by Lindsay Nall
“Take a seat.” He did as she suggested settling himself in the thick grass. She seemed lost in thought as she watched the water move in and out like she had a question weighing heavy on her mind that she couldn’t figure out an answer to. “There’s a storm moving in.” Nyght blinked and looked to the sky, in the distance thunderheads were making their way towards them with good speed. He took the time while they sat there in silence to look at her. She wasn’t tiny but she had a very obvious womanly figure, he hated himself for noticing that before anything else. ‘You should take advantage of that.’ His demonic half whispered in his head. ‘No’. Her face was heart-shaped with a small chin and the brightest green eyes he had ever seen, they seemed to sparkle though there was little light around them. She chewed on her bottom lip as she thought, staring at the thunderheads she twitched her nose twice. They sat there in the silence just listening to the waves rolling off the rocks until Marclay dive-bombed the two and crashed into Nyght’s head.
“Owe! What the…?” He shook his head to dislodge the little creature and glared at it as it curled up on Mari’s shoulder. “You’ve got a little attitude you know that?” Marclay hissed in response.
“Marclay! Manners!” The hissing stopped but Nyght could feel the Wiggets eyes on him. He just couldn’t figure the little creature out to save his life, he knew it was all mechanical, but it seemed more alive than any piece of machinery should.
“I’ve never seen a Wigget like this before…it’s so much more…well…human, I guess” Mari nodded and poked Marclay in the side, it hissed at her and took off to sit in the tree above them.
“I’m sure you’ve heard of Marinique Rayne,” Nyght remembered her saying that she had trained with him and nodded respectfully. Marinique Rayne was one of the most well-respected shadows of The Fourteen but he had a wild streak in him that drove the organization heads crazy. “he helped me to remodel my Wigget, said it would help me when I finally got out into the field.” Her eyes traveled back to the waves from where she had been watching the tree Marclay had disappeared into.
“The storms about to start, Marclay.” She held out her hand waiting until Marclay landed in her palm to turn her gaze to the sky. Nyght felt a drop of water land on his nose but paid it no attention as he watched Mari. She tilted her head back to look up at the sky and whispered a few words in an odd language he didn’t understand. A clap of thunder reverberated through the air and the rain fell in sheets but not another drop touched him. Looking to the ground he realized there was a faintly glowing silver line circling them, everything within the circle stayed dry. “This is amazing.” Nyght held his hand over the edge of the circle basking in the warm rain.
“I suppose.” Nyght watched her out of the corner of his eye worrying as he remembered how she had left him earlier that night. If the questions about Tadum were still weighing down her heart what could he possibly do to help her with that pain?
‘Distract her.’ He shook his head at the demonic whisper in his head knowing it wanted more than to just distract her. ‘Weakling.’ Maybe he was but if weakness was what made him human than he would revel in it.
“You’re still thinking about Tadum aren’t you?” She shrugged pulling her knees to her chest.
“It was raining the night he came to me…” He put a hand on her shoulder drawing her eyes from her feet to his face.
“If you want to talk then talk, I’ll listen as long as you need me to.” And he did. He sat there with her for the next hour as the rain poured down around them listening to the tale of her and Tadum and the resulting pain she still hadn’t dealt with.
“Am I stupid for wanting to know why he did what he did after all of these years?”
“He hurt you, there’s no stupidity when it comes to wanting to know the truth, Mari.” After how much she had told him Nyght wanted to find Tadum and shake the truth out of him himself but knew it would get him nowhere. Mari had put it perfectly when she had said he would take his pride to his grave.
“I make one hell of a first impression don’t I?” She laughed lightly. “Getting lost, everything with Tadum and now talking your ear off… maybe my father was right to keep me from the field.”
“He passed away didn’t he?” Nyght remembered when she had shown him and Vander her mothers’ ring; she had hidden a second ring on her necklace in her hand.
