Discovering Shadows

by Jenkins, Tawnya

  Lily’s eyes went wide as she scrambled backwards on the bed and secured her body under the covers. She reached up with the hand not gripping the sheets and brushed the wet strands of hair away from her face. Aiden chuckled. “I’ll go brush my teeth while you get dressed.”

  Once Aiden had closed the bathroom door she sank into the mattress. What am I doing? Do I want to cross this line; because once I do there is no turning back. Lily shook her head and climbed from the bed to get dressed. She had decided on a pair of cut-off jean shorts and a light blue tank top. She swept her long hair into a ponytail and put on her black flip-flops. Aiden emerged from the bathroom in a pair of tan cargo shorts and a black muscle tank. His eyes roamed over her and when a smile developed, she knew he was pleased with what he saw. “Alright, let’s head out.”

  Sorrow

  It took two days for the team to arrive in Sorrow. They took turns driving and drove straight through, only stopping when they absolutely needed to. They had received a briefing over the phone a few hours ago and were pumped and ready, or so they thought. Leo turned his phone over and over in his hand, his nerves on edge. He hadn’t heard from Lily since she left, and his mind had created all kinds of scenarios, none of them pleasant. A hand landed on his shoulder. “She’s fine, Leo. You have to trust that we are all on the correct path,” Sam stated.

  Leo shrugged the hand from his shoulder. “Yeah and what path is that exactly, Sam? Huh? Have your visions told you anything useful? Do you know where she is? Do you know that nothing bad will happen to her? Do you know if she’s eating? Getting rest?”

  “Leo,” Reece warned. “You know Sam’s visions don’t work like that. They have never led us astray before. We have to trust that this time is no different. As difficult as is it, we have to be patient.”

  “Easy for you to say! She isn’t your sister! You didn’t make a promise to keep her safe! You don’t know what I know do you? You don’t know who she is and how importa—” Leo stopped himself and the car skidded to a stop. Three pairs of eyes focused on him and his heart began to beat out of his chest. “Never mind, just forget it. Sam’s right, I’m sure she’s fine.”

  “Oh no, you don’t get to just brush off what you said just now. What do you know that you’re not telling us, Leo? Who exactly is she and why is she so important?” Reece interrogated, now fully turned from his driver’s seat.

  “It’s nothing, forget it. I just meant you don’t have any siblings so you don’t understand how important she is to me, and you know who she is to me as my sister.” Leo rubbed the back of his neck.

  “Shit man.” Nate laughed. “You’re a terrible liar. Do you remember that time you accidently started that tornado in Wisconsin and tried to tell us that it was a newly discovered weather pattern that had just developed and flown in due to the increasing pressure of the cloud cover, and you—”

  “Enough! Tell us what you know Leo, that’s an order,” Reece commanded.

  “Look, I don’t know, ok? I mean, I do . . . but I don’t know any details.”

  “Well then tell us what you do know.” Reece was growing impatient.

  Leo sighed. “My parents just told me that she’s special and that if anyone found out who she was she would be in danger. They told me that she was important and made me promise to keep her safe.” Leo looked down at his feet. “And, she’s not my sister, not by birth anyways.”

  “Whoa, that was some heavy information bro. So are you attracted to her like this guy, too,” Nate joked as he bumped his elbow into Reece. Reece responded with a glare and focused his attention back to Leo.

  “Sam, call . . . shit. I don’t know what to do with that, Leo. If we call it in for information about Lily and something comes back that makes her a target, I’ll never be able to forgive myself,” Reece confessed as he scrubbed his face in defeat. “Call Aiden’s parents, they must know something, that’s why he took off with her. Find out what they know and we’ll go from there.”

  “Reece, I’m sorry man . . . I just couldn’t say anything, you know?” Leo apologized.

  “Save it! For now, we continue with our mission . . . We’ll sort this other shit out later.” Reece grabbed a hold of the wheel and continued down the empty road.

