The Shadows- Fire's Hope

by E Kathryn

  January sighed again, grunting as he was probably rubbing his temples as he often did. “What nonsense are you going on about?”

  Marissa wavered a little. “We always knew Mark might be a Shadow, and we were right. He can turn invisible, make fire in his hands, and…”

  “Marissa!” January’s voice became firm. “Don’t take this out on yourself. There’s no way you could have known this would happen. There were no signs when he was born… right?” he stammered a bit, trying to force out the word.

  Marissa pursed her lips. “Jan…” she whispered, growing more worried, “we’ve always known it was possible. There was a slight detection on Mark’s test when he was born. You were the one who told me back then unless you—you didn’t!” she realized. “Oh, please tell me you haven’t forgotten all about it!”

  January stammered. “I uh… I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Anger welled inside Marissa as January inadvertently confirmed it. “You did! You forgot all about it! Jan! How do you always forget about everything to do with Shadows?!”

  “Calm down!” January urged, now sounding sorry. “You know I forget things sometimes. You know I can’t control that… just please, wait ‘til I get home and we can deal with this then, okay?” He tried to confirm, but only received a muffled response from his wife. “Okay, I’m booking the flight for tomorrow. I should be back late tomorrow.”

  Marissa dried her tears of grief and nodded even though her husband couldn’t see it. “I miss you…” she whispered weakly.

  She could tell January was forcing a smile on the other line. “I miss you too, and I love you, Isa. Just hold on a day longer. It’ll be all right, I promise!” He tried to comfort her from afar. It wasn’t much help, and Marissa could not stop herself from fully letting loose her sorrow before she could continue cooking.

  XXIV

  INWARD MOTIVE, OUTWARD ACT, ONWARD FLIGHT

  November 2, 2030

  No part of the bed could have been comfortable from the way Sil tossed and turned through the night. Emilie hated seeing him like this, and after Mark and June went home, she stuck around quietly, hiding out in the Realm, and rarely making the family aware she was present. Sil was trapped in a nightmare, residual pain from his burns and a little subconscious homesickness.

  All Emilie could guess by the way he shifted throughout the night was that it was going to take a while for him to adjust to life outside the ASH. In the quiet darkness, she drew near to him, resting her weight on the bed, and laying down behind him. He was cold, but he embraced her hand, and stopped fidgeting.

  Emilie found herself able to sleep with him, closing her eyes against his cold back and slipping away until the faintest morning light touched her face. White light diffused through the window, and Emilie opened her eyes to the foggy silhouette of a bare November oak, and Sil sitting up.

  Cross-legged on the mattress, Sil meditated, unmoving, training his breathing and opening his mind to the Realm. She could feel pulses in the Realm as he reached out, expanding his range gradually with each breath. He had been waiting a long time for this, and the freedom in the Realm was a welcome change. No part of her wanted to disturb his peaceful meditation, only taking note of his straight back and messy braid as she rose out of the bed vertically.

  Without much in the way of keeping warm, she opened the window and slipped out into the cold air. Looking back only once, she watched Sil’s eye peek open to see her go. As she exhaled, her breath came out in small clouds of fog, and she had never felt so happy and so free. However, as the cold pinched her cheeks, she started thinking about her mother.

  As much as she wanted to put it off, she was going to meet her mother today. She didn’t know a thing about the woman other than that she was Marissa’s sister, and she was terrified to imagine what kind of person Hellen Meyvise would be.

  It made her colder to fear that her mother had never forgotten her, and some form of love would flow from the grief. It froze her heart to acknowledge that possibility, because she had never loved her mother.

  A sense of vertigo suddenly came over her and she felt something tugging her, wanting her to fly away from there. It might just have been her gut telling her to get out of there and fly to the farthest reaches of the world to never have to set eyes on her mother. But she felt drawn to the west after an urge she had never felt before. Curious of what the tug could be or if it was another Shadow, she flew after it as fast as she could.