“In the field a little over four years ago.” At Nyght’s look of confusion, she filled in the blanks. “He was a field researcher; he worked alongside the Shadows befriending them and loving them only to watch them die. I guess that’s why he kept me out of the field for so long. I was supposed to graduate from home researcher to field researcher but he did everything he could to keep me from it.”
“So he wasn’t there to see you fight your first demon either?” She shook her head.
“No one was.”
“You faced a demon on your own?”
“No, I haven’t faced one yet. I was transferred here for training which you would know if Karter had managed to give you my file.” Nyght knew that the only way she would get any kind of decent training was if he knew what her abilities were. With some Shadows they got testy when you asked about their abilities but after how much she had trusted him with already it couldn’t hurt to pry a little more, right?
“I have to assume the elements have something to do with your fracture.”
“Something like that.” She stood with a stretch. “Marclay stay with Nyght, I’ll see you in the morning.” She walked away in the rain without another word or even a look back at him. Nyght sat there watching her as Marclay dropped from the tree above him to sit on his knee he realized then that Marclay had been the focus of her chant to keep the rain away. Somehow Marclay was tied into Mari’s abilities.
“I don’t suppose you know why she clammed up about her fracture do you?” Marclay cocked her little head from one side then to the other as if considering her answer before nodding. “Any chance you want to tell me what that reason is?” She opened her mouth playing a short snippet of Karter talking earlier then closed it cocking her head once more as if to ask Nyght if he understood. “You want me to talk to Karter about it?” She nodded her head. “Alright then, in the morning.” The two sat out there protected from the rain watching the waves until morning.
Four
“Karter? Can I talk to you for a moment?” The office seemed to be a bigger mess than it had been yesterday, papers and books strewn all over the place as Nyght crept inside. “Karter?” He wasn’t sure he was even in here until a stack of papers fell over in the corner.
“Paper cut!” Nyght rolled his eyes as Karter stood from the corner holding his finger in his hand.
“You’re an idiot.” Nyght closed the door behind him. “I need to talk to you.” Karter stopped whining about his paper cut long enough to look at the man, noticing Marclay was with him he sobered and took a seat behind his desk.
“This is about Mari I assume?” Nyght nodded as Marclay took off to sit on Karter’s desk. He knew Marclay would never be separated from Mari unless she ordered her to be and with that knowledge had an idea about where this conversation was headed. “I have the feeling the topic of either Mari’s past or her fractures came up and she bolted, am I correct?”
“Yeah her past was talked about a bit last night and her…wait…fractures? Plural?” Karter nodded. “That’s why Marclay told me to talk to you.” Karter cast a glance down to the Wigget that was busily browsing around his monitor.
“Just what are you up to down there?” Marclay popped her head up from behind the monitor and held out the plug at the end of her tail. “You want to show him?” Marclay nodded. “Don’t you think the others should be here for something like that?” Marclay looked from Karter to Nyght and back then shook her head. “As you wish.” He took the plug from her connecting it to the monitor and turning it so both men could view it. The screen went fuzzy jumping around at different scenes then settling on one of a small sitting r
oom in the East district decorated in deep-sea greens and dark blues. Two large floor to ceiling windows looked out over the nearby lake at a clear day, on one of the deep blue couches sat a younger Mari with a cup of tea in her hands. Across from her was a familiar man with shaggy brown hair and deep honey oak eyes that watched Mari with a caring worry to them.
“So why did you all of the sudden want to get to know me? Mama’s been gone for a long time.” Mari asked the man across from her, Nyght gasped when he realized it was Marinique Rayne sitting there.
“Your mother always said you had an eye for the truth in people.” Mari nodded but continued to stare at him.
“I’m not going to like this am I?” Marinique shook his head. Mari sat down her teacup adjusted it slightly a few times then leaned back on the couch to watch the man across from her carefully.
