All Things in the Shadows

by B. D. Messick

  “What happened? How did we get back here?” she finally asks, as she starts to sit up.

  “How much do you remember?” I scoot a little closer to her and put my arm behind her back to help her sit. My heart is racing the entire time.

  “I saw you stream across to that other building, but right before I was going to follow you, I heard something in the alley. I spotted a demon, and you know me, I couldn't let it go. I remember that I was fighting it, and I saw you there for a second, and then ... I think he hit me, right?” she asks, touching her cheek with her hand. “Ow! Yeah, that I remember.”

  “That's pretty much it. When I got down to the alley to help you, a second one came out of the dark behind me.”

  “What? Are you okay?” she asks, a look of deep concern on her face.

  “I'm fine. I killed it and then I was able to injure the one who was attacking you. I cut off its arm, but it got away.”

  “You killed a major demon, on your own and then saved my life,” she says, looking at me as the swirl of colors in her eyes rage like a storm.

  “I did what I had to do. I had to save you.”

  She throws her arms around me and pulls me into a huge bear like hug. I rest my chin on her shoulder and close my eyes, concentrating on the feeling of her body pressing against mine. She leans back and smiles warmly at me.

  “I didn't mean to put you in danger. You know that, right?” she asks.

  “I know. Shit happens.”

  She shakes her head. “How did we get back here? Does anyone else know what happened?”

  I want to answer right away, but instead, I pause and that's almost enough of an answer to start Kateri worrying.

  “Who knows?” she asks, her voice full of urgency.

  “Reeva and Clay showed up after the second demon was gone. She helped me get you back here.”

  “Shit! Reeva and Clay, that's just great.”

  “It's okay, they're cool ... but that's not all.”

  She looks at me and sighs. “Father knows, doesn't he?”

  I nod and cringe.

  E ~ He knows.

  K ~ Shit!! Shit!! Shit!!

  “I covered for you,” I say.

  “What? What do you mean?”

  “I told him that it was my idea to go out, that I wanted to practice streaming in the real world.”

  Kateri looks at me and shakes her head slowly. “You didn't need to do that.”

  “Yeah, I did.”

  She sighs quietly. “Did he believe you?”

  “I don't know, maybe. But he told me he wants to see us both when you wake up,” I say, grimacing a little.

  “Crap.”

  “Double crap.”

  “Well, I guess we should get this over with.”

  “Probably. Let's stick to my story though, okay?”

  Kateri nods.

  “As long as it holds up,” she says. “If it starts to go sideways, I'll take the blame. It's only right.”

  “We'll see how things go.”

  The walk to Father's office seems much longer than it really is. As we pass through the mess hall, a flood of thoughts crash into me, but I wade through them easier than ever before. I isolate a few, and it seems that Reeva has been talking.

  How could she kill a demon on her first outing?

  Oh jeez, Father's going to be pissed.

  I always knew that Kateri was trouble ... I feel bad for that Eve girl.

  I wish I could pick out who thought that last one, but it's impossible to do that, unless I stand in the middle of the room and ask them all. It still doesn't stop me from shooting a dirty look across the hall. We walk into the map room, and I immediately look up at Father's office. He's leaning over his desk, studying a collection of papers when we enter.

  “Father,” Kateri says, bowing her head.

  He looks up from his desk and nods silently.

  “You asked us to come see you,” I say.

  I can't bring myself to call him Father, I'm not exactly sure why. Maybe it's because I've never had the chance to call anyone father, and it doesn't feel right to me. In any case, he doesn't seem offended by my polite refusal.

  “I did, thank you for coming so quickly. Please sit,” he says as he walks around his desk and over to the door, closing it quietly. “How are you, Kateri? No lingering injuries?”

  Kateri and I sit down as he walks slowly back around us and takes a seat in his chair.

  “I'm fine, Father. Thank you.”

  “That's good, I'm glad.” He looks pointedly at me. “Now, can you explain to me why the two of you were outside the facility?”

  “We were training downstairs and I asked Kateri if we could go outside so I could practice streaming in the real world,” I say, glancing at her quickly.

  Father studies me for a moment and then looks at Kateri. “Is that true, Kateri?”

  I see her swallow hard and her mouth opens before closing again without a word being said.

  “Yes, Father,” she finally says.

  “And you thought this was a good idea?”

  She lowers her head before looking up at him again. “After seeing what she could do, I had confidence in her.”

  Father shakes his head slowly, looking back and forth between the two of us. “And how did you end up in a fight with two demons?”

  K ~ Shit!

  E ~ Yeah, maybe we should have thought about that one, huh?

  “I heard something in the alley below the building we were on and went to investigate,” Kateri says.

  “You were streaming on the top of buildings?” he asks.

  E ~ Oh ... crap.

  K ~ Soooo, this is going well.

  “I wanted to try something different,” I reply before Kateri can answer.

  “It's different all right.”

  For a few moments, the three of us sit in silence and then Father leans back in his chair and sighs.

  “I'm going to assign Reeva to train Eve from now on.”

