GHOST CROWN: THE TRACKS TRILOGY - Book Two Read online

  THE TRACKS

  BOOK TWO

  Ghost Crown

  THE TRACKS

  BOOK TWO

  Ghost

  Crown

  A NOVEL BY

  J. GABRIEL GATES

  AND

  CHARLENE KEEL

  Red Sky Presents

  NEW YORK

  GHOST CROWN

  Reviews

  “I didn’t think it was possible for me to enjoy book two as much as I did the first one, but I was wrong . . . The good guys are lovable, and even the bad guys have their moments. There is one shocking surprise after another.”

  Paranormal Romance Guild

  “It’s got an ending that will leave you gripping your book, shaking, wanting more . . . amazing characters with the best plot lines in Young Adult fiction today.”Reviews By Molly

  “I started reading this with high expectations, because the first novel in the series was mind-blowing. And Ghost Crown... it’s a freaking apocalypse! I want to cry, but out of shock or happiness? I can only thank Gates and Keel for creating such a masterpiece.”The Book Barbies

  “The paranormal activity is getting intense . . . so many characters are coming into powers they didn’t know they had.”Sweet Southern Home

  “Authors J. Gabriel Gates and Charlene Keel have crafted an intensely thrilling and suspenseful sequel full of exciting supernatural elements, kick-butt martial arts, romantic entanglements and engaging characters. Action, supernatural romance, mystery, thrills and chills . . . Ghost Crown has it all! A superb and captivating sequel, this is one read that won’t disappoint.”

  Word Spelunking Blogspot

  “Gates and Keel have done it again. Back in the world of Middleburg . . . everything has changed. Ghost Crown has a little bit of everything, forbidden love, secret love, a love triangle, secret alliances, secret society, a treasure hunt, action . . . everything you could need to tell an awesome story.”

  The Literati Press

  “In Short: A paranormal, martial arts-filled adventure with a dash of romance. Recommended: Absolutely. What appears to be a typical Romeo and Juliet-esque scenario is riddled with twists and turns of paranormal activity and dark magic. There are snappy kung-fu action scenes that certainly bring another dimension to the tale.”Geek Speak Magazine

  “Gates and Keel do it again with the second book in The Tracks series. The world building is extraordinary—detailed, layered, rich—as are the characters—a mysterious man who appears and disappears at will, a woman obsessed with tapestries, a girl who is not sure how she came to Middleburg, among many others . . . with the most profound change coming in Maggie. Kudos to the authors for making her so much more than she was in the first book.Aurora Reviews

  A Red Sky Presents Book/published by arrangement with the authors

  Copyright © 2021 – J. Gabriel Gates, Charlene Keel

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  My thanks to my mom Cynthia Walker for her unflagging encouragement, to my dad Chuck Gates and the wonderful grandparents on both sides of my family for their love and support, and to Charlene Keel for being an excellent writer and an intrepid creative partner.

  —J. Gabriel Gates

  To Rachel Giordano, Sarah Lovelady, Allie Giordano, Kristen Weiser, Philece Sampler and Herman Rush for their unwavering encouragement and moral support during the writing of this book, and throughout my career, and to my co-author J. Gabriel Gates, whose talent and dedication continue to inspire me. While Middleburg is a fictitious town and the authors have invented everything that happens there, I’d like to also give a nod to Lebanon, Kansas, the real center of the contiguous United States.

