Hacienda Moon (The Path Seekers) by Kasonndra Leigh Read Free Book Online Page A

gaping front door secured only by an insect type screen sent shivers up and down Tandie’s spine. The entire storefront reminded her of a jack o lantern’s face with two dark windows as eyes and a raggedy door for its mouth.
     
    In the distance, howls sounded through the air.  Goose bumps rose on Tandie’s arms, trickling over her body. She swallowed and glanced around the deserted street, and once again found herself wishing her sighted abilities would spring back to life. She’d always counted on them to put her two steps ahead of the strange and odd. If she discovered a killer’s murder ground before the actual crime occurred she always had her boss stage reinforcements. Investigating the inherently dangerous was her job. Strange phenomena like a store that just happened to have a skeletal face, or a house with a moon cradling the roof at night were barely comparable to some of her findings with the NYPD.
     
    She checked her watch. 7:30 p.m. on Saturday evening. There should’ve been at least one or two people strolling out and about.
     
    Whack! Whack! She jerked her head back toward her window, her heart skipping beats. A little boy with a pale face and dark circles around his eyes stood with his head plastered against the window. Tandie reared back with a gasp, inhaling sharply.
     
    The boy smiled, his wide grin showing two missing top teeth. She rolled the window down a quarter of the way. Goosebumps crept all along her neck, Grandma Zee’s creepy chills. She always said they were the first sign of developing the sight. Tandie made a small laugh, celebrating a short moment before she turned back to her current situation. Maybe her psychic visions were starting to come back.
     
    ‘What’s wrong with you? It’s just a little boy.’
     
    “Are you looking for your parents?” Tandie asked.
     
    The boy’s eyes were shadowed by the moonlight. It was almost as if a zombie stood before her, this boy with hidden eyes. He shook his head in a slow motion without saying a word. More howls rode across the wind. They’d gotten more frequent since Tandie ventured into the town.
     
    ‘Damn you, Tandie Harrison, for being overambitious and trying to buy a house in need of serious repairs. Oh, and you can add driving along the back roads of a small town where any homicidal maniac could be on the loose to that list too.’
     
    “Well, you’d better get home. It’s not safe to be out here all by yourself.” The boy stood there and stared. “Do you need to call your parents?” He shook his head again as the wind whipped his glossy black hair around his face.
     
    “I have to get out. I need to get some Stop Leak out of that store; or something close to it, anyway. They might have a phone that you could use. Mine doesn’t have a signal.” The boy tilted his head to the side before he took two slow steps backward. She didn’t want to leave him in the street all by himself; but she couldn’t get him to say anything. Maybe the people inside the store knew who he was.
     
    She stepped out of the car, the wind whipping her shoulder length hair around her head. She had forgotten how the coastal gusts reached inland. Sweeping her hair away from her eyes, she locked her car door and glanced over the boy’s clothing for the first time. He wore a long sleeve plaid shirt paired with brown coveralls that rode his ankles. He pointed a pale finger at something further down the deserted street. Tandie glanced in the direction he indicated. A dark, empty street with no cars or people on it met her gaze. Instead, a fog swirled in the darkness, moving toward her as if it were alive, sending a shiver through her body.
     
    The boy lowered his hand as Tandie inched toward the store. “I’d love to stay and chat, but I’ve got leaky faucets to fix,” Tandie said and gave him a nervous smile. He tilted his head to the side, his gaze following her path toward the entrance.
     
    At once two tiny hands as cold as ice grabbed