  “What?!” Kateri shouts, jumping up from her chair. “No!”

  “Kateri, calm down,” Father says, with no anger or menace in his voice, but Kateri sits back down nevertheless. “I think you might be too young to be given such an important task. Reeva has more experience.”

  “But Father,” Kateri pleads, her voice cracking.

  “I'm sorry. That's my decision.”

  “I'll leave,” I say, without standing, raising my voice, or making a scene.

  Everything stops suddenly, and an awkward silence fills the room.

  “What?” Father asks, looking at me.

  I stare back at him, unflinching. “I said, I'll leave. If you replace Kateri, I'll just go home. You can't keep me here.”

  K ~ What are you doing?

  E ~ What I have to do.

  He leans back in his chair, keeping his gaze locked on me.

  “The only reason I'm still here is because of her.”

  “You do realize that what is happening here is more important than either of you,” he replies.

  I nod, looking over at Kateri.

  “I do, and I want to help. I want to do my part, whatever that may end up being, but I won't do it without her,” I say, crossing my arms. “I trust her. I don’t know Reeva.”

  K ~ So, this is your bad-ass self ...

  E ~ We'll see ...

  Father stares at me, before looking over at Kateri. After a minute or so, he shakes his head.

  “You two are going to turn my grey hair white,” he says with a sigh.

  “That's what teenage girls do,” I reply with a grin.

  “Just go.” He waves us out of his office.

  Kateri and I stand and move toward the door, stopping when he speaks again.

  “Don't make me regret this.”

  “We won't.” I head down the stairs with Kateri.

  As we exit the map room, Kateri taps my arm. “You didn't need to do that.”

  “Yeah I did.”

  “Did
you mean what you said?”

  “About what?”

  “That the only reason you're here is because of me.”

  “Of course, that's why I said it.” I smile warmly at her.

  I swear she blushes, but if she did, it fades quickly.

  “That means a lot to me,” she says, her rainbow eyes sparkling.

  “I'm glad,” I say, softly and then my phone rings.

  Checking the screen, I can see it's my mom. I tap the answer button. “Hey, Mom.”

  “Hi, baby. Whatcha' doing?”

  “Nothing much, just hanging out at home.”

  Kateri shoots me a shocked expression and I shake my head.

  “You get all your homework done?”

  “Not yet. I'll do it after dinner.”

  “You have a lot?”

  “No, not really. I'll have it done in a few minutes.”

  “Okay. Don't forget about school tomorrow morning,” she says, sounding very motherly.

  “Yes, Mom. I remember, it's every Monday.”

  “Sorry. I'm your mother, you know. It's my job to remind you.”

  “I know. So, how's everything going there?”

  “They're good, really good actually,” she says, and I can hear some hesitation in her voice.

  “What else?”

  “Nothing, honey.”

  “Come on, Mom. I know that tone.”

  There a pause in the conversation and then she sighs. “I may have to come back here at the end of the week.”

  “Well, that's good, right? That means they really like your stuff.”

  “Yeah, but ...”

  “Mom. I'm okay with it, don't worry. This is important.”

  “Thanks, honey. I love you.”

  “Love you too, Mom,” I say while Kateri rolls her eyes at me.

  E ~ Shut up! I frown at her.

  K ~ Mmmm ... love you, Mommy.

  She continues to make fun of me and I turn my back to her.

  “Anyway, I'll be in tomorrow afternoon. We can have dinner together.”

  “Sounds good. I'll see you then.”

  “Okay, have a good night, baby.”

  “I will, you too. Bye.”

  “Bye.”

  I slip the phone back into my pocket and turn around.

  “You know, sometimes you can be a little annoying,” I say, as I start walking again, heading into the library.

  “I know, everyone says that. Maybe I should do something about it.”

  “Yeah right.”

  “So, do you have to go?”

  When I answered the phone, I saw that it was about five thirty. “I have some time before I have to head home.”

  “What do you want to do?”

  “I want to see some more of your drawings.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Kateri seems a little reluctant to let me look through the rest of the binder full of pictures of me as we sit together on her bed, but I press her, and she eventually gives in. As I delve deeper, I notice her edging away from me on the bed. Reaching over, I place my hand on her leg, rubbing my fingers back and forth across the denim of her jeans. At first, I feel her tense up when I touch her, but it's not long before she relaxes and shifts herself back toward me.

  “This isn't too creepy, is it?” she asks.

  I can see the concern written all over her face. I look up from a sketch of me sitting by a stream, my foot dangling in the water.

  “Honestly, at first, I didn't know what to think.” A look of fear appears in her eyes, in fact, even the colors seem to darken somewhat. “But now I can see these are more than just drawings and sketches ... they're works of art.”

  Kateri nods, before picking up the folder and setting it aside.

  “They're more than that to me,” she says, quietly. “They show how I feel about you.”

  I smile warmly as I take her hands in mine, slowly rubbing my thumbs across the tops of her fingers.

  “I know. I can see it in every splash of color, in each pencil line, and in your eyes.”

