The Handyman's Secret

The Handyman's Secret
Sarah's POV

The FBI jet's wheels hit the Montana runway so hard I bit my tongue.

"We're thirty minutes behind Elena," Santos shouted over the engine noise. "She's already at the Chen family farm."

My phone buzzed. Unknown number.

I answered it. "Hello?"

Heavy breathing filled the line. Then a child's voice, scared and crying.

"Please help us. There's a man outside. He says he needs to fix our water heater, but Grandma says we don't have a water heater problem. He won't leave."

My blood turned to ice. "What's your name?"

"Lily Chen. I'm eight years old. We're at the family reunion at Grandpa's farm."

"Lily, listen very carefully. Lock all the doors right now. Don't let that man inside."

"But Mom already let him in. He seemed so nice and—"

The phone went dead.

"Santos, drive faster!" I screamed.

Our rental car flew down the dark Montana roads. Pine trees rushed past like black shadows. The GPS said fifteen minutes to the Chen family farm.

We might already be too late.

Santos's phone rang. She put it on speaker while driving.

"Agent Santos, this is FBI headquarters," a man's voice said. "We found Tommy Chen's records."

"What did you find?"

"Tommy Chen isn't his real name. He changes identities every few months. But we traced his pattern."

"What pattern?"

"For the last year, he's been working as a handyman. He fixes furnaces, water heaters, and electrical problems."

I felt sick. "He gets invited into people's homes."

"Exactly. Families trust him because he seems helpful and friendly. Then he kills everyone inside."

Santos asked, "How many families?"

"Thirty-one confirmed. But there might be more we haven't found yet."

I thought about little Lily Chen letting the nice handyman inside. I thought about her whole family gathered for a wedding celebration.

"How does he kill them?" I asked.

The FBI agent's voice got quiet. "Detective Chen, you don't want to know."

"Tell me anyway."

"He starts with the children. He makes the parents watch. Then he takes his time with everyone else. The last family took him four hours to kill."

I wanted to throw up.

Santos ended the call and pressed the gas pedal harder. "Sarah, your hands are glowing."

I looked down. Silver light was pouring from my fingers, brighter than I'd ever seen it.

"Elena said my ancient power might awaken to protect Chen family members," I whispered. "Maybe it's starting."

"Can you control it?"

"I don't know how."

The GPS announced we were five minutes away.

My phone buzzed again. Text message from Elena.

"Sarah, don't come to the farm. Tommy Chen knows you're on your way. This whole thing is a trap for you, not me. Turn around now."

I showed Santos the message.

"Are we turning around?" she asked.

I thought about Lily Chen's scared voice on the phone. I thought about seventeen innocent people at that farm.

"Keep driving," I said.

We turned onto a dirt road. I could see lights ahead—the Chen family farm. Big white house. Red barn. Cars parked everywhere from all the relatives visiting.

Everything looked peaceful and normal.

Too normal.

"Something's wrong," Santos said. "Where's Elena?"

We parked and got out. The front door of the farmhouse stood wide open. Light poured out, but I couldn't hear any sounds. No talking. No music. No wedding celebration noises.

Just silence.

Santos pulled out her gun. I let my hands glow with silver light.

We walked toward the house.

"Elena?" I called out. "Lily Chen? Anyone?"

Nothing.

We stepped through the front door.

The living room looked like a normal family gathering. Food on tables. Decorations hanging from the ceiling. Wedding presents stacked in the corner.

But no people.

"Where is everyone?" Santos whispered.

I heard a sound from upstairs. A small voice crying.

"Lily?" I shouted.

"Help me," the child's voice called. "He locked me in the bathroom. Everyone else is gone."

Santos and I ran up the stairs. I followed the crying sounds to a bathroom door.

"Lily, I'm Detective Sarah Chen. I'm going to get you out."

"Detective Chen?" The crying stopped. "You have the same last name as me."

"I know, sweetie. Stand back from the door."

Santos kicked the door open.

The bathroom was empty.

"That's not possible," I said. "I heard her voice."

Santos's face went white. "Sarah, it's a recording."

She pointed to a small speaker hidden behind the toilet.

Lily Chen's voice played again from the speaker. "Help me. He locked me in the bathroom."

My heart hammered. "Where are the real people?"

We ran downstairs and searched every room. Kitchen. Dining room. Basement.

Empty. Empty. Empty.

"The barn," Santos said. "Maybe they're in the barn."

We ran outside. The barn doors were closed but not locked. I pulled them open.

Seventeen people sat inside, tied to chairs. Every single Chen family member from the reunion. They were alive but gagged so they couldn't scream.

Little Lily Chen sat in the front row, tears running down her face.

"Everyone stay calm," I said. "We're going to get you out."

But when I stepped into the barn, something felt wrong. The air felt heavy, like before a thunderstorm.

Santos stopped in the doorway. "Sarah, don't move."

"Why not?"

"Look at the floor."

I looked down. Strange symbols covered the barn floor in silver paint. They formed a huge circle around all the Chen family members.

"It's a trap," Santos said. "Those symbols are—"

The barn doors slammed shut behind us.

Lights exploded on from every corner, so bright I couldn't see.

When my eyes adjusted, a man stood in the center of the barn. He looked completely normal—brown hair, friendly face, work boots. He could have been anyone's nice neighbor.

"Hello, Detective Chen," Tommy Chen said with a warm smile. "I'm so glad you came. I've been waiting for you."

"Let these people go," I demanded.

