Shadow Games

by Doug Welch

  Chapter 25

  Shadow Games

  Alex and I hid near the clearing, some distance along the trail, out of direct sight.

  At this time of year, the sun lingered longer. Daylight bathed the woods at a later hour. Quiet invaded the forest as though life had ceased its daytime labors and rested.

  I felt the familiar pre-mission awareness I’d felt in the Army.

  Little things captured my attention, the bark of a tree, the shape of a leaf, the sunlight peeking through the leaves and patterning the forest floor. All of these small things seemed more significant, immediate, and full of meaning.

  Death might lie in the future, but the fear of death ruled life and always hovered. If death waited, my mind needed those last-minute sights and sounds to carry into oblivion.

  “Someone's coming,” Alex whispered.

  I stared through the foliage down the trail, tensed and ready to move, the Glock aimed at the area.

  A small figure appeared; she led a group of four more people.

  Elizabeth.

  My tension eased and I slid the gun into its holster.

  The group hesitated at the entrance to the clearing. In addition to Elizabeth, I recognized Caesar and Luca. Two other men guarded them.

  Luca gestured to one of the men. He nodded to Beth. She disappeared into the foliage, and the man followed her. After a while, the man emerged without her. He spoke to Luca, who appeared annoyed. He led the remainder of the group into the deep woods.

  I motioned for Alex to wait. We crouched along the trail until I felt that enough time had passed, then stood and walked toward the clearing entrance.

  We eventually emerged in the clearing and stopped at its edge. Alex remained at the top-tier of the amphitheater, while I walked down toward the group.

  “Stop there, slave,” Luca said.

  I halted as though acting like a puppet.

  “Remove the weapon and put it on the rocks.”

  I complied silently.

  “Give me the material.”

  I appeared to struggle. “First let them leave.”

  “Oh slave, you really didn't think I would allow them to escape me, did you? I have them. I have you, and you’ll give me the ability to become the most powerful Adept in the whole world. Give it to me. – Now!”

  I didn't move.

  To my right, a figure stepped into the clearing. Luca's eyes widened as he recognized the intruder.

  “Anthony. What are you doing here? This isn't Council business, you have no right –”

  “You’re wrong, Luca. This is Council business. I'm here to insure that negotiations between Houses are conducted with respect.”

  “Between Houses? These Normals are not...” His eyes grew wider.

  I smiled. I’d been studying his mind-glow since entering the clearing. Dad's instructions had been very clear concerning that aspect of the talent. I sensed enormous power behind it and prepared myself.

  Luca's mind surged, assaulting me.

  My brain felt like a palm tree bending and slashed by a hurricane. Although my body stood still, my mind staggered.

  I’d worked for hours in that claustrophobic room at the farm, training myself for this moment. I now knew I was completely unprepared for this.

  Using mind discipline, I resisted his assault with all my willpower. He looked surprised, and increased the strength of his attack.

  I could feel the beginning of the unwinding of the conscious connections that defined me, like a million fingers ripping apart my brain. With my last reserves, I mentally grappled with him, preventing him from completing his efforts.

  His eyes narrowed. Now I knew I had his full attention. It would be a matter of seconds before he crushed my mind.

  He increased the pressure. I had to hold him until I knew the time was right. I could feel my mind unraveling. I held onto my pattern. I felt him shift his focus away from Alex, loosening his control of her.

  “Now, Alex!”

  A series of explosions echoed around the clearing and through the forest.

  I sensed Alex standing in an aiming stance. Gun smoke trickled from the barrel of her Ruger.

  I could see that three of the shots had hit Luca, none of them particularly fatal. But the force of the bullets had propelled him to the edge, and over. He screamed on the way down. The sudden stop at the foot of the cliff would likely complete the job.

  I shifted my attention to the other two men, freezing them where they stood. Elizabeth and Caesar moved. They appeared to be disoriented, as though waking from a trance. I beckoned to them, and they moved carefully away from the edge of the cliff to finally stand beside us. I put my arm around Elizabeth and hugged her.

  “The worst is over now, sweetheart, you're safe,” I said.

  Alex crouched still frozen, the gun held in her hands. Caesar removed it gently from her grip. She slumped and huddled into his chest.

  Tony walked over to me. “Technically, Mister Fox, you violated Council protocols,” Tony said. “But I guess we can overlook this one time, since the perpetrator was a novice. Please instruct the members of your group in proper procedures when dealing with the People.”

  I nodded and smiled.

