by L. A. Banks
Sarah reached out and placed her hand on the silver-etched doorknob. Cold sent a shock of added dread up her arm as she opened the door and entered the outer office area. Beautiful landscapes of snow thawing in the spring frost surrounded her, pink buds and green shoots trying to push through, along with imposing mahogany furniture and huge file cabinets. A stern-looking older woman stopped zapping the teachers’ mailboxes with white light and gave her an admonishing glare. This was so different from her frantic visit the night before, when she hadn’t noticed anything through her upset and tears.
“Are you Sarah Rivera?”
Sarah nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
The woman shook her head and clicked her tongue, then adjusted her half- glasses. “Headmistress Stone will see you—she’s been expecting you. Don’t keep her waiting.”
Apparently news traveled fast around here. Sarah just wondered why it was the trivial news of students fighting in class and not the real issues, like drugs, sex and student-on-student sexual harassment. Steadying herself, she walked around the large gleaming wood counter and past the mean-looking secretary’s desk to knock on her grandmother’s door.
“Come in,” Nana Marlene called out, then looked up from a pile of papers on her huge credenza.
Sarah stood in the doorway, paralyzed as she waited, barely breathing. All Nana Marlene did was motion with her chin for her to sit down, then rounded her desk to sit behind it. Damn…no kiss hello, no glad to see you. On top of everything else, this was bad.
Nana Marlene was in full Headmistress Stone mode this morning. Gone was the warm nana who was upset and worried about the loss of one of her children. Sarah sank down into the overstuffed velvet-covered Queen Anne chair that faced the huge mahogany desk that seemed to put too much distance between her and the family matriarch. Sweat moistened Sarah’s palms, and her heart was beating so fast that she began to feel dizzy.
Today her nana was wearing mauve, and she pushed up her exquisite Kemetian robe sleeves and leaned forward on her elbows while seated in her high-back, burgundy leather chair, making a tent in front of her mouth with her fingers, momentarily lost as to where to begin.
“Before I share my perception, I want to hear your side of this, Sarah,” her grandmother finally said. “With everything else that’s happening, why?”
“Nana,” Sarah mumbled, but then quickly revised the title. “I mean, Headmistress Stone.”
Her grandmother held up her pointer finger to stop Sarah’s stilted flow of words. “I will always be your nana. Headmistress Stone is only a public formality for your benefit, not mine. You know I will not play favorites, and if anything,” she said with a deep, disappointed sigh, “I’ll be harder on you and the other compound kids because I know you know better. Attacking a student in class?”
“I do know better,” Sarah said quietly. Tears welled in her eyes, not from fear of punishment, but for having so disappointed one of the people whose opinions mattered most. “I wasn’t bearing fangs at Miss Tittle. I was just so angry at this jealous Clair-V girl who’d set me and my crew up that when she laughed at me for being late—after she’d reversed my corridor memory mapping—I lost it.”
“Good,” Nana Marlene said, sitting back in her chair. “So what have we learned from this incident?”
Good? Had her grandmother said good?
“Stretch your mind past the emotion and search for the lesson.”
Sarah let out a sigh of frustration. “Don’t fight in-house… save it for the demons outside.” It was one of the canons of the compound that she knew by heart, and she felt really dumb for forgetting that.
Her grandmother smiled and considered her with a slight tilt of her regal head. “Yes, and I wouldn’t go so far as to call the unnamed young lady who pranked you a demon, although the green-eyed monster can feel just as treacherous and is truly just as ugly.”
“You’re telling me,” Sarah grumbled. In that moment she wished her grandmother would use all her superior psychic powers to look into her mind and see what she saw. That was the part that just boggled her mind—why wouldn’t Nana Marlene just go through every student’s brain and simply weed out all the bad apples? Why did they even allow people like Stefan, Brent and the Gray sisters in this school?