  The town of Sorrow is located near the top of Ohio. It borders Lake Erie, between Fremont and Toledo. The sign they passed said its population is only 666 people. The section of Highway 20 that leads through the small town is lined with large Elm trees. It’s dark, pitch-black, nearly midnight as they finally pull into a rinky-dink motel named Jimbos Lodge that’s missing the M and L from its road sign.

  “I get that there probably isn’t any five star resorts nearby, Reece, but can’t we at least get a two star,” Nate joked.

  “It’s just for the night, so we can regain our senses and be fresh in the morning. We will head further into town at sun up and see what we find,” Reece responded, as he climbed out of the SUV and headed inside to get a room. He arrived moments later and chucked two keys, with large foam boats attached to them, at Nate. He drove around to the back of the motel and parked in front of a small spiral metal staircase. “We’re up there, got us two connecting rooms.”

  Once inside the room, they all looked at each other. The room was quaint, if that’s even the right word for it. The walls were covered in wooden planks, rusted old boat anchors hung as decorations. The room was dimly lit with a single brass lamp in the corner. There was a small TV stand with an old school TV, not a flat screen but the ones with the large backside, an antenna sticking out of the top with aluminum foil wrapped around it. The carpet was a shaggy style and maroon in color, two queen sized beds with a patchwork quilt comforter sat in the center.

  “What the . . .” Nate chuckled. “Shit, we just went back in time bros.”

  “It will be fine to sleep in for a few hours, Nathan, grow up and get some rest. We leave at sunrise,” Reece stated, as he threw his bag to the ground and flopped down onto one of the beds. After only a few hours of sleep the group was woken by a bone-chilling scream that echoed through both rooms, causing Leo to develop goosebumps.

  “Shit man, did you hear that?” Nate asked Leo as he looked up from his bed. The two were sharing a room and were both now sitting up staring at the window. Leo nodded as he quietly made his way to the window and peeked through the bottom opening as to not give away his position. He scanned the parking lot below him looking for any sign of trouble. He didn’t see anything at first and then movement in his peripheral caused him to turn his head toward the motel lobby. Rubbing his eyes, not believing what they were showing him, he focused his vision and saw a shadow, an actual shadow dragging a screaming woman by the hair into the woods on the other side of the highway.

  “Holy shit,” Nate whispered from behind him, causing Leo to jump. “What the hell is that thing?”

  “I don’t know but we need to help her, let’s go.” They raced into the adjoining room to find Sam and Reece already slipping on their pants and shoes.

  “We know. We saw it too. You guys ready for this?” Reece asked tying his shoes.

  “Born ready my man, born ready,” Nate boomed with a smile. The three of them raced out the door and jumped off the balcony, not bothering with the stairs. Each one landed with grace and took off full sprint into the darkness of the woods. They found a trail the dragged body had made and followed it to a clearing not far from the road. Three shadow figures now circled the crying woman; they were shaped like normal people. Not ghost like in appearance, in that they had legs and were not transparent, more like humans cloaked in darkness itself.

  “How is what I’m seeing possible, Reece? What are those things?” Leo whispered.

  “Those are the shadow people we were sent to investigate; the League is calling them Voids, let’s introduce ourselves,” he said with a smile as he emerged from the tree line. Sam, Leo and Nate flanked to his sides as the shadow like figures focused their attention on them.

  “Leave the girl alo
ne,” Reece instructed. With a snap of his fingers fire erupted over his hands and he shot a ball right at the Void in front of him.

  The Void, now completely engulfed in flames turned his attention back to the woman on the ground. The woman was pushing backward, clawing at the ground beneath her trying to escape. Seeming to be unfazed by the fire surrounding the Void’s body, Leo directed a gust of wind in it’s direction; causing the flames to spring to life in bright orange blazes. Still, the Void continued to stalk toward the woman. Reece tossed flaming infernos at the other two Voids as Leo gave them more fuel with his wind gusts. The Voids were so engulfed they now looked to be more of men made of fire than shadows, but alas, they were still focused on the woman. When one reached out its now blazing arm and latched onto the woman’s hair yet again, her hair began to singe and she cried out in pain.

