“He’s sick. He hasn’t been himself,” she whispered to herself. It finally sunk in and she mentally checked off the past hour’s events. Leon was sick in the head but not physically, apparently. He seemed unpredictable and dangerous, but Leon did the opposite of threaten her. She licked her lips while remembering the kiss. It’d be far from accidental but then he had some confused perception of her identity.
Outside the noise died out and the hall sounded calm. The wait for Adam became agonizing, but he finally resurfaced. Slipping in the room and shutting the door behind him, he leaned against the wall. Movements stiff and slow, something obviously hurt him.
“Are you okay?” she chirped.
He shook his head. His face was white but there were no apparent bruises forming.
“I should be asking you that. Tell me you are okay,” he rasped.
“Yea, fine. Please come sit,” she beckoned. He lumbered over to the bed and dropped onto the springs.
A minute passed while he caught his breath.
“Will you tell me what’s going on?” she asked after a minute of silence.
“I wish you wouldn’t ask,” he whispered.
“How could I not ask? That was your brother, right? I deserve an explanation.”
“It’s hard to explain…” he moaned.
She ran her hand along his knee to break the distance between them. Adam put his head into his hands, and she felt like she was looking at Leon again.
“My brother Leon is very sick. He’s been like this since an encounter with a coven of shades in Denver. It was a huge fight and it made the news under the guise of a gas line explosion.”
“What happened?” she urged him on.
“The shades overpowered him. None of us were with him. We knew there was safety in numbers but we totally failed at backing each other up. Honestly, I understand why Tony is so wound up about it. Leon got hurt, but just hasn’t been the same…”
The pain in his voice was clear, and it hurt Adelaide to hear it. She squeezed his knee and made sure to keep her tone in check. “So what? Did he have a head injury? Adam, Leon was convinced he knew me.”
Adam let out a long breath and laid his hand over hers.
“Yea, he probably thought you were his old girlfriend. She was killed by shades a few years back.”
Adelaide cringed. She doubted she resembled his girlfriend enough to warrant a mistaken identity, but the implication was depressing. Adam kept speaking so she focused on listening to him.
“He went to a hospital but left soon after. I thought he was out for revenge, but then he might just be looking for answers. It’s been difficult to relate to him recently, but I think we can help him. Now that he’s here, he’ll have time to recover.”
Adam lay back on the bed and shut his eyes. She didn’t wait for permission to slip into the crook of his arm, place her cheek on his chest, and cuddle against him. Adam barely reacted to the contact but she didn’t care. The warmth and closeness did wonders to help her stay grounded.
“Okay. What did the hospital say? Does he have brain damage? Is he going to get better?”
She could feel his heart speed up in his chest and the sharp intake of breath.
“Adelaide, I said I’d protect you. I don’t want you involved in this. You’re leaving soon so you shouldn’t worry.”
It was her second chance to fix things—to talk him out of shipping her home. She had no better answers but she did think of something. Propping herself up, she looked down at him.
“I’m only worried about you now. Talk to me? I’m here for you for once.”
He watched her through half lowered lids. His breathing steadied but he still seemed reluctant. Eventually he gave, but she didn’t expect what he said next.
“I told you once that shades went after mages to take over their bodies, right? Well, that’s what they did to Leon. A shade took him over…”
Fourteen
“What did you just say?”
Adelaide broke their embrace immediately. In her rush to get away, her makeshift towel bandage tangled around her feet and she nailed her toe on the bedframe. The sharp pain barely fazed her but she stopped moving. Looking down at Adam now, she waited for an explanation. He reluctantly sat up.
“I said that a shade took Leon over,” he said slowly.
“That’s what I thought.” She sounded increasingly hysterical and struggled to maintain even the smallest bit of composure. “Shades are evil, Adam. You told me that yourself!”
“Adelaide, calm down, please. Sit down. You’ve seen Leon. He doesn’t look that evil to you, right?”
