“Don’t speak to your Mother that way,” Slade’s father, she presumed. He was a slightly shorter, greyer version of his son. His skin was weathered but they looked as though they could have been the same age really.
“I’ll speak to either of you any way I damn please! After what you did, you’re lucky I’ll speak to you at all,” Slade spat, anger evident in the lines of his face. She was about to step into the room when Slade’s mothers next words stopped her.
“Look, we need to talk about that woman… she is… unusual.”
“That’s one word for it,” Aaron said with a chuckle. Asshole.
“What about her,” Slade growled and she wanted to know too.
“Her gifts… I’ve never seen anything like them. I’d like to do some research so that I-,” she began but Slade cut her off.
“No. I did not bring her here so she could be your damn lab experiment. She is… she is…”
“She is what?”
“She is important to me. To us.”
“Seven Hells, Slade. Shay is gone. Cammy is gone. If you could accept that you could move on. Start a new life.”
“Actually, I- I disagree with you on that one, Mum. I’ve seen her,” Aaron piped up, raising himself in Quinn’s estimation. Just a little.
“What? Perhaps it’s a side effect of the radiation or something. Some sort of shared delusion.”
“By the Gods, are you serious?” Slade thundered, standing up from his chair as he slammed his hand down on the table.
“Slade, my son, you need help. You need to move on. Maybe you could start a new family one day but right-,” Hells, even Quinn knew that was the last thing anyone should have said to the behemoth of an immortal with the fiery temper.
“Start a new family? That’s it, I’m done. Don’t call me, don’t even think about me. I never want to see you again, understand me?” his voice was cold and detached as though he had severed every emotional connection with them, right then and there. Quinn slowly rounded the corner, about to offer her touch to perhaps end the argument but Slade’s Father caught her eye. He was standing behind Slade, directly beside his Granddaughter. He peered down at the ghostly girl and gave her a weak, sorry smile before mouthing something to her.
“You can see her,” Quinn accused without thinking as she stepped further into the room. All eyes were on her in an instant and there was a deathly silence before Slade turned, his fury rolling from him in waves, as he looked upon his Father.
“You can see her?” he demanded.
“Yes.” The man replied after a moment’s hesitation.
“Daddy, it’s not his fault,” Shay interjected before her Father could explode at the older immortal. “I begged him not to tell anyone,” she confessed.
“What? Why?”
“Nana… she was so… broken. She cried every night for months. I… I didn’t want to hurt her.”
“Didn’t want to hurt her? Are you insane?” Slade screamed, before giving everyone in the room one final glare and storming out, his feet thudding on the wooden floors hard enough to leave holes in his wake.
“Well… that went well, I thought,” Aaron muttered with a raised eyebrow.
“Shut up, Aaron,” Quinn and his Father said in unison.
“What the hells is going on here?” Slade’s mother looked between them, betrayal and confusion on her face.
“Perhaps it would be easier to show you?” Quinn said, moving forward, her hands in front of her as though she was approaching a frightened animal. Of course she was more used to throwing a blade into a frightened animal but she figured this wasn’t much different. She was about to shatter this woman’s world as she knew it, anyway. She reached out and placed her hand over the older immortals and then there was the inevitable gasp as she saw the pale, ghostlike form of her granddaughter.
“H-how are you doing this?”
“Hells if I know,” Quinn admitted with a shrug.
“No… you must be doing something, perhaps there is a hallucinatory toxin in your skin or something?”
“But I can see her too, Molly. I’ve always been able to see her. Since about a year after we thought we lost her.”
“But… but you never told me.” Molly murmured, a tear rolling from her eye.
“I told him not to, Nana. I didn’t want you to cry any more. When Daddy came home and you tried to put him away, I saw how much it hurt you. I sat with you when you cried and I didn’t want you to cry anymore. It was too hard.” Shay whispered moving forward. Molly moved her hand to touch her Granddaughters cheek, pulling free from Quinn’s touch. As she did, Shay disappeared, at least from her view. Molly released a harsh cry before Quinn could grip her hand, settling only when she saw her granddaughter again.