  “Shit!” Reece recalled his flames and extinguished the fire on the Voids and the woman.

  “I got this,” Leo said with a smirk as he circled his arms over and over until a small whirlwind formed and he aimed it at the Voids, instructing it to pick them up and miss the woman. The mini tornado swirled around and around but did nothing once it made contact with the creatures. They seemed unfazed. Nate growled and lifted a nearby tree, swinging it like a baseball bat high in the air he slammed it hard into the side of one of the larger Voids, causing it to fly through the air and slam into a large boulder a good mile away. The Void simply shook its body; then it suddenly disappeared and materialized back into its original position.

  “What the hell? . . . What now Reece? None of our shit is working?” Leo asked in a panic. Reece didn’t respond he simply took off running in their direction. He slammed his fist into one of the Void’s sides, wincing in pain as the force of it nearly broke his hand.

  “Son of a . . . they’re like stone.” He grunted as he shook his hand.

  The creatures chuckled menacingly before reaching down and using one of its claw-like nails to slice the woman’s throat. Another of the Voids injected something into the woman’s skull, directly through her left eye. The woman’s body shook violently and then right before their eyes turned black as the night around them. She had now become a Void herself. The four creatures turned their glaring red eyes at the four men. The one in front pointed his claw finger at Reece and then made a slicing motion over his throat before vanishing into thin air.

  Sam’s phone started to ring loudly, echoing through the empty forest. “It’s Aiden’s mom,” he said as he answered. After a few nods and couple of “yes” and “I understand,” Sam stated that he was going to put her on speakerphone.

  “Ok Margaret, you’re on speaker,” Sam said, as he held the phone out for everyone to hear. They stood motionless in the middle of the clearing as they listened intently to every word.

  “Hello everyone, I understand you have some questions pertaining to Miss Myers,” Margaret stated.

  Reece elbowed Leo. “Uh, yes. Hello. My name is Leo and Lily is my sister. We understand that Aiden has taken her away on instructions from you. We want to know why. We need to know what you know as to ensure that Lily remains safe.”

  “I see. Well unfortunately I don’t have information for you. My son informed us only days ago that he was taking a vacation before school started up again and that he was taking Lily with him. He informed me that they were now a couple. We had nothing but well wishes for them both, as we simply adore Lily.”

  “You’re lying!” Reece seethed as he snatched the phone from Sam’s hand. He took her off speakerphone and placed the phone to his ear. “You listen to me and you listen good. I know there is something special about Lily. Something that if in the hands of the wrong person could be detrimental to her safety. Now, I am going to ask you one question and depending on that answer, you will either tell me everything I want to know or I will personally hunt down that precious son of yours and rip him to pieces with my bare hands. Do I make myself clear?”

  Margaret cleared her throat. “Of course, I understand perfectly.”

  “Now as I’m sure you’ve been informed, we have been called out to this small town of Sorrow to investigate the Voids that have been killing innocent people.”

  “Yes, I’ve heard,” she responded quietly.

  “What I want to know is: do these creatures have anything to do with Lily and her being special?” The line was silent for what seemed like an eternity as Reece paced back and forth in that clearing, until three words were spoken that shattered the world as he knew it.

  “She’s his daughter.” And then the line went dead. Reece had to have misunderstood her, there was no way Lily could be that creature’s daughter. The League would have told him, Leo would have known. Something wasn’t right, and he would get to the bottom of it. Reece crushed the phone in his hand and turned to face his teammates, singling out Leo.

  “Who is she, Leo? And don’t think for one second about lying to me further. I know you know more than you’re saying, and if I don’t get the whole truth from you right now, I will have no choice but to use my authority as leader of this team and you will be reprimanded,” he seethed.

  Leo looked at his teammates and nervously rubbed the back of his neck. “Okay, but let’s get back inside, we’re too exposed out here and we don’t know if those things are coming back.” The team nodded in unison and returned to their rooms. Once inside all but Reece took a seat, Reece paced like a caged animal as he waited for Leo to speak.