  At the speed of sound, she crossed over the Appalachians with incredible ease. The only thing that pained her was the cold. It stung her ears and shot at her face like a million needles. She didn’t care, it was in her blood and she had never reached speeds like this before. She never wanted to stop, even if she died in midair.

  A glint of light high above her tempted her to go faster, to climb higher, but even then, the air became thinner as she rose into the atmosphere. She was able to go fast enough to keep up with the distant airplane, but with how unbearably freezing the air was, she wasn’t able to truly get nearer to it until it descended to land. Below her, she made out the airfield and a smile touched her lips as curiosity took hold of her reason.

  Something occurred to her as she flew onward. Thousands of people, every day, were able to fly on their own, and within this airport, her power of flight seemed miniscule compared to the powerful jets that carried hundreds of people per trip. She ducked down behind the control tower, exploring as she always wished to, and watching from as close as she could get as a huge jet landed in the distance. In awe, Emilie identified the gangway that would be attached to the plane, allowing the passengers to enter the airport. A smirk touched her lips. It was too easy!

  Entering the Realm, Emilie dashed down into the stairway and remained in the Realm until it was stretched out to attach onto the plane. Nothing excited her more, and no amount of waiting could dull the gleam in her eyes when passengers finally started appearing.

  The sheer variety of passengers fascinated her, eyeing up men in suits glancing down at their phones for the time, small families fighting to hang onto their excited kids, and a young adult girl who appeared lost and confused as she toted a heavy backpack and dragged an oblong suitcase that was longer and thinner than a normal carryon and decorated with music notes.

  Emilie wanted to help her, to try to look like one of the passengers, but she didn’t even have a small bag with her to pretend was luggage. So, she stayed in the Realm. A man stepped out of the plane, catching Emilie’s eye instantly. He was in casual clothes and pulled an obviously heavy suitcase.

  He appeared rushed and had a distressed look in his eyes as he paused and stared at the stairway for several seconds, almost directly at Emilie. He held up two people behind him, and he apologized half-heartedly before stepping off to the side and digging around his pockets for his phone.

  Narrowing her eyes, Emilie gazed at him, intrigued, he looked to be in his late thirties with creamy-brown hair he kept pushed back, and dark brown eyes. The stewardess urged him onward and he walked haphazardly down the stairs, absorbing himself into his phone.

  Seeing as there were no more passengers, Emilie followed him, floating behind him at a distance. Suddenly, the man stopped, appearing to be looking out the stairway’s window for a few seconds before he looked back, feeling watched.

  Nervously, he turned away and stepped down the stairs and into the hall which led into the airport. One step at a time, Emilie followed his movements, unsettling him, and she could tell he knew she was there. His footsteps were inconsistent, he kept glancing back until finally, he whirled around, and demanded to the air, “Who’s following me?” His face was incredibly close to hers, and she held her breath, seeing instantly the humiliation in his eyes when he realized there was no one there. Sighing, the man relaxed a little, and turned about to continue on.

  “Who are you?” Emilie asked, incredibly close to him on the opposite side, startling him a good deal.

  He cu
rsed quietly and jumped away. “You scared me…” he admitted before looking her over, growing confusion on his face.

  Floating upward, which caused the man to pale considerably, she got even closer to his face. “You look familiar,” she hummed, circling him and grinning as he stumbled to follow her. “Have you have been to the ASH? I could swear I’ve seen you before. Are you an ASO? Or were you one of the doctors Kimberly brought in for the Recluse?”

  “Hold on, hold—” the man tripped over his suitcase and stumbled. “You’re a Shadow? How did you get here? The ASH is… miles away.” He trailed off, confirming that he had a grasp on what the ASH was truly used for. “W-who are you?” he demanded in turn.

  Gleefully, Emilie placed her feet on the floor and gave a wry bow. “Shadow Feather.” She curtsied. “And your name?”

  Skeptically, the man grasped at his cell phone in his pocket. “I need to get my luggage. Will you please excuse me?” He tried to be polite and pushed past, not anticipating how strong Emilie was when she held him back. “Excuse me!”