She felt cold, alone, and completely scandalized. Wrapping her arms around herself, she stared at him as if he’d grown another head. Adam gave up on beckoning her closer.
“I know it’s hard to understand—especially to learn about shades and to hear this now. But remember how I told you that shades take over mages’ bodies?”
She nodded frantically to urge him on.
“They tried to take Leon over but he kicked the shade right back out again. Adelaide, what you see is Leon after the fact. He’s not a shade anymore so you don’t have to worry.”
She stared at him to find that his face was stone serious. Suddenly remembering how to rein in her reaction and her knowledge of shades, she spoke.
“Can that happened?” she asked in a meek voice, but her mind was already made up. It couldn’t happen. It never did.
“I’ve never seen it before, no. But it’s Leon we’re talking about and he’s not the typical mage. You’ve seen it yourself, Adelaide. He’s strong enough to do it, and he’s clearly not a shade anymore!” Adam pointed upstairs as if his brother’s mere existence gave credence to his theory.
She resisted the urge to shake her head again. It was impossible, she thought. It had to be impossible because no one ever survived it. Leon was more powerful than most but he couldn’t have been the only one.
“Are you sure a shade even got him? Did you see it happen?” she asked.
She sat down on the bed to be at his eye level.
“Other mages did. I mean, he went after those mages when he was in shade form. I believe it happened but I also believe in the man you see upstairs. He may not be right in the head, but I think he’s still my brother. I just got a second chance to be with him.”
His voice wavered and he clearly was still in pain. Adelaide regretted pushing so hard now.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know anything,” she whispered.
Adam offered her a weak smile and beckoned her closer. She scooted up into his lap and leaned against him. He shifted until his chin rested on her head.
“You haven’t asked anything that I haven’t asked myself. You’re smart, Adelaide. But I have to believe there is still some hope and I won’t give up on him. I want my brother back so much…” He paused for a moment and squeezed her tightly. Adelaide squeaked under the pressure but let him hold onto her. She could feel how quickly his heart raced in his chest and how rapidly his breath came and went. “I ask myself sometimes if it’s all Leon upstairs and none of the shade. I understand why there’s fear there.”
“Yea, I understand,” she said.
“But I’ll protect you, Adelaide. Don’t worry about it.”
“Yea, I know,” she whispered.
Finally pulling away, she looked up at him. Adam had brought her here to distract him, she knew. He wanted some comfort for the sadness he felt and she couldn’t make him feel worse. She mustered the most brilliant smile she could. When the smile he returned was weak, she turned to her better idea. Leaning up, she captured his lips, kissing him roughly. Adam collapsed backwards on the bed and dragged Adelaide along with him.
She grunted in discontent from the awkward position, which earned the first laugh from him.
“Lay with me,” he said then.
She repositioned her cheek on his chest and shifted until she found a comfortable spot. His arm lingered around her wais
t and held her close. The burning adrenaline in her veins faded until she just felt tired. Her eyes shut until she heard him speak.
“I should check on him,” Adam said.
Adelaide perked up and freed her torso from his grip. Adam sat up quickly, now looking more tired than ever.
“Is it safe?”
“He’s mellowed out a ton since earlier. It’s a sign that rest is doing him good.”
Adam left her for the door and Adelaide stood uncomfortably.
“Can I come?” she asked quickly.
Adam hesitated. After a minute his resolve broke and he offered her a hand. She moved to accept it and stumbled. Scowling at her injured feet, she checked to see how much worse she’d made the healing process. The bleeding had stopped some time ago, but stomping around might change that. Adam’s attention dropped to her feet.
“Shit, I didn’t know you were hurt. You walked through the glass? Sit,” he ordered.
She reluctantly dropped back on the bed and reached down to gingerly touch her toes. The wound looked more gruesome than it felt at this point.
“They’re not bleeding anymore,” she said.
“You might have embedded glass,” he snapped. In a hurry, he retrieved a small blue first-aid kit from the bathroom. Then he hit his knees and gently lifted her legs to get a better look.
