I grabbed the front of his shirt and buried my face in it, finding comfort in his embrace.
“Talk to your mom, Meadow. I know it’s frustrating not knowing everything, but trust me, you’ll get your answers in due time,” he said softly, slowly rubbing my back. He pulled away, holding me at arm’s length.
I nodded, thinking about taking his advice. A small smile graced his face, and he patted my shoulder as he walked past me. Not thinking, I reached out and grabbed his arm, stopping him. I didn’t want him to go. Something about his presence made me feel comfortable and safe. His face softened at my worried one.
“I have to go tracking, but I will be back tomorrow sometime. Okay?” he reassured me, and I tilted my head.
“What’s tracking?” I asked. Dax mentioned it earlier, but it didn’t register. The corners of Dmitri’s mouth twitched as he raised his shirt’s sleeves, revealing violet streaks going through his veins, disappearing under his sleeves. My eyes widened as I understood.
“You’re hungry. Got it.”
“Yes. I’m going to join the others, and while I’m out, I’m going to continue looking for a way to restore your memories.” He reached out, and the tips of his fingers grazed my cheek, making my heart rate go up. So innocent, yet it felt more intimate than the hug. There was a connection between us that felt so natural and right. It made me want to know more about our history.
“All right. Be safe and have fun, I guess?” I didn’t know if that was the right term to use.
He smirked a little and nodded, then left through the front door.
I rubbed my forehead. I needed to relax. I went back to the soft blue couch and spread out on it, cuddling the colorful pillow. It smelled like my childhood, the same smell my mom had worn for as long as I could remember.
“Meadow? Are you all right?”
I sat up sharply, wincing at the pain that shot through my abdomen.
“Are you in pain, honey?” Mom asked, trying to catch my attention. She came and sat down next to me, placing her hand over my gauze.
I smiled softly at her tenderness and nodded. “I’m fine, mom. Just a little pain, but I’ll be okay.” I patted her leg to reassure her.
She smiled and smoothed down my hair. “Don’t worry. The pain should be gone in a couple of hours, and you’ll be good as new. And honey, I know you’re upset about something. I can’t help fix it if I don’t know the problem.”
I raised my brows at the first part of her statement. A stab wound healed in a couple of hours? At this point, nothing was impossible I guess. I sighed, leaning into her hand. “So much has happened in the past week that has completely changed my life, and I am stressed to the max.” I paused, taking in a deep breath. I turned to her, looking straight into her chocolate orbs. “And I just found out that you are aware of all these…” I tried to find a word to describe them. “…creatures with their different abilities, yet you have never told me about any of this. It’s like the life I have lived is a lie.” I studied her face as she absorbed everything I just told her. Her face was calm, and she had her thinking face on.
“Meadow, you have to understand. I did that for your safety.”
“Why does everyone think I need protection? What happened for me to need it?”
She sighed and shifted, moving the couch a little as she did. “It would be too much to explain, and you wouldn’t understand since you don’t have the memories of your true life.” She held her hand up when I raised my head up to speak. “A lot has happened in your life that prompted me to make sure that you were protected at all times. Which included not telling you about who you really are.”
I stared at her, almost glaring. None of what she said made any sense or clarified anything Dmitri already told me.
“Dmitri told me that I wasn’t human. Is that true?” I held my breath for the answer. I already believed, but I wanted her to confirm.
She slowly nodded.
I let out a breath and passed a hand over my face. “If I am not human, then what am I?” I whispered.
She twisted her lips, glancing at the ceiling.
I crossed my arms. I knew what that face meant. “I’m guessing you can’t tell me that either, huh?”
She opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by her pager. She gave me an apologetic look and picked it up, her face getting serious. “The hospital needs me right now. Can we continue this conversation another time, please?” she asked, and I nodded. She got up and planted a kiss on my forehead. “I love you, Meadow.”
“Yeah, yeah, I love you too, Mom,” I mumbled, and she squeezed my shoulder on her way past me. I stayed where I was until she left the house and I listened for her car to start. Once she was gone entirely, I got up from the couch, thinking hard about getting the answers I wanted.
When I was younger, my mom always kept a chest in her bedroom closet that I was absolutely forbidden to touch. Only once I tried to open it with no luck. I saw a side of my mom I had never seen before, and I was grounded for a month after that. The recent events made me question whether the chest had something to do with who I really was.
At the top of the stairs, I turned left and opened her bedroom door. Her warm scent hit my nostrils, and I didn’t hesitate, going directly into her walk-in closet. There was a mini dresser in the middle of the closet, and I scanned the room for the chest, passing over her designer heels, dresses, and pants until my gaze landed on something black peeking out from under the sneaker section.
I went over and got on my knees, pushing up the shelf filled with shoes.
Bingo.
The chest looked exactly the same as it did all those years ago. Completely black with gold accents. There was a keyhole in the middle of it. I grabbed the sides and yanked it upward, trying to get it open.
No luck there. I looked around the closet for a key, but found nothing. I got back on my knees and huffed. Maybe the whole thing was actually a decoration my mom just didn’t want me to touch because she treasured it so dearly. Sighing, I placed my hands over the top of the chest and grazed the keyhole with my thumb, trying to see if it was an actual hole or not. Something unlocked, and I removed my hands from the chest, paranoid at what just happened. The top slowly started opening.