  —Charlene Keel

  Contents

  THE TRACKS1

  THE TRACKS3

  GHOST CROWN4

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS7

  Chapter One9

  Chapter Two23

  Chapter Three42

  Chapter Four57

  Chapter Five68

  Chapter Six84

  Chapter Seven99

  Chapter Eight110

  Chapter Nine125

  Chapter Ten137

  Chapter Eleven148

  Chapter Twelve157

  Chapter Thirteen169

  Chapter Fourteen178

  Chapter Fifteen190

  Chapter Sixteen201

  Chapter Seventeen209

  Chapter Eighteen220

  Chapter Nineteen231

  Chapter Twenty242

  Chapter Twenty-One250

  Chapter Twenty-Two264

  Chapter Twenty-Three282

  Chapter Twenty-Four298

  Chapter Twenty-Five313

  Chapter Twenty-Six326

  Chapter Twenty-Seven334

  Chapter Twenty-Eight348

  Chapter Twenty-Nine362

  Shadow Train373

  Chapter 1374

  J. Gabriel Gates393

  Charlene Keel393

  Chapter One

  Raphael Kain’s adversary cartwheeled forward and attacked with a barrage of flying fists and slashing elbows. Unable to sidestep the attack, Raphael was forced to block each blow as it came, retreating a few steps down the narrow brick alleyway. The moment he saw an opening, he lashed out, counterattacking with a front kick and a host of blazing-fast punches. He landed a few glancing strikes before his opponent managed to back-flip away from him, dodging in an acrobatic fury what would have been a devastating crescent kick.

  “Good thing you got out of the way of that one,” Raph taunted. He wasn’t even out of breath. “You’d have had a headache for a week.”

  As his opponent stepped backward down the alley, regrouped and came forward again, Raphael watched him closely, paying close attention to his elbows since he knew they would tell him what sort of strike was coming next. Raphael read his movements flawlessly and launched a perfectly timed kick—but his enemy was too fast. He cartwheeled beneath Raphael’s leg, sprang to his feet, and caught Raphael’s cheek with a glancing elbow as he shot past. By the time Raph spun around and struck out with a backfist, his opponent was already safely out of range.

  As Raphael prepared for his next onslaught, he felt the mysterious, soul-tingling magical force filling him. His kung fu master called it Shen. It rose through his feet, travelling upward like a shiver, and it shone down on him from above, too, filling him with its unseen light. Lately, Raphael was feeling the presence of Shen more frequently, but there was still no telling when it would appear and when it wouldn’t. But he felt the energy’s presence now, and he used his qigong training to focus it.

  “You’re slippery,” Raph conceded. “Try to slip past this!” Squinting with concentration, he willed the energy to build within him. Instantly, his chest tightened and his forehead buzzed as that familiar, electric vibration coursed through him. Then, as his opponent was charging him again, he reached out his left hand and released the power.

  Instantly, his attacker flew backward. Stumbling, he slipped on a crushed soda can and fell hard on the dirty cement. Raph hurried toward him and extended his right hand.

  “You all right, Nass?”

  With Raphael’s help, Ignacio got to his feet and dusted off his clothes. “Yeah. I’m good. That was crazy with the Shen, though. You’re gettin’ scary good with that stuff.”

  “You’re getting a lot better, too,” Raphael said. “I can
’t believe you dodged my kick like that. How did you see it coming? Did I telegraph it somehow?”

  Ignacio shook his head. “Nah,” he said, “I used the knowing.”

  The knowing was something Ignacio was still getting used to. As he explained it to Raphael, ever since he was a kid he sometimes saw things before they happened. Sometimes he saw them only in his mind but sometimes it felt like they were really happening and he was in the middle of the action. But no matter how it came to him, he had always been afraid of his ability. Now he was learning to embrace it.

  Raphael nodded. “I think the knowing comes from Shen, too,” he said. “It’s all connected somehow.”

  As they stepped out of the alley onto the sidewalk of downtown Middleburg, Raphael shivered. Winter was coming. He could feel it in the sharp bite of the wind, see it in the frosty, pale blue of the sky. He wore his dad’s old goose-down parka now, over his customary hoodie, and his best friend Ignacio Torrez, striding down the sidewalk next to him, was huddled in a frayed old pea coat he’d picked up at the Goodwill. But despite the chill that numbed his fingers and reddened his nose on that cold Thursday afternoon, nothing could dispel the warmth Raphael felt when he thought of the awesome changes that had recently taken place in his life.

