No. I didn’t believe Shadow Man was evil. But I wasn’t buying the loony-bin explanation, either. Confused. Angry, maybe. Power hungry.
That didn’t make him any less terrifying, though.
“Maybe we should just hop in the car and take the two of you to Board headquarters in Kansas. They have better protection there.” Riley didn’t look directly at me as he spoke. The muscles in his jaw were tense, as if he was braced for me to explode.
I surprised both of us by remaining calm. Sometimes I could be reasonable. “Mom? What do you think? Stay here, or hole up where it’s safer?”
Though we looked alike, Mom and I were so different. Most of the time, anyway.
She scowled and her hand curled into a determined fist. “This is our last stand, Zoey. I’m not running away with my tail between my legs. We face this bastard head-on, and we do whatever we have to do to keep our family together.” She lifted her chin in defiance. “It took a long time for me to be able to come home. I’m not leaving now.”
I raised my eyebrows in surprise and turned to Riley. “Well, then. There’s your answer. We’re staying put.”
He nodded in resignation. “I kind of figured. But I did expect it would be you to say it, not Clara.”
Darius cleared his throat. “I can’t say I’m surprised.”
Sometimes I forgot that, discounting the first eight years of my life, I’d only known my mom for the last year. Darius knew her so much better than I did. In fact, I sort of had two separate versions of her in my head—the kind, soft mommy who played with me and made me sandwiches when I was small, and the damsel in distress who let people tell her what to do.
Neither was an accurate portrayal of her. She was so much stronger and wiser than I gave her credit for.
And so we stayed and held our ground.
From then on, Mom and I were under twenty-four-hour protection. Sara kept watch while Riley and I slept, and Kam did the same for Mom and Darius. It was probably overkill, since none of us slept a whole lot anyway.
Every time I dozed off, I saw glowing eyes watching me, and I jerked awake. Not only did this keep me from sleeping, Riley didn’t get a lot of snooze time, either. Something similar was happening over at Mom’s cottage.
Even Maurice, who needed little sleep, sported dark circles under his eyes after a few days.
But as before, once the kids Shadow Man had kidnapped were found, nothing more happened. We kept watch for him to return. Sara and Darius made frequent searches of the property and checked in with the dragons, the brownies and the yeti. Nobody had seen anything. We scoured the news and Internet for anything new and suspicious.
No one was surprised by the big steaming mass of nothing we found in the way of news or clues. It seemed Shadow Man was taking another hiatus. Maybe he needed to regroup or recharge his magical, child-stealing powers, but I doubted it.
The footprints outside our windows every night—despite the constant watch our family kept over us—and the growing cricket population on my property told me Shadow Man wasn’t recharging at all. He’d turned his attention to Mom and me.
To what end, I wasn’t sure. He didn’t interact with any of us directly. But somehow he was watching us at night while we slept. Our efforts to catch him at it continued to fail.
It made for some long nights spent drinking copious amounts of coffee and staring wide-eyed into the darkness.
There’s a place between sleep and awake when we’re most vulnerable, and it seemed that was the place where Shadow Man lurked. If I fell fully asleep, I had nightmares—the totally normal kind due to stress and being stalked by a terrifying something—but I was fine. If I fought sleep too hard or stayed awake too long, that was when it happened. I’d be awake one moment, and the next I’d see his eyes staring at me through the window. If I was lucky, I’d startle and come fully awake.
On the nights I wasn’t lucky, I was locked into a staring contest with him I couldn’t break out of.
I’d been fighting sleep, knowing the nightmares waited to greet me once I dozed off. Sara and Maurice had taken a couple of blankets and camped out on the roof so they could see the house on all sides. We had the porch lights on, front and back, but my bedroom was on the side of the house, so the lights gave minimal illumination outside my window. Better than utter darkness, though. Riley lay curled around my back, so I felt secure that no boogeyman could sneak up behind me. Which left me facing the window, reluctant to close my eyes.
