Page 4 of Leif

A dead elk on the side of the road. Blood where it had been clearly dragged off the highway. Black tire marks. A torn-up embankment.

I glanced toward the road, putting things together when suddenly, a cop car appeared. Leaping out of the way, I watched the car as an elk leaped from the embankment to cross the road. The squad car clipped the elk, and the whole beast collapsed on the hood. I watched the car flip, tumbling like a child’s toy before hitting the embankment.

I approached, wondering what the fuck was going on. I saw a woman in the driver’s seat in full police gear. Saw her touch the dash, smelled the fear rolling off her. I glanced back in time to see a truck pull up behind the squad car.

Several men poured out of the truck as the airbag deployed. The force of the blast snapped back the cop’s head, rendering her unconscious.

One of the men wrenched on the squad car door with so much force he ripped it right off the frame. And I knew I was looking at one of us. He hauled out the man in the back seat. The guy blinked, coming to before telling his friend to stop. He walked to the front of the squad car.

“Is she dead?”

His friend shook his head as the rest of the guys milled around.

“Get her.” The guy who’d been in the back seat of the squad car glared at her as one of his guys knelt beside her and cut through her seatbelt. They got her out of the vehicle as the guy began to spit orders.

“Hide the car. I don’t want it found. Ever. But she’smine.” The cruelty in his eyes made my blood run cold. I reached out to touch the car, and the cold twisted steel met my skin.

“It’s real, but in a weird way.”

I glanced at Hitch as he stepped around the car, his eyes wide and locked on me. “You’re in the past, but only as a ghost.”

Pain filled his expression, and I wondered what this teenager had experienced that brought out this power.

“I thought I wore this out watching my dad.” He swallowed hard, and my humanity kicked in.

“He’s a cop, right?”

Hitch nodded. “Was. He was a cop.”

We stood in silence for a moment.

“And your mother?”

“She left a note. Apologized to me, but told me she couldn’t live without him. So here I am.” He spread his hands as we watched the people in the past cleaning up the mess.

“How old are you?”

“Sixteen. But I can be helpful. I swear.”

We watched the man lift the whole fucking car and carry it into the woods. The others were digging a hole big enough while the guy they’d saved ran the tips of his index and middle finger down the cop’s

“Don’t you ever show anyone else what you can do.” I glared at the kid.

He nodded, crossing his heart with an index finger. “I know. I don’t trust them. But I trust you.”

I shook my head. “You shouldn’t trust anyone.”

“But I know you’d never betray me. I know.”

I continued watching as two guys grabbed the elk and dragged it off the road. “No, but secrets have a way of drowning a man.”

His expression tightened. “I know.”

We stood in silence as the men in the truck loaded up.

“I can help. Let me help.” Hitch glanced up at me as the whole scene before me froze, the truck pulled out off the shoulder. “I want to learn. But I want to learn from someone I feel I can respect.”

“How do you know you can respect me?”

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