“I checked for that already,” she said but he didn’t care. His meticulous examination went on for a minute. Then Adelaide saw it again. When she’d been in the basement with Leon, he had tried to fix her wounds. Now Adam did the same, wearing the same exact look of concern. The resemblance between the two brothers was both extraordinary and bizarre to see.
“It looks okay, but you shouldn’t have let me ramble on so long when you were hurt,” he said.
“I’m fine. And your brother’s clearly a more important issue at the moment.”
He shook his head but she wasn’t sure which part he was disagreeing with. He wrapped her feet firmly in white tape from the kit before he let them go. She stood up, finding the pressure of the tape helping to take part of the sting away.
Clearly reluctant, he offered her his hand again.
“If there’s any more glass out there, I’ll carry you up the stairs,” he said.
She shook her head, feeling something between embarrassment and exhilaration. They walked together into the living room that had been cleared of debris. It held the faint smell of smoke that the air conditioning worked furiously to filter.
If walking through the living room had been slow and painful, ascending the stairs was virtually agonizing. Every time Adelaide tried to quicken the pace, Adam would slow her down. Only when they reached the third floor landing did she slow on her own accord. Adam finished the walk to his brother’s room without her.
“Leon, I’m coming in,” Adam said as he knocked on the door. There was no response so Adam opened the door anyway. Leon’s room was just as dank as Adelaide remembered it and the dust exploded into the hall.
Adam cringed as Adelaide did, but forced his way in regardless. The room was dark and the blinds were shut. Adam stopped at the edge of the bed. Adelaide gained enough courage to take a few extra steps and look inside.
Leon sat on the bed but she did a double take before she saw him. For his large figure, he appeared tiny. His knees pressed against his chest and his shoulders turned in.
“How are you feeling?” Adam asked first.
Leon raised his face from his knees and peered across the room as if noticing their presence for the first time. His eyes were bloodshot, his skin was pale, and a thin layer of sweat clung to his forehead. Leon let out a grunt of response to his brother before his attention shifted to Adelaide. She stiffened when their gaze met, but she didn’t back away.
“You must be Adelaide,” Leon suddenly croaked. Adam signaled her to come inside. She took only two steps and stopped in the doorframe.
“Yes, this is Adelaide. Have you two met?” Adam asked slowly.
Leon seemed more interested in looking at the sheets than at Adelaide now.
“Yea, just briefly,” Leon said. He cleared his gravelly voice with a few coughs, and suddenly sounded like a different person from earlier. He actually sounded normal. “Not to be rude, but who are you exactly?”
“She’s my friend Adelaide, Leon. She just came to stay for the weekend. She’s a human,” Adam answered for her. Leon looked unimpressed and luckily appeared to give it no more thought.
“I’m sorry about earlier, Adelaide. I don’t know what I was thinking…” he admitted. “It’s nice to meet you officially.”
Adam glanced back at Adelaide when she said nothing. Only with his prodding did she remember how to be polite.
“Yes, it’s nice to officially meet you, Leon,” she said. It sounded more forced than she intended but she couldn’t get over the fact that she was saying it either. Neither Leon nor Adam seemed to notice or care.
“Leon, are you hungry? You should eat.”
Adelaide wasn’t sure Leon would ever move. He looked so morose in his tiny ball, but apparently the promise of food gave him energy. He threw his legs off the bed and lumbered to an awkward stand. She saw no apparent injuries but he walked like his entire body hurt.
The trip downstairs passed quietly and Leon sat at the long table before he was asked. Once he sat, Adam hurried to the kitchen while Adelaide hovered in the corner.
“Do you need help?” she called to Adam.
“I’m good. Sit!” Adam called back.
When Leon set his eyes on her, Adelaide felt like she couldn’t run away. She chose the nearest chair at the end of the table. Leon was looking more coherent by the second, but she couldn’t decide yet if that was for better or worse.
“Adelaide, how did my brother and you meet?” he asked.