Under most circumstances, a person might keep a light on to ward off the scary things in the night. But when that scary thing might stand outside the window, the smart thing was to keep the lights off. Make it easier to see the thing outside. Don’t make it easier to be seen.
My lids burned from being awake so long. I blinked a few times to soothe them. My body was exhausted, but my mind wasn’t ready for sleep.
Sara had made an appointment for me to meet with the florist the next day for Fiona’s wedding flowers.
The weatherman projected rain, so I should probably wear boots. Did something move outside? I snuggled closer to Riley. I’ll stop at the grocery store and get that new conditioner I read about. Maybe it’ll keep my hair from getting frizzy. Definitely saw something out there. My eyes watered from the strain of keeping them open. Nothing moved outside the window. I’ll just close my eyes for a second. In the case of Garfield vs. Orwell, the square root of apple pie is the same as the prime meridian of German chocolate cake. Everybody knows that.
And just like that, there he was, standing at my window. I was paralyzed, unable to so much as nudge Riley to see if he was awake. To make him look with me.
Shadow Man’s face was so close to the glass it nearly touched, his orange eyes unblinking, staring directly at me. His nose was flat with wide, flaring nostrils, and his mouth was a slash ringed with puckered wrinkles. As I watched, unable to look away or scream for help, he opened his mouth, slow and ominous. It became impossibly wide when his jaw unhinged like a snake’s, and his chin moved so low it dropped below the windowsill and out of sight. Condensation formed in two small circles in front of his nose and in a long, wide line down the glass in the shape of his elongated mouth.
My body shook, and sweat trickled from my hairline. And still, I couldn’t make myself move, other than from the involuntary effects of fear.
Shadow Man raised his arm and held up a hand with spidery fingers that had far too many joints. He tapped the window with his fingertips, a soft sound I could barely hear over the thunderous sound of my own heart.
His jaw shifted, and his mouth shrank to the thin line it had been before. He gave me a slow wave, then stepped backward into the darkness and was gone.
I snapped out of the paralysis and screamed.
Riley was on his feet next to me so fast I had no idea how he got there. He stood with his back to me, the hand wearing his reaper ring sticking out as if he were the Green Lantern, scanning the room for danger. He looked pretty heroic, even in his boxer-briefs and faded Ghostbusters T-shirt. When he realized there was nothing in the room with us, he lowered his hand and sat on the bed next to me.
“Are you okay?” He switched on the bedside lamp and took my shaking hand in his. “What happened? Did you have a bad dream?” His face was scrunched in concern.
Under normal circumstances, we both might have chalked it up to a nightmare and gone back to sleep. But we were more than a year past the ability to dismiss anything as imagination, even when it seemed like the only logical answer.
I sat up and swallowed hard. “He was at the window.”
Riley glanced over his shoulder, then back at me. “I thought I was awake. How the hell did he come right up to the window again?” He leaned over me to grab his phone, then tapped the screen to call Sara and Maurice. “Hey. Do you guys see anything from up there? He was at our window
a minute ago.” He listened for a moment. “Same here. Keep me posted.”
He hung up and set the phone on the nightstand next to me. “They’re going to go look around.”
“I doubt they’ll find anything.” I plucked at the blanket across my legs. “Bastard only lets himself be seen when he wants to be seen.” I paused. “And by who he wants to see him.” I frowned, thinking. There was something poking at the back of my mind, something important I could almost figure out but not quite grasp. The more I prodded at it, trying to work out what I was missing, the more elusive the thought became.
“What?” Riley’s gaze scrutinized my face. “You look like you’ve got something important to say.”
I scrubbed at my face, trying to ease the weariness. “Nothing. I’ve got nothing.”
His expression was doubtful, but he left me alone. “I think I should call Kam and let her know he’s out there, in case he’s planning to pay your mom a visit, too.”
I nodded and slipped out the other side of the bed. “I’m all sweaty. I’m going to take a quick shower.”