“You’ve grown so much… you’re so beautiful, little one. I have missed you so much,” Molly’s eyes were brimming with tears as her other hand passed through Shay’s cheek when she attempted to cup it.
“Are you… is this a haunting?” She asked dubiously.
“No… well, kind of… I don’t know. My body is in Union City… the King did this to me. Separated my spirit from my body. But we think Quinn might be able to put me back in it.” Everything Shay said tumbled from her in a rush.
“Really?” Molly turned to her with doubt and hope in her eyes as she dared to believe in her granddaughter’s existence.
“Honestly, I don’t know. Doesn’t mean we’re not going to try though,” Quinn murmured with a shrug.
“She can do it Nana, I believe it.” Shay said firmly, with much more confidence than Quinn had that was for sure.
“You said the King did this? How?”
“I… it was some sort of machine.”
“Machine? Tell me everything.” Molly jumped up and pulled out a large sheet of parchment and a pencil from a drawer, ready to take notes. All in all, she seemed to be taking this new change in reality quite well. Better than Aaron had, anyway. “I think you should go and talk to my son. Later, if he will talk to me, we can discuss the bond between you.” Molly murmured, holding her hand and looking over at Shay.
“What bond?” Quinn asked, ignoring Shay’s wiggling eyebrows and Aaron’s sarcastic snort.
“I think you know, dear. The matching brands on your skin… they grow, don’t they? I saw them growing on Slade whilst you were in the clearing. Interesting development… but I think I’ve heard of something similar before. I need to check my research but I may know something you don’t.” She seemed hopeful of that and Quinn realised it was how she planned on earning forgiveness.
“I think if you know anything about it, you’ll know more than us,” Quinn murmured, offering a small smile. Molly smiled back gratefully, seeing her words for what they were. “If I go, you won’t be able to see her,” Quinn whispered, not wanting to upset anyone or have another accusation flung at her.
“I assumed as much. James can see her… he can translate. I’ll need both hands anyway.”
“Alright… I guess I’ll go and find Slade…” She stood, waiting to release Molly’s hand until the last moment.
“When you find him, tell him I said he was right… tell him I’m sorry.”
Quinn nodded and left the room. She searched upstairs first but Slade wasn’t there. As she made her way back downstairs she came face to face with Aaron.
“I have to say, I’m impressed, Red. You tamed the beast. And my brother…” he chuckled at his own joke and she shook her head with a pained grin.
“I don’t think anyone could tame your brother. Least of all, me. Do you know where he is?” she asked. Aaron looked pensive as he stared down at her from his considerable height.
“I know where he might be… come on, I’ll show you.”
She nodded and followed him as he walked out the door. She hadn’t realised when she had first arrived but the cabin was just on the outskirts of a small town. About a click of forestry and fields surrounded them, a series of wooden homes and other buildings a
little ahead in the distance. She and Aaron walked along a dirt path in uncomfortable silence for a few minutes. At least she was uncomfortable. Physically and socially. She still had nothing on her feet and the small pebbles and stones along the path dug into her heels like tiny little assassins, striking for the kill. As for the social factor, she and Aaron may be on better terms than they had been the day before but they weren’t exactly friends.
“Look... I’ve been a dick to you.”
“You’re telling me that because I don’t know? Because, just so you’re aware, I knew… I really knew,” she muttered sarcastically.
“Alright, fair enough. I guess, I’m trying to say that I’m sorry…”
“What is it with your family…? I have had four out of five apologise to me today in one way or another… if your father apologises I’ll have collected the set. I might not have liked how you treated me, Aaron, but I understand it. You shouldn’t be sorry for trying to protect your brother. I would do the same for my sister in a heartbeat. Feelings be damned,” she spat the last, sick of feeling. She just wanted a few moments without feeling… it was exhausting.