“Um, okay?” I whispered to myself. Maybe applying pressure was the way to open it? Either way, it opened fully, and I peered inside. It was very organized; each section was filled with something different. I reached into the chest and picked up a beautiful silver necklace with a sapphire pendant.
It looked identical to the necklace around my own neck. I never took it off, not even when I showered. I looked to see what else was in the section and pulled out two more necklaces that looked the same as the ones I held and wore around my neck. I was confused by this because when I was younger, my mom told me my necklace was a gift from my dad. Which was why I never took it off. Maybe he gave her a bunch as well, even though I didn’t know why she would need so many different sizes.
There were more in the chest, and the smallest one seemed small enough to fit around a newborn’s neck. Not trying to dwell on it too much longer, I put all of the necklaces back and started searching for something that would actually help me find out who I was. After about five minutes, I didn’t find anything that helped me, or that seemed important. It was just a bunch of junk.
Huffing, I sat and crossed my legs, thinking hard as I scanned the chest. I thought about the warehouse’s vault and how I didn’t notice it before until I really started looking. It made me think about a secret compartment. Pulling the chest closer to me, I felt along the inside to see if there was a soft spot or button for a hidden section. There was nothing.
Sighing, I closed the chest and was about to push it back in the corner where I found it, but had a last-minute idea. Turning the chest around, I passed my hand over the back of it, feeling for any gaps. My hand reached the middle of it and stopped when I heard a hissing noise. I leaned forward to listen and felt a little bit of air c
oming from the center. I grinned, sensing a great victory.
I pushed the middle of the back, and the hissing got louder until a flap sprung out like a latch. I pulled on it until a larger tray slid out, revealing a cluster of envelopes. Now, that was more like it. I grabbed all of the envelopes and spread them out on the closet floor. Every single envelope was a beautiful gold color with blue accents. I went through a few. They were all letters, and all opened.
That made it easier to read without my mom realizing that I went through her stuff. I counted roughly eighty letters. Hopefully, my mom would be out for the rest of the day at the hospital so I could have time to finish all of the letters. This was going to take a while to get through. Opening the first letter, I let out a breathy laugh.
The handwriting was exquisite, like it was written in the 17th century or close to it. The ink was faded, but luckily, I was still able to read it. Getting comfortable, I started reading. A few letters in, I recognized some names. There was a lot of talk about a woman named Feina and keeping her safe.
Sounds like me right now. I chuckled. There was also talk about a dark, evil man that the writer was warning the reader of the letter—probably my mom—to watch out for. As I continued reading, I learned that the evil guy’s name was Legend. That was a pretty cool name. As I read more, I found out that Legend turned good, making me feel better about liking his name.
The letters I was reading were sent by the same person, someone named Augustus. He was some type of scientist, I wasn’t sure of what exactly. I went through about fifty letters before the sender changed. The second batch I read was from a priest named Aloysius. I had never, ever heard that name before, making me believe that these letters were indeed written a very long time ago. But then again, maybe not, because some of these letters spoke about recent events.
How old was my mom then, if some of the letters were possibly written hundreds of years ago? She wouldn’t tell me what I was so I didn’t think she would tell me what she was…if she wasn’t human. The only thing I knew was that she was some type of healer, which made sense since she was a surgeon at the hospital. Getting out of those thoughts, I took my time and read the rest of the letters, until I got to the last one.
It had some instructions, but the rest of it was schematics of some kind of temple—a huge temple. After an hour or so of reading the long letters, I was no closer to finding out who I was. Groaning, I leaned back into the dresser. There had to be something I could use from these letters. I didn’t want it to be a wasted effort.
Wait.
I sat up quickly. Grabbing a few letters, I went back through them. Augustus, the scientist, put an address in one of the letters for if my mom ever needed help with anything.
Ha, got it. It was located in what he called The Lucky. I knew where that was, and it was only a few hours away. I was going to check it out since no one else would tell me anything.
I was going to find some information on my own.
15
The location was set up in the car’s GPS. The trip would take about five and a half hours to my destination. That was fine with me, and it’d be worth it. I hoped this scientist could provide me with some answers or at least clues to help me understand anything at this point. After setting my music up with my favorite songs on repeat, I started out on the highway as the sun was setting. I turned up the volume, belting out my vocals. With the sun casting its beautiful colors and the phenomenal singing, I started thinking optimistically about my life. Maybe whatever I was wasn’t so bad, and the adjustment to that life would be swift. Despite being negative sometimes about the whole situation, deep down, I was actually thrilled about the thought of a new life with new experiences. I was caught up in my thoughts for a while before I noticed it.
A dark gray shadow in the air, following me. It was dark outside already as the sun had set, and the only reason I noticed it was because the color was slightly lighter than the dark sky. At first, I thought it was just some type of fog, but then I realized it was with me for every stop and turn. I sped up, thinking that I would get some distance and get away from it. No such luck. It was still there like it was latched on to the car somehow.
