Shadow People

by Bevill, C. L.

  Penelope realized something in that split second. Trust had always been an issue with her. Jacob had left her mother and her hanging in financial limbo because he had died. It hadn’t been his fault, but she had blamed him all the same. And Jessica had trusted no one to help her raise her only child, until she was forced to rely on others for their charity and then to rely on her daughter for assistance. Penelope had learned the lesson of withholding trust until it was hard earned. The only reason Penelope had learned to trust Jeremy was because he had saved her butt on more than one occasion. And then Jeremy had left her, too.

  Trust Will? I don’t know him. How can I trust someone I don’t know? And there’s worse about him as well. The brother of a man who wants to end the world. Once married to a thing that exudes pure evil. What would prevent him from simply leaving me in the lurch…just like the others? In the anxiety of the moment, Penelope grasped that her ingrained paranoia was making her irrational.

  The burning debris of the room crackled from the flames and sounded like huge rocks thundering down a mountain side. She backed into the shape, and his arm crossed protectively around her body and over her chest. “Trust me or die,” he said, sadness at her anticipated reaction evident.

  But Penelope was thinking of what else the coyotes in her dream had said. Her head pounded with reaction, and she knew that Merri’s evil had indeed infected her. It was a midnight stalker invading her consciousness and impacting her thoughts, introducing suspicion and panic.

  “Not alone,” came the harsh voice from nothingness. “Never alone. But you must learn.” That was what the coyotes had said.

  Penelope muttered a hoarse curse and turned into Will’s arms. It wasn’t enough that she had to trust William Jonathon Littlesoldier, she also had to understand that she was no longer alone. “I trust you,” she said loudly, sincere with every cumulative word. “I do trust you. I know you won’t hurt me.”

  Will stared down at her upturned face, frankly amazed and oddly pleased. “Good,” he said hoarsely. His arm whipped out, and a feathered cape covered them both, settling over them like an ebony mantle that eclipsed all, like the passage of a distant moon over a more distant sun.

  When he removed it, they were standing in the darkened forest again, and it was as if a great load of rocks had been brusquely lifted from Penelope’s shoulders. There was no heat, no flames, and no fire about to scorch the flesh from her bones. With a small sigh, she rested her head against Will’s chest and thought about how her life had so drastically changed in a moment.

  “You have a fever,” he said. He stepped back from her and touched her forehead with his fingers. His hand felt as though it had been dipped in ice. Then he studied the scratches on her cheek, and his face became solemn.

  Penelope stared back. Her knees still trembled. Her entire being ached with fatigue and shock. But the unreality of the nightmare still affected her. She had thought it was real for a moment or two, but how could that possibly be so? “I don’t think it matters,” she said at last.

  Will looked at her peculiarly. Then his head came up, his gaze focusing on something behind her. “No,” he said and tried to push her to one side.

  Resisting the push, Penelope’s head whipped around. A monstrous shape was hurtling toward her. She only had a microsecond to realize that it wasn’t human, and it wasn’t animal. It was both and neither. It had savage fangs over an inch long and long bluish-black hair covering its entire powerful body. Its arms and hands were up in an aggressive stance and showed a wealth of impressively wicked claws ready to split and tear flesh at its whim. Its massively muscled framed plunged toward them at breakneck speed.

  For a shocked moment, Penelope could only stare because she recognized the perverted face as Anthony’s. His anger was incredible.

  “She trusts you!” Anthony’s voice rumbled out of a deeper chest, a roar of intensified rage that bellowed forth like a vicious curse. “I don’t trust you! And soon neither will she!”

  Will tried to step around her, but Penelope suddenly shoved him aside, finding an untapped well of strength from deep inside her. He fell away with a dazed expression on his face as if he couldn’t believe what she had done. Anthony came down on her like a great mass of writhing animalistic beast. His incredible mouth opened up and jagged teeth clamped ferociously on her shoulder, bone crashed against bone. She screamed once and then thrust her fingers into his eye sockets.