“Your father…”
“You’ve heard from father?!” Nyght couldn’t help but smile at the look on her face, she seemed so carefree and innocent. “When is he coming back? He’s going to get an earful from me! He’s been gone for three months! He…” She stopped babbling when she noticed the look on Marinique’s face as he shook his head.
“He’s not coming home, Mari.” She froze. “They found his body a few weeks ago.”
“A few weeks? A few weeks?! Why…?” She froze again this time as information seemed to fall into place. “That’s why you’re here. Why you all of the sudden were curious about me! So for the last few weeks, everything that we’ve done has been so you could tell me my father’s dead?!” The image Marclay was projecting began to shake but it wasn’t her or even the projector that shook, it was the image itself.
“Mari that’s not true,” Marinique stated as the room around him continued to shake, pictures fell off the walls and books to the floor. The glass of the two windows shattered allowing winds to whip through the room. “please don’t do this.”
“I’m not doing anything!” She wailed. Cradling her head in her hands she began to cry for her father and large storm clouds casting lightning, thunder and rain enveloped the ceiling of the room soaking them both. “He can’t be dead! He can’t be!”
“Mari…” The lightning began striking around where she was sitting creating a barrier to keep everyone away from her. The door to the room flew open to show a couple of researchers and Bart standing in shock of what was going on. “Mari you have to control your emotions! You’ll rip the building to shreds if you keep this up!” Marinique tried to get near her but every time he reached out lightning would flash down and block his way. “Mari!”
“Marisol!” Bart ran forward from the doorway but a flash of lightning threw him back.
“I don’t know how to make it stop!” Mari cried into her hands making the rains fall heavier, Nyght watched as the floor of the room became covered in inches and inches of water soaking the carpet and cascading out the windows like a makeshift waterfall carrying debris with it.
“Mari this is your gift! It is under your control!” Marinique yelled trying to reach the girl but failing again.
“It’s your emotions, Mari! You need to control them and you will control this storm! Let us through!” Bart yelled from the floor where he still sat seemingly stunned in place. They could barely see Mari through the rain but slowly it began to calm.
“Mari you are a Shadow! Act like one!” Marinique yelled. Through the haze Mari’s silhouette became more and more visible as the storm came to a close.
“Her power…it’s…it’s…” One of the researchers in the doorway whispered.
“It’s amazing.” The second researcher whispered looking around at all the damage Mari had caused.
Marinique moved forward to stand in front of Mari as she stared at the floor.
“I’m a Shadow.” Her voice was barely audible but Marinique nodded.
“You will be.” She looked up then, first to him then to the others and finally around the room at what she had done.
“He never told me…why didn’t he tell me?!” She threw herself into Marinique’s arms sobbing but this time no rain came.
Marclay unplugged her tail then flew over to sit on Nyght’s shoulder. He couldn’t help but wonder where Tadum was while all of this was happening. “Alright so I was right in her affinity to the elements but earlier you said fractures, does she have two? Three?”
“Just the two.” Nyght grit his teeth, as if having more than one fracture was an everyday occurrence. “The other is something you should ask her about, I’m not sure I feel comfortable giving away all of her secrets.” Sure but letting Marclay show him her past was no big deal. “I do however believe that most of her training should be done with you.”
“Because of my affinity?”
“Exactly, now run along, daddy has work to do.” Karter shoved Nyght out the door slamming it shut behind him.
“Someday someone’s going to slap that man. Hard.” Nyght muttered walking away from the office and down the corridor in search of Mari once more. Now on top of having her Wigget, knowing a large piece of her past that she didn’t know he knew and wanting to defend her honor against Tadum, who would have no problem gelding him, he was her new trainer. Nyght wasn’t sure if this was all turning out to be for the better or the worse but he had to admit to himself, spending more time with her wasn’t exactly a bad thing. Was it?
“I’m losing my mind I swear…” Mari had been wandering around the gardens in circles trying to decide if it was worth it to talk to Tadum. “This is ridiculous. We’re both adults…hell we were engaged!” Using her anger she stormed up to the door to the district but as her anger fizzled out so did her resolve on confronting him. “Well hell!” She punched the wall next to the door immediately regretting it.