“You shouldn’t be by yourself.” Any other day, that would have been a playful offer to be my shower buddy. This time, the worry on his face negated the prospect of any happy-fun-time shenanigans.
I gave him a gentle, reassuring smile I only half felt. “The bathroom doesn’t have any windows. I’ll be fine. Call Kam. I won’t be long.”
I wasn’t fine. Once I was alone in the bathroom, a fresh bout of the shakes hit me, and I tossed my cookies something fierce. But, hey. I was in the right place for it, and I was alone, so my pride didn’t take too much of a hit. After that, the shower was even more welcome.
When I came back in, Riley had hung a blanket over the window. “You can’t see him if he can’t see you,” he said.
We’d left the curtains open intentionally before. Riley was right there with me, and Sara and Maurice were keeping a lookout, so we’d hoped we could catch Shadow Man in the act. The risk to my safety had been minimal.
But now, knowing that he could get that close without any of my protectors realizing he was there, leaving myself open to Shadow Man’s potential gaze seemed foolhardy. I still didn’t think he could get inside. He may have destroyed the magic that had kept us safe, but my doors and windows had locks on them. If he tried to get in the old-fashioned way, like a burglar, everyone would hear him.
So, covering the windows behind a double wall of curtains and a blanket was a huge relief to me. More than anything, I needed sleep. I’d been too stubborn to realize that until now.
I kissed Riley on the cheek and gestured at the pink fabric tucked over the curtain rod. “Clever. I approve.”
He yawned. “Wish I’d done it earlier.” He patted the bed next to him.
I slid in between the cool sheets and pulled close to his warm body. “How’s everything over at Mom’s?”
“Nice and quiet.” He flicked off the light. “You okay now?”
“I’m better.” I flicked my tongue over the pulse in his neck. “Not sure how I’m going to sleep, though.”
In the pitch darkness, I felt the rumble in his chest as he pulled me closer. “We’ll just have to see what we can do to tire you out then.”
Eventually, I slept better than I had in weeks.
Chapter Eleven
After the events of the previous night, Maurice decided to call in additional muscle—although muscle was more of a figurative term. Granite might have been a better description.
Maurice’s ex-wife, Pansy, was long gone, but he and his brother-in-law, Phil, were still close. Phil and Pansy were gargoyles, impossible creatures that appeared to be formed from single chunks of rock. Phil was an especially large specimen with patches of moss growing on his roughly carved face.
I adored Phil, although I couldn’t understand a damn thing he said. When gargoyles spoke, the words were English, but in general, the sentences had no meaning to a human. Maurice understood them fine. Hell, everybody understood but me—even the other two humans in the house. Riley’s reaper ring sort of acted as a universal translator, and Mom—well, Mom was better at this Aegis thing than I was, probably because she’d been at it a lot longer. She knew a lot of stuff I didn’t know. Now that we were the only two Aegises left in the world, I’d been regretting my rash decision to refuse the training the Board had wanted to give me.
So far, flailing around and going by instinct had kept me alive, so maybe the intricacies of the gargoyle language or the care and feeding of miniature unicorns shouldn’t have been a high priority.
Phil showed up in time for breakfast the morning after Shadow Man had tapped on my window. Despite all the heavy hitters we had keeping watch, Shadow Man had waltzed right up to my window without confrontation. I doubted Phil would have any more luck in spotting him, but that was okay. Having him around not only made me feel a little safer, but it made me happy, too.
I didn’t have to understand Phil’s words to understand his intent.
“Gazebo latrine!” Phil threw his arms in the air when I opened the door, then gave me a hug so gentle, his stone arms felt like they were made of supple leather.
I returned the hug, grinning. “Welcome back, Phil.”
He let me go and gave me a soft pat on the shoulder, his stony face serious. “This corndog makes an albatross look anemic.” He sighed, and a puff of dust drifted out of his left nostril. He scanned the room, then stopped, his chunky eyebrows rising in excitement. “Botox!” He’d spotted Maurice in the kitchen and lumbered off to see him.