“Fair enough.” He said again. “What did Slade apologise for?” he asked in wonder, confirming her suspicions that it was an oddity.
“For being a dick,” she said simply with a grin. “Must be a family trait.”
“Wow… that’s some comedic talent,” he muttered sarcastically but he grinned all the same. “I thought it might have been for the whole almost-sex thing. He feels really bad about it.”
She went cold all over and then hot as a fierce blush crept over her chest and cheeks. “He… he said that?” she meant to sound nonchalant but failed miserably.
“You sound disappointed,” he murmured with a frown. “Have you talked to him about it?”
“What would I say, Aaron? So you rejected me because you’re afraid of the gifts I have or because you only need me for your mission but just so you know, I would have definitely had sex with you, aren’t I pathetic?” Her voice dripped with disdain and she would probably regret being so open with the blonde immortal later but right then she didn’t care. Too many feelings.
“Wow… um… you should talk to Slade about it. I don’t think that’s how he feels at all. In fact, I think he thinks he took advantage and now he’s hating himself for it.”
“What? That doesn’t make sense,” she grumbled, continuing to walk down the path. Aaron moved to walk beside her and continued talking, though now she was kind of wishing for the uncomfortable silence they had once shared.
“My brother is many things, dependable, mostly logical, hot-headed… smart? Not so much. He is the most honourable man I have ever met. If he thinks he has wronged you in any way, he’ll never forgive himself for it. This power of yours… it takes over sometimes, right? It’s the gift that’s in control and not the other way around?” He was hinting at something and it took a moment before she understood.
“Oh… but… hmmm,” she murmured coming to another realisation. She needed to know what happened in the Glade. Since then, he had treated her differently. She had thought it was because of the respect her gifts commanded, because she had saved his ass, or something like that but, what if it wasn’t? What had she done? “Thanks, I guess. I’ll talk to him,” she muttered awkwardly. It was odd… she didn’t like people and people didn’t like her. But there she was… making more friends in the past week than she had in the past thirty years.
“You do that,” Aaron said with a grin, as though he was the freaking fairy godmother, before pointing to a small building just ahead of them. It was a relatively tall building in comparison to some of the others. She estimated about three stories. Small windows were dotted around in an odd fashion as though someone had just thrown them haphazardly at the building, which, she thought, was perfectly possible. There were a single wooden door on the ground floor and one window, though it was too dirty to see through.
“What is this place?” she asked Aaron as they approached it. Her with caution and he with excitement.
“Well, the town is just a layby, in the place in between Outlander territory to the south and the King’s land to the North. The rebellion uses it as a trading post or a hideout mostly. It’s not very often the Kings Men find their way here.”
“Why is that?”
“Let’s just say it’s protected… a lot of gifted here. And then there’s my Mother.”
“Molly?”
“Yeah… you saw all the gadgets in the kitchen, right?”
“Um-hmm.”
“Well, some of those were weapons, some were kitchen utensils… it’s hard to tell. Point being, give that woman a scrap of metal and a hammer and she’ll build you an arsenal.”
“Wow… is that her gift?” she asked, curious.
“Not in the sense that you mean. At least I don’t think so. It’s just what she does.” He said with a shrug. Quinn nodded, somewhat impressed.
“Best not to get on her bad side then?” she said with a smile.
“Hells no… that woman has legitimately given me nightmares since I was a child.”
She laughed as he visibly shivered, a bitter-sweet laugh. There was a small part of her that yearned for what he had. For what they all had. Family. It had been just her and Amira for so long now she had forgotten what it would feel like to have so many there to guide, love and care for you. To not be the one who needed to come up with the answers all the time. Hells, she could barely remember what that felt like.
“So what’s in there?” She asked, nodding her head towards the building they were quickly approaching.