The sound of someone cursing up a storm caught Tadum’s attention making him peer over the balcony he was walking down. Spotting Mari dancing around flailing her hand made him crack a smirk, what was that girl up to?
“Marisol?” Tadum whispered a few moments later when he had come out the door into the gardens to see if she was alright.
“What? Oh…Leaf, hey.” She was still shaking her hand a little bit and flexing her fingers as if she had been injured.
“What did you do?” She looked at him quizzically, he stared back at her then pointed to her hand.
“Oh…that…err…nothing I guess, it's fine.” He didn’t believe her, she knew that. “So what are you doing out here?”
“I was taking this peaceful stroll on the balcony but my serenity was interrupted by what sounded like a woman with the mouth of a sailor…you wouldn’t know anything about that would you?” Her eyes went wide.
“Who me?” Forgetting about the pain in her hand she pointed at her chest causing herself to wince. “Owe…”
“Oh for the love, sit down woman!” He pointed to a bench behind her with a scold that would do any angry mother proud. With a pout, she made her way over to the bench as Tadum marched behind her then sat down next to her. He didn’t say a word as he held out his hand for hers and inspected the damage she had caused herself. “It’s not broken just a few scratches and bruising.” He sat her hand down gently then crossed his arms over his chest. “Now do you want to tell me what you punched and why?” She didn’t, not one tiny little bit of her wanted to have this conversation but she was stuck now. Damn her potty mouth, and her inability to not punch things when she was upset.
“Five years ago…” She started the statement but lost the rest of her words. How was she supposed to ask him to reopen those wounds? Were they even wounds for him? Was he bothered at all by the fact that he had broken her heart all that time ago? And why hadn’t she questioned what he had done earlier?
Her train of questions was interrupted when Tadum reached out and took her uninjured hand in his. Running his thumb across her knuckles a few times he sighed then squeezed it.
“I feared the day you would want to know, honestly I hoped it would never come but here we are.” She looked
up to his face from where her eyes had been locked on their hands. His face was written with emotions, something she had never seen on him before.
“Leaf? We don’t have to…”
“The can’s already open, isn’t it? Would it be worth it to just walk away now? Could you honestly forget that we had started this conversation?” She shook her head. “Neither could I, maybe this is for the best.” She blinked three times before he spoke again. “That night, I hated that night, I still do. I had been gone for a month, shorter than my normal assignments but not by much. I will never forget how badly you laid into me when I called you, it was almost enough to make me change my mind on what I was about to say.”
Mari yanked her hand out of his and stood up quickly. “I remember that phone call, I remember being so angry with you for not checking in like you usually did. I remember what you said, how you said it, how cold the room felt after I hung up that phone and how long I cried for…”
“You weren’t upset on the phone…you said you understood…”
“I lied!” She screamed the words at him. How could he have ever thought she was okay with a phone call to end their relationship and their engagement? He started to rise from the bench but she held up her hand stopping him. “Just tell me why Leaf. That’s all I want and I will leave this all alone, I just want to know why.” He stood then taking a step towards her which she mirrored taking a step away from him.
“Stop that.” He took a long stride closing the distance between the two of them. Resting his hands on her shoulders he ran them across her shoulders then up her neck to cradle her face so he could lift her eyes to his. “It was my turn to protect you.” Using his thumb he wiped away the one stray tear that had fallen from her eyes. “A week before I made that call I was requested for a special assignment. I was to go to a small village and find a woman there, her name was Karen, and once I found her I was to inform her that her husband, a Shadow, had been killed.” Mari blinked twice. “She collapsed when I told her. I couldn’t stand the idea of someone having to tell you that so I did what was best.” Mari’s eyebrows folded down in an angry line. How was dumping her over the phone what was best?