The Shadows- Fire's Hope

by E Kathryn

  As Mark watched the Shadows pack up their camp in minutes, Kip awoke and sat up as he heard the Shadows loading the tents into the van. Mark knew eventually the bench where Kip laid would have to be up-righted into a seat and not a bed for them to all fit in so it was good he was awake. He seemed a little surprised to find Mark was still with him but he was unable to express it as a sudden crack in his ribs forced him to double over.

  Mark laid a hand on his back as he winced, seething at the pain. “How are you feeling?” Mark asked.

  Kip had already heard the question a million times, and he didn’t answer. What was there to answer? It was obviously too much pain to respond but he still tried “We’re leaving?” Filling his lungs felt like sucking in sand.

  “We’ll have a better chance at hiding where I live. My mom could never turn us away, and we’ll be able to find out what’s wrong with you,” Mark rambled, helping Kip sit up as the mattress pad was adjusted into a seat.

  Sighing, Kip cleared his throat. “I’ll be okay...” he tried to assure.

  Mark shook his head. “No, you need help. You’re—”

  “Hey!” Elise said suddenly coming into the van, “have you seen Sil? He’s missing.”

  “He said he’d be close by. Did you check the cliffs?” he asked in return.

  Elise drew her brows together. “But... why?”

  Hearing a tone in the Realm, Mark gazed out at the canyon at the prompt and gestured. “It’s all right... There he is now.”

  Looking over the horizon, Elise hurried out of the van freezing only when she saw him. Mark also got out of the van following all the Shadows who were now staring in the direction of the crag. Struggling, Kip turned in the van to gaze and gasped a little at the glare of the light over the canyon behind Sil’s back.

  Every braid the Shadows knew of, every tangle and collected mat, was gone. Sil stood surely with the blue sky behind him, his white hair was long past his waist, and smooth save a few strands of ice-white, which flew freely.

  Uneasily, Sil smoothed a few shorter strands over his head—too uneven to be called bangs—and pulled the length of his hair over his shoulder twisting it to keep it from tangling. Joining the Shadows, Sil looked about to see if there was anything he could help with. Finding otherwise, he headed over to the van to get in, only once looking back to gesture them all in.

  Pleasantly surprised, all fourteen Shadows, save Kip who was already there, scurried into the van. Once inside and Rita was ready, the green mist surrounded the whole vehicle and they vanished without a trace.

  XVIII

  SURPRISING ARRIVALS

  October 30, 2030

  As hastily as possible, Keller’s hand thrust at the ringing phone. “Any luck there?” he asked spitting into the receiver.

  “No, sir, they’re gone,” the response of one of his men came regretfully.

  “So, they were there!” he chanted excitedly. He listened for a few moments and didn’t respond while he received more bad news. “All right...” he whispered. “Thanks for the report, please keep looking.” Hanging up without another word, Keller reeled back in the desk chair surrounded by security screens, hopelessly.

  Reaching out, Keller sipped a cup of coffee. It was too early in the morning for him to function fully, but the Shadows’ last location had been discovered and he was forced to take calls even in this state. Sighing, he waited behind the dark curtain for more calls when suddenly the curtain opened and Kimberly peered in at him.

  When Keller’s eyes adjusted to the light, he could immediately make out Kimberly’s tear stained face. A little shocked, Keller stood. “Really?” he raised a discouraged brow. “This is tearing you apart that much?” he wondered as he held her shoulders.

  Kimberly embraced him as Keller pulled her into his arms. “Any luck?” she asked.

  Keller whispered to not incite any of her emotions. “They were in Arizona yesterday morning. But Rita’s with them and they left before anyone got there.”

  Despairing, Kimberly’s tears revived. “I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if anything happens to Kip...”

  Holding her tightly, Keller shushed her. “We’ll find them,” he patted her curly hair. “Just trust me.”

  Kimberly nodded gravely and released Keller. “What did we do wrong? When did the Shadows hate us this much?”

  Keller sat and heaved a broken sigh, but the phone rang again and he raced to pick it up. “Where are they?”

