The Shadow Box: Paranormal Suspense and Dark Fantasy Thriller Novels

by Travis Luedke

  She didn’t sleep for days.

  A rumor went around school: Jason had set himself on fire in her backyard because he did not want to live without her. It became accepted reality. Teenagers kill themselves every day.

  She did not go to the funeral.

  People whispered behind her back. Pockets of girls in the hallway talked about her between classes, wondering what was so special about her that had turned Jason crazy. She tried to tune out their thoughts, but that was something she only learned to do under the tutelage of Ms. Ryerson. Wave after wave of judgmental anger and jealousy struck her daily, mingled with an almost-incoherent flow of teenage sexual hunger.

  Eventually she struck out again.

  Despite the Aikido, she did not have the type of physique to pound someone’s head in. What she did have was the ability to see into their deepest, darkest secret. So, when Allison McGraw called her a tramp in gym class, Garnet asked her why she lay in bed listening to her parents having sex and masturbated with the image of her father on top of her. Allison was so shocked she screamed and ran out of the gym. Hitting someone with something that personal, that secret, did not allow time for a rebuttal.

  Allison never recovered. Garnet felt a shimmer of guilt when she saw the tired look in her eyes. But only a shimmer.

  By the time she was seventeen, she was bored and alone. She quickly discovered that boys were better lovers in their imagination than they were in reality. Even the fear and jealousy directed at her became tedious. So many people had exactly the same thoughts, it felt like facing a collective of petty, insignificant insects.

  Then she began using her power outside of school. That’s what drew Wisdom to her.

  Unlike Jason, she didn’t come from a wealthy family. Everything she wanted was so expensive. She started with extortion: next-door neighbors and people she stumbled upon at the mall. When you can read minds, it’s child’s play to blackmail people, easy to know which ones have the money to keep their secrets hidden. It was also easy to break into their houses when you knew their security codes, where they kept the spare keys, and when they would be away from home. It was so simple she called these break-ins ‘shopping.’

  During one of those little shopping sprees, she stumbled upon a ten-page report that changed the way she looked at the world. The house belonged to a member of Candleworks who broke protocol and brought home sensitive documents. The report covered a murder that Candleworks attributed to a crazed Sasquatch. If not for the full-colored pictures accompanying the report – the creature’s corpse on an autopsy table and mangled human bodies – she would have laughed the whole thing off as fiction.

  The photos forced her to see the truth. Some people would have run. Instead, it left her wanting to know more. Maybe she wasn’t the only impossible thing in the world. If Big Foot existed, maybe she wasn’t alone. Maybe there were others like her.

  She staked the house for several days before. When the agent was home, she read his thoughts from a car across the street. She discovered Candlework’s Vancouver location. On a Friday night, she told her parents she was going to the movies with friends and drove to a twenty-four-story building at 1169 Alexander. Outside, a sign proclaimed the company was Fault-Aid: Seismic Hazard Mitigation Experts. She parked across the street with a cup coffee while she scanned the building for random thoughts.

  Then there was knock on the window.

  She yelped, spilling coffee down her front. She felt like a mouse caught sneaking out of its home, too startled to even think of running. She looked at the man who knocked and realized something even as his smile filled her eyes. She had not heard him coming. She should have been able to hear his thoughts long before he'd approached the car. Wisdom’s mind was closed to her.

  ***

  She felt the tension long before she reached Wisdom’s office. It was a workday, not long past noon, but the reception area and the outer offices were deserted. Wisdom had sent everyone home early.

  Wisdom leaned against the window, looking like something from a fashion magazine in his expensive red suit framed by the backdrop of Hong Kong. All the wounds from his fight with his father were healed. Jessica sat in a chair against the wall to Garnet’s left. She held a ceramic mug filled with still-steaming coffee and stared into the liquid. Garnet flinched, instinctively thinking Jessica was too young to be drinking coffee. Jessica looked over and stuck her tongue out at Garnet. Obviously, she’d heard the thought.