  First, everyone in town knew he had rescued Aimee Banfield from Oberon. Thoughts of that day, and of Oberon, sent a chill down Raphael’s spine that was worse than anything the weather could cause. In a brief mind-flash, he saw Oberon as he had looked during their battle: sheathed in black reptilian skin with sleek, black, leathery wings jutting from his back. He’d looked like some kind of dark, demented angel—nothing like the angels in any of Raphael’s Sunday school books. Maybe it was crazy, but sometimes it was like he could still feel Oberon staring at him with his one good eye, while the other one—the glass eye—glowed a terrifying shade of crimson. The image was sobering, to say the least.

  But Raphael had defeated Oberon. He had rescued Aimee. And now, people in town (even some from the ranks of his archenemies, the Toppers) were starting to show him a grudging respect—although they still had no idea about Oberon’s real, horrific identity.

  The whole thing had been beyond weird and he hadn’t quite recovered from it. He wondered how Zhai—the leader of the Toppers and his long-ago best friend—was doing with it.

  Part of the overall weirdness, Raphael thought, was that he hadn’t told anyone—not even Nass—about everything he’d seen, how hard he’d had to fight, and the unbelievable otherworldly creatures he’d battled just to get to Aimee. And none of the Flatliners had discussed what had happened to them—and to Middleburg—during that fateful Halloween battle.

  As odd as all of it had been, it wasn’t a dream—as much as he’d like to think it was. The horses in Master Chin’s barnyard and the samurai helmet that sat in a place of honor on the mantel over the sifu’s fireplace were proof of that.

  After the Halloween battle, it seemed to Raphael that Middleburg would forever retain the peculiar, disjointed feeling that lingered for a day or so after Aimee’s rescue, but in less than two weeks it had settled into an uneasy calm as the community adjusted to her safe return—and things went back to normal.

  For a Flatliner like Raphael, back to normal meant broke and struggling. Between their non-existent finances and his mom’s pregnancy, things were as complicated as ever in the Kain household. The only thing getting Raphael through the day was knowing he would see Aimee—even if it was just from a distance. Maybe all they had for now were anonymous notes and discreet little waves or smiles across the crowded lunchroom, and a few rare, stolen moments when they could hold on to each other and hope for better times. But it was more than either of them had ever had before. They were in love, and with that thought to keep him warm, winter might as well give up now.

  They reached Lotus Pharmacy, and Ignacio pulled the door open.

  “Ladies first,” he said, ushering Raphael inside.

  Raph slugged him in the shoulder as he passed. It was a friendly jab, but it made Ignacio wince all the same.

  “Ow!” said Nass, laughing. “How many times I gotta tell you, man—normal people can hit their friends, joking around. Kung fu masters, not so much.”

  “Sorry.”

  By then they were at the cash register.

  “You sure you want to spend this money?” Nass asked. “You don’t know when your mom is going to be working again.”

  True, Raph thought. Since Oberon went all Lucifer-on-steroids, kidnapped Aimee, fought Raph, then plunged over the edge of that crazy temple’s rooftop (hopefully to his death), his business interests in Middleburg had been in a holding pattern. Little Geno’s was still open, but Hot House strip club where Raph’s mom had worked was closed indefinitely. Money was tighter than ever. But, Raph considered, when you’ve been running around battling time-travelling samurai, a gigantic, blood-thirsty lizard and a conniving, evil man who suddenly sprouts wings—not to mention trying to keep the Toppers at bay—you kind of have to have a cell phone. You can’t always count on finding a pay phone so you can call for reinforcements.

  Instead, he said, “No, man. I need a phone. It’ll have to be one of these pay-as-you-go things for now, but at least I’ll have it for emergencies or something.”

  “It’s about time,” Nass agreed. “Imagine actually being able to call each other from anywhere. What a concept.”

  “Yeah,” Raphael agreed. “We’ll be almost like regular people now.”

  “All right!” Nass said. “Let’s see what kind of top-of-the-line, pay-as-you-go, loser phone my pizza delivery millions can get me!”

