All Things in the Shadows II

by B. D. Messick

  “Okay. What’s this going to be like?”

  “It’s kinda hard to explain,” I say just before fading and streaming up onto the fire-escape on the fourth floor of the building in front of us.

  She grabs the metal handrail and takes a few deep breaths before looking down into the alley at her brother.

  “Holy shit,” she says, repeating Andrew’s words.

  “You okay?” I ask, smiling at her.

  She nods slowly and smiles in return, her eyes sparkling.

  “I’m good.”

  “Ready for more?”

  “Ohhh…hell yeah.”

  “All right. Hold on. We’re going further this time.”

  She just nods excitedly, her fingers gripping my hand like a vice. I pick out a spot on the side of the glass and steel office tower across the alleyway and then set us off. As soon as we touch the surface, I pick out another target on the building we just left and I zig-zag us back and forth about six times until we’re high enough to reach the roof of the shorter office structure. I lock in on a landing zone far enough from the edge to allow us time to stop.

  My feet hit the gravel-covered roof and I skid momentarily before coming to a stop. I look over at Hannah and she’s laughing as tears stream down her face.

  “You all right?”

  “I…um…I’m great,” she says, wiping her face with the back of her hand.

  I pat her hand gently. We walk slowly to the edge of the roof and I look across the city toward the Factory. We can’t see it from here, but the shadow cast by the tower behind us blends into a long series of other shadows, creating an unbroken chain out past the edges of the city.

  “Are we going that way?” Hannah asks, pointing off to the east.

  “Yeah.”

  “Well? What are we waiting for?”

  “You’re loving this, aren’t you?”

  “I am,” she says, smiling at me.

  “What about your brother?”

  “He’s probably crying like a baby,” she says, chuckling to herself.

  “Well. We can’t let them beat us there, can we?”

  “No way.”

  “Okay then. On three, we jump.”

  “Jump?” she asks, sounding a little hesitant for the first time.

  “Yeah. You want to beat him there, right?”

  “Definitely.”

  “Okay. One-two-three,” and Hannah jumps a split second before me.

  We free-fall for a few moments, just enjoying the thrill of the plunge, the intense feeling of freedom and then I fade us into the shadow and we stream down toward the street. I glance over at Hannah, and I can see that she’s screaming, but it’s a scream of exhilaration, not of fear, like when you’re riding a roller-coaster. I link us off the top of a streetlight, the trailer of a semi-truck parked in front of some sort of shop, the roof of a bright blue sedan and then finally, into the narrow power-line shadow that runs down the street, crisscrossing over dozens of other similar dark lines, creating a spider web of sorts.

  We zip along the thin shadow, making quick, split-second turns every now and then. I can feel Hannah squeeze my hand each time we change direction, but then she relaxes right after. I spot a UPS truck traveling along the two-lane street just ahead of us, throwing a shadow behind it. As soon as we reach it, I stream us up onto the roof and fade us back into the Solas. Crouching down, I pull Hannah with me and for a few minutes we ride atop the truck.

  “This is what you do every day?” Hannah asks, the smile on her face from cheek to cheek.

  “This is part of it,” I reply, shouting over the sound of the wind, while simultaneously watching for an opportunity to exit our ride.

  We can’t stay here for long. It’s too risky. Two kids truck-surfing is definitely something the police would take seriously. I focus on the roof of a small flower shop coming up fast on the left.

  “Hold on,” I say as we pass under the shadow of a telephone pole.

  I fade us back into the Umbra and we stream directly onto the top of the little store. Hannah lets out a yelp and then falls to her knees, tears streaming down her face. I crouch down next to her, my hand resting gently on her shoulder.

  “Hannah. I’m sorry, maybe all this is too much too fast.”

  She looks up at me and smiles through the tears while shaking her head.

  “No…no,” she mutters. “Don’t say sorry.”