  Anthony released her with his own inhuman cry of pain. Thick murky blood spilled from his eyes, and he scratched madly at her to get her to release him, clawing down her arms and torso with raking motions that tore her T-shirt to shreds. Penelope abruptly knew what she had to do. Will was scrambling to his feet, but her free arm came up, and the object that had magically appeared there at the onset of the fire, was held like a dagger.

  It was a length of blackened bone, with one end as sharp as any knife. Anthony got her fingers away from his eyes and gory holes gazed at her actions hopelessly. “NO!” he shrieked.

  But Penelope’s arm had already begun its downward strike. The length of bone slammed into his chest. She put her entire body’s weight behind it, and her determination did not waver even while Anthony’s face immediately changed back into a normal human façade.

  Penelope saw the gut-wrenching horror in his face turn into mindless rage at being thwarted, and a speeding thought filtered through her head at the extent of his audacity. But then the thought flitted away, and the world was completely and utterly lost to shadows.

  *

  Will carried Penelope out of the forest with his face carefully composed into neutrality.

  However, Joseph John could see the underlying anger contained there. He leaned up against his Jeep and sighed. “What did you expect? A holiday romp through the woods? A little midnight picnic? It was a test, William. A test does just that. It tests.”

  Will paused to let Joseph John see the extent of Penelope’s wounds. Her face was red, and nasty looking scratches were encrusted with dried blood and dirt. Her shirt was shredded by what seemed as though a thousand claw marks had mangled her. Something had brutally bitten her shoulder. And one of her hands was clutching something close to her chest.

  Joseph John reached for her wrist and turned it slightly so that he could see the length of bone. “Ah,” he said. “I guess she had teeth after all. And more than a little inner strength.”

  “Those things weren’t supposed to be able to hurt her,” Will said fiercely.

  “Where would the test be in that?” Joseph asked testily. “If she wasn’t to be hurt, then how could she possibly learn anything about herself?”

  Will glanced down into Penelope’s prone face. She was unconscious or asleep, he couldn’t tell which one, and had been for the last hour. Her skin felt like lava freshly spewed from a volcano. “What good will she be to us if she’s too ill to fight?” he said, but it wasn’t what he meant to say.

  A canny expression passed over Joseph John’s face. “Is that what you mean, little William?”

  “I’m not going to argue with you, elderly one,” Will snarled. He walked past Joseph John and toward the cabin.

  Joseph John watched Will’s back with some interest. When Will vanished inside the cabin with Penelope in his arms, he reached inside the Jeep and retrieved his cell phone. Then he called his daughter, Sue, to come look after the woman. “Women,” Joseph John muttered when he was done. “Occasionally they really surprise you.”

  Then he set about his given task. The ancient bones had directed his actions. A small medicine bag had been created solely for the use of the white woman, and its contents were very special indeed. As she resembled the trickster of the tribe’s legends, the woman’s spirit guide had turned out to be the coyote. She would need tricks to complete her given tasks. Joseph John prayed over the bag and sang the protective chants that his ancestors had been singing for a thousand or more years.

  *

  “What day is it?” Penelope asked a
nd was surprised at the hoarseness of her voice.

  The woman leaning over Penelope was dressed in blue hospital scrubs. Looking up, she saw that the other woman was in her thirties and had deep black hair neatly arranged in a French braid down the back of her head. A pretty woman with apple cheeks, she smiled at Penelope as she took her pulse. “Sunday. Sunday, the thirteenth,” she said cheerfully.

  “Sunday,” Penelope repeated, trying to remember what day of the week she had ended up in Oregon. “I feel like I should be asking if someone got the license number of the Mack truck I’ve been hit by.” She looked at herself and saw that a large T-shirt was covering her upper torso. She shifted her body and felt bandages and pain at her shoulder. Additionally her face felt as though someone had left a piece of duct tape there. Her free hand came up to touch her cheek, however, she saw a blackened length of bone clutched in her fingers.

  “Mack truck,” the woman repeated and laughed. “That’s funny.”

