I sat there a moment in my own confusion before I said, "You will?"
"You have to get off me first," he said.
I stood up and took a step back to give him room. Gavin and Austin quickly stepped up to flank me, finally acting like they had some courage. It was about time, too.
Connor slowly got to his feet and again leaned up against the tree. He looked at the three of us for a minute then asked, "So why you want to go to the other realm?"
I wasn't telling him anything. Instead I asked him a question back. "Why not? It's something to do."
"Don't play me for no fool, boy. Why you want to jump?" he asked again.
I looked at Gavin and Austin. They were a big help, let me tell ya. Gavin shrugged and Austin did nothing. I took a chance and said, "I'm from that realm. I thought I would go back and see it again."
"Earth born?" he asked.
"Yup," I said.
He was quiet a moment again, then straightened up and said, "'Kay. That's enough for me then."
"Really? You'll help us?" I said, not sure I believed the old coot.
"Don't see why not."
"When?" I asked.
"Right now's as good a time as any."
"Okay. What do I need?"
"Nothing. Just your mind," Connor said.
I nodded for him to continue.
"You know where you want to go?" he asked.
"Yeah. I want to go back to New York," I answered.
"I mean can you see the place in your mind," he said.
I thought about New York and picked a spot I knew well. It was an old alley where the dogs used to keep me company at night. I'd spent almost every night for half a year in that nasty, smelly alley. Yeah, I knew it well. "Yes, I can see it."
"Then the rest should be easy. All you got to do is go into the shadows. Picture exactly where you want to go, then go deeper into the shadows."
"Deeper?" I asked, not certain I understood. I remembered vaguely my trip from Earth to Acadia, but it was more the ride than the actions of it.
"You hearing me? Just pull further into the shadows," Connor said. His voice got louder, as if that was the problem. "Same thing you did to get into the shadows, you just do it again from inside. You get me?"
"I think," I said.
"You think? Or you know?"
Although I didn't really know for certain, I said, "I know."
"Well then, give it a go," Connor said and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Right now?" I asked, not sure I wanted to try it with an audience.
"Why not? You scared?" Connor asked.
"No," I snapped.
"There's nothing to be scared of."
"I said I wasn't scared."
"Then do it," Connor demanded.
"Fine," I said and hopped over into the shadows where they couldn't stare at me. At least this way they wouldn't really know if I made it or not. Or so I thought.
"I don't hear no shadow song. You going to jump realms or you going to stay and hide out in the shadows all day?"
"I'm going," I shouted. "Just give me a second."
I had to tune them out, though. Even from within the shadows, I could still see them. Connor leaned toward Gavin and said, just loud enough that I know he knew I could hear him. "He's going to wimp out. He's not going. Just you wait."
Gavin however had my back. "He'll do it. Just give him a minute."
"Yeah," Austin said. "Leif's no wimp."
At least they had faith in me. I wasn't so certain. I closed my eyes and pictured the alley I remembered. I took a deep breath and then pulled up another layer of shadows. The folds of the darkness had barely touched me when a familiar yank knocked me backward. The ride of whirling darkness began and ended within a heartbeat. The next thing I knew, I was staring at a dirty red brick wall. Trash at my feet. The smell, oh, God, the smell was so…so…awesome. It was rotten fish and garbage and animal feces, but it was home. I took a deep breath and let the shadows fall away. New York. I'd made it.
~ * ~
I phased back to Acadia right where I had left. Gavin took a quick step back in surprise at my sudden appearance. "You make it?"
"I did."
Connor stood up from where he was squatted down in the small bit of shade from a once green pine tree. "I guess I'm done here then."
He turned to leave, but I stopped him. "Just so you know, Kat's my friend."
"I know that," Connor replied.
I lowered the tone of my voice and said, "I protect my friends. All of them."