Their voices—one low and rumbly and the other higher-pitched and excited—rang from the kitchen, two brothers who hadn’t seen each other in a while eager to catch up.
I smiled, happy to have Phil around. Slipping into my room for some quiet, I pulled out my phone and the notes Sara gave me for the wedding we were planning. The florist appointment was in two hours, and I still didn’t have a color scheme from my bride.
The phone rang so many times, I expected voicemail to kick in, but a breathless voice answered, as if she’d had to scramble to pick up. “Fiona here.”
“Fiona. Hi. This is Zoey Donovan from Happily Ever After Weddings. Do you have a moment? I need to ask you a few questions.”
Someone said something in the background, and it sounded like a hand ran over the microphone in order to mute the sound. Muffled laughter leaked through, then Fiona came back in the same breathy voice. This time, it sounded more like a Marilyn Monroe impression than someone out of breath.
“Of course. Is everything all right? How can I help?”
“Everything’s fine. But I really need some idea of your color scheme. I have to see the florist today.”
“Oh.” She was quiet for a moment. “Do you have any recommendations? I like a lot of colors. Purple. Yellow. Green. Red. How many colors can I have?”
I sat on the edge of my bed, suppressing a sigh. The only thing worse than an inflexible bride was one who didn’t know what she wanted. “It’s your wedding. You can have as many colors as you like. Personally, I’d recommend two contrasting colors and possibly an accent color. More than that can cause you to lose cohesion.”
“So, yellow, green and purple, maybe?”
Someone in the background giggled.
Maybe I’d caught her at a bad time. She seemed to have a lot going on around her. “Those are good colors. How about purple and green with yellow as an accent? Or purple and yellow with the green as an accent.”
“Hold on.” Her ridiculous, whispery voice mumbled something away from the phone, someone else answered and Fiona came back. “Purple and yellow with a lime green accent. How’s that?”
“I think that would be very pretty.” Sara would have hated it, but Sara had put me in charge, so too bad. “I’ll make it happen.”
“Wonderful. I can’t wait to see all the plans you’ve made.” The more she spoke, the more I pictured Marilyn holding her skirt down over a vent. Any second this woman would start talking about how much she adored finding new places to wear diamonds.
I held back a snicker. “If I have any more questions, is there a better time to call you? I’m afraid I caught you when you were busy.”
“No, this was fine. I just have my...assistant here with me. Any time is fine. Whatever you need.”
“All right then. Thanks so much for your help. I’ll be in touch.”
“See you real soon!” She hung up.
I decided then that journalists were weird. But I’d worked with plenty of weird people before, so this particular brand wasn’t any odder than the rest.
I stuffed my notes and phone into my magical handbag of holding and stuck my head into the hallway. “Riley, you ready?”
Riley appeared from down the hall, his hair still wet from his recent shower. “Are you sure about this shirt?” He plucked at the lime green polo shirt I’d set out for him.
I pretended to scrutinize his entire outfit, circling around him with one finger pressed against my lips. I resisted the urge to pinch his butt. “The shirt is fine, but don’t you have anything more exciting than brown shoes? Something in a purple or a lavender? Orange bowling shoes would go really nicely with these jeans.”
He glanced over his shoulder at me, his face carefully arranged to look indignant. “Are you checking out my ass? I’m not a piece of meat, you know.”
I stopped resisting and pinched. “Sure you are.”
He spun around and grabbed my wrists, his voice bellowing like a musketeer issuing a challenge to a duel. “Such insolence shall not go unpunished, madam!”
He pressed me against the wall. At first, the kiss was possessive and staged, part of the silly game we’d been playing. All at once, the mood shifted and the kiss deepened. His grip loosened on my hands, and I pulled one free to wrap my fingers in his damp hair. The scents of his shower gel and shampoo mingled together in a citrusy, clean smell that made me want to get him dirty all over again.
Phoenix in My Fortune (A Monster Haven Story Book 6) Page 11