  “You must be Joseph John’s daughter,” Penelope said. She looked at the bone and remembered that she had shoved it into Anthony’s chest. It was a distant dream, but the reality was paining her even as she lay in the same bed she had woken up in days before. She had seen what the seatco did with their victims. She had witnessed Merri’s transformation into something from the fourth world and Anthony’s transformation into a dark being. Anthony had brought forth the shadow people from the underworld to do his wicked bidding. Anthony had stolen the Tears of the Spirit from its guardians. Then Anthony had managed to attack her.

  There was no doubt that Anthony had intended to kill her, whether she was in the depths of a vision or not.

  And had Will saved her? Or had she saved him? Or had it been a little bit of both?

  Penelope looked up and saw that Sue Dick was staring down at her. “What?”

  “Yes, I’m Joseph John’s daughter,” she said wryly when she saw that she had Penelope’s attention. “I don’t know anyone else that would put up with his misogyny. Do you?” Without waiting for an answer she went on. “Your fever is almost gone. I’ve given you some antibiotics. Assuming after the fact that you weren’t allergic. Everything is all dressed. That shoulder is going to be the worst part though. Real interesting pattern there, by the way.”

  “I woke up here on Wednesday,” Penelope said slowly. “And today is Sunday. So where have I been the rest of the time?”

  Sue looked at her intently. “If you can’t figure that out, well, we’re all in a lot of trouble.”

  Penelope frowned. “Where’s Will?”

  “Sleeping in the other bedroom,” Sue said. She fluffed the blanket and adjusted a pillow behind Penelope’s head. “He wasn’t supposed to be out watching for you, but he was, so he’s a little tired.” She considered her words. “Plus, I gathered something very bad happened. He wouldn’t say. Neither would Pop. Both of them close-mouthed bastards.” Her mouth snapped shut. Then she added, “Let’s see. I’m supposed to tell you not to take the medicine bag off.”

  Penelope looked down and saw a bead-embellished bag hanging around her neck by a leather cord. It was multi-colored and beautiful and obviously contained something that felt like rocks.

  Sue looked thoughtful as she ticked items off with her fingers. “You can get up. Nothing wrong with your legs. Have something to eat. Lots in the fridge. Make sure you get plenty of water to drink. There’s some painkillers on the kitchen table, but don’t take them unless it really, really hurts. And don’t wake up Will. He’s pooped. Needs his rest just like you do. Pop said he’d come back and talk to you later.” She smiled brilliantly. “Okay then. I’m off.”

  Penelope didn’t say anything as the woman preemptively turned and left the room. She didn’t think she was supposed to say anything. Instead she waited until she heard a car start up with a rumble and drive off. Then she used the bathroom, brushed her teeth with an unopened toothbrush that had obviously been left for her, and washed her face. She ignored the pain in her shoulder. She wandered through the cabin and peeked in on Will, who was sleeping face down in a room that was almost the exact duplicate of the one she was in. Finally, she made a ham and cheese sandwich and ate it, accompanying it with a tall glass of water.

  When the phone rang, Penelope was so used to the quiet of the cabin that she jumped, startled by the abrupt noise. She looked around and didn’t see a phone. But it sounded like…

  “Jeremy’s cell phone,” she muttered. Thirty seconds later she had retrieved it out of a drawer that Will had put it in. There was also the fetish bag that she had stolen from Will and the keys to the black Suburban that she had also stolen from Merri and the seatco. She ignored them and answered the phone because she recognized the number on the readout.

  “Mama?” she said expectantly.

  “Not hardly,” came the caustic answer.

  *

  Anthony Littlesoldier woke up with a curse on his lips. “Damn that little bitch! Damn her to hell!” One hand went to his chest where it felt as if a stake had been driven through his heart. She had a piece of the ancient one, the one he had destroyed with fire years earlier, the only one who had a magical connection to the Tears of the Spirit. It was potent magic and not something he had counted on facing.

  “I’ve never seen you so angry,” Merri said serenely. He jerked his head around to see that she was watching from the doorway. How long she had been there, he didn’t know, but it gave him a shiver to understand that she might have been there for minutes or hours, just staring at him, waiting for him to make a fatal error.