“You know, Sarah…” her grandmother said thoughtfully, pausing as she stood and then began to leisurely walk around the room. “There’s an old saying that goes way back before your time and mine, one that we had in South Carolina, where my mother was from. It goes like this: Every shut eye ain’t asleep. I don’t miss much, but if you elect to allow some things to slide, a greater good will come from it.”
The revelation was startling, and Sarah’s gaze locked with her grandmother’s. Did Nana have a clue about some of the stuff happening behind closed doors after all? If so, then why was it still happening?
“I’m not going into your mind…that destroys the fabric of the lessons about leadership that you all must learn. But even without a mental probe, I can pretty much figure out what happened—age gives me that advantage. I’ve seen this a hundred times if I’ve seen it once. But what I want to know is how did one young lady get her front teeth chipped and another get her face cut…and no one ever saw you move?”
Cold sweat dampened Sarah’s entire body. “I don’t know,” she breathed.
“Miss Tittle said the shadows just reached out and clawed Melissa Gray. Just leaped out and attacked her right there in class—after you hit her with a power strobe, blowing her out of her desk. And I suspect a shadow might have tripped Amy Feingold, too.” Nana Marlene folded her arms over her chest.
Sarah closed her eyes. “I never meant…I never told anything to attack them—I swear, Nana.”
“I want to go back to when you had those dreams when you were little,” her grandmother said quietly.
Sarah leaned forward and hugged herself. “I hate thinking about that.”
“I know, sweetie, but it’s vitally important that we do. Especially now.”
Sarah looked up slowly. “You think I’m doing this, don’t you? That I’ll hurt someone.” Her voice wavered. “Am I evil?”
Nana Marlene got up and walked over to Sarah and took her hands. “No, baby, but tell me. Have you been seeing the shadows again?”
Sarah nodded, her grandmother’s face blurring as tears formed in her eyes.
“When?”
“Recently,” Sarah finally hedged, but her grandmother leaned down in her face.
“Don’t make me go in hard, Sarah—tell me. This is important!”
“We heard Mom and Dad arguing,” Sarah stammered, staring into her grandmother’s eyes. “We were upset, so the night before school, we went beyond the barriers, and the shadows started chasing me. And then I fell, just like before. There was a lady who said a funny word to me…uh…Nexse, then I was back and a demon was burning beside me.”
Her grandmother pulled her into a hug, her arms holding her tight and safe. Then she held Sarah away from her so that she could stare deeply into her eyes. “Sarah, there’s no dispute about it now. I finally know what you are. You’re a Shadow Walker.”
Chapter 23
“A what?” Sarah said, fear making her palms sweaty.
“You weren’t falling, you were shadow traveling—slipping between dimensions in the dark to get away from what was chasing you, the same way a vampire would, but instead of hell tunnels, you were using the shadow paths. Then you shadow-boxed what was chasing you, caged it in darkness so it couldn’t follow you. All of that was survival instinct. And those shadows weren’t chasing you, baby. They were guarding you. Their job is to snuff out anything that tries to attack you—to go after anything that means you harm. They killed that demon.”
“But a Shadow Walker? What kind of freak is that?” Sarah pulled away and stood, walking to the far side of the room. She hugged herself suddenly as if cold.
“A Shadow Walker is not a freak,” her grandmother said quietly. “It’s a type o
f angel hybrid, a member of an elite fighting force.” Her grandmother closed her eyes with a smile. “It makes so much sense now why Counselor Z couldn’t figure out how to place you. You’re so much like your father. We were all looking to Al to mirror him, when it was you all the time.”
“No, no, no, no, no, no, no! I am not adventurous; I am not the one who likes playing in the dark and taking dares—uh-uh…no.”
“You’ve been suppressing your talents because you fear them, so—”
“Yes, I fear them, Nana! I’m so scared all the time you have no idea,” Sarah said in a rush, then began crying. “I see things in my head that frighten me!” Her voice broke as words gave way to sobs, and her grandmother walked over to hold her again.
“Let it out, baby,” Nana Marlene said, rubbing her back. “You’ve been carrying that weight since you’ve been born.”