  “But—”

  “It’s all good, Eve. I’m just…happy. That’s all. I almost forgot what it feels like.”

  “Okay. If you’re sure.”

  “I’m sure,” she replies, standing and taking my hand again. “Let’s go. We have to beat them!”

  I nod and smile at her before fading us again and streaming across the street, linking off a couple small buildings, gaining height with each one. Each time we touch down, Hannah seems more confident than the time before. Within a few minutes, the roof of the Factory comes into view. I link us onto the top of the water-tower about two blocks away.

  “Almost there,” I say, pointing to the old building.

  “That? That’s where we’re going?”

  “It’s nicer on the inside,” I reply with a sly grin.

  “It better be.”

  “Trust me.”

  She looks at me and squeezes my fingers.

  “Let’s do it.”

  We leap together, fading into the shadows and streaming over several buildings and landing in the center of the parking lot. Hannah stumbles when we land, but she recovers quickly, spinning around to face me.

  “Did we beat them here?” she asks.

  “I don’t see them,” I reply, looking around.

  E ~ You close?

  K ~ Almost there. Andrew’s whining a bit.

  I chuckle to myself and Hannah cocks her head to the side.

  “What?”

  “They’re almost here,” I say, keeping the rest to myself.

  She looks up at the building, seemingly unimpressed. I take her hand again and walk over to the wall and press my palm against the brick. I can’t see it this time as the ice seems to melt away and the real Factory is revealed, but I can tell from Hannah’s reaction that she can see it. She covers her mouth with her other hand, her eyes wide.

  “Oh my God,” she mumbles, and I take a tiny step closer to her just in case she bolts.

  “That was sort of my reaction when I first saw it too,” I say.

  “That is so freaking awesome!” she suddenly exclaims.

  I smile at her, thrilled that she’s taking this so well. Suddenly, Kateri and Wren appear in the lot just behind us, Andrew between them. He stumbles away from them, drops to his knees and retches a few times before looking over at us. Hannah just shakes her head.

  “At least he’s not crying,” she says, grinning at me.

  “That’s true.”

  We walk over to the others, and Kateri immediately takes my hand. Hannah helps Andrew to his feet and they say something to each other, but I can’t hear what it is. A moment later, they walk up to us and Andrew looks at the pile of broken bricks and other debris.

  “I thought you said it was safe here,” he says before pointing up to the hole in the outside of the building where workers are repairing the damage.

  “It is. There’s danger everywhere, Andrew, but it’s still safer here than a dumpster in an alley, especially for Hannah,” I reply.

  He looks at me for a few seconds and then over at his sister before nodding.

  “That’s true.”

  “Come on. Let’s get you guys settled,” Kateri says.

  “Wait,” Hannah says.

  “What?” I ask, looking down at her.

  “I thought you said this was an ice cream factory.”

  “I did.”

  “I don’t see any ice cream.”

  I smile at her before slipping my arm over her shoulder.

  “We can get you some ice cream. Come on.”

  “What is this?�
� I ask as I hold what looks like an old-style flip-phone.

  “It’s what Evan came up with to allow communication between us and the Abyss,” Father replies.

  “We already know cell phones don’t work.”

  “Exactly. It’s not a cell phone.”

  “Okay,” I reply before handing it to Kateri. “Then what is it?”

  “It’s more like a walkie-talkie.”

  “So it works on radio waves, and not cell signals,” Syrra says.

  “Exactly.”

  When I look at it again, a thought pops into my head.

  E ~ It sort of looks like a communicator from Star Trek.

  K ~ O.M.G. You are such a dork.

  E ~ Yeah, so are you. You knew what I meant.

  K ~ Shut up.

  “We don’t know if it’ll work though, do we?” I ask.

  “Not yet.”

  “Well, we’re heading back there soon, so we can test it,” I reply.

  I look over at my mother, and I can tell she’s not happy with my announcement.