"I will. Right after you and I have a little chat." He gestured at the Chen family members. "They're just here to wake up your ancient power. You care about them because they share your family name, right?"

My hands glowed brighter with silver light.

Tommy Chen laughed. "There it is! The Chen family power starting to awaken. It's beautiful."

"Where's Elena?" I asked.

"Elena?" Tommy Chen tilted his head. "She never made it to the farm, Detective."

My heart stopped. "What did you do to her?"

"Nothing yet. But my friends at The Organization are taking care of her right now. She's about thirty miles away, fighting for her life against five other Hunters."

Santos aimed her gun at him. "You're under arrest."

"With what? A human gun?" Tommy Chen smiled. "Let me show you what I've collected."

His eyes turned bright red—vampire power.

His skin turned hard like stone—gargoyle power.

He moved so fast he became invisible—ghost power.

"Twenty-three different supernatural abilities," he said. "I've been collecting them for years. And tonight, I'm going to add two more to my collection."

"Two?" I asked.

"Elena's power of justice. And your power to control all supernatural beings." Tommy Chen's smile got wider. "With those powers combined, I'll become something that's never existed before."

Santos fired her gun. Three shots, right at his chest.

The bullets passed through Tommy Chen like he was made of fog.

"Ghost intangibility," he explained. "Very useful. Now, let's begin."

He raised his hands. The silver symbols on the floor started glowing.

The seventeen Chen family members began screaming through their gags.

"What are you doing to them?" I shouted.

"Forcing your ancient power to awaken. It only activates when Chen family members are in danger of death. So I'm going to kill them one by one until your power fully awakens."

He pointed at little Lily Chen.

"Starting with her."

Lily's chair started sliding toward Tommy Chen across the barn floor, pulled by invisible force.

"No!" I screamed.

Silver light exploded from my hands, brighter than the sun. It shot toward Tommy Chen like a laser beam.

He caught my light with his bare hands and laughed.

"Yes! More! Get angry, Detective Chen! Wake up that ancient power!"

Santos tried to grab Lily's chair, but invisible force threw her against the barn wall.

Lily slid closer to Tommy Chen. Her eyes were huge with terror.

My whole body started glowing with silver light. I felt something ancient and powerful stirring inside me. Something that had been sleeping in my family's blood for more than a hundred years.

"That's it!" Tommy Chen shouted. "I can feel your power awakening!"

Lily's chair stopped right in front of him. He raised one hand, and I saw his fingernails had turned into long claws.

"Last chance, Detective Chen," he said. "Let your ancient power fully awaken, or this little girl dies right now."

My mind raced. If I let my power awaken, Tommy Chen would steal it and become unstoppable. But if I didn't, Lily Chen would die.

Santos groaned from where she lay on the floor. "Sarah... don't... give him... what he wants."

Tommy Chen's claws moved toward Lily's throat.

I made my choice.

I closed my eyes and let the ancient power flow through me. Silver light poured from every part of my body. I felt the power of my great-great-grandmother, the supernatural hunter from China. I felt the strength of every Chen family member who came before me.

The power to control supernatural beings flooded through my blood.

Tommy Chen laughed with joy. "Finally! Now I'll take it from you!"

He reached out to grab me.

But then something impossible happened.

The barn doors exploded inward.

Elena stood in the doorway, her silver eyes blazing with power. But she wasn't alone.

Five other people stood with her. Each one glowed with different colored light—gold, blue, green, red, purple.

"You made one mistake, Tommy Chen," Elena said. "You assumed I'd come here alone."

Tommy Chen's smile disappeared. "That's impossible. You were supposed to be fighting five Hunters thirty miles away."

"I was," Elena said. "And I won. Then I convinced them to switch sides."

The five glowing people stepped into the barn.

"Meet my new team," Elena announced. "Five reformed Hunters who've decided The Organization has gone too far."

Tommy Chen backed away from Lily. "This changes nothing. I still have twenty-three supernatural powers."

"And we have six," Elena said. "Plus Sarah's awakened ancient power. Want to do the math?"

For the first time, I saw fear in Tommy Chen's eyes.

He raised both hands and every supernatural power he possessed activated at once. His body glowed with twenty-three different colors. The barn shook like an earthquake was happening.

"If I'm going down," he screamed, "I'm taking all of you with me!"

The silver symbols on the floor exploded with light.

The seventeen Chen family members started rising into the air, still tied to their chairs.

Santos struggled to her feet, blood running from her head.

Elena and her five new allies surrounded Tommy Chen.

And I stood in the center of it all, my ancient power fully awakened for the first time in a hundred years.

"Sarah," Elena shouted over the noise, "you have to choose right now!"

"Choose what?"

"Use your power to control Tommy Chen and save everyone in this barn. But if you do, The Organization will know your power has awakened. They'll send every Hunter in America after you."

Tommy Chen laughed. "She won't do it! She's too scared!"

Little Lily Chen floated higher into the air, her chair spinning. She looked at me with terrified eyes.

All seventeen Chen family members looked at me.

Santos looked at me.

Elena looked at me.

Everyone was waiting for me to decide.

I took a deep breath and raised my glowing hands toward Tommy Chen.

"I choose—"

Suddenly, every light in the barn went out.

In the darkness, I heard Tommy Chen's voice whisper right in my ear.

"Too late, Detective. I already won."

Then something grabbed me from behind, and I felt myself falling through the floor even though there was no hole.

Falling and falling into complete darkness.

The last thing I heard was Elena screaming my name.

Then nothing.