  He returned the smile, and then became more serious. “I believe, sir, we have an agreement?” I nodded again and walked over to the small stream of water that issued from the side of the clearing. I reached in the little pool and removed a flat rock. I retrieved the waterproofed package under it, and returned to him. I hesitated. “Is it Under Council protection?”

  “Yes,” he replied

  “Is it all over?” I said.

  “For now. There are still some issues to be decided.”

  I handed the package to him.

  “Is this all of it?” he asked.

  “All of Dad's research is there. The papers, we burned. You can send someone to examine the ashes if you wish.”

  “And your oath?”

  “We are of the People. The secret will remain with the People.”

  He looked at me for a moment. He let me feel his mind-glow. I knew then, I’d never want to make him angry. “Very well. We'll be in touch.”

  He left the four of us standing, holding each other, in the clearing.

  Epilogue

  It was a party and we all grouped in the living room. Summer had arrived, the door propped open to allow the evening breeze to cool the house.

  Alex and Caesar sat together in the overstuffed easy chair, Alex cuddled on his lap.

  Beth and I relaxed on the couch, while Edward and Dan Simmons occupied chairs brought in from the study.

  All of us sipped wine purloined from the wine cellar.

  “I'm sill not comfortable with the idea of joining the Shadows,” Edward said.

  “People, Edward, they call themselves the People. Get used to it, or this could start all over again,” I said. “You all need to learn how to interact with them. We’re a Family now, and we’re governed by the Council rules. I cannot oppose the Council. They’d crush us.”

  “That's another thing,” Dan said. “Most of the People are grouped in Houses, so how did you become a 'Family'?”

  “I insisted on it. The name of the group is not important. I wanted to be a family, so 'Family' it is.” I smiled. “It makes me happy.”

  “You managed to accomplish a lot in a short period of time,” Dan said. “One thing I still don't understand is how you were able to pass that cordon of Shadows that surrounded the farm house?”

  “I was Army Rangers, Dan.”

  He didn't reply. I suspected he remained skeptical.

  “So – you're the Family Adept,” Edward said.

  “I am. It was something Dan said. A House, Association or now, – Family, must have an Adept leading it to be legitimate. As I am now an Adept, I am the Family head.”

  “You do seem different, but you're still the complex, frequently surprising man I fell in love with,” Beth said and kissed me.


  I smiled. “Appearances can be deceptive, darling. I've entered a new reality. I can never go back. Maybe some of you will join me.”

  “Sweetheart, how can I completely believe this, when I still have doubts about invisible people?” Elizabeth said.

  “Maybe this will convince you.” I let my mind-glow taste her senses. After a while, she started flushing and breathing heavily.

  “Paris, stop that!” she said.

  I grinned, “I was saving it for our wedding night.”

  “I don't think so – too much of that will stop my heart.” She smiled. “–Well...maybe just a little.”

  “Oh good! Will you teach me Paris?” Alex said.

  “You'd better not,” Caesar warned.

  We all laughed.

  Beth and I stepped out into the evening. We walked away from the house and stood close together, watching the stars.

  “I still don't understand why we were drawn to the clearing on the day we met,” she said. "There's something strange about that.”

  “Maybe someday...” I said, and glanced at Edward's form reflecting through the front window. “For now, we'll let it remain a mystery.”

  “There's something else. You’ve changed. I can feel it. –And I sensed you were being evasive when Dan asked about how you managed to leave the farm house without being caught. Care to enlighten me?” Beth said.

  “Darling, I believe the world and the universe that contains it is much stranger than we can imagine,” I said and gestured at the stars. “They may be filled with infinite unknowns.”

  I turned to gaze into her amethyst eyes. “But I believe courage, intelligence, and love, especially love, will help us confront the unknown and maybe transcend it. We are all more than we think.–I suspect, down deep inside, we all know this.

  “But...to answer your question. – Alexandra knows, and Caesar will know soon. It must remain a Family secret. Something strange happened when I finally came into my powers.

  “Dad said that experiencing someone's mind was like a 'mind glow', but it’s more than that. If you could sense it as I do...Well, it's more beautiful than you can imagine.

  “Anyway, the mind contains patterns. With practice, I can learn to discern those patterns, and impose my own pattern over them. But I found I couldn’t sense the pattern of me – my pattern, in the minds of normal humans.

  “However, when it came to Shadows, I was easily able to find the pattern of me in their minds, and I could impose my pattern over theirs. It's difficult to explain, but just as you can't see the Shadows,” I grinned at her, “whenever I will it...the Shadows can't see me.”