  “How was New York?” I ask Reeva, looking over at her and Jax, trying to deflect any unpleasant conversation.

  “It wasn’t that bad after all. Not sure if the device didn’t work as intended, or what, but injuries and damage were minimal.”

  “Well, that’s good at least.”

  “The bad thing is, we got no video and no still shots. Cameras weren’t working, they were being upgraded.”

  “That’s just awesome.”

  “Yeah, well. I have a feeling that’s why they picked the location.”

  “What about you, Clay? You see anything that might help?”

  He just shakes his head, a sour look on his face. I nod and frown. It makes me even madder to think this is coming from inside our organization, and that someone is harming us and living among us at the same time.

  Evan walks back into the room, flash drive in hand.

  “Okay. I got it,” he says, sitting down behind Father’s desk, and then suddenly realizing what he just did. “Oh, sorry…can I?”

  “Of course,” Father replies with a grin.

  “All right,” he mutters, mostly to himself, I think. His fingers fly over the keyboard. “The images were not as good as I had hoped, and the little bit of video we have is not much better.”

  “It’ll have to do,” Father says. “Show us.”

  “Up there,” Evan says, pointing to the bank of screens on the wall.

  All the images suddenly change to the same picture; a hooded figure. In one shot, it’s carrying a bag, and in the other, empty-handed. None of the stills are clear, and what’s worse, none show the attacker’s face.

  “What about the video?” I ask.

  “One second.”

  A moment later, a fairly clear shot of the entrance to the Minneapolis mill appears. The same dark hooded figure passes from one corner of the screen to the other, a bag slung over its shoulder. The footage changes to a different viewpoint at another location within the building, and although the attacker is on the screen longer this time, he or she is always turned away from the camera. There’s one more four second clip, but it’s no different from the others.

  “I told you it wasn’t much,” Evan says, sounding upset with himself.

  “You can only work with what you have,” Father replies.

  “Can I say something?” Clay says.

  “Of course,” Father replies.

  “Why are we so sure that the attacker is a Shayd? It could just as easily be a demon,” he says, glancing at Jax.

  “Kyuki and her people have seen him,” I say.

  “Yeah, more demons. How do we know they’re not lying, or even part of it?”

  “They’re not,” I say, frowning at him.

  “How can you be sure? Didn’t the little boy say he saw a monster before the first attack?”

  “Yeah, but he’s young, and traumatized. I don’t think he’s a reliable witness.”

  “But you’re willing to take the word of our enemies,” Clay says.

  “They’re not our enemies,” I reply, starting to get annoyed. “At least not all of them.”

  “They always have been,” he shoots back, giving Jax another look.

  “They’re different, okay?”

  “Yeah, and so are you. Is that why you are so willing to trust them?”

  His eyes narrow and I can feel the tension in the room rise ten notches.

  “Clay. That’s enough,” Father says.

  “I’m just saying that we really don’t know what we’re dealing with here.”

  “That’s fair…and we’re all keeping an open mind, right?” Father asks, looking at me.

  “Yes,” I reply, frowning.

  We all stand around for a few moments, no one saying a word. The thoughts flinging around the room range from anger to frustration to sadness; a maddening tornado of emotions. Finally, Wren speaks up.

  “Can I ask something?”

  “Of course,” Father says.

  “You have a historical record of all times when those windows from the Abyss open, right?”

  “The portals?”

  “Yeah, portals.”

  “We do,” Father answers.

  “Can you show us all of them within a mile or so of the place in Minneapolis, New York and here?”

  “Sure,” Evan says as he punches keys.

  The video vanishes, and a map appears in its place, and it’s slowly populated by bright red dots, until the screen is pretty much filled up.

  “Can you cut it down to anything within the last three weeks?”

  A key punch and over seventy percent of the dots vanish. There are still a lot around the Pittsburgh area, with slightly less around Minneapolis and New York.

  “What are you thinking?” I ask Wren, leaning over to whisper in her ear.