  Kimberly’s hope rose as Keller quieted himself and listened carefully. His hand scrambled to write down notes and Kimberly leaned over, realizing he was jotting down an address.

  Acknowledging, Keller’s tone remained firm. “Do not engage them. Don’t let them know you’re there. Keep a perimeter, and wait ‘til I get there!” he ordered and hung up. Kimberly’s eyes met with Keller as he stood, grabbing the note. “They’re in New York. I think Mark’s trying to hide with his family. Are you coming with me or not?” Not waiting for an answer, he darted out of the camera room toward the loading bay.

  Among the dusty jars of tea, Marissa thought of her husband. Between the large container of Ceylon and the nearly depleted Mason jar of Sencha, January collected teas here and there, drinking it in the morning as his first ritual. Everything January did was habit. He never deviated, and he had been battling bouts of depression since before June was born.

  His nine-to-five job consumed his days, and Marissa couldn’t remember a time when he came home with any energy. He had only one friend who gave him the motivation to spend time with Mark. In the single week she had known January would be away for work, the most unspeakable thing had happened. Marissa still didn’t know how to tell him what happened to Mark.

  The empty side of the bed was unbelievably cold this morning and lying there in the early hours left her shivering. All warmth had left the house, and even her playful six-year-old had fallen quiet with Mark’s absence. June was oblivious, of course, she had seen the men come and take Mark, but it could have been an issue with school as far as she was concerned. Marissa bundled it up, keeping it quiet to her entire neighborhood that Mark was gone.

  In staring at those lonely tea jars, sipping her coffee and overthinking how she would tell her husband, Marissa slammed her fist on the table. With the kitchen table chair scooting out from behind her loudly, Marissa stormed toward her cupboards with the first look of determination in her eyes in five days. Mark wasn’t coming back, and January wasn’t going anywhere. It was time to get her life back together.

  Rattling her pans, she found a heavy-bottom skillet, flour, milk, baking powder, eggs, and a touch of butter. June slept in undisturbed usually, so even when she began loudly mixing together these ingredients into a batter, her daughter still didn’t appear until the pancakes were bubbling on the griddle.

  “Pancakes?” June’s singsong little voice chirruped from the dining room.

  Adopting her fakest smile, Marissa brightened up when her daughter waddled in groggily. “Hey, June-bug, first batch will be done in a minute!” Her six-year-old sat at the kitchen table, laying her head on the surface, and nearly falling back to sleep.

  Marissa flipped a pancake, her creeping thoughts sneaking forward and beginning to worry again. She pushed these thoughts back. It was time to move on. With two large pancakes ready, she started the next batch and set a plate in front of June with syrup and a fork. “June, I need to talk to you about something.”

  The young girl dug into her breakfast eagerly, not a thank you on her lips as she devoured the pancakes. “Is Mark coming back today?” she asked.

  Taken off guard, Marissa swallowed back her terror. “Listen to me…” she forced out, keeping her tone level, “Mark’s gone away, and he’s not coming back for a while, okay?”

  “Yeah, he is,” June blared, not an ounce of uncertainty in her voice. “I figured he was just staying at Gary’s until Dad gets back, but he wouldn’t tell me anything other than he’d be coming by today.”


  “W-what? Mark has talked to you? How?”

  June stuffed her mouth with pancakes and shrugged. “I’m not a tattletale!” she gloated, happily protecting her big brother.

  “June,” Marissa reprimanded gently, now standing over her daughter and sliding the plate out of her reach. “Telling lies is not going to help anyone. How did Mark talk to you?”

  Shirking down in the kitchen chair, June left the sticky fork on the surface of the table and gazed up through her lashes with big puppy-eyes. “The latch on my window is broken. Mark uses it to sneak in and out,” she blurted, now reaching for her pancakes desperate to finish them off.

  Marissa grumbled and pushed the plate closer to her baby girl, more conflicted than frustrated. She had to get that window fixed. It wasn’t like she didn’t already know Mark occasionally snuck out. She had to change her attitude. Mark was gone. He wouldn’t be coming back. He should never come back. None of the children ever did.

