On the way to the way to the car after eating, we heard a scream and my body locked up. Harvey grabbed my hand and said to keep walking, but I couldn’t. I turned around and gasped. A man was dragging a woman into an alley and trying to force her inside the trunk of his car.
“Hey!” I called out. “What are you doing?” I shouldn’t have done it, it’s not like I was brave enough to stop him but I couldn’t be someone who stood by and did nothing.
“What are you doing?” Harvey hissed and pulled at my arm, but I started moving toward them. The man wasn’t paying attention to us at all, just kept shoving the lady through the opening. She was kicking and hitting, but the bag over her face kept her screams muted. “Leave her alone!” I yelled and he turned with a sneer.
“Mind your own business.” The man was wearing a military uniform and looked to be in his thirties. His face was attractive, but his eyes were cold. The muffled sound of the woman's pleas pushed me closer.
“You can't do this,” I said and pointed at him. “You can’t take people from the middle of the street.” But I knew it wasn’t true. He could do it, I knew from my past how easy it was for people to be taken right from the middle of the road. It had happened to me once, a long time ago, and there was nobody there to stop him. Maybe if someone had been there my story would have gone differently. I wouldn’t let it happen to this lady.
“Go home, kid. This doesn’t concern you.”
Harvey was crying and the man was blowing me off, but I was getting angrier by the second. He pushed the woman again and I slammed my hand on the hood of his car. My sparks flew through the air and coated the metal like a blanket. Smoke started billowing from underneath the hood and the man stumbled back.
“Leave her alone,” I said without raising my voice. He raised his hands and backed up until he was across the street, then turned and ran.
Harvey rushed over to the woman who had fallen on the ground and pulled the bag from her face. She was crying and gasping, her wide eyes moving from one face to the other. I stuck my hand out to help her up and she fell back, scrambling to get away.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” I whispered, hating how my voice broke. Hating how her face was lined with fear, and knowing it was being of what I was. It didn’t matter if I was trying to help her, she was afraid of me because of the very thing I was able to use to save her.
She shook her head and jumped to her feet, then took off running away from us.
“Well, that was weird,” Harvey said and grabbed my hand. “Let’s go.”
Sitting around the kitchen table, their faces ranged from shock to confusion. When I got home I told Andi something happened, and she asked me to sit and tell them. The other's were already there, going over paperwork or something, so when I told the story it was in front of the whole family.
“She wasn’t nephilim?” Claire asked with her head tilted to the side, looking so much like Andi it freaked me out sometimes. She was technically my adopted grandmother, but sure didn’t look it, but I guess none of them did.
“Nope, she was straight human.”
“What would they want her for?” Beth asked. She looked at Eddie and then to the others. Her platinum hair framing her pale face, and crystal eyes searching their faces for answers.
“I don’t know,” Charles said and leaned back in his chair.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Sariel said and put his arm around the back of Claire.
“Who are you talking about?” I asked and their eyes moved to me. The look on their faces told me they’d forgotten I was in the room.
They didn’t answer my question, each of them saying it was time to go. Andi asked me to go to my room and said she’d be up to talk to me after they were gone.
I paced and picked at my nails. Who were they talking about? It sounded like they knew who tried to take the lady and didn’t understand why they’d take a human. If that’s true it meant someone out there was stealing nephilim and they knew about it. Why would anyone be taking nephilim?
Flopping back on the bed and staring at the ceiling, I picture the ladies face when I tried to help her. It hurt my feelings, I won’t lie about it, but I should be used to the way human treat us. They’d been doing it since they found out the world was more diverse than they’d thought.
“How are you holding up?” Andi asked and sat at the end of the bed. I hadn’t heard the door open or close, so she must have slipped in. It was something she knew I hated, but at the moment, I didn’t feel like bringing it up.
“I’m okay,” I said and then decided to be honest. “It was really scary, and I almost kept walking. How awful of a person does that make me? I almost let her get kidnapped because I was scared.”
She sighed and rubbed my leg, when I looked at her, she had tears in her eyes.
“Of course you were afraid, anyone would have been. But you were also very brave and ended up saving her life. Don’t beat yourself up over your fear, Misty. Especially considering you didn’t let the fear rule you.”
“Who’s taking people? Is it the military?” The man was wearing a uniform, but it didn’t mean it was real or even his. He could have gotten it from a thrift store or stolen it.
“I don’t know,” she said and I squinted my eyes. “I’m telling the truth. We’re trying to figure out what’s going on, but right now we’re just as confused as you are.”
Andi spent the next thirty minutes going over everything again, and telling me how proud of me she was. She also reminded me to be more cautious of showing my power in public and said next time I should have Harvey call someone for help. If I had stayed out of it and asked her to call someone, they might not have gotten there in time. The woman could have been taken and I would have had to live with the guilt of it.
Before she left me alone, she moved closer and tucked the blankets around me like she’d done when I was little.
“I need to ask you something,” she said and tightened her hand around her necklace. “It’s something I stopped myself from asking a hundred times over the years, but I need to ask now.”