He didn't seem annoyed at me. He didn't seem scared either of my veiled, but still threatening words. In fact he seemed slightly impressed, which I found truly strange. "Good to know," he said. Then without giving us a backward glance, he stepped off into the main section of the camp. The high pitch of his cheeky whistling drifted back over his shoulder toward me.
"Why'd you say that to him?" Austin asked.
"I wanted him to know that I knew who he really was. That I knew what he did to his daughter. I'm not strong enough yet to take him, but I will be one of these days. It was my way of saying that I was watching him," I said.
"He could have gotten really mad," Gavin said.
"I know. That's what's bothering me. Why wasn't he?" I asked. I stared at the place Connor had just been, and tried to figure the guy out.
Gavin and Austin both shrugged. They had no clue either, apparently.
I shook my head and got back to business. "Okay, so we know how to get over to the Water Realm, you guys want to give it a go?"
"How was the trip from here to there?" Austin asked.
I couldn't help the smile that spread over my face. "It was as awesome as I remember."
"I don't remember the trip being awesome," Austin said. His face was pinched up as he said it.
Gavin turned with his own concerned face to Austin and asked, "What do you mean? What's wrong with it?"
"Nothing's wrong with it. It was fun," I said.
"I don't think spinning around and around as fast as humanly possible and then being jerked to an instantaneous stop is all that much fun, Leif."
I couldn't help it, I laughed.
"It's not funny," Austin said, indignant and annoyed.
"Sorry," I said, but they both knew I wasn't. Not really. "So are you coming or not?"
Austin closed his eyes and leaned his head back where he let out a huge, deep sigh. "Yeah, I'm coming. How do you want to work this?"
"Since I have the image to go by, I think I will just take you both over with me," I said.
"Can you take us both together like that?" Gavin asked.
I shrugged. "I don't see why not."
"Maybe you should start with one at a time. Just to be safe," Austin said.
I couldn't fault his logic. "Okay. Who wants to go first?" I asked.
"Gavin can go first," Austin so helpfully said.
"Gee, thanks," Gavin replied.
His tone of voice didn't sound all that thrilled. It made me laugh again. The last day or so, I swear I'd laughed more than I had in the two years I'd been in Acadia. It was turning out to be a good day.
I stepped up to Gavin, put one arm on his shoulder, and reached for his other arm for us to clasp hold of each other. "This will have to do, I'm not hugging you."
Gavin lifted one solitary eyebrow and stared at me. "What's wrong with you today?"
"Nothing," I replied. "Why?"
"You seem awful happy lately, it's a bit disconcerting," Gavin said.
"Why?" I asked.
"Cause," Austin chimed in, "it's not in your character to be happy."
"Whatever," I said, then turned back to Gavin who was now smiling ear to ear. "What?" I snapped.
He shook his head. "Nothing."
"You ready to go over or what?" I asked, still feeling aggravated.
The smile instantly left his face. However, even though his eyes widened and his pupils dilated, he didn't punk out. "Yes. I'm ready," h
e said very formally.
"All right, let's do this then." I pulled us into the shadows. Then, without giving him time to prepare or to scare himself any further, I yanked us over to Earth. The jump was fast, only a moment, maybe two, and we were there.
Gavin, although green around the edges, made the trip without incident. "Welcome to New York," I said and spread my arms out to indicate the trash filled and dilapidated alley of my youth.
"What's that awful smell?" he asked with his arm up over his nose.
"That, my friend, is New York City. Isn't it great?"
He didn't answer me. Instead he looked around us in a vague awe. "This is where you grew up?" he asked with a small sneer of distaste.
"Part of it," I replied. "I'm going to jump back over to get Austin, you good here for a few?"
He looked around us then said, "Yeah, I'm good."
"Okay, but don't leave this alley, and don't talk to anyone, and don't give anyone anything, and…"
"Just go all ready," Gavin said. "I'm good. Really."
I had my doubts. It was New York City after all. "Okay. Be right back," I said. I quickly jumped back over to where Austin waited.
