Something in the Shadows

by Elle Beaumont

  The deep, forced calm voice drew me to a stop beside a slightly open door on the left down the hallway. It was the same room the magic act had been held in. Who was still there?

  “I’m tired of talking! Twenty-five years I’ve worked for you and you do this to me!” The short, stocky man I saw as I peeked into the room threw another glass against the wall and I jumped. The room had been changed over to allow tables to be set up instead of rows of chairs. There were a lot of glasses he could destroy.

  “Nick, he graduated with his masters and has experience as a manager already.” The man I recognized from pictures as Bryce’s dad, Henry Simmons, the company president, held his hands up to placate the disgruntled man who had to be an employee. “I know you’ve been with us for a long time, and I’ve offered you a generous raise-”

  “It’s not good enough!” Nick’s face was beet red and my heart raced as he took a few aggressive steps forward in the direction of Mr. Simmons.

  “Calm down now, Nick, or you can consider yourself fired with advice to go see a counselor for anger management.” Henry appeared unfazed by the angered man.

  “No need to fire me, Simmons. I quit!”

  “Fine.” Mr. Simmons’ face took on a stone-cold glint as his anger rose visibly for the first time during the conversation. “No need for a two weeks’ notice.”

  “You’ll regret this, Simmons." Nick laughed and the evil sound of a madman made the hair on the back of my neck rise. “I’ve given my life to your company and your family. Life I can’t get back. But never mind that. I knew you wouldn’t change your mind. That’s why I hired that magician.”

  Mr. Simmons’ face paled and my stomach plummeted.

  “What are you talking about? What magician? Tonight’s magician?”

  Nick laughed harder. He’d turned from me so I could no longer see his face, but from the sound of his voice, he was quite pleased with himself.

  “A life for a life, Simmons. You took twenty-five years of my life. Now I’m taking twenty-five years from you in the form of your son.”

  “Leave Bryce out of this!”

  Nick held up a hand. “What’s done is done. By morning, Bryce will have met the fate you caused for him.”

  Bryce. He was outside. Alone.

  I turned as voices raised again and ran down the still empty hallway. The empty lobby didn’t slow me down to think of the staff’s absence. Bryce had a target on his back. For once today, I’d been in the right spot at the right time.

  The brisk wind slapped me in the face as I rushed from the lodge. My mind whirled a thousand miles an hour and I missed the first step leading down to the parking lot. Thankfully, Bryce was there to catch me. Again.

  “Whoa, Eloise, where’s the fire?” He chuckled as he righted me. His smile fell when he took in my panic. “What is it?”

  “We need to run. Go. Now.”

  I grabbed his hand and tried to pull him down the steps with me, but he wouldn’t budge.

  “Hold up. What’s happening?” Bryce held my hand tighter and cupped my cheek to make me look at him.

  Tears stung my eyes. Fear threatened to choke me and hold my feet in place, but I couldn’t allow that. There was no time to give in to the fear, so until I could give in, I had to focus on one thing: making Bryce come with me.

  “I know you don’t know me, but please, please, I need you to trust me. Just for a few minutes. Please, let’s go somewhere now.”

  Bryce wiped at my face. Moisture trailed his thumb. I was crying?

  Another agonizing minute passed before Bryce nodded.

  “Let’s go take that walk and you can tell me what’s going on.”

  This time, he allowed me to pull him down the stairs, but I didn’t lead him to the barn as we’d planned. Instead, I led him toward the fields where we’d ride horses tomorrow. And we would. Bryce wouldn’t die tonight.

  Bryce kept pace with me as I rushed into a grassy field outside of the fenced in area where the horses grazed. Forests skirted the field and I pulled him in their direction. They’d provide the cover we needed.

  “Hey, hey, hold up.” Bryce pulled me so I spun back to look at him. Worry, and a tad bit of apprehension glinted back at me in the full moon’s light. “What is going on?”

  “Someone put a hit on your head.”

  He blinked. “Excuse me?”

  I pulled my hand from his and began pacing a few feet in front of him as I spoke. My hands waved in the air as I relived the conversation I’d overheard. The movement kept my hands from shaking.