  Todd, eyes red and face smudged with wet streaks, sat in one of the chairs next to Wisdom’s desk. He kept shaking his head: small measured movements. He was cleaning invisible dirt from beneath his fingernails, his eyes refusing to focus on anyone else in the room. Elaine stood beside another of the chairs, her body stiff and distant. She was decked out in a black pantsuit that showed a surprising level of class. Garnet was used to seeing Wisdom’s hired gun in leather trench coats and mud-soaked dark clothing. David sat in a third chair. Although sitting was not quite the right word for what he was doing. It seemed like his body had been bent in half. His head was in his hands, which in turn were almost lying on his knees. His body jerked in sharp spasms like a fish in lightning-soaked water.

  Josh sat on the edge of Wisdom’s desk, his body relaxed and, somehow, extremely present. Garnet gasped. ‘I can’t read his mind, either!’ She looked at him, seeing nothing but his body. ‘How?’

  Keeping her eyes on him, Garnet walked into the room and closed the door behind her. Josh pushed himself off the desk and took a few steps toward her.

  “Sorry I’m late,” she said. “I’m ready when you are.”

  “Oh, Jesus. We’re dead.” David stood up and paced in short quick strides.

  “Sit down, David.” From the tone in Wisdom’s voice, it was not the first time he’d said those words today. David sat down heavily.

  Echo yawned and ran her fingers through her hair. “Seriously, Wisdom, do we have to bring the child? We could bring Ms. Ryerson instead. David can barely stand right now, let alone fight a horde of Edimmu.”

  “Thanks for making it easier, Echo.” Wisdom walked away from the window and sat in his throne-like leather chair. “Current theatrics aside, I know what kind of strength lies in David. And to answer your implied question, Ms. Ryerson has her own assignment, one just as important as our own. We’ll likely hear from her tomorrow.”

  “What’s our plan?” Garnet walked further into the room and took her position at Wisdom’s side. Each step added more pressure to her, as if she was diving deeper and deeper into an ocean. Fears and doubts swam by like fish. “How are we going to fight them?”

  “How else?” David said. His voice was piercing. “Invasion. Brilliant plan, really. Wisdom is going to pop us over to Greece and we’re going to invade their headquarters like we’re some sort of Navy Seal ninjas.”

  “The Navy Seals don’t have ninjas, David.” Elaine shifted her weight. “And please lower your voice.”

  “Oh, you’re afraid someone is going to hear about this insanity?”

  “Not really, no. You’re just really annoying me.”

  “Too bad, so sad for you. Did you want to go and shoot my mother, too?”

  “Enough!” Wisdom snapped his fingers and bright light flashed through the room. Garnet screamed and covered her eyes. The room fell silent and she opened her eyes, her face flush red with embarrassment. Whatever Wisdom had done, it appeared to work. Now there was only one thought, one feeling in all their minds.

  Whatever lay ahead, they were all much more afraid of Wisdom than fighting.

  “Better.” Wisdom straightened his tie and leaned forward on his desk. “I know you’re all afraid. It’s a natural reaction. Now get over it. Quickly. And David, if I hear one more whine, one more pretense of weakness, I will pull your brain out through your nose. We both know what you’re capable of. I’m not sure if this little performance is for your benefit or mine, but it’s extremely tiring. I know you haven’t been trained, but I also know someth
ing else. No matter how hard you try to deny it, you like killing. You committed each murder not out of necessity or desperation, but out of desire. You wanted to see them dead. So stop your whining and deal. Feel guilty tomorrow after the Council’s destroyed.”

  Everyone turned to watch David’s reactions. It did not take long for Wisdom’s words to have their intended impact.

  David sighed, dejectedly, and hung his head. “When are we going?”

  “Now.”

  Wisdom walked around the table to stand beside Echo. She reached over and grasped his hand. Wisdom placed his other hand against her cheek. A moment later, he flicked his wrist and a 6-foot wide oval of bright light appeared. Elaine stepped through the portal first.

  “Come on, children,” Wisdom said. “The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can go back to … whatever it is we’ll be getting back to.”

