by Elissa Daye
“It’s not your fault, Lyssa. I believe I startled you.” Hunter smiled softly at her.
“When did you start going here?” Jackson looked at Hunter skeptically.
“Down, boy!” whispered Lyssa through clenched teeth.
“I’ve been around for a while, Jackson. I transferred in a few years ago to the veterinary program. I’ve got one more year before internship.”
“I thought I’d seen you around here before. I’ve heard good things about that program. A friend of mine had her ferret’s tumor biopsied and sent to the college’s animal hospital.” Lyssa would never forget the little ferret.
“What was its diagnosis?” Hunter looked at her with concern on his face. It was easy to see he was compassionate to animals.
“Not good, I’m afraid. Her Lily passed away last year. Poor thing, such a trooper too! Her lymph nodes had swollen up so much that she looked like she had tried to swallow acorns.”
“Was that Jaina’s ferret?” Jackson interjected into the conversation, and his pointed stare brought Lyssa back to reality.
“Yes. Oh, excuse me. We must be keeping you from your class.” Lyssa nibbled on her bottom lip, suddenly conscious of the attention Hunter was paying to her. For some reason, talking to him was easy, which was bizarre to her. She had always had trouble talking to men that she found attractive; it’s what Jackson called her sabotage mechanism.
“Actually, I’m glad I ran into you. Julius wanted to start some specialized training with you tonight. He thought that perhaps a less magical approach to contacting you might be appropriate. I was going to call you later.”
Lyssa wondered for a moment how he would have her phone number but then reminded herself that the Watch Tower had provided that when they moved into their apartments. She was glad that question had not left her mouth, for she would have felt foolish. “What time?”
“Sometime after dinner.”
“Great. We’re going to eat at the diner on Fifth Street if you’d like to join us.” Jackson’s proposal almost made Lyssa choke. He eyed her with a knowing look, and his nose turned up in merriment.
“I have to pass tonight, but rain check?” Hunter’s eyes look apologetic.
“Sure. See you around.” Lyssa pulled on Jackson’s arm as they moved away from Hunter. When they were several steps away from him, Lyssa sighed. “You know that was code for ‘I’m not interested.’”
Jackson turned around and looked back to where Hunter stood. “Oh, honey, he’s interested. By the way, he’s looking at your ass; the boy is definitely into you.”
“What?” Lyssa turned back to look at Hunter, but he had disappeared from sight. “That wasn’t funny, Jackson!”
“Believe me or not. I call it the way I see it, Lyssa. I guess I’ll buckle down and get some reading done tonight while you’re gone. I have some books on astral projection and mythical creatures that I borrowed from the Watch Tower library.”
“Sounds fascinating. I bet you wish you could get in on the action tonight.”
“There will be other nights, Lyssa.”
They continued on their way and separated when they made it to their classrooms. Lyssa nodded to Jackson one last time. “See you at dinner.”
After dinner, Lyssa teleported to the Watch Tower and made her way into the library. Thankfully, Julius had taught her the spell before bringing her back to the campus. The spell was easy to master and gave her more freedom. “Julius, Hunter said you wanted to do some training. I’m here…what did you have in mind?” Lyssa looked away from him uncomfortably, for his eyes seemed to pry into the deepest part of her.
“Wand at the ready.” He was wearing black from his head to his toes, with the only contrast the silver pentacle he wore around his neck. His black steel-toed boots came up over his black jeans. He carried his wand in his hand and gestured for her to follow him.
“What?” Was he going to blast her with his wand? This man seriously lacked communication skills.
“Have your wand at the ready. We are going in.” He moved a book from the shelf and let it fall back in place. Apparently, half of the bookshelf was a decoy, as that part of the wall swung inward to reveal a secret passage.
“Um, Julius. My wand broke when the shadows attacked, remember? How am I supposed to have my wand?” Wand at the ready? This guy was insane, just plain batty. Lyssa fought not to voice her concerns regarding his mental capacity as she scuffed the floor with a nervous slide of her foot.
“Ask, and you shall receive.” He waved his hand in the air, and several wands were suddenly floating before her. “Pick one.”
“Really? All righty then.” Lyssa chose a wand made from elm with a perfectly shaped amethyst crystal on the end. When she picked it up, it felt as if it had been made for her. The instant it touched her fingers, the other wands disappeared. She could feel the hum of energy pulsing through the wood to her skin. This wand was really nothing short of spectacular.
“Ready then?”
“I guess.” Lyssa had no idea what she was supposed to be ready for at the moment…ready to follow him into a dark passage? Not really, but what choice did she have if she wanted to become one of them?
“Don’t guess. Know.” Julius let out a frustrated huff of air and looked back at her with one eyebrow raised.
“Fine! I’m ready.” Her answer seemed to please him this time, as a small smile curled on his bearded face before he turned back around.
Lyssa followed him into the darkness and felt a blast of cold air on her face as she entered the tunnel. Holding up her wand, she asked it to light the way. The tip glowed eerily, breaking up the void in front of her.