  “I want to know your name,” Emilie urged with benevolent eyes close to his face.

  “You didn’t give me yours!” the man insisted, pushing her shoulder so she drifted through the air. She followed him, of course, in awe by how unafraid he was of her powers. It was almost as if he had been around Shadows before, and not for a short period of time either.

  He drew his hand out of his pocket, and protecting the phone from her view, he dialed a number and excused himself to a corner in the hall. “I just landed. Have you left yet?” he asked whoever was on the other line. “I know, but I don’t want to get a taxi, and—” He stopped, glancing back at Emilie who was surely eavesdropping on him. “There’s this girl following me. She said she’s a Shadow.”

  Emilie could hear the caller on the other line. “A Shadow? What does…” it was muffled after that, but the man glanced over his shoulder and sighed.

  “Crazy eyes, and she floats…” the man described her loosely. It did make Emilie a little nervous, but she didn’t show it. The man started stammering uncontrollably, nervous or worse, as he listened to what seemed to be an interrupter speaking through the phone. “All right, all right… fine. Give the phone back to your mom.” A hand drifted to his forehead and he massaged the bridge of his nose, exemplifying what seemed to be a nasty headache or migraine. “I’ll see you soon?” he confirmed with his wife. “I love you…” his whisper was his only goodbye before the receiver hung up.

  “You’re January Halo, aren’t you?” Emilie muttered happily.

  He turned back to her, staring in shock that she knew his name. “How did you know?”

  She crossed her arms and smirked. “I could hear Mark in the Realm through the phone.”

  Unconvinced, January turned away, nursing his headache as he walked. “And how do you know Mark? From the ASH, where you took him?” He trailed away, too bitter in his voice to require an answer. “I just found out he’s a Shadow. I need to see my family. I need to see him for myself.”

  “Any luck?” Marissa said as Mark and Sil slammed the door shut behind them.

  “Nothing. We can’t find her anywhere, even through the Realm,” Sil said, freezing both his hands in distress.

  “I wonder if she went ahead to Aunt Hellen’s without us,” Mark said, flopping onto a stool at the kitchen island counter. He brushed the scarlet strike out of his face nervously. With no sign of Emilie all morning, and knowing her free spirit, they were starting to fear she had completely run away, never to be seen again.

  “But Hellen lives an hour away and Emilie couldn’t find her, by herself at least,” Marissa said straightforwardly. Her phone rang but Marissa didn’t care much and let it ring, her disheartened posture dominating both boys in their distress. It kept ringing, the song Ode to Joy played itself over and over. Marissa sighed. “All right, all right,” she took the phone from her pocket and answered.

  “Hello, this is Marissa,” her voice changed completely when she answered the phone to seem friendly, bearing no baggage until she listened, not interrupting. “Oh, you have, that was quick.”

  The two boys gaped, certain it could be Emilie on the other line. “Oh, it’s just, we’re a bit preoccupied here,” Marissa grumbled in an already perplexed tone. “Should we come and pick you up?”

  “Is it Emilie? Is she okay?” Mark interrupted. Marissa held up a finger signaling Mark to be quiet.

  “A Shadow?” Marissa murmured with a still, somewhat concerned tone. “What does she look like?”

  “Who is that?” Mark demanded, haphazardly grabbing the phone from his mother and holding it to his ear.

  “Crazy eyes and she floats…”

  “Dad? You’re back already? Where are you? Is Emilie with you?” The words fell out of his mouth so fast, he could barely contain himself, but when he heard his father’s voice, something changed in him.

  Sil flustered when he heard it. Mark talked badly about his father with a scowl, but when Mark was truly with his father, in his heart, Sil could tell from a mile away that Mark still admired him.

  Mark handed the phone back to his mother, a gleeful quiet look on his face as Sil broke into his thoughts. “Was Emilie there?” Sil asked unable to hold his breath any longer. “She isn’t hurt, is she?”