  Jessica walked toward the portal, coffee cup still in hand. Todd and Josh waited until she disappeared before they made their move. David squared his shoulders and followed them. When it was just Garnet and Wisdom in the room, she walked over to him and smiled.

  “I’ll never forget the things you’ve done for me, Wisdom.” She felt blood rush to her face. “I’ve never been good with, you know, these sort of things, but I just wanted to say something in case something, well...just in case.”

  Wisdom bent forward and kissed her on the forehead. On his face was a smile.

  “You’re going to be fine. Don’t worry.”

  Then Wisdom stepped through the portal. Garnet felt the last of her strength fade away. Normally, it was hard to read Wisdom but, for that instant, he had been exceeding clear. And she knew he had just told her a lie.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Fifty feet beneath Thessaloniki, Wisdom stepped out of the portal onto concrete. ‘Here we go,’ he thought. He chose a different entrance spot this time, hoping it would not set off alarms. A quick scan of the area suggested it had worked: no loud sirens, no gunfire, no buzz of panic in the minds around him. It was a definite improvement. The first time he’d been through these events, he had dropped the Anomalies right in the Vulture Antechamber. Edimmu had swarmed them in seconds just as his father had made an appearance.

  “Is this Greece?” David asked. “I expected the Mediterranean to be warmer than this.”

  “Are you brain dead?” Jessica shook her head. “Seriously. We’re underground, dummy. Kind of hard for the sun to get down here.”

  Todd smiled. “It is also conceivable they have air conditioning. You know, being a building and not a beach.”

  “Smart ass,” David said. He looked around. They were in a storage room lined with industrial-sized plastic containers of chemical cleaners, large open boxes of sponges and paper towels and various other supplies. The air smelled of ammonia and pine. “It’s just not what I was expecting. Where are the big baddies?”

  Wisdom pointed at a blue-green door to the left of a stack of brooms.

  “Oh,” Josh said.

  At a motion from Wisdom, Elaine went to the door. She pressed her ear to the door and closed her eyes. Everyone held their breath. Then she stood, looked at Wisdom and shook her head. Wisdom nodded once, a sign for her to continue. She crouched down, un-holstered her pistol and opened the door. It opened smoothly to a brightly-lit stairwell. Everyone exhaled.

  “Remember, Edimmu can sense your EFHBs,” Wisdom whispered. “So can Propates. Avoid power usage until we engage the Council. If you need to communicate, talk before using telepathy. If you meet resistance, be creative. Move quick and quiet, but no PK and no fires until I give the word. The more we can take out before the alarm goes off, the easier the final battle will be. Understand?”

  Everyone nodded except Echo. When Wisdom looked at her, she squared off her shoulders.

  “Don’t even think of taking that tone with me, Wisdom,” she said. “I’m not a child.”

  Wisdom opened his mouth, then shook his head and turned away. He motioned Elaine to head down the stairs. She raised her gun and moved downwards. One by one, the Anomalies followed her. Wisdom took Josh aside.

  “Let me know if you see your friend with the gold ring,” he whispered.

  For a moment Josh said nothing. Then, a fierce glow in his eyes, he nodded.

  The stairwell was lit by bare fluorescent bulbs in the ceiling. The stairs themselves were well-worn stone with a thin layer of dust, implying this entrance had not been used for some time. The bottom of the stairwell was an open archway into darkness. Wisdom used a sliver of his own power to dampen the sound of their footsteps, so the descent was silent. They traveled downwards for almost five minutes before Garnet stopped.

  “Hold it,” she whispered. “Two men at the bottom. Humans. Must be Council members.”

  Elaine looked back at Wisdom. She mouthed the word ‘mine’ and moved forward. It was too bright to warrant creeping, so Elaine moved quickly, descending the staircase. Everyone else froze in place while she crouched at the foot of the stairs. She holstered her gun and drew out her custom-made blade. Faster than Josh’s eyes could follow, she flung herself forward. Josh heard nothing, but moments later, Garnet sighed.