“I’ve had nightmares since I can remember,” Sarah sobbed, “and I just wanna be like all the other kids. And I want Ayana back!”
A warm, moist cheek rested against hers as strong arms rocked her until the hiccupping sobs subsided.
“They sent you my daughter as a guide,” Nana Marlene said quietly. “She came to me the night you kids went outside the light barrier back home at our compound, just before you were to go to school.” Nana kissed Sarah’s hair gently. “I’m an old seer, baby—not too much gets pass me. I don’t speak on all that I see or know because some of this you kids have to learn on your own.”
Sarah looked up, teary-eyed. Her grandmother was simply amazing. It always blew her mind that the woman was so wise.
Her nana nodded. “Christine was lost to me when she was about your age. Vampires took her and turned her. I went after her, but your mother did the job.” A pair of wise eyes filled with tears that burned away as they stared at Sarah. “Nexse means awaken. She’s telling you to awaken to your path, and she’s there for you now as a beacon of light. She was taken by the Light because she was too young for the dark side to lay claim to. But she walked that path—the shadow path—for years, which is why they sent her to help you learn how to navigate it. Call her by name when you need her, and she will guide you.”
“How do you know all this, Nana?” Sarah buried her face in the crook of her grandmother’s neck, wishing she could climb into her lap like she had as a toddler.
“When I lost the first two students, Christine came to me and said she would watch over you, and she told me how you came to be, but she didn’t reveal your talent.”
“How I came to be?” Sarah looked up, spent, but if her grandmother had any more terrible revelations, she wanted to look her in the eye to hear it.
“Your mother lost a baby, years before you and Al were conceived. The dark side clawed that small life right out of her womb, and…that life was you.”
Sarah didn’t blink or move.
“Angels came and got you, but your mother and father wept as though their souls had been shattered. This all happened before your father crossed over.”
“Wait a minute,” Sarah said, pulling back. “Before he crossed over… You mean when he was still a vampire?”
Her grandmother nodded.
“But vampires can’t have children, grandma!” Sarah tried to pull away, but two hands held her body still, and ancient eyes held her gaze steady.
“Normally they can’t. Their seed is dead. That had never before happened in the history of the vampire lines, and it’s never happened again since. Do you hear me, child? Are you listening with both ears? Your father loved your mother across the lines of life and death, and trust me, what he suffered was something that no one else on this planet could have endured.” Her grandmother released her and paced away, talking with her hands, then suddenly zapped a hard snap at her that sent static electricity across the room. Papers flew off the desk, and a blue charge ran over the surface of the furniture.
“The angels said they would replace that which had been wrongfully stolen from your mother’s womb, and your biological grandmother—angel Sarah, your mother’s mother—held your soul in her palm until the time was right. When your mother got pregnant with Alejandro, you were placed in your mother’s womb right alongside your brother. This is partly why Alejandro resents you—you are the true firstborn. His spirit feels it, and your mother and father down in their souls know it but cannot articulate it, and until now, it was not for me to tell them, but the time has come.”
Sarah fell down into the chair she’d been standing in front of and took several deep breaths. “So Al and I aren’t really twins?”
“No, baby.”
Sarah looked at her grandmother. “I don’t know what to do. I didn’t mean to hurt Melissa like that, even though I was angry at her. How do I control this…thing?” She bit her lip for a moment and clasped her hands in her lap. “I don’t want to see scary things anymore, Nana. I don’t want to live the rest of my life scared to death of everything.”
“You have to trust the Light. The angel legions aren’t going to let you see anything that will damage your mind, but they will let you be a lethal weapon for us against the dark side. Our job here at this school is to teach you how to control this powerful force within you. Right now, of course it seems frightening. But, Sarah, what you have is a magnificent gift. Your mother is a descendant of Powers angels. Your father…well, he used to be one of the highest ranking Vampires of all time until he got saved. So there you have it, a blend of talents. Shadow Walkers are as rare as Neteru, so it stands to reason that the Light would send one to the planet during the end of days.”