“That is the most cherished place around here… a place of worship you could say,” he said with a sly grin, walking up onto the porch of the wooden building and opening the door for her. She frowned. Slade didn’t strike her as a spiritual man. Hells she wasn’t sure she’d be able to get through the doorway or if she’d burn up on entry. Her soul wasn’t exactly pure. Still, she passed by Aaron and stepped inside, very much alive and unscathed on the other side. She looked around, not seeing what she was expecting in the slightest. There was no altar, no robed man speaking of Gods she didn’t believe in. There were, however, seats of worship. The God in question? Well, it was more of a spirit. Rye whiskey, she guessed, judging by the smell of it. She looked over her shoulder at Aaron’s grinning face and gave him a scowl. There were a few people in the little tavern. Two men sat in a corner debating how to improve their crops. Another man sat on his own, nursing a large tankard of Ale and muttering to himself. A very large woman sat with a small man in a booth in front of the window. They talked and laughed easily with each other as they slowly got drunk. She spotted Slade before Aaron did and nudged him, pointing with a nod of her head. He nodded to her and muttered something about getting some drinks, leaving her to approach the angry immortal by herself. Coward. Steeling herself for his ire, she made her way over to Slade, weaving past tables and chairs. He didn’t look up, his hands wrapped around a large glass of whiskey as though it were a lifeline, not even when she sat in the chair opposite him.
“Hey…” she murmured after a moment or two of silence.
“Where is Shay?” he asked, without looking up.
“Right now, she is telling your Mother about the contraption Jackson used to separate her. Your Father is translating.”
He scoffed, shaking his head angrily. “How could he lie to me? I thought I was crazy. They made me think I was crazy… I almost gave up on my daughter because of them,” he said, finally looking up. His anger was palpable and she wasn’t sure what to say. Before she could even think of a response, he continued, “She told me to make a new family… like I could just forget about them. How could she say that?” He was expecting an answer but she didn’t have one for him.
“I don’t know, Slade. I think, she just wanted you to be alright. It’s because she loves you. For what it’s worth she is sorry. She told me so. She also told me to tell you that you
were right?”
“About the science,” he murmured, answering her question and looking back down at his drink. “We used to argue about it. I have never had any love for the Gods, if they even exist. But, I at least entertain the possibility. She can be blinded by logic, bound to what she can see and touch with no room for the unknown. I have seen many unexplainable things… I know it isn’t always that simple.” He explained, when she didn’t respond.
“Well, that may be so, but it doesn’t mean her help should be turned away, Slade. She accepted this whole thing a lot easier than your brother did,” she said, once again comparing the two. “Why is it you are so angry at her and not at him. Neither believed you, both questioned your sanity… if you were in their shoes, wouldn’t you?”
“I would, dammit,” he muttered after a moment, “but she is my Mother! She is always supposed to have my back. She is supposed to be on my side. When I ran from here the last time, I thought maybe she was right. Maybe Shay was the hallucination of a broken mind… so I ignored her… I pretended my baby wasn’t there. A whole month. She would cry, shout… I made her miserable. She needed me and I made her miserable.” He took a long drink of his whiskey and continued to stare at his reflection in the amber liquid.
“So really, you’re angry at yourself,” she observed gently. She could still feel his anger permeating the air, rising from his body with every breath.
“I guess… doesn’t mean she didn’t hurt me though, or Shay. She did.”
“You know, my Mother used to hurt me too. Every time she took a beating and didn’t fight back. Every time she got angry at me for fighting back. She would forbid it and I hated her for being so weak. Now, when I look back on it, I understand why she did it. She was afraid we would be banished from the clan if she tried to fight against it, just like we were when my father died. She was just trying to protect me, in her own, crazy, messed up way. I see it now.”
“Time heals all wounds, right?” he said with an eye roll, taking another drink.
“I’ve never believed that. I think we just get better at dealing with the pain as time passes. My Father used to say that we are never given more than we can handle, but sometimes it takes time to learn how to handle it.”
Dancing with Shadows Page 14