Read Online Cursed by Chemistry by Kacey Mark - Free Book Online

were dark, but the place probably doled out the same double scoop of strawberry ice cream as always.
    In the daylight, anyway.
    “Going somewhere?”
    Shauna lurched forward and spun around to find Squalinski looming close behind, from the dark shadow of a building overhang.
    “You scared the shit out of me!”
    His lips twitched with a smug grin. “Well, if it isn’t our little streetwalker, out for a stroll.”
    “Funny.” Her gaze narrowed. “But I didn’t think your pudgy little legs would make it this far.”
    Squalinski rocked back on his heels. “Yeah, thought you lost me after you went home, but you didn’t…did you?” He turned his attention to the bird shop across the street. “Word has it, this place makes all kinds of calls after dark.”
    “Is that so?”
    “Never been there myself. Your first time, too? How fortunate.”
    She smirked. “Closed party. You’re not invited. Look, I’m not doing anything illegal. So you can’t bother me.”
    “Public intoxication is illegal.” Squalinski’s pen light snapped on and he waved the bright beacon in her face. “How much you had to drink tonight?”
    “None!”
    “Really. Because your eyes are telling me something different.” He angled his head. “Follow this light please.”
    “Nice try.” Shauna marched forward. “You know, this game is getting old. And you still haven’t figured out how it’s played. You don’t have anything on me. You can’t touch me.” She looked both ways, ready to cross the street. “Rumors of an abduction here would be bad for business. And something tells me, the guys in there? They don’t like cops hanging around their establishment anyway. So maybe you better step aside before you blow your own cover.”
    She took two marching steps into the crosswalk. Then three. Four. Her nerve endings tingled with high alert for the moment the agent would charge from behind and grab her.
    But nothing came.
    Nothing!
    Had she been right? The bluff paid off?
    A hurried clip of spiked heels carried her forward as she chanced a quick look behind.
    Gone? Not exactly, still skulking in the shadows, but the slime ball didn’t venture a step into the open. From what she said? Or because of her destination?
    A sporadic shift near the hobby shop snared Shauna’s attention. Panic vised her heart. Several dark figures in the entryway ballooned to one side, then the other before settling into some sort of queue. She paused. Five? Twenty? She couldn’t determine how many were there, but one thing was certain, this had to be the place.
    Shauna started forward again with tentative steps. She eyed the shapeless ripple as it parted again and the shop’s door swung open. She half-expected the pleasant jingle of entry bells above the door, the kind that plagued every Maw-and-Paw shop on this street.
    But no. Not a sound.
    A violet-blue light from within, arched into the entry, and then snuffed-out by a surge of eager bodies.
    Her mind whirred to catch every detail as the darkness filled in. One, two…six. Pretty sure there were at least six heads. She expected some music, maybe a collective moan of disappointment from those who didn’t get in. Anything but this intimidating silence.
    As she neared the crowd, the closer outliers appeared to turn in her direction. Even the air around them seemed to pause in watchful curiosity. The hammering in her chest battled to overpower the steady pace of her clipping heels. She tried to quiet her approach with tiptoe steps. More of a courtesy really, it’s not as though the entire place hadn’t already seen her coming.
    Perfume and the sharp tang of leather wafted from the building. Shauna clutched the phone in her pocket. Could she reach someone in time if she got in trouble here? With a following this tight? The image of scurrying shadows and grabbing hands flashed through her mind. They’d have her surrounded and silenced before she ever hit send.
    A sudden spasm of fear shot through her.