“I’m not brave enough to do this, Nana” Sarah whispered.
“Bravery comes with confidence in one’s own abilities.” Her grandmother smiled softly. “Baby, being brave doesn’t mean being fearless. It means doing what you have to do even when you are most afraid.”
Sarah let out a long breath of frustration. She’d do the detention, take a suspension, even accept it if they expelled her from school. But she did not want to be some shadow controlling freak!
Reading Sarah’s mind gently, her grandmother kept her voice soft yet firm. “Honey, you have to train for this or you can hurt people. You have an inner rage that must be directed against the right sources, not fellow students who simply get on your nerves.”
“Am I the only one like this?”
The question hung in the air for a moment, then her grandmother pursed her lips. “No,” she said, standing. “Follow me.”
Sarah found herself almost jogging to keep up with her grandmother. The halls were empty, and Headmistress Stone swept through them with sudden purpose. Her long Kemetian robes billowed out behind her as she marched forward with her age-old ebony walking staff held tightly in her grip. Descending flight after flight of seemingly endless stairs, they arrived at a desolate place so barren that the long corridors contained no murals. A small sign made Sarah’s breath hitch. It read Crematorium.
Using her staff, Headmistress Stone knocked twice on the large metal door, then swung it open. And there, standing in front of what looked like a long metal hospital gurney, Sarah saw her parents and a man emanating such power that she could only stop and stare.
Simply gazing into his eyes, she immediately knew he wasn’t a normal human. His large irises were midnight blue and almost eclipsed the white in the rest of his eyes. His thick hair was disheveled and as dark as a raven’s, with silvery gray at the temples. Dark stubble covered his jaw, and his face had a long, ancient, vertical scar that began at his hairline, crossed through the plane of his left eye and stopped just above the edge of his jaw. He looked up and fixed those amazing, frightening eyes on her. He had her father’s height and build, but his weathered face showed him to be much older than Uncle Jack. He wore an old sleeveless white t-shirt and a pair of olive fatigue pants. A cigarette smoldered in an ashtray before him, then he tilted his head, studying her with a frown.
Sarah glanced around the room, growing more frightened by the moment. The lig
hts were dim, but the furnace was burning red hot, and suddenly she was so panicked and perspiring so badly that her shirt clung to her like a second skin. There was no air-conditioning, and all around her were implements of death. Battleaxes, scythes, chains, sharp knives, bone saws… Dear God, the school had a torture chamber?
“What’s my daughter doing down here, Marlene?” Sarah’s father finally said, stepping away from the table. “She should be in assembly with the other students, listening to Shabazz’s security update.”
“She’s here to meet Professor Zachariah Raziel,” her grandmother said in a calm but firm tone.
“Professor Razor fits better,” the ominous being said in a disinterested tone, walking slowly toward Sarah.
“Why?” her mother said in a horrified whisper, hurrying toward Sarah and getting between her and the professor.
“Because it’s time,” Headmistress Stone said firmly, then gentled her voice. “Although it was an accident, she activated the shadows and severely injured a student today, Damali. She has to learn how to control her power. It’s time, even though she’d initially been placed in the Blends division. I don’t know how Counselor Z could have made such a mis—”
“No!” Carlos shouted. “I forbid it! Especially with everything else that’s going on.”
“It is her destiny,” Headmistress Stone said calmly.
“I didn’t mean to, Dad,” Sarah said, beginning to tear up. Her panic-stricken gaze went from her parents to her grandmother, then to the furnace silhouetting Professor Razor in its orange light. “I didn’t know about the shadows. I didn’t know I could—”
“Are you mad?” Professor Razor said, changing course and walking up to Carlos to get in his face. He spoke in a quiet, lethal tone as he stared at her father eye-to-eye. “You’ve allowed this child to be afraid of a talent like this, as well as remain unaware of how to properly use it? That’s like throwing a loaded gun into the middle of a schoolyard filled with toddlers. Guaranteed, one of them is going to pick it up and pull the trigger!”