  “A guy named Nick fought with your dad in the room where the magic act was tonight. There weren’t fists. Just words. I didn’t look in on them to spy. I heard glass break when I left the bathroom and then the yelling so I checked it out on the sly.

  “When I did, your dad and that Nick guy fought about something, someone, and Nick wasn’t happy. Said your dad took twenty-five years of his life and now he was going to take twenty-five years from your dad in the form of your life.”

  I shook and when I finished my explanation, the world tilted. My body pitched to the side, forcing Bryce to again correct me so I didn’t fall.

  “Nick Delaney, was it him?”

  My hands gripped Bryce’s biceps in a tight hold to steady myself, grounding my emotions. “I don’t know. All I know was his name was Nick and he was upset about some guy with a master’s degree and manager experience.”

  Bryce groaned. “Yeah, it’s Nick Delaney. He missed out on a promotion a month or so ago. I didn’t realize he was sore enough about it to make threats.”

  “This is more than a threat, Bryce. He already has a plan in play, or that’s what he told your dad. Nick said something about the magician and you dying tonight, or at least you being dead by morning. We have to keep you away from the lodge until then.” I grabbed at his hand, but Bryce evaded me.

  “What about Dad and Bruce?”

  “Nick wants twenty-five years, Bryce. That’s what’s important to him. How old is Bruce?”

  My eyes continued to scan the moonlit darkness while we talked. The magician had creeped me out with his Latin sounding words. I wasn’t a believer in magic or anything like that–I’d tried to discover the magician’s tricks after all–but something about the Latin had made me nervous. So nervous I’d almost run off the stage if I’d had time.

  “Bruce is twenty-seven. How old are you, Eloise?”

  “Twenty-three, but that’s irrelevant. I’m not the one with a hit on my head by a crazy man, and trust me, Bryce, he might not have been crazy before, but he’s batty now. And I know I sound crazy myself, but I swear I’m not. Even if I’ve had a bad day. I heard this and I was in my right mind.” My voice cracked as my eyes burned again. Would he ever believe me?

  Bryce opened his mouth and closed it again with a heavy exhale. He didn’t believe me, but I couldn’t give up. How could I convince him?

  His phone buzzed before Bryce could think of something to say to me. I wrapped my arms around myself as the chilly autumn wind drove a cloud in front of the moon, diminishing almost all the light we had to see by.

  “Hello? Hey, Dad. No, I’m not in the lodge. Wait, slow down.” Bryce’s body began to stiffen as his father continued to speak.

  A horse whinnied nearby. We were on a ranch with horses, but the noise sounded more ominous than normal, and closer, but I was hyped up more than normal. Still, I looked around. From the field where we stood, the noise could sound like it came from anywhere.

  “Okay, Dad, I’ll keep an eye about me. No, I’m not telling you where I am in case that’s his ploy. Go find Bruce and stay with him in case I’m a distraction and Nick wants to hurt him. Breathe and we’ll figure this out. Also, get some sleep. You sound beyond exhausted.”

  The cloud moved off the moon as Bryce continued to talk and the horse noises grew closer. I turned in a slow circle, watching the darkened forest around the field. When the cloud fully moved and Bryce ended his conversation, I stille
d, frozen with more fear than I’d ever known.

  “Okay, let’s find somewhere safe-” Bryce stopped talking when I hit him. “What is it?”

  My finger shook as I pointed toward the tree line closer to the lodge. Bryce gasped as he took in the man on top of the large steed. The horse wasn’t so much breathtaking–though the black horse’s huge size made me gulp along with the fact puffs of mist escaped his mouth every time he breathed and his eyes glowed red–as the man was. The man with no head.

  Bryce came out of his shock first, which was good because my body had no plans of doing so until Bryce crouched a little in front of me and held a finger to his lips to quiet me. Then he motioned to another section of forest, the section closest to us that also jutted out into the field.

  We didn’t speak as we carefully made our way to the trees. Fear still ate at me so bad my eyes blurred and burned with tears, but I didn’t sniffle even when I wanted to. Even when the tears spilled over down my cheeks, blinding me, I kept my feet moving, guided by Bryce who held himself together better than I did. Until a twig snapped beneath my feet, echoing in the darkness.

