Free Erasing: Shadows (The Erasing Series) by K.D. Rose Page A

second, but his training instantly kicked in, and he was off. Where, he didn’t know, but he had to put his trust in this woman. There was no other choice.

Chapter Nine
    Tagger’s Nightmare
    Feeling foolish with the spray can, Lu loped along. Here they were in their early thirties, well, Trina was just thirty, but they were still running around tagging like in their teens. Trina had been insistent. After all, it was protocol. If Mira showed up at one of the real world places, the initials might jog her memory. Lu had taken care of the old homestead where Mira used to live. Mira’s real farm was still in the family, and Lu put quick initials on one of the bales of hay. Should Mira come here, that would be exactly the place she’d show. Then she might remember.
    Trina, on the other hand, had to go into the city for the real-world McArthur house. Lu was hesitant to tag private property—they weren’t kids anymore. But this was for Mira, and Trina promised to put only small initials on the fence around the property—in the corner where they met in the astral.
    Lu wrapped hers up without incident, although guilt reared up, and she headed home to wait for Trina. She started water for coffee. They were going to need some fortification for whatever came next. Lu wished she had the old High Five Gang Book that was the record of their adventures, but it was over at Michael’s. She tried to remember tricks they had learned. It was all so long ago. Lu sat down on the couch and turned on the news.
    ***
    Trina was having a problem with her spray can and had to fish for the other one she kept in her backpack. With a baseball cap on and short hair, she looked like a boy. She had not aged much, despite having just turned thirty last month. The extra time it was taking worried her as she was in town and not under cover of darkness. She found a working can and started to spray the initials. If Mira showed up, Trina hoped it would help her remember.
    Trina had just finished the initials when she saw movement in the corner of her eye and heard a blaring “STOP!” from that direction.
    Damn . I really am too old for this.
    Her stomach seized. After a split second’s thought, she took off. She should still be able to outrun cops. If she didn’t, Lu would be so upset, she thought. Even though it was only a misdemeanor, she and Lu were upstanding citizens now and didn’t do anything that might violate custom or law. Well, until this .
    She ducked behind a tree on the next street and turned down the alley. She could hear the policemen following her, running. It sounded like several . Just for her? Just for tagging? She tripped over a crack in the sidewalk and kept going. Past the local market. Past the residential houses. She cut down another alleyway.
    If I can get to the car before they get a look at it, I’ll be home free . She was panting. Surely by now they’d have to be blocks behind me . She went around more corners and curves, winding her way through the streets in a round-about way toward her small Cabriolet.
    Running….running….she didn’t pause to look around. She was judging from the sound of their footsteps behind her. The sound was getting softer, the police were losing ground. Trina hopped over a fence through a yard that she knew. Ha—let the police do some climbing. For a moment she felt like her teenage self from years ago.
    She hopped back over onto the pavement and caught a look at herself in another store’s glass. She really did look like a seventeen-year-old boy.
    Jesus . Her feet struggled for larger strides. I need to get my act together. She turned another corner and accidentally brushed against the brick with her shoulder. Painful.
    She could see a few people looking at her . Pedestrians, standing on the side of the street. They must have seen the cops.
    Crap. She needed to get out of this.
    Her car was two more blocks over and to the right. She was still zigzagging to throw off the policemen. In the old