  Smelling something burning, Marissa’s thoughts turned to what Mark had said. He had created fire. Perhaps that was fitting, he had always been drawn to warmth. His red streaks were hint enough. Part of her had always known he was probably a Shadow even though he had tested negatively when he was born. Something was burning. Her pancakes were burning.

  Scrambling to take the pan off the stove, Marissa flipped the pancakes to reveal a charred black disk. She gripped the oven door and groaned as she stared down at them. She was so distracted. There was no escaping it now. Her son was a Shadow, and he was lost to her forever. Somewhere in the world, he would grow around his own kind, he’d move on, mature, and as an adult, he would be completely and unimaginably different from any preconceived vision she’d ever have of him.

  Quieting her emotions, she muted the sounds around her to the point where she only recognized the doorbell rang when June burst up shrieking, “It’s Mark!”

  Rubbing her face, Marissa straightened herself, certain it was most likely her neighbor checking in on her after her silence. It was a tight knit community, gossip got around, and Marissa could easily get tangled in it no matter how hard she fought to avoid rumors. All she could fret over was how she was going to tell January when he returned.

  June answered the door, throwing it aside so the doorknob slammed into the patched spot on the wall adjacent. It wasn’t Mark. It was Arianne Addison, right? Marissa paid all her attention to June, at her unfettered excitement when she was scooped up into the air, screaming for joy.

  “Hey, June-bug!” His voice sounded like his father’s. She thought it was January at first, but she stopped dead in her paces when she saw him in the doorway. Tall and dark, but still gangly and young, he was growing up too fast, and despite her nightmares, she didn’t want to let him go so soon. When he stood there, blushing, she could never have been more grateful.

  “Mark?” Her voice could barely escape her lungs.

  Mark brushed the red strike out of his face nervously. “Hi, Mom.” He dulled the confidence he had acquired, weighed down by the knowledge that this wouldn’t be easy for his mother.

  Two Shadows stood at either shoulder, hovering close behind him, and one with silver hair and glittering golden eyes glared at her with a deep frown. Marissa remained stunned, her mouth hanging open. “Mark, wha—how… what are you doing here?”

  Mark stepped inside the threshold of the door onto the old beige carpet. He was her son, the same boy under her roof as four days ago, but the gentle confidence in his eyes startled her. He looked right into her eyes, not faltering for a second, nearly as tall as she was, and giving her a long hypnotic view into his glowing crimson gaze. “We need a place to stay.”

  “Wait!” She held him at the door, preventing him from taking another step toward her and pushing June far out of his reach. “You’re a Shadow. You’re supposed to be at the ASH!”

  Flustering a bit, Mark seemed to rise up over her, “I can’t come home? Mom, we only need a place to hide. Please, my friend is sick.”

  Marissa tensed, wide-eyed as she scanned the faces of the Shadows standing behind him. Every cell in her body screamed to let him go, to push him out, to let the ASH deal with this. They’d take care of him. That’s what they promised. However, surrounding those cells was blood, and her heart told her to protect her family. She could not refuse her own son.

  With a heavy side step, she moved out of his way from the door. “All right, explain yourself!”

  At the moment of permission, Mark rushed in with a boy sporting long white hair and a girl whose feet didn’t touch the ground behind him. Marissa tensed when she saw the white-haired Shadow was carrying a younger boy who appeared unconscious.

  Eleven Shadows filed in behind them, and by the time the unconscious child was laid on the couch, there were fifteen Shadows in her living room. Mark knelt beside the couch, stroking the sick boy’s bangs over his forehead where they had been glued with sticky sweat. His sickly skin was pale and clammy, and his breathing rattled hoarse and audible.

  June jumped up and down excitedly as the Shadows came into the house, innocently unsure of what to make of all Mark’s new friends. “Wait!” Marissa cried out with a kitten’s voice as she watched June run about excitedly. Mark didn’t acknowledge her, all his attention on Kip. “Why? How did this happen?”