"You ready yet?" I said the moment I let the shadows go.
"As ready as I'm going to get," he said. "Gavin do all right with the jump?"
"Yeah, he survived, if that's what you mean," I said.
"Great," Austin said. "Let's get this over with."
"Okay." We latched arms the same as I had with Gavin and I jumped us over.
Before I had even let the shadows go, Austin jerked away from my hold and threw up all over the wall and ground. "Nice," I said.
Gavin, still a bit green, cocked his eyebrow at me again. "At least I didn't throw up," he said.
And for the third time that day, I laughed.
~ * ~
"So, now that we're here, what do you want to do?" Gavin asked.
"Since Austin is finally feeling better, I was thinking about checking in with an old friend. You guys up for that?"
I didn't even wait for them to respond. I knew they'd follow me. This was my turf after all. I knew where I was going. Even though over two years had passed, not all that much had changed. Aside from a bit more trash, and dirt and age, the city was the same. I took the most direct route to my old home and before I knew it, I was standing before the door to my space. My first hint that something was not quite right, was when I noticed that the locks we gone.
I didn't knock. I barged right in and stared at what I saw. Fury, fast as light, shot through me. "Where's Chris?" I demanded of the two slobs that were in residence. They were dirty and fat. How could a boy living on the street be fat? I knew the answer, but I would wait until they proved it.
"Who the hell are you?" The boy on the right said. He slowly got to his feet and pressed his open hands against his hips.
His stance was too wide. His balance would be off. His movements were too slow. His eyes were too lazy. He didn't take in my size or my friends. He only glared at us. He was a bully. Nothing more.
I jumped to where he stood, grabbed a handful of his shirt, and yanked him to within an inch of my face. "I asked you a question!" I said through gritted teeth. "I suggest you answer me." I wasn't afraid of bullies. I wasn't afraid of much by that point.
"Hey!" the other boy said.
I held my gaze on him and stopped him in his tracks with only my eyes. He halted midway between sitting and standing and stared back at me. Fear evident around his eyes and the stench that came off him in waves.
Gavin and Austin, without asking any questions or waiting to be told, formed a small wall between me and the one kid I still held up off the ground, and the other one awkwardly standing a few feet from us. I nodded once at my friends, certain they had the situation under control. I again turned my full attention to the blob of a boy before me.
"He...he's not here anymore," he finally said.
"Where. Is. He?" I asked. My voice was deep and almost a whisper of sound. I could feel a surge of anger bounce around inside me. I tried to hold on to it, but it was gaining power every moment I went without answers.
He turned to look at his friend. I shook him once and snarled, "Don't look at him. I'm asking you."
Defiance colored his expression. I could feel him getting mad. He was indignant. I was about to find out why. "He stole from the group. He hid this place from all of us. He set himself up nice and easy in this little pad and then didn't tell us. He got what he deserved."
I moved in closer to his face. Our noses touched, I was so close. "What did he deserve?"
"We followed him up here and tossed him out on the street where he belonged. He was a cheat and a thief. He didn't deserve this place."
I shook him hard, again and again and only when Gavin barked my name did I stop. I was furious. "We were all cheats! We were all thieves. That is what living on the street is, you piece of shit!"
My vision was turning red around the edges. I was about to lose control. I knew it and I didn't care. I drew back and slugged him in his fat cheeks. He dropped to the ground and didn't move. I stepped toward the other one. His eyes widened and he tried to step away. He forgot that he was standing before his makeshift chair. No, my makeshift chair. His knees butted up against it, and knocked his feet out from under him. He sat down with a puff of air. Gavin and Austin stepped aside as I towered over him with my arms caging him in on the sides. "This is my place," I whispered. "I gave this place to Chris, to keep and to watch for me. He stole nothing. Now, I'm going to ask you one last time, and I suggest you answer me. Where is he?"