  “It wasn’t Emilie. It was Mark’s dad. He’s at the airport. We have to pick him up,” Marissa said, grabbing her keys off the peg on the wall near the door. “Mark, go get June. She’s probably in her room playing video games.”

  Mark nodded and tread off down the hall. “Sil,” Marissa continued, “you need to go ask the Addisons if you can come along.” He nodded too and headed out the door hesitating to look back as Mark disappeared down the hall. Sil still struggled with the idea of having a family to answer to, and parents to love and respect, but even Mark had healing to be done in his own family, especially now that he knew he was a Shadow.

  Mark’s oblivious fascination with the Shadows had to end, and his disrespect for his father had to melt away, and even as he dashed down the street to the Addisons, Sil could feel Mark’s heart, and how warm it was.

  The Halos had a tiny car since they only had two children, and together with Sil, they filled the car, expecting Emilie would probably fly home without a care. The drive to JFK was long and sweet, but with how close they lived to Manhattan, the traffic usually prolonged the ride. It was even more over stimulating to Sil once they reached the airport, and to be surrounded by so many normal humans terrified Sil so completely, his entire focus became the Realm and finding Emilie.

  January spotted them first and waved them over, prompting them to run as January gathered up his suitcases and let his family fall into his arms. He paid special attention to his daughter who innocently clung to his leg happily after practically licking her father’s face with how many times she kissed him.

  January hesitated, a wary look appearing in his eyes as he gazed closely at Mark. “Don’t I get a hug from you anymore?” he asked with a smile. Mark stepped closer and hugged him tightly, squeezing him, as hard as he could. January did the same. He was sure to ruffle Mark’s unruly black hair before releasing him and smiling into his face.

  He looked directly to Sil, eyeing up his long white hair. “So, does somebody want to explain to me why she’s following me around?” he asked, sounding quite annoyed as he rattled his suitcase forcing Emilie to exit the Realm.

  She had been perching on the suitcase whilst hiding, so January probably only knew she was there because he had seen her vanish. However, it startled Sil a little to realize how good January was at recognizing Shadows in the Realm. Emilie beamed playfully, waving at Sil and causing fury to rise in his breath. “What are you doing here? We didn’t have any idea where you went!”

  January’s eyes flashed as he stepped back, startled by the power in Sil’s voice as he displayed how infuriated he was by taking Emilie’s arms and letting her float up to her feet. “You can’t run off
like that!” Sil’s voice cracked, so terrified he shook her shoulders. “We don’t know how people will react to us. Please be safe. I just don’t want you to get hurt!”

  Emilie didn’t say anything, her wild unpredictable persona shattered. Her eyes fell, and she nodded.

  He released her, and she wordlessly let Sil push her into the bustling crowd, vanishing into the Realm as they left. Mark couldn’t fully understand their uneasiness about being around so many people, but he figured they were heading back to the car.

  “Sorry, who was that? What’s going on?” January let out his demands shakily.

  Mark bent down to help his father with his bags and urged them in his movements to follow Sil and Emilie. “That was Sil. He’s from the ASH too.” With this short answer he stepped away from them, carrying the heaviest of January’s bags.

  “Mark,” Marissa called hurriedly, scooping up June and urging along her family. “Sil’s Arianne and André’s son. And Emilie is Hellen’s daughter, our niece,” she explained, knowing Mark wasn’t going to.

  Tensing, January nearly stopped in his tracks. “That girl is related to us!” he gaped, completely at a loss. “Mark!” he called desperately, “slow down!” Hurrying his steps even though he was tired from the journey, January rushed to catch up with him. “We need to talk about this, to… try to understand what happened to you.”

  “Think we could talk in the car?” Mark glanced back as his only reply. He continued to the parking lot without looking back, trying to seem certain, like his old self to his father, but really, he was struggling to come up with an explanation for all this madness that made sense. He spotted Sil waiting at the car with Emilie sitting on the roof and being a nuisance.

  You’re nervous, Sil’s voice in the Realm scared the wits out of him.