  Mark gulped and rose up from the floor to face his mother. “Right when we left the ASH, Kip collapsed. He’s having trouble breathing, and he coughed up some blood. I didn’t know what else to do. We couldn’t take him to a hospital and you cared for me when I had asthma, so you have to know how to help.”

  Marissa neared the sick Shadow warily. “Mark, that was years ago.” Regardless of her feelings, she still knelt beside Kip.

  “There has to be something you can do to help him,” Mark pleaded,

  Feeling Kip’s forehead, Marissa assessed the fever. “I could try giving him something small to break the fever, and lessen the pain, but I don’t know if it’ll help in the long run...”

  Mark grimaced. “Anything you think can help, please.” Marissa nodded, meeting eyes with him but Mark hastily threw his arms around her. “I missed you...”

  Marissa was hesitant to accept his embrace but couldn’t help herself. No one could ever take him away from her, as much as she told herself to let go, they couldn’t stop her from loving him. “I missed you too...” She breathed onto his shoulder. “I’m glad you’re back.”

  Taking a pass outside to check and double check that everyone was inside, Sil peeked around the small front yard of the suburban home. In spite of how enclosing the walls of the ASH felt, there was still something very confining about the sectioned land, each portioned out equally.

  A shadow passed over him, and upon looking up, a bird swooped down from the sky. Given just enough time to recognize her, Sil raised his arm to receive the hawk.

  “Winter?” The hawk’s talons dug into his arm and now more than ever he wished he had his leather project to protect himself. “How did you know where I am?” he whispered into her silky feathers, stroking them with the tips of his fingers.

  It made no sense. She had no scent to follow, and she had traveled well over four hundred miles. He made out her markings, observing her cold blue eyes, and confirmed this was his hawk. He couldn’t believe it.

  Winter protested to his handling, and flapped her wings madly, prompting Sil to release her. Smiling to the sky, Sil watched her fly off, knowing she would always come for him. That still didn’t answer how she had found him or how she had traveled such a distance. Returning inside begrudgingly, Sil eased himself into the commotion of Shadows hovering around the sofa.

  Marissa rushed from a linen closet with a large fluffy blanket and laid it over Kip while Elise dabbed his forehead with a damp cloth. Kip shuddered, in too much pain to otherwise react. He had been positioned on his side to make it easier for him to cough, but right now, he was panting hard, fighting to get oxygen in his lungs.

  Sil pulled his long hair over hi
s shoulder, uneasy, and not used to its length. Out of nowhere, June abruptly threw her arms around his waist in an odd hug, startling Sil, who stood there placidly, too panicked to move. Nobody touched him, nobody got near him, but this little girl didn’t know him, and for the first time he felt truly frozen.

  “There, the last one,” June said with her arms wrapped around him. “I’ve hugged all of you.” She released him and then ran over to Fliiy and Elise.

  Shivering, Sil glared over the Shadows protectively, like his hawk as they all quietly made themselves at home, seating themselves and falling silent. Marissa focused on Kip at Mark’s request, but she glanced sideways up at Sil, distracted.

  “Mark...” she addressed warily.

  Mark felt Kip’s forehead again to guess accurately at the temperature. His eyes were red and startlingly bright, paralyzing her with their mystifying aura. Marissa stared down at her hands which were trembling. How was this her son? In five days, he was completely different. “Mark… what happened?”

  Mark attention fixated on the Shadows, making a silent count of them to be sure they were all here and safe. “I told you. He collapsed as soon as we left the ASH.”

  “No, I mean to you. What’s going on?”

  With his eyes becoming tender, Mark sighed. “I guess I found out who I was...” His eyes flared bright cherry, and anxiously he brushed the red strike out of his face.

  “How?” she protested. “It’s only been a few days and you’re not even the same person. Look how you’ve changed!”

  “This is who I’ve always been.” Mark stood up to her, flaring his eyes brighter so the tiny red flames licked at his lashes. “But this,” he pointed at the Shadows gathered about in the living room, “right here is where I’m called to be.” Adopting a coarse voice with his mother was uncomfortable for him. She could see it behind his stance. He was just as terrified as she was.