This was not a typical hidden passageway. From what she could see, it went from the wooden walls of the house and turned into a smaller tunnel formed into the dirt. She knew instantly that she should keep her guard up. The house itself was not connected to the ground, so as to keep it free from the grasp of the shadows. Exactly how was there dirt in the passageway?
After a few feet, there was a larger opening. She walked behind Julius, trusting that he would not lead her into something she could not handle. Lyssa could only assume that this was a magical place he had created to help her practice finding the shadows.
When she exited the tunnel, she found herself at the end of a long alley. The tunnel she had just left closed up behind her. Dumpsters scattered along the alley smelled of rotting food, and cardboard boxes were slanted against dark brick walls. This alley was just like one she might find in any big city, with tall buildings lined with apartments and fire escapes. When Lyssa looked up, she could see many windows with their lights turned off, so the only illumination came from the glare reflected off the glass panes from the light poles outside. A handful of windows had a faint glow through the curtains, most likely lit from televisions inside. A couple of doors on her left led inside to small businesses that lay quiet in their nightly slumber. Wherever they were, it was late, and it was clear that most of this world was already asleep.
Julius stopped at the end of the alley and motioned for her to step closer. “I’ll be right behind you, Lyssa. I want to see what you can do.”
“Great.” Fan-freaking-tastic! If he could see her feet sticking to the ground, he would know that she was not quite looking forward to leaping out of the dark alley to find a shadow to attack. Steeling her nerves, she reminded herself that it was just a test and that nothing could hurt her. She took a deep calming breath and moved in front of him. “Here goes nothing.”
Lyssa scanned her environment, searching for any movement that would indicate a shadow was near. She did not have to wait long. The sound of a crying woman could be heard a few streets away. The cry itself was not unworldly…it was the way the hair on her neck rose in response. A shadow must be lurking close to her. That thing had probably been following that poor woman for some time. She looked back
at Julius and motioned for him to follow her.
Walking about half a block, Lyssa turned to the left, to where she had heard the woman’s cries. On the ground near a window, she saw it, like the black smoke of a burning tire, moving so slowly she had to squint to see it better. Like the others, it was shaped like a human and was peering into a window with glowing yellow eyes.
“You there,” she yelled at it. “Step away from that window!”
Lyssa pointed her lit wand at it menacingly and heard a low growl as it turned her way. If it had a mouth, she imagined it would be sneering at her right now. Its eyes turned from a bright yellow to an eerie orange, as if to tell her that it had not liked her intruding upon its nightly hunt. The shadow moved faster than she expected for something that floated so soundlessly across the ground. Its bottom never touched the sidewalk, yet she knew it drew its strength from the land beneath it.
“I warned you!” Sending all her energy into the wand in her hand, she conjured a blast of light that sent the shadow reeling. Lyssa continued to shoot blast after blast at it until it dissipated completely before her. When she sensed the arrival of more shadows from the street behind them, she turned to meet the challenge.
“Bring it!”
Lyssa clenched her teeth together and glared at the shadows in front of her. When they started to get closer, she drew two lines in the air with her wand and watched them try to cross it. When the first one got too close to the first line, the light wrapped itself around the shadow and tightened around it like a lasso. The second one backed up and reassessed its attack. She sent the line of light after it and watched as it chased the shadow down the road.
“Faster!” she ordered it. The light sped through the air so fast that the shadow had no time to act. Soon, it was wrangled up like the first one. “Any use for these two, Julius?”
“None.” He looked at her with a smirk as she made the conjured lassos pull the shadows so tightly that they exploded into dust before them.
“Well?” She looked over at Julius to see if she had succeeded with her challenge for the night.
“That’s enough for tonight.” He grabbed onto her arm and waved his wand quickly before him.
Here we go again, she thought to herself. She would have been just as happy walking back into the tunnel to the house. She also bit back mild irritation at him for not allowing her to teleport herself back to headquarters. Lyssa was quite capable. At least they were back inside the library before she knew it.
“How’d I do? That was quite a course, Julius. Everything felt so real. It felt like I was really there.”
“You were.” He chuckled as if laughing at a private joke.
“What?” Was he saying that those were real shadows?
“Yes, Lyssa. Those were real shadow people.”
Lyssa sat down at the table with the inlaid globe that was now still. A small dot of light had appeared where the city of St. Louis was supposed to be. “Did you take me to St. Louis?” She really did not need him to respond, for she knew the answer before she had opened her mouth. She sighed deeply. “You realize that keeping things from me will not get you very far. I want some answers now! For starters, where the hell are we?”
“What do you mean?” He was obviously dodging her questions yet again.
“This house, Julius. Where is it? Are we in space?”
“This is the Watch Tower. It exists everywhere and nowhere.”
“So, that’s a ‘no’ to outer space, then? That’s a relief. I was afraid if I walked out the door that I might be sucked into some kind of airless vacuum. I guess that means it’s safe to go outside.”
“That’s not quite accurate. Just follow protocol, and you’ll be fine.” Julius waved her concerns off too easily.
“You really are ill-prepared for me, aren’t you? Yet, you’ve known about me for how long? How did you know there was another Guardian? How did you know it was me?”