I tried not to panic as my heart started beating faster. I reached toward the GPS, but stopped abruptly. I was going to find alternate routes so I could get away from the creepy shadow, but my course wasn’t on there anymore. There was just a loading screen, the blue circle continuous. I pressed the screen to see if it would change, but nothing happened. I clicked all of the buttons around the screen, but that didn’t work either.
“Ugh!” I slammed my hands on the steering wheel. Why now of all times did the GPS decide to malfunction? The highway was almost empty, the only other car on the road miles ahead of me, lights almost disappearing. I gripped the steering wheel and glanced in my rearview mirror again. I’d actually put some distance between the car and the shadow.
“Yes!” I did a happy dance as I widened my lead until the shadow was basically gone. I sighed and relaxed, shaking my head. What was that? I didn’t want to think about anything…supernatural, so I turned my music back on and turned my attention back to the road.
I smashed my brakes and screamed, gasping as the seatbelt slammed into my chest. The shadow was in front of me, but then quickly disappeared. It was too dark to see anything properly, even with my headlights, so I just took a deep breath and started driving slowly. I heard a screech, and my eyes widened when I spotted the shadow a reasonable distance ahead of me. I slowed down to an almost stop, checking my mirrors to make sure no cars were coming, and the shadow started creeping closer.
As I watched, it stretched, and two smoky arms emerged in the front. I kept driving the slowest I possibly could, ready for any moment to swerve past it. My plan was thwarted when the shadow expanded, filling up almost the entire road. It continued to float my way faster, and began to form hands from the arms. The hands stretched out my way, and I realized what was about to happen. It was going to crash into the car with me inside of it.
“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.” I fumbled with my seatbelt. I need to get out of here. I sped up until I got close to the shadow, and the arms stretched even more. I unbuckled my seatbelt quickly, threw my door open, and flung myself out of the car.
My feet touched the ground, and I rolled, protecting my face with my arms. Surprisingly, I didn’t sprain anything, but my arms were definitely scratched up. A loud crash filled the air, and I looked up in horror as the shadow exploded straight into my car through the front windshield and came out the back, glass flying everywhere. I slowly got up, wiping dust off my clothes.
The shadow didn’t stop there. Grabbing the bumper, it lifted the back and flipped the car in the air. My mouth dropped. The car flipped twice and landed on the hood, the vehicle flattening from the force. My mom was going to absolutely kill me. That was her favorite car. A loud roar came from the shadow, and it turned my way, making me freeze in place.
A scream was on my lips, but I didn’t want to let it out. I couldn’t let whatever that was know that I was absolutely terrified. It roared even louder, and I screamed, forgetting about being tough. There were no other cars on the road, so no one could help me. It was either run down the long stretch of open road or hide in the woods behind me. I chose the woods.
Not knowing how I would get help, I ran into the woods anyway, pushing the branches out of my way. A soul-cringing screech filled the air, and I glanced back. The shadow morphed back into a blob and flew upward to the sky. It was going to get a bird’s eye view, not good. Running even faster, I weaved between the trees and looked for somewhere to hide, squinting through the dark.
The moon disappeared between the trees, making it almost impossible to see anything. I stopped running at a thick tree, catching my breath. I didn’t see the shadow above me, and trees were too tall with thick leaves, blocking most of the sky. I couldn’t continue like this, not without being able to see properly.
I closed my ey
es and took in a few breaths, wishing I could see clearly, and started thinking of a way to conceal myself from the shadow. A gust of wind whistled through the trees, and my eyes snapped open. As I scanned the area for the culprit, I held on to the tree. I blinked a few times and squinted.
Letting go of the tree, I turned in a half circle. It was still dark—nothing changed—but I could see the forest clearly. The gust of wind got stronger, almost blowing me off my feet, and I spotted the shadow, weaving through the trees to my right. I gasped and kept my back pressed against the tree, trying to make myself smaller. As I contemplated what my next move would be, I saw what looked like a hole in the ground a few feet away from me.
Perfect.
I dashed away from the tree. Screeching filled the air, and I dodged a tree, glancing back to see the shadow coming after me. I was almost to the hole, but I needed to distract the shadow so it wouldn’t follow me. Shrugging off my jacket as I ran, I threw it up high, hoping it caught on a branch, and skidded to a stop when I reached the hole. Peering over, it looked like it was once used as a trap from the spikes on the side. There were none at the bottom, and it looked deep enough for me to fit inside. Good enough for me. I crouched down and jumped in when it was clear.
Dirt flew everywhere and in my mouth, making me spit and claw at my face to get it off and out of my mouth. Breathing hard, I looked around. I was surrounded by dirt. It was better than whatever that was up there. A screech tore through the air, an angry one. I guess it found my decoy.
I looked up, and I could finally see the moon shining directly on me. Crap, that thing could pass over and see me from how bright the moon was shining. Before I could look for something to shield myself with, something grabbed my arm and yanked me backward. A large scream ripped from my throat, and I struggled against whatever had me trapped.
“Shh, shh. It’s me, Meadow, it’s me,” a voice whispered fiercely in my ear. All the stress and fear went away as soon as I registered who it was.
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