  “The thief is more powerful than I’ve given her credit,” he said mildly. He wiped the sweat off his head with the back of his hand. Deliberately looking away from the witch, he swung his feet off the bed and sat up straight. His body felt bruised and battered; it was the cost of intruding on Penelope Quick’s vision. He had been protected from the transference of damage from the vision to reality, but it still ached with acute pain. “You’re back early. Did you not find the thief’s mother?”

  Even with his back to Merri, he could feel the waves of satisfaction radiating from her. “Of course I found her mother. Those planes are fascinating things. Much more interesting than the white weapon you carry. Did you know that they serve hot food thousands of feet above the ground to the people on board the vessel?”

  Anthony sighed. “Yes. I did know that. It’s been almost a thousand years since you’ve been on this world, witch. Did you think that time would stand still for you?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “Tell me about Jessica Quick.”

  “She’s very feisty,” Merri said dreamily. “Her blood must taste like ambrosia because of the sheer vigor and intensity of her being. I regret that I am not able to sample it. Not yet.”

  “Did you kill her companion?” Anthony said.

  “No,” Merri said, obviously disappointed. “He didn’t get up after I hit him. She wasn’t a problem at all.”

  Anthony smiled to himself. Merri’s exterior was an elaborate foil and camouflaged the depraved fiend inside. Then she added, “Of course, the old woman is blind.”

  “Blind?” he repeated. Anthony suddenly understood why Penelope wished so intensely to protect her mother. Jessica could hardly protect herself. She couldn’t see evil if it slapped her on her face. “Is she whole? Did you damage her?”

  This time Anthony looked over his shoulder at the witch. She almost looked contrite. She shrugged her lovely shoulders. “She was making a fuss on the charter jet. The crew was getting very nervous. It was only a bit of time that she was unconscious. And it’s not like it matters if she’s a little bruised.”

  “Can she speak? Is her mind still sound?” he insisted.

  “Of course she can speak. When she’s awake, she hardly shuts up,” Merri said with a note of irritation.

  “Answer the question,” he said firmly.

  “Yes, she’s sound. She doesn’t know what I am. She doesn’t know why she’s here, and she certainly doesn’t apprec
iate that things that go bump in the night are horribly real,” Merri snarled the last part.

  “Good,” Anthony said.

  “And she had a cell phone,” Merri added in a level voice, pleased to add the rest. “It was the one that belongs to her companion. In case of emergency, I would guess. Pity she didn’t have a chance to use it.” She tossed it onto the bed beside Anthony and smiled coldly. “I understand on these devices that you can actually see who is calling you.”

  Anthony picked up the phone and saw that it was fully charged. He nodded at Merri and checked the speed dial numbers on the device. One was entitled “Pen’s new cell.” It was the same number he had for Penelope Quick. “Where is Jessica?”

  “Downstairs with the seatco. It’s quite whole again. The police detective you acquired for it seemed to make it vibrant. It can guard her very effectively. And she can’t see it anyway.”

  Considering that scenario, he pressed the connect button and placed the phone against his ear. It rang on the other end. Anthony knew that his brother had taken Penelope to see the medicine man. She was to be part of the final battle, but Anthony knew that his brother couldn’t truly trust the thief. It rang three times and then she answered it.

  “Mama?” came Penelope’s expectant voice, full of anticipation and hope.

  “Not hardly,” Anthony said. “Time to make a deal, little thief. Are you ready?”

  *

  When Will woke up three hours later, Penelope Quick was absent from the cabin, and a mile down the road, someone had stolen an SUV from his nearest neighbor’s house. He was, needless to say, extremely angry.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Monday, July 14th - Tuesday, July 15th - Utah

  Peeties (slang, origin unknown, probably 1940s American) - loaded dice

  Penelope relied on an ability to fend for herself. It worked for creeping. If she started thinking closely about it, then it had even worked into her “no trust” issues. After all, if she didn’t need anyone to look after her, then she didn’t need to trust them. After receiving the phone call from Anthony, her practice came into play again, despite lingering doubts on whether she should stop and think carefully about what she was doing. Or rather she had lingering doubts about the line she was about to cross, a line she might not be able to cross back over.