  “Alright bro, lay it on us,” Nate said, trying to sound nonchalant about it.

  “Look, I . . . I think Lily should know before I tell any of you. It’s her story and she should hear the truth first.”

  “Well that isn’t an option is it?” Reece shouted. “She left with that God damned water boy, so if you value your so called sister’s safety and your position and loyalty with this team, then you better start talking.” Flames now engulfed his hands as he shook.

  “Alright, alright . . . I’ll tell you what I know, just please calm down man. We don’t need to burn this place to the ground.” Reece nodded and allowed him to continue. “I was only a child when they brought her to us. My mother told me the woman seemed so scared when she showed up at our door. She had told my parents that the little girl would come into great power one day and that if he ever found her, he would either kill her or force her to do his bidding. She said she hadn’t meant to get pregnant; she hid it from him as long as possible but he started to notice the changes. Once he found out she was carrying his child he was elated, happier than she has ever seen him, and for the first time she had hope; hope that perhaps this child would be the one thing to force him to change. Until one night she overheard him making plans for the child as if it were a weapon before it was even born—”

  “Who is he?” Reece interrupted.

  “Davarius, her father is Davarius.” Leo shrunk in his seat with defeat.

  “It can’t be. That’s impossible!” Reece slammed his fist through the wall.

  Small Town

  Once inside the car, Lily rolled down her window and pulled her hair up into a lose ponytail. “So are you going to tell me where we’re headed?”

  “It’s a surprise.” He beamed as he reached over and laced his fingers with hers, resting their hands on his leg. Aiden looked over and noticed Lily staring at their now intertwined hands. “Is this ok?” He lifted their hands up.

  “Oh, um . . . yeah.” She gave his hand a slight squeeze. Aiden responded with a smile. He looked so different to her now; she never used to see him as anything more than a friend. Now, he was much more; he was her instructor, her protector and the only person she trusted completely. She studied his profile as they drove down the road, really looking at him now. He really was striking, with his hard jawline and deep emerald eyes. She never really noticed before, but now, it was all she could think about. She found herself biting her lip, remembering the way his lips felt on hers.

  “If you keep looking at me like you want to
devour me, this road trip is going to take a whole lot longer.” Aiden smirked at her, making her blush. She quickly released her lip and returned her eyes to the road. Aiden let out a chuckle, great, she thought as she shook her head and smiled.

  They had just passed a road sign that indicated they were in Ohio, it actually read, “Welcome to Ohio. So much to Discover.” “Soooo . . . we’re going to Ohio?”

  “Yes.”

  “Where exactly in Ohio are we going? Oh! Are we going to Niagara Falls?” Lily beamed at the thought.

  Aiden laughed. “No, we’re not here to sightsee I’m afraid.”

  Lily frowned. “Okay so where are we headed then?”

  “It’s a small town, just outside of Lake Eerie. It’s not on the map so you wouldn’t know it.”

  “What do you mean it isn’t on the map?”

  Aiden sighed. “It’s a very remote town, privately owned by some rich guy that wanted to live by his own laws. He fought for a few years, but it is basically like his own private island—only it’s a town. Not many people know of it, but my family managed to buy some property there and that’s why it’s the perfect place to hide out.”

  “Sounds like fun, what’s the plan once we get there?”

  “We call my parents and check in, let them know we’re safe and go from there.”

  Lily nodded in response and watched the trees fly by as they drove down the highway. It took them nearly three hours to get to the small town called Sorrow. Well that name doesn’t sound very inviting. She noticed only a handful of shops on the way to the Aiden’s parents’, one or two small restaurants and a sleazy looking lodge with missing letters. Aiden stopped at a small mom and pop gas station; he said they needed to always make sure they had a full tank of gas in case they ever needed to leave in a hurry. He was always prepared like that. That was one of the things she had come to like about him.

  She only noticed one or two people wandering around as she waited for Aiden, none of which appeared to have that friendly small town welcome she had been expecting.