  “Give me a second,” she replies, a deadly serious tone to her voice. “Now less than a week.”

  Another key and now there are only twenty-five or so dots on the screen.

  “What is the point of this,” Clay complains from the side.

  “Shut up, Clay. Let her think,” I respond, perhaps angrier than I intended.

  “Can you show me times when an incursion occurred but there was no Demon found?”

  “You mean just around the three locations?”

  “Yeah.”

  The map clears for a moment and then re-populates with dozens of pinpoints. There are a lot in the Pittsburgh area, with even fewer in the outlying cities and the other two attack sites. Wren stares at the monitor, her brow furrowed.

  “Something else?” Evan asks, looking up at her.

  “Take everything out again.”

  “’kay.”

  “Can you put back the incursions without Demons one at a time, starting with the one that opened when we were attacked here, in order of occurrence?”

  “Sure,” Evan says, leaning a bit closer to the screen and tapping a few keys.

  A single red dot appears in Pittsburgh. About five seconds later, a second dot appears near New York. I half-expect to see the next locale in Minneapolis, but one appears in Pittsburgh again.

  “What’s that one?” I ask.

  Wren holds her hand up, and I shut my mouth.

  “Show me the next one,” she says.

  Minneapolis.

  I look over at Kateri and she shrugs.

  “And the next,” Wren says, but just before the light appears, she puts the tip of her finger on the screen directly on the word ‘Pittsburgh.’ The monitor illuminates beneath her finger.

  “What does that mean?” Reeva asks.

  “It means the traitor is here,” Wren replies, looking around the room at all of us.

  For a few seconds, no one speaks, the only sounds coming from the technicians down in the Map Room, typing on their keyboards and talking on their headsets. Finally, Father breaks the silence.

  “That may be true,” he says, “but it doesn�
��t mean that it’s one of us in this room. We need to trust each other, we need to work together, or this is all going to get worse.”

  “But what if it is one of us?” Clay asks.

  He doesn’t look over at Jax this time, but I can feel the animosity in his jumbled thoughts.

  “Then we’ll deal with it, but for now, we have things that need to be done. By the way, good work, Wren.”

  “Thank you, Father,” she replies, a blush on her cheeks.

  “Clay. I want you to go to New York for a week to help them get back on their feet. Take Kyra with you.”

  “Yes, Father,” he replies, but I can tell he’s not happy about it.

  “Reeva. I know you just got back, but I need you in Minneapolis. Take whatever time you need and whoever you need to get them up and running as soon as possible.”

  “I’ll take Max, Gemma and Wren,” she says, winking at her.

  She almost jumps with excitement but controls herself.

  “Good. Now, let’s get on it, and stop this maniac before we lose any more people.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Goddamn it!” I say out loud as Kateri and I walk into our apartment.

  I toss my sword and knife onto the bed and march over to the window.

  “We couldn’t have known.”

  “It’s not that,” I reply without looking back at her.

  “Then what?” she asks.

  I hear the quiet hiss of the door as it closes.

  “It’s that whoever it is…may be in this building right now. And you’re in danger, and my mother and…and everyone else.”

  I feel Kateri’s hands slide over my shoulders and she lays her head on my back.

  “I know,” she whispers. “I’m pissed too, and worried, but we can’t go around accusing everyone. We have to find out who it is.”

  I let out a deep sigh.

  “Yeah, I know you’re right,” I say as I turn slowly, loving the sensation of her hands as they slide across my body, “but it doesn’t make me feel any better.”

  “Me neither.”

  I manage a weak smile and then she leans in and presses her lips against mine and I feel like I want to melt into her. I slide my hands down her back and over the swell of her buttocks before pulling her closer. The taste and feel of her lips sends my mind reeling, and for a moment, I forget about everything else around us. She pushes me up against the window and I respond in kind, pressing back into her, but then a tiny sliver of a thought invades my temporary paradise.