“We’ve been waiting a long time for you, Lyssa. However, you were off our radar for quite a while. It wasn’t until you started attacking the shadows that we were able to locate you. I’ve never had to train someone from the ground up, Lyssa. You have a lot of true talent. You just need to hone it while you learn to use the rest of your skills.”
“How many more are there, Julius?”
“I wondered when you would get around to that. There are more scattered across different places in this world.” He sat down at the table and pushed a button that was near his chair, which made a screen come out of the ceiling. He gestured to the screen, and she kept her eyes on it.
“If you see here, these lights are the Guardians of the Watch Tower.”
White flashing lights appeared all over the map on the screen. There were a lot more lights than she thought there would be. It was good to know that so many people were watching over their world, but that did not explain everything to her. “You say this house is the Watch Tower. It can’t possibly contain all the Guardians.”
“You have much to learn, Lyssa. There are places in this house you’ve still not seen. It is much larger than you know. There are rooms upon rooms, which are accessible when you are ready. You will have plenty of time to meet more Guardians, but for now, you will become more familiar with this sector: Sector Four. In time, you will meet others. Don’t wish for too much at once. It will make your head spin.”
“Thank you for answering my questions, Julius.”
While he still had not shared much with her, she was happy for the little information that he had finally given. She still could not believe he had taken her into a dangerous situation without telling her first. That proved one of two things. Either he trusted her abilities enough to give her a chance, or he really had no clue what he was doing. Maybe it was a mixture of the two.
“We are done for the moment. Food will be served in a little while if you want to stick around.”
Chapter 8
When Lyssa returned to their apartment, Jackson was already in bed. At breakfast, he had already left for class. She really wanted to talk about her training session with Julius. Her anger still boiled over. What had he been thinking? How could she trust someone who spoke in only half truths? Lyssa really needed to sound off to Jackson. His take on the situation might help her calm down. Unfortunately, she spent most of the day distracted by it and had trouble taking notes in her classes. She did not see him until she returned later that afternoon.
Jackson was watching TV in the living room. “How was training?”
“Well, it didn’t go the way that I expected. I thought Julius would let me get my feet wet with some practice dummies or something like that. I didn’t expect him to throw me right into it. He didn’t even tell me I was going up against the real thing.” It was true, Julius had thrown her to the wolves, but during the day, she had started to rationalize the situation a little more. Lyssa knew that he had a reason for it. The shadows they faced were numerous, and they grew far and wide each day. Soon the world would be crawling with them, blocking the dots of light she had seen on the map. She wondered how many Guardians they lost each year to their causes. Lyssa understood that Julius could not wait for her to do the years of training that they must have had.
“He shouldn’t rush things.”
“He does seem to have a leadership problem.”
“As in how the hell did he ever become a leader?” Jackson shook his head in disgust.
“Exactly. But maybe he was chosen the way we were.”
“It’s possible.” Jackson switched the television off. “So, anything new?”
“Besides running a shadow gauntlet? Not really. Schoolwork has been a pain in the ass.”
“Mine too. But we have to keep up pretenses.”
“I’ll never completely understand why, Jackson. What is the point in keeping up with this life, when the one up there is more important?�
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“I think I understand it better now.” Jackson patted the couch for Lyssa to sit down next to him. When she sat, he put her arm around her. “Look, Lyssa. We are the eyes and ears on the ground. You and I both know this area is pulsing with evil.”
“Yes, it is. I’m not exactly sure why. There’s nothing interesting about Bloomington. Not really. Why would this place be a vortex to their darkness?”
“I’m not sure, Lyssa. I’m not even sure the answer is really important. I think we just have to figure out what to do about it.”
“How is Lana?” Lyssa put her hand on his leg and rested her head on his shoulder
“She’s been busy with her research paper. As far as I know, she’s fine.”
“I should call her. Maybe we should all get together.”
“We can’t, Lyssa. The shadows will connect us together.”
Lyssa sighed. Those damn shadows were ruining her life. Being separated from her friends wasn’t something she enjoyed. They had been a lifeline. At least she still had Jackson. Shaking off her dark thoughts, she took another breath and relaxed. “What do you have planned for the rest of the week, Jackson?”
“Just spending some time relaxing in between tests. And you?”
“The same. I’m going to go study at the library in a bit. Want to come?”
“Not really. Between the Watch Tower library and this one, I’m all read out. I’m going to be a vegetable for a little while and enjoy some of my shows. Thanks, though.”
Lyssa leaned over and kissed Jackson on the cheek. “Don’t mention it.”
Life continued on the path set out before them as they pretended to be typical college students. They each spent the next few weeks getting back into their daily schedule while also adding in their new responsibilities. No time for the usual partying like other people their age, not that Lyssa missed the crowds filled with drunken stupors. She’d been to parties before, both drunk and sober. Lyssa didn’t see the point. Crowd surfing for guys was pointless. They were only interested in hooking up with strangers, not anything that lasted. Lyssa wasn’t sure she was looking for either at this point. She’d been focusing on herself.