  Bryce and I both gasped as we turned to the figure, still headless, on his horse. The horse whinnied again at the sound and its rider turned in the saddle to look our way. Even without a head, it was as if eyes could see us and a coy smile rose when we were spotted.

  “Run.” Bryce pushed me forward toward the trees as the horse took off in our direction. Mist poured from its mouth in the cool air.

  When I didn’t move fast enough, Bryce leapt forward, pulling me after him. The trees engulfed us and the light from the moon diminished. Even with the loss of leaves, the forest was so thick and filled with pines whose branches started halfway up the tree that the moon’s light was mostly blocked completely, making running difficult. At least for me.

  “Come on, Eloise!” Bryce kept a tight hold of my hand and I focused more on him than my surroundings. If I didn’t keep up, I’d trip and take us both down. The neighing horse behind us, and its rider, would love that.

  “Guess I was right,” I puffed as we ran.

  “I’d say so, but I’d like to know who that guy is.” Bryce didn’t sound winded at all. After this, I’d be hitting the gym. The treadmill would be my new best friend.

  “He’s the headless horseman! Surely you know the tale!”

  “Yeah, but this isn’t Sleepy Hollow, El. We’re nowhere near New York. Besides, ouch, Dad said the magician’s in on it, so it’s probably a ploy we have to figure out.”

  “He spoke…in…Latin when…he…hypno…tized…you.” The more we ran, the less I could talk between deep breaths.

  “Did he speak in Latin when he hypnotized you?”

  “I can’t…remember…anything. I…only know…he spoke…to you…because…I wasn’t…asleep yet.”

  “Breathe and run, El. You can do this.” Bryce tightened his hand around mine and pushed tree limbs away from me as best he could, but my face and body were still assaulted by them as we continued plunging into the forest. One of us was bound to lose an eye and with the way my luck went today, it’d be me.

  Sweat rolled down my back by the time Bryce stopped us. “I don’t hear them.”

  I couldn’t hear anything over my heavy breathing and racing heart. I’d have to trust the man who was barely winded. Around us, the forest remained empty and dark. A shudder passed through me and I wasn’t ashamed to press myself against Bryce’s front and hold onto his shirt. He was kind enough to wrap his arms around me, giving me the comfort I needed.

  “We’ll be okay, El. We probably overreacted.”

  He sounded as convinced as I was, and I wasn’t convinced at all.

  Bryce gave a heavy sigh. “We need to find that magician. He knows what’s going on.”

  I looked up at him. “What’ll we do if Headless is still out there?”

  Bryce pulled me closer with his arms. His hands rubbed up and down my back as I trembled against him.

  “We’ll be okay. Nick said I had until sunrise, right?” I nodded against his shoulder. “Well, then I just stay alive until sunrise. Even if we have to stay out here all night. I need to get you back to the lodge though where you’ll be safe.”

  I’d begun to shake my head and he glared down at me in the little light we had.

  “I’m not going anywhere, Bryce. I may be accident prone today, but I’m not all the time. Most days I’m coordinated. I know that’s a bit unbelievable right now, but it’s the truth. My luck isn’t really as bad as it seems today.”

  A roll of thunder passed over us, followed by the sky opening the floodgates. We were soaked in seconds.

  “You were saying?” Bryce laughed as I groaned and buried my face into his shoulder. His hands couldn’t rub my back as easily with my wet clothes, but he didn’t stop holding me.

  Another whinny behind Bryce stilled us. I looked up at Simmering Simmons, but couldn’t see him through the rain I had to squint my eyes against.

  “Let’s go. They’re close but not on top of us.” Bryce pulled me behind him.

  I did my best to stay quiet, but I could no longer see and stumbled over branches and other debris on the ground. Bryce had to catch me every time I tripped. The darkness and the storm blinded me to everything. If Bryce weren’t with me, I wouldn’t have made it nearly as far as we did together.