  “Done. She took them out.”

  One by one, they left the stairs and gathered in the small reception area at the base. Wisdom knew this to be a secondary reception area, nowhere near the apartment complex Propates used. Instead, Wisdom’s team was almost directly below the White Tower.

  The reception area was banal. Colorful prints of peacocks with inspirational sayings were propped up on three of the four walls. Although there was a sign-in book, there were no magazines. Nor were there any armed guards. A set of elevators was embedded in a nearby wall. There was only one other exit from the reception area: a dark metal door with a large glass window that showed the area beyond. A quick glance revealed rough dirt walls, high ceilings and a turquoise carpet.

  Josh walked in as Garnet dropped the first dead body behind a large metal desk. Jessica made a choking sound when Elaine pulled her knife from the man’s skull. Echo moved to the other body, a twenty-something man with a broken neck.

  “Get ready,” Wisdom said. “Edimmu were once revered as bringers of dead souls to the afterlife. They will have felt these deaths.”

  “What kind of resistance are we expecting?” Garnet asked.

  “There will be Edimmu – perhaps hundreds of them – and men with guns. Just in case we have to split up, I’m putting you in teams. Josh, you go with David and Elaine. Jessica, stick by me and Echo. Todd and Garnet, you two team up as well.”

  “What’s our mission, Wisdom?” Jessica asked. “Search and destroy?”

  Wisdom gave a toothy smile. “Heavy on the destroy. The Council is up to something. We may not be able to completely destroy them in one day, but I want to hurt them. In fact, we need to hurt them, damage them so much that they’ll be too focused on rebuilding to follow through with whatever they have been planning. But, whatever you do, avoid contact with Propates. That means you too, Echo. Leave him to me. He’s too powerful for you and I need to ask him some very specific questions before I kill him. Everyone and everything else is fair game.”

  The Anomalies gathered together in the groups Wisdom had assigned. Josh rubbed the tension from his neck muscles and forced himself to take deep breaths.

  “Are you going to be okay?” Elaine asked as she wiped blood from her knife against the white robes of one of the dead men.

  Josh nodded. “Just the jitters. This is a first for me – invasion.”

  “I thought you knew how to take care of yourself,” David said with a look of grim satisfaction on his face.”

  “This is a little different than taking care of yourself now, isn’t it?” Josh took a deep breath and looked behind him. Jessica adjusted the elastic keeping her hair in a ponytail while Todd mumbled something and crossed himself in prayer. “My dad never taught me this stuff. He taught me how to get out of bad situations, not how to thr
ow myself into one. Back in Quebec, dealing with those psychos, that was easy. Self-preservation is a natural instinct.”

  “A proactive strike can be self-preservation,” Elaine said, sheathing her knife.

  “I’m sure that’s the logic you used when you shot my mother. No, don’t give me that look. I’m doing my best to put it behind me… at least for now. I may be new to this, but I know enough to realize we don’t have time for vendettas. You and I can have a nice long conversation when this is all over.”

  Elaine smiled. “Fine by me. Looks like Wisdom is ready to head out. How about you, David? How are the nerves?”

  David said nothing. He rubbed his sweaty palms off on his pants. Clenching his fists, he took two steps toward a closed door and grabbed the knob.

  The lights went out.

  David squealed. The sound, far too much like a pig being butchered, threatened to drown the resolve he was just finding. He turned in a tight circle but it was no help. Everywhere he turned was only the pitch black void of absolute darkness.

  “Wisdom, what is this?”

  No answer.

  His voice sounded very weak to his ears, as if his ears were blocked. Then he realized it was not his voice or his ears to blame. It was the darkness. It consumed his words, ate them like nourishment. In response it became all the more dark.

  “Wisdom?”

  This time there was a response.

  A sound like the call of a crow mixed with a long squeal of tires.

  ***

  Todd felt sticks of ice jabbing into his skin.

  “Where the hell did David go?”

  Everyone turned quickly, searching the reception area. David was gone.