Austin started to laugh. I turned in his direction to find out what was so funny. He pointed at the boy's pants, the pants that were slowly being saturated as he let go of his bladder. I would have found it funny, too, except that the only reason for him to be that scared was if the answer to my question was worse than even I imagined.
"Is he dead?" I asked almost afraid to know.
"He froze to death last winter," the kid whispered.
The red rage came on with a swift vengeance and covered my eyes with its force. I lost control.
I came back to myself to find Gavin and Austin holding both my arms and hauling me backward away from my victim. I was breathing hard. My chest screamed in pain with every hollow inhale. My hands were covered in blood.
The boy before me was pummeled and beaten to a bloody mess. His nose, his mouth, his head had taken the brunt of my fury. He lay sprawled on the floor between the camp chairs and a tossed and ragged sleeping bag.
I was honest enough with myself to know that part of my rage was directed at myself. I hadn't thought about Chris since I'd left New York and gone my way to Acadia. I should have taken the time to make sure he could handle himself. I should have made sure he understood how to keep the place secret. I should have cared just a little bit more about the boy. I'd set him up, but then left him on his own just like everyone else had done to him in the past. Look where that had gotten him. Dead. It was just as much my fault as it was the two pieces of crap that were laid out on the floor before me. I couldn't beat up myself, though.
I flopped down into an empty beanbag chair and thought about the last two years of my life. I had lived a pretty decent life since going to Acadia. Yes, it was hard work, but it was a better life than I'd lived in New York. I'd hunted and learned as much as I could about survival. I taught others how to do the same. I didn't steal. I had been trying to be a good person.
Where had that gotten me?
I took in the remains of my home in New York. What was left of it anyway. "Grab a leg, Austin," I said and took hold of the first boy at my feet. We dragged him out the door and tossed him into the hallway. He didn't move more than a moment and that was only a groan and a shifting of limbs. Gavin was ready for us when we stepped back in and was already dragging the other toward the door. We heaved him out into the hallway with his friend. Then I closed the door and leaned up against it, thinking.<
br />
"You know how to get back to Acadia?" I asked them both.
They looked at each other then back at me. Both nodded.
"Good. Grab the stuff you can and let's take it back with us. I left it all here for Chris. If he's gone, then there's no reason to leave it behind and all the reason to take it with us to make our lives easier."
We each loaded up our arms with as much stuff as we could carry. Austin had a beanbag chair, an empty crate, and a small solar lamp, Gavin had the camp stove, a pillow, and a bag full of canned food. I had rolled up two sleeping bags, and an air mattress. We were just about to jump home when I said, "Wait. Don't jump into the middle of camp. Jump out in the forest, by that big stump next to the creek. Meet me there, okay?"
"Why?" Gavin asked and hitched up his load a bit higher in his arms.
"I don't want anyone to take it from us before we can divide it up ourselves. I want to make sure all the little ones get their pick first. They need it more than the adults. We may not freeze to death in Acadia, but there are other things that can kill you. I'm going to do what I can to make sure it doesn't happen to them or to any of us."
It took Chris's death for me to realize that we should be looking out for everyone. We were a group. We should band together to have a better chance at survival. That's not how it was in Acadia, though. Yes, we were all a group, but we weren't a unified group at all. We were together for the safety in numbers. We didn't look out for anyone but ourselves. That was going to stop, starting right then. I knew a few pillows and chairs wouldn't change the world, but it was a good place to start.
Chapter Sixteen
Two Days Ago
The next morning dawned as it always did in Acadia, bright and warm. I'd missed the warm more than anything. I quickly got up and showered and dressed. Although I'd had to put back on my dirty clothes, I felt at least a bit cleaner to start the day.
I stepped from my room and noticed the guards were no longer lurking in the hall in front of my door. I didn't care at that point if they were or not. I had errands to run and things to do before the rehearsal for the wedding that afternoon. One day until the big day. One day for me to prepare.
Shadow Dancer Boxed Set Page 57