  There was enough time for Bryce to yell, “Watch out!”, but not enough time for me to react, when pain exploded in my face with a loud crack. I went down. So much for my luck improving at all.

  Water drops hit me in the face. Someone called my name. Pain screamed at the bridge of my nose and across my right cheek.

  “Eloise! El, can you hear me?” He cradled my head in his hands, turning my face side to side.

  “Bryce?”

  I used my tongue to gauge if I’d lost any teeth as my brain began to function further.

  “Eloise! Thank goodness! Can you stand?” Bryce pulled me to sit up. “Your nose is bleeding, but we need to run, El. They’re close.”

  They, who were they?

  A horse gave a high-pitched whinny and the vision of a black horse pawing at the ground with its headless rider staring at Bryce and I took my breath away.

  “Help me,” I begged while trying to push myself to my feet. My coordination still didn’t work right, but with Bryce’s help I found my feet. I just couldn’t stay on them and sank back to the ground to sit in the mud.

  “I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize the branch would snap back like that.” Bryce held my head still but, in the darkness, I couldn’t make his face out. Not to mention, the rain continued to cascade down. “I need to find help for you. At least I need to return you to the lodge.”

  “He’s after you, Bryce. If he gets too close to us, run. He’ll ignore me.”

  “I’m not leaving you.”

  “Again, he’s not after me. He’s after you. Wait.” I pulled my keys from my pants pocket. “Go to my car. In the trunk, there’s a sword.”

  “A sword?”

  “My dad’s. I’m not sure if this thing can die from a sword, but we can try if things become that bleak.”

  Bryce pushed my keys away. “If things become that dire, you’ll be safely locked in your room which is where I’m taking you.”

  “No! He’ll catch us. You need to hide, Bryce. Find somewhere safe to stay until the sun comes up. I’ll go back to the lodge and find some help.”

  “Go back to the lodge? El, you can’t even hold your head up.” He just had to bring up my weakness, didn’t he? I tried to prove him wrong, but my head wouldn’t stay up. “Give yourself another minute.”

  “You need to go, Bryce.”

  “How long have you worked at the company?”

  I blinked at Bryce through the rain. “Why are you changing the subject?”

  He snorted into the darkness. “I’m about to die by the hands of a fictional being on his fog breathing horse. Part of me is about to be sent
into a full-blown panic. You, along with my need to care for you, are the only things keeping me sane. So, humor me for a moment please. This might be my last night on Earth and I’d like to spend it how I wish.”

  “And how’s that?”

  “With you. So far, you’re the most entertaining woman I’ve ever met. Again, I’m sorry for the way I acted when we first met.”

  “It’s all good. I probably could have acted a bit better the second time we met, but I seriously had to use the bathroom. It’s been nothing but bad luck ever since.”

  Bryce laughed quietly. A man with no head couldn’t hear us, could he? He’d managed to see us, though, hadn’t he?

  “You were fine, El. I’m really glad to have met you. If nothing else, you’ve made my last few hours of life quite entertaining. Can you stand?” He helped me to my feet again and held me until the world stopped spinning.

  “I’ve worked at the company for two years. I’m not important to the overall company. My job is in the front office in an outbuilding, but the job was there when I needed it out of college. Now, I stay because Zoe works there too, and I don’t live far from my parents.”

  “How long have you known Zoe?”

  He took my hand and we began moving away from the sounds of the horse. This time, there would be no stick cracking beneath my foot to give us away. The rain was too loud for that. Still, I kept my voice down when I spoke to him, forcing Bryce to lean down to hear me.

  “She was hired six months after me. Just when I’d decided to try finding another job. We hit it off instantly and she’s like the sister I’ve never had. Zo’s in marketing, though. She has a brilliant mind. One day, if I live long enough, since I’m now accident prone, I want to be like her.”

  “What’s your favorite animal?”

  “Well, it’s certainly not horses.” We chuckled, but they were both forced laughter. Bryce really was as nervous as he admitted to being and my face was killing me. “What did you want to talk about on our walk tonight?”

  The horse whinnied, closer this time. Bryce led me faster through the forest by his side, away from the noise, and kept a vigilant effort to protect my sore face.