“Okay...” I didn’t know what she could possibly be wondering about, she knew everything about me.
“You were around seven or eight when I saw you for the first time, and I know what your life was like then,” she said and exhaled. Her chin quivered and tears welled in her eyes. I was frozen in my bed, staring at her without blinking. She couldn’t be asking me about this, not now, not after so long. “I need you to tell me what you remember from before I met you.”
Why did she need to ask me? It didn’t make any sense for her to need to know those things, not after so long pretending none of it happened. I wished I could have told her, I’d wanted to many times over the years. But it was too much, too raw to relive. I didn’t want her to look at me any differently, and if she knew everything about my life before her, she wouldn’t be able to handle it. She would hurt for me and it would hurt me worse than the memories did. The memories I had were tragic, but they were also distorted. Most of them were too blurred and jumbled up to make much sense. Even if I wanted to tell her about it, I wouldn't know how to start.
“Nothing,” I said and cleared my throat. “I don’t remember anything.”
Chapter ten
Misty
I was in a daze when I got ready for school, barely floating through the walk with Ezra, and unfocused until he snapped his fingers in my face.
“Earth to Misty,” he said and grabbed my cheeks, dragging me down to his level. “You okay?”
I shook my head and smiled, pulling him in for a hug.
“Sorry, buddy. Just feeling a little off this morning.” His little arms tightened around my shoulders and the tension eased a bit.
“Well, I hope you have a better day.” My sweet little brother, he could make me smile on the worst of days.
“You too, Ezra.”
He waved goodbye and took off running toward his class. I watched until he was through the do
or, then made the way to my own.
In English/History, Thomas went on and on about the beginning of the research company, saying it was originally funded by the military. They were looking for ways to improve the physical limitations of their soldiers. He said some people were for it, and others opposed claiming it was unnatural. Apparently, there had been rumors of the government using the facility to create and train assassins, but there was never any proof. I had to hold in my laugh, thinking how hard it must be to find evidence of an assassin. Wasn’t their purpose to be a ghost? How do you search for a ghost? I did end up laughing when Levi said the very thing I had been thinking. He also said they were almost shut down when a report had been leaked about some type of black hole they were trying to create, something no humans should be messing with. I wanted to hear more about it, but he changed the subject before he told us too much.
I had math with Claire for my second class of the day, which wasn’t so bad. I didn’t enjoy numbers like Levi did, but I didn’t hate them. After she gave us the assignment she called me to her desk.
“You doing alright?” she asked with her big green eyes pinned on my face, waiting to catch a lie in my words.
“It’s been a rough day, but I’ll be okay.” I smiled the one I knew they all believed, showing my teeth in the way that always made Andi chuckle, but Claire wasn’t buying it.
“It’s understandable if you’re upset, Misty. Nobody would blame you if you needed to talk to someone, or wanted to take the day off.”
I assured her again I was fine, and she waved me off to finish my work. I really was okay, a little unsettled by the fact I’d interrupted a kidnapping, and confused because I knew my family was keeping something from me; but I was fine.
At lunch, Harvey told the guys what happened and Max almost blew a blood vessel. I kept quiet and let Harvey tell the story, and told him the same things I’d told the others- I was okay. I didn’t know what everyone thought was going through my head. I wasn’t the one who the guy was trying to take, and he didn’t hurt me. If anything I’d scared him more than he had me. They were all acting like I was some kind of victim to his crime, but I wasn’t.
After lunch, I decided to skip my music class, which I hated anyway. The only reason I took it was because I wasn’t allowed to take the computer class. I walked around the library, running my hands over the spines, searching for one to pull out. I ended up in the religion section and grabbed the book of Enoch, which is one I’d read before. It was confusing but interesting to read about the Watcher's fall from grace and the beginning of the nephilim race. Not all of it was accurate, but the idea behind most of it was based on truth. It was more than I could say for a lot of the books floating around in the world.
With the book in hand, I made my way to the corner I’d claimed years ago. Not many people went to the library, and even fewer of them cared about old religious books. There was a place in the far side of the room where the walls didn’t meet up, and in between them was a small nook- a perfect reading hole. Tucking myself in and pushing around the bean bag I’d snuck in years ago, I sat and began at the beginning.
“The words of the blessing of Enoch, wherewith he blessed the elect and righteous, who will be living in the day of tribulation when all the wicked and godless are to be removed. 2. And he took up his parable and said--Enoch a righteous man, whose eyes were opened by God, saw the vision of the Holy One in the heavens, which the angels showed me, and from them I heard everything, and from them I understood as I saw, but not for this generation, but for a remote one which is for to come.”
“Are you sure the library is empty?” Thomas asked and I shut the book, leaning forward to tell him I was there.
“Yeah, no one ever comes back here. You know these kids don’t care about history,” Reed said and snorted.
“That’s true.” Sariel was there too? Instead of leaning forward, I scooted back. It wasn’t right to eavesdrop, but in my defense, I was there first. And they had lied to me about what they knew.