  Her expression changes slowly, the colors in her eyes darkening slightly.

  “The thing is, I've known you for a long time, Eve. I know for you it’s only been a few days, so I understand if you don't feel the way I do,” she says, softly.

  I think I know what she's going to say, and we just had a talk about taking things slow, but I don't want to say anything to hurt her. It's not like I don't have feelings for her, I do, but I'm not there yet and I'm not sure how to tell her.

  “Before you say anything else, let me say something.”

  She looks at me and I can see the worry etched on her face and I can feel the tension in her hands.

  “What you said is true. For you, it's been three years and for me just a few days,” I say, and I can feel her starting to pull away, “but that doesn't mean that I don't feel something.”

  I pause for a few moments, and I can see a tiny smile forcing its way to the surface, pushing aside the frown on her face.

  “Like I've said before,” I continue. “I've never been in a serious relationship, okay? So, I'm not exactly sure how I'm supposed to feel, but at the same time, I know there's something there.”

  She nods before gently squeezing my fingers. “Now it's my turn. I won't say those words ... because I don't think I'm ready to say them, and you're not ready to hear them, but that doesn't mean I don't feel them.”

  I nod this time, smiling at her. “That's fair enough,” I say, even though there's a tiny part of me that wishes she would say ‘those words’, even though the other part of me is scared to death to hear them.

  “Come on. I want to see more.” I pull the binder back over between us and begin flipping through the images again.

  About two hours later, Kateri and I walk outside. The sun is low in the sky and it's just starting to get dark. As we stand in front of the run-down factory, she looks at me and smiles. After what we both said inside, it’s like we're suddenly uncomfortable with each other, and I hate that feeling.

  “I didn't mean to get you in trouble today,” she says.

  “I know,” I reply. “Don't worry about it. I think we have Father outnumbered anyway.”

  We both laugh, and then she sighs.

  “What?”

  She shakes her head. “Nothing ... I ...”

  “Hey, you want to come over? We can grab some dinner, maybe play something before I have to get to bed.” I say, trying to turn the tide of awkwardness between us.

  “You sure?”

  I sigh quietly and then take her hand, squeezing it gently. “Kateri, stop worrying. We're all good,” I say, smiling warmly at her.

  She gives me the first genuine smile since she told me how she feels.

  “Okay,” she replies, quietly.

  “So, you coming over or what?”

  “Sure, I have to defend my record.”

  “Yeah, or have it shattered,” I reply with a wink.

  “Yeah, good luck with that. Race ya there.” She laughs before stepping into the shadows and vanishing.

  E ~ Cheater!

  K ~ Whatever ... loser.

  I stream to the roof, and then begin linking to the tops of half a dozen buildings, trying to create the shortest path to my house. I wish I could see where Kateri is, but when you're streaming, it's difficult, and dangerous to focus on anything except your jump points. You always have to be concentrating, but at the same time, it's the most liberating experience I can imagine. You feel lighter than air, and faster than lightning. I spot my house in the distance, and I start to wonder if she's already there. Linking to a small pizza joint with an apartment above it, I leap toward my building, and the next second, I'm on the roof. Looking around, I don't see her, so I run to the fire escape and slide down the ladder. As soon as I lift the window, I see she's sitting on my bed, a massive smile on her face.

  “You're going to have to do a lot better than that to beat me,” she says, laughing.

&n
bsp; I slip inside, shaking my head. “How the hell did you get here so fast?” I sit down on the bed next to her.

  “Practice, practice, practice.”

  “Uh huh.”

  “The key is less link-points so that you don't have keep re-adjusting.”

  “Now you tell me.” I sit down next to her. “So, what do you want to eat?”

  “Doesn't matter to me.”

  “Chinese?”

  The second I ask the question a wave of sadness seems to settle over me as a grim realization forms in my head. Any sort of relationship with Kateri will be a lonely affair. We won't be able to go out to dinner together, ever. I won't be able to take her to a school dance, or out with my friends, because no one will be able to see her, except me. I sigh, without really meaning too, and she looks at me.

  “What's the matter?”

  “Nothing,” I reply, putting on a smile.

  “Chinese sounds good.”

  “Cool. Let's go see if we can find the menu for Panda Garden.” We both head downstairs.

  We walk side-by-side, our hands brushing against each other as we descend the stairs to the kitchen. I'm still surprised how much and how fast my feelings have grown for her. I mean, I've seen enough movies and read enough books where people fall in love at first sight, but I always scoffed and thought how unrealistic that was. Now though, I'm not so sure. I mean, I don't think I love her yet, but when I think about not being around her, like when I go to school tomorrow, it makes my heart ache. When we reach the landing, I spot her sword leaning up against the front door frame.

  It only takes a few minutes to find the menu and place the order with the restaurant; lemon chicken for me and extra hot General Tso's for her. We both flop down on the couch on our backs, head to head, staring up at the ceiling.

  “You doin' okay with all this?” she asks.

  “I think so, although it's been the strangest weekend of my life.”

  “It's only gonna get stranger.”