“I was out rock climbing and there was a slide. Adam saved my life.”
“With magic?” Leon cued.
Adelaide twitched.
“Yea. It’s how I found out that he’s a mage.”
Leon grinned.
“Leave it to Adam to save a pretty girl rather than keep the secret of our race,” he laughed.
Adelaide found her hand itching to touch her pendant beneath her shirt, but she grudgingly kept her hands at her sides.
“I wasn’t going to tell anyone,” she said quietly. Leon’s full attention was on her again and it made her skin crawl.
“You don’t need to convince me. I’ve revealed our secret to more people than I can count. It’s a hard secret to keep—there aren’t that many mages. If you want to have a relationship, you have it with a human.”
She nodded but couldn’t have felt more out of place. The scent of eggs crept into the room, but Adam didn’t have enough time to finish any food yet.
“I’m sorry,” Leon suddenly added. He moved quickly to put his hands out in a begging gesture. “Sorry. I just assumed that you and Adam were together. I assumed that’s why you came here with him.”
He looked genuinely apologetic so she tried to look casual in return.
“It’s okay. I understand why you’d think that…”
“Who’s being stubborn? Is it you or him?” he suddenly asked. Something in her face must have given it away because he answered his own question. “It’s him. Adam is too protective for his own good.”
She nodded madly. Leon was far from the person she intended to have this conversation with but he nailed the issue on the head. Adam was probably overly protective of Leon, too. She glanced backward at the hall linking to the kitchen. He would be back to check on his brother soon. If he wasn’t within earshot, he was very close.
“Whatever is going on with you two though, we should not tell him about earlier. That didn’t count. I didn’t know what I was doing,” Leon whispered.
His words made sense the second he touched his finger to his lips and Adelaide immediately blushed. She almost forgot about the kiss and the sensation of it came back to her now. Lips ting
ling, she bit them and averted her face. Within moments, Adam returned to the table with an omelet and hash browns. He slid the plate in front of his brother and dropped into an open chair.
“Adelaide, did you want any?”
She shook her head so Adam faced his brother instead.
“Eat,” Adam commanded. Leon obeyed and shoveled the food down. He barely chewed but did slow down to pick out the onions.
“No seconds?” he asked his brother.
“If you hadn’t picked out half the vegetables, you wouldn’t be hungry.”
“I need protein—not healthy crap,” Leon said with a face that would have put a puppy dog to shame. She resisted the urge to laugh, feeling bizarre. The mage notorious forty-nine states over didn’t want to eat his vegetables. Bradley was the same way. He seemed so innocent now that she wondered why people were so terrified of him. Where had his reputation come from? Bradley was wrong about him. Her mission would be easy.
Adam let out an overdramatic breath when he swept up his brother’s plate, but he never made it back to the kitchen. The front door slammed open, and the shock reverberated through the foundation of the house. Footsteps rushed in before Adelaide could spring from her chair and the furious voice of Tony reached them quickly.
“What’s going on?” he hollered.
“Tony, relax,” Adam tried immediately. Tony stopped short of the table. Dirt spotted his face but did little to hide the red cheeks beneath. Adelaide noticed his disheveled clothes and limp in his step before she caught the light whiff of smoke he trailed in. She gagged immediately.
“What’s wrong?” Leon asked and perked up.
Adam shifted quickly until he stood between the two men.
“Nothing is wrong,” Adam hissed.
“Nothing sounds like you haven’t looked outside lately!” Tony snapped right back.
“What’s going on?” Leon asked again. Adam held a hand out in an effort to silence the room.
“Nothing, I’ll go out and deal with it,” Adam said.
Tony grunted. He ran a hand through his wild hair and his palm came back spotted with blood.
“Deal with it? I’ve been dealing with it and they keep coming. I don’t know what’s attracting the shades here, but it’s either the man at the table or the one in the basement. Either way I don’t care to wait and find out.”
Burning in a Memory Page 11