“Was she doing okay today?” Andi asked and I closed my eyes. What was she doing there? If she wanted to open herself up, she would know I was close by.
“She’s pretending to be,” Claire said and I shook my head. There was really no way to lie to these people.
“Alright, we don’t have a lot of time. I have class in,” Sebastian said and paused, looking at his watch I assumed. “About seven minutes.”
“Okay,” Thomas said and his footsteps moved closer. I leaned further back, not wanting them to catch me. “Devin called this morning and said there hasn’t been any activity in the area. The last they saw of the girl was a couple weeks ago, but she wouldn’t speak to them.”
“Did she look healthy? Last time I saw her she was too thin,” Andi’s voice was quiet and I tilted my head. Are they talking about the girl from the picture?
“He didn’t say.”
“What about the others? Have they heard any more news on those that were taken?” Sariel asked.
“Nope, but he said he thought they were still being held at the same facility. If we stay on schedule we should catch them before they can be moved.”
“I want to go now,” Andi said. “If we wait too long it could be too late.”
“You know we need to wait for the others to be delivered. If we go now we might lose the chance to save the rest,” Sebastian told her.
“But if it is her...”
“I know you want to find Shadow, Panda. But we need to wait.”
I pulled the picture out from my back pocket and ran my fingers over her face. “Is that who you are? Are you Shadow?” I asked under my breath.
“Don’t touch her!” she yelled and I covered my head with my hands. There was blood everywhere and my body hurt from where they had hit me. Raven was screaming at the men, and throwing her fists at their faces.
Hands grabbed at me, and I was yanked from the corner. I cried out when he hit me and I looked over when I heard her screaming. She was screaming so loud it hurt my ears, and then she was gone and the only left in her place was a black cloud. The men fell to their hands and knees around me, trying to get away as quick as they could. They got out the door and slammed it shut, their yells followed them down the hall.
“Raven?” I asked and crawled toward the darkness. She fell from the air and landed on her side next to me. Her chest was heaving and her face was bright red. Her black hair was damp and blood dripped down from nose.
“What happened?” she asked, pleading with her eyes for me to explain. But I didn’t know, I was too little to understand.
“You were like a shadow,” I whispered and closed the space between us. Curling up together, with our legs and arms intertwined like we’d done every night I could remember. “You turned into shadow as dark as night, and it made them leave us alone.”
“I felt it, Misty. I felt the darkness.” She tightened her hold on me and I relaxed in her arms. She might have been afraid of what she’d done, but I was relieved. She protected us again, but for the first time she didn’t get hurt by doing it.
I jerked from the memory and shook my head. Sometimes I would have flashes of a life I could barely remember, filled with people I didn’t really know. I always came out of them with a pain in my chest, and an ache that would stay with me for days.
I looked back down at the photo. This person in the picture isn’t the girl from my memory, and the one they called Shadow isn’t the girl I knew as Raven. She couldn’t be because the girl from my memories died right in front of me. She died because I had been too scared to save her.
Chapter eleven
Max
I skipped my computer class, not wanting to be surrounded by people when I was feeling unsteady. Hearing about Misty confronting a kidnapper shouldn’t have pissed me off, but it did. I should have been proud of her for standing up for the woman, for being brave and all that crap. But the only thing I could think about was what would I have done if the man had taken her i
nstead? What if he had hurt her? What if he’d killed her? The questions wouldn’t stop repeating themselves in my mind. A vision of her being held against her will gave me flashbacks to the time we were kids and she was hurt in front of me. I wasn’t able to protect her then, but we’re not kids anymore and I wouldn’t let anyone close enough to hurt her again.
I walked around the edge of the property and found a spot near the end of the bleachers, then pulled out my headphones. Blasting music and leaning back, I let the sun relax me.
The metal under me vibrated and my eyes opened. Whoever was hitting the seats was about to feel my wrath. I was so close to falling asleep and someone had to come interrupt me. I pulled the ear buds out and stood, peeking over the edge but seeing nobody.
Feeling the vibration again, I hopped down and ducked under. They were at the other end, gathered together in a small huddle. I jumped back to the top, and crept my way closer, planning to scare them enough to leave so I could take a nap.
When I got close enough to hear their taunts, I paused.
“Your family isn’t here now are they?” a boy asked and laughed. The vibration hit again and I realized it was from them shoving someone against the bleacher.
I turned to walk away, knowing it wasn’t my fight, and not wanting to get involved in other people’s drama. I made it two steps before I heard his voice and my body filled with rage.
“Leave me alone,” Ezra said weakly, in his little voice. “I didn’t do anything to you.”
The vibration again.
“You were born you little shit.” Another vibration.“There’s already too many of you.”
Ezra whimpered and I slipped, landing next to them. Ben had the kid up by his collar and was in his face. This eighteen-year-old punk was picking on a seven-year-old kid, a seven-year-old I loved. My vision tunneled and my hand flew between them, taking Ben’ face in my palm and throwing him back. Ezra dropped to his feet and I turned to him, kneeling down and dusting off his shoulder.
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