The Casaday Girls, Book 1: Super Kids. Michael Inc. Markey

Alexa shrieked.

      They ventured ahead, following the gravelly path past the swings and slides, in search of the desperate call for help. Then they heard it again. That strained, disembodied voice.

      “I can see you. Please help me. I’m over here.”

      “Did you bring your flashlight?” Alexa asked Rachael.

      “Of course not. Did you?”

      “Needs batteries. I’ll get some from Mom tomorrow.”

      “Swell. We need the flashlight tonight, not tomorrow.”

      Enough moonlight broke through so they could follow the path to a stretch of sandy beach at the water’s edge.

      “Can we go around this stuff? I don’t want to get sand in my shoes.”

      “Oh, Lex--”

      “Do you see me now?” The voice called. “I’m over here.”

      The girls followed the voice (circling around the beach) to a thicket of pines. A man lay on the ground, drawing breath with great difficulty. Alexa stepped forward. Rachael hung back, reluctant to move at all, for on this rare occasion she was the timid one. Instead, she peered around Alexa to see the man, face up, stretched out on the ground. She saw a beam of light in the weeds beside him.

      “I dropped my flashlight over there. Will you get it for me?”

      Alexa snatched up the light and cast the beam toward its owner. Judging by his pale wrinkled face and long grey-white hair, she figured he was about seventy, maybe seventy-five years. He grimaced in pain. His dark overcoat was torn open at the neck. Shining the light closer, she saw two nasty puncture marks at his throat.

      The cruel work of a vampire?

      Now Rachael also ventured closer to the man. She crouched down near him to get a better look, too. “You look awful. We’ll get you help.”

      “Thank you. I would appreciate it.” He stopped suddenly and looked up at Rachael. “Oh dear. It’s you.”

      “Huh?”

      “You’re one of the Casaday girls.” Then he glanced at Alexa. “You, too. Both of you are here.”

      “Yes,” Rachael answered. “Do you know us?” She gave her sister a confused look. “Wait. We’ll get somebody to--”

      “No. Don’t worry about me, girls.”

      “Why not?” Rachael asked.

      “Because it’s you they want. It’s too late to save a decrepit fool like me.”

      “It’s never too late. We can do it,” Alexa said.

      He closed his eyes and waved off her comment. “First they took away my wife. She’s so very ill. Next the evil forces kept me from the portal.” The gasping man sighed and rested his head back on the damp ground. “Now, they will snatch away the two of you. That is their grand plan, children. They hold the key, you know.”

      “Plan? Key? What portal?” Rachael asked.

      “Behind the blue door. The portal to everlasting life. You must believe.”

      “We saw two big people run away from here a minute ago. Is that who you mean when you talk about those forces?” Alexa asked.

      “We could chase after them and--” said Rachael.

      The desperate man clasped Alexa’s wrist, a gesture so feeble she barely felt it. His hand felt so dreadfully cold. Popsicle cold.

      “No, just run. Now. Save yourselves.” He laid his head back on the damp grass again as he released her arm.

      Alexa slid his scarf from around his neck, carefully folded it and made a pillow beneath his head.

      “Hold on. We’ll be back before you know it.” Alexa pulled at her sister’s shoulder, to get Rachael on her feet, too--away from the injured man.

      “Please. Get away from the lake. It’s not safe for you here.” The man’s voice became faint. In a whisper he said, “Be careful, my friends.”

      As they sprinted away, Alexa said, “What should we do, Rache?”

      “Let’s run home and get Mom to call the police. Maybe an ambulance, too. They’ll know what to do.”

      “Do you think we should let the guy here by himself? If one of us could stay and--”

      “You heard what he said. Maybe he’s right. I know I’m not going to hang around out here in the dark, not after what I just saw. Are you?”

      “Let’s get Mom.”

      CHAPTER 2

      HELP ON THE WAY

      Dashing back the several meandering lanes to their house on Lakeside Drive, the girls nearly broke down the door to the two-story home as they searched frantically for their mother, Victoria. Peanut, the family beagle, scrambled off the sofa in their family room, to greet them with a round of high-pitched yelps.

      “Mom? Mom! Where are you?” Alexa called, once they were inside.

      “Up here, in your bedroom. What’s up?”

      “Call the police, Mom. There’s a man down at the lake. He needs help,” Rachael shouted as she climbed the stairs, two steps at a time.

      “Slow down, Rachael.” Mrs. Casaday met her at the top of the stairs, folded towels in her arms. “Now, what’s all this about a man at the lake?”

      “He’s hurt, he needs our help. We better call for an ambulance too.” Alexa puffed as she followed a few steps behind her sister.

      “He’s hurt? Did he fall, or something?”

      “Fall? Huh-uh. Somebody--” Alexa paused for breath. “We don’t know exactly what somebody did. They hurt him, though, like maybe they stabbed him in the neck. Both of us saw the teeny tiny puncture marks. Then we saw two humongous guys--or something--run into the trees. We need the police to find them, too.”

      “Wait one minute, you two. What were you doing at the lake?” Their mother paused and shook her head. “I thought your father and I warned you about going off the paved street without a parent. At this time of the night, how could you--”

      “Sorry, Mom. But when we heard the call for help, well, Rache and I had to go and see what was wrong.”

      “Girls, you can never tell what might be lurking there. I suppose that’s obvious, though, from what you are telling me.” Mrs. Casaday dropped the towels in a basket on the hallway floor and led the girls downstairs. She dialed nine-one-one. “Hello? I’m calling from Dunbar Lakes to report an incident down at the big lake. My daughters found an injured man there a few moments--yes, that’s the lake with all the park and playground facilities. I live at Eight Lakeside Drive. You’re sending a police officer? That would be great. We’ll wait at the front door for you.”

      Within five minutes a policeman pulled into their driveway, screeched to a halt, and stepped out from his cruiser. “Officer David Mulligan, from the Voorhees Police Department. I understand you found an injured man?” Mulligan flashed his credentials as he spoke.

      His right eye twitched annoyingly, something Rachael observed and mentioned to her sister later.

      Mrs. Casaday told the girls to hold Peanut while she filled him in on the details. Officer Mulligan pulled out a pad and made some notes. “Okay, so you suspect that two unknown assailants committed a crime, perhaps an assault against an elderly gentleman in the woods by the lake.”

      “Yes, that’s right,” Alexa replied.

      “Let’s