  Lydia, the pharmacy clerk who waited on them, had green hair and an eyebrow ring. She was Beet’s older sister, and with her narrow hips and thin, almost boney frame, there was definitely no family resemblance.

  “Wow, cell phones,” she teased. “You’re finally leaving the age of the dinosaurs. Welcome to the twenty-first century.” She smiled at Raphael and Nass as she rang them up and told them how to activate their phones. A moment later, they were walking out the door again, onto the sidewalk of downtown Middleburg.

  “Uh-oh,” Ignacio said. “Here comes trouble.”

  Instantly Raphael was on guard, ready for a Topper attack. But when he followed his friend’s gaze, he broke into a wide grin.

  Across the street, Dalton was just coming out of Middleburg’s only upscale, designer dress shop—and best of all, Aimee was with her.

  Raph headed toward them, not even looking as he rushed into the street, not caring about the oncoming cars he had to dodge. He didn’t care about anything except being close to Aimee.

  

  Laughing happily together, Aimee and Dalton exited Middleburg Couture. Everyone agreed the name was a little ironic. Although it was the only place in town to go for good labels (casual or dressy), it was far from high fashion. To get anything decent, you had to drive over a hundred miles, but Aimee’s father had proclaimed it good enough for the homecoming dance this year. Next year, he’d promised, when Aimee had a better chance of being homecoming queen, they would go shopping in Topeka.

  Aimee was so glad she’d hooked up with Dalton today—funny, outspoken, fearless Dalton who had stood up for her when it counted. Neither of them had dates for the homecoming dance yet, but they were both still hopeful.

  Aimee found, to her own amazement, that she was actually looking forward to Homecoming even though her dad was pushing her to go with Bran Goheen, one of her brother’s football buddies. Bran (unlike her jock brother) was actually a nice guy, but Aimee loved Raphael. And she had no intention of leading Bran on or hurting his feelings.

  She might not be able to go with Raphael, but at least she would see him there and maybe even manage a couple of dances with him, and that was enough for her. She didn’t need a date—but she still had to get the perfect dress. She’d found a few
that fit, and that actually looked pretty good, too. Dalton hadn’t been so lucky.

  When Aimee saw Raphael and Ignacio crossing the street toward them, her day got even better. Raphael skidded to a halt in front of her and Nass stopped in front of Dalton.

  “Hey,” they both said at once, and everybody laughed.

  When Aimee looked at Raphael, she forgot all her problems. She wanted nothing more at that moment than to run her fingers through his long hair, to feel his arms around her and his lips on hers. But that was impossible, except in secret. Raphael was a Flatliner, and Aimee’s dad had spies everywhere.

  

  As Raph and Aimee moved up the sidewalk together for a little privacy, Ignacio looked at Dalton and Dalton looked back at him. She had a playful smile on her lips, and one hand rested on her hip. The sight of her standing there like that—all sexy and sassy—was enough to put Nass’s dignity in danger.

  “What’s up, girl?” He tried to be cool. As much time as he’d spent with Dalton, there were still moments when he felt completely in awe of her. She was like the sun: you could hang out in the warm glow all day, but if you tried to look directly at the light, it would blind you. Dalton was like that, he thought—not just hot, but scorching.

  “Just shopping,” Dalton said, nonchalant.

  “Yeah? For what?”

  “A dress for homecoming.”

  “Oh, yeah?” He tried to sound casual, but now he was worried. Maybe somebody else had already asked her. No surprise there. He shouldn’t have waited until the last minute, but every time he tried to ask her he got nervous and chickened out. He couldn’t imagine anything more terrible than seeing her dancing with someone else.

  “Yeah,” she said, smiling up at him expectantly but giving nothing away.

  “You, uh, have a date?”

  “Nope,” said Dalton with an exaggerated sigh. “There’s a guy I’d like to go with, but I think he’s too much of a wuss to ask me.”

  Nass laughed in spite of his nerves. It was amazing how she could get him all twisted up like this. No girl had ever had that effect on him—not even Clarisse, back in L.A.