’s my turn, only not here in this extremely flammable area. Let’s go outside.” Lydia grumbled.

I followed her into the woods away from the barn a bit. She waved me back a few steps.

“Are the woods less flammable than the barn?” I asked sarcastically.

Lydia rolled her eyes. When I was at a safe distance she held up her hands, closed her eyes and just like lighting a match, blue flames sparked to life over her palms and fingers. She took a breath and the flames shook.

“You’ve got this...”

“Actually, I don’t think I do. How am I not getting burned, Renee? I should be—”

“Don’t stress—”

A spark fell, lighting the dead grass on fire. She started freaking out—screaming for me to get a bucket of water—when I opened my mouth to explain our lack of resources an orb of water hovered by me mid-air. It burst into a puddle on the burnt patch of grass.

Relieved, I focused on Lydia bent over at the waist with her hands on her knees. “How’d you do that?”

“There was a puddle by the railroad track.” She stood up and walked past me. “I don’t know. Thought it might be helpful.”

Amazed, I grabbed her by the arms. “That was incredible.”

“No. It wasn’t.” She jerked away from me. “What if I hadn’t seen the puddle? I don’t know what is happening to us, but it scares me, Renee.”

Unsure how to convince her everything was okay, I remained silent.

“You should be a little scared, too.”

I shook my head.

“At least to have a friend who could possibly light you on fire.”

“You won’t.” I said. From the tilt of her head I knew she didn’t believe me. I changed the subject. “We should keep a diary to track our changes in case there are any patterns.”

“Good idea. Then you can count the number of times I say, ‘creating fire from the tips of my fingers is hazardous.’”

“Let’s head back.” I hurried in front of Lydia. “I know you’re scared. We have every right to be. We were attacked by something supernatural, the police didn’t believe us and it feels like no one is on our side, plus we have powers that are hard to comprehend.”

“I’m sensing a but...” She folded her arms.

“But,” I smiled, “we’re in this together. I help you, you help me.” I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and moved us into my backyard. “It’s just a feeling, but I think we’re meant to do more.”

“Well, more needs to be going to bed because my head hurts and if your mom fusses at us for being awake still at,” Lydia glanced at her phone, “one o’clock in the morning, my head might literally explode.”

“Yeah. Mom would kill us, and that would suck because I’m starting to like these powers.” I wiggled my brows.

Lydia shook her head.

“You can’t say having the power to control fire, wind, and water isn’t at least a smidge intriguing.”

“Not sure yet. I’ll let you know when I don’t feel crazy.” She glanced at her hands again.

“I know what you mean. And the next time those beasts or mutant men or whatever they were come at us, we’ll be prepared. Then the police will have to believe us.”

Walking into the house, we headed straight for the stairs.

“So, if you’re saying play this by ear,” Lydia said as we climbed into bed, “and I’m saying let’s forget it happened. How are we supposed to figure out our next move?”

I smacked her arm. “Um, maybe fortune tellers are real?”

“Ooh, good plan. Let’s hunt down a crystal ball, and while we’re at it, click our heels together.” We looked at each other and both smiled. “Goodnight, Renee.” She rolled over onto her side.

“‘Night, Lydia.” I turned off my lamp and listened to Lydia’s breathing.

We were going to figure this out. I knew it. Welcoming the warm blanket of happy dreams and kick-butt fighting scenes, I drifted off to sleep.