Marked in Shadow's Keep

by LJ Andrews

  On instinct, I shoved his hand away from me, glaring furiously. My heart pounded. The man was notably larger than me, but I feared if he touched me again I would gauge his eyes out. “Don’t touch me,” I hissed.

  He smiled with his tongue stuck between his teeth, as if I’d invited him into some great challenge and he reached an aggressive hand toward my neck. I squirmed away, expecting him to follow since Finn was not interested in the surrounding harassment.

  When I spun around, prepared to defend myself, I stopped abruptly. Finn held one of his palms outstretched. The man seemed frozen in place, his eyes bulging as he gasped for air.

  “Don’t touch her again.” Finn’s warning came out in a soft rumble.

  The man struggled to breathe as he was held in place by an invisible force.

  “Finn what are you doing?” I hissed, watching the man’s face turn a bright purple shade.

  “Will you leave her in peace?” Finn asked.

  The man nodded, small blood vessels popping in his eyes as Finn’s open hand trembled slightly. Finally, he closed his palm and the man crumbled to the floor, gasping for air.

  “Get out of here,” Finn commanded.

  The man nodded and stumbled down the hallway, ripping the stairwell door open so forcefully I thought it might fall from the hinges. I straightened my shirt at the bottom and returned to stand next to Finn, my cheeks flushed with heat—from embarrassment or frustration I couldn’t tell.

  “He was filled with such a dark energy, it was chilling. I assume those were not welcome advances?” Finn asked it as a question.

  I scoffed, my mouth dropping. “Did it look like I was enjoying myself? No, I did not welcome his disgusting advances. You know, it’s crazy how you know how to drive a car so easily, not being from here and all, but you have no clue about women. Why did it take you so long to step in?”

  I didn’t mean to take my frustrations out on Finn, but exhaustion was beginning to burn away my last bit of patience.

  “Men and women are different in Tala. We only form unions if our energy coincides with another. My parents described it as the energies sparked together and people would just know. It doesn’t happen for all. You’re correct in stating I don’t understand everything about your world, so I assumed his behavior was normal, until I saw your expression. You seemed upset.”

  “Well, I was.” I took a deep breath, calming my nerves, before speaking to him again. “Everything is about energy for you isn’t it?”

  Finn nodded. “It is the source of my power; it is my life. We tend to this earth, we keep life flowing in all things, though our actions go unseen from the eyes of your world. In turn, Ama gives us portions of her power to use for the good of other living things. Although, there is a strong pull of darkness, and unfortunately not all embrace the light of Ama’s power.”

  I nodded, pretending as if I understood. “So, have you connected your…energy with anyone back in Tala?” I asked, finding myself taking the liberty of knocking on the door of the mysterious Clement.

  Finn shook his head. “I have not bothered to worry myself about such things; it doesn’t seem necessary. Perhaps someday.”

  I furrowed my brow, meeting his quizzical expression. He seemed to be studying me. For once Finn seemed genuinely curious in the habits of people. “It sounds lonely. I don’t care if you’re from my world or from Tala, I wouldn’t want to miss out on the thrill of falling for someone else.”

  I blushed. I spoke as if I were an expert on the subject, when my only real boyfriend had turned out to be a murderous imp. I didn’t have the best track record, but it didn’t stop me from hoping. I could remember my father dancing with Mom in our kitchen after dinner. I remember them giggling like teenagers on our porch swing after they’d thought I was in bed. I wanted what they’d had. I was just waiting for the right person.

  Finn shrugged. “It’s an interesting notion, but not anything I plan to actively seek.”

  I was preparing to argue, but the chain lock on the other side of the door shuffled along the wood. The door crept open to a narrow crack. I saw a pair of hazy blue eyes, like pale robin eggs, peek through. When Finn stepped into the line of sight, the door swung completely open.

  A man in a tattered, striped robe and burgundy house slippers stood in the entryway. His hair was combed behind his neck, hitting just at the shoulders. He wore a pair of reading glasses which had slithered down to the tip of his nose. He seemed haggard, but still there was a strange energy erupting from the apartment. Something told me this was the man Finn was looking for, and he was powerful.

  “Clement?” Finn asked slowly.

  “Who else did you expect to find? What in the name of Ama are you doing here? Your energy is hardly pulsing. Have you not mastered your gifts?” Clement huffed, staring Finn up and down.

  I watched as a bright shade of pink colored Finn’s cheeks as he glanced back at me. I took his reaction to mean he hadn’t wanted me to hear those words.

  “Clement, we need to speak with you. A vein has been corrupted.”

  Clement clicked his tongue and looked at me. His brows pulled together, taking in my face. I wondered if he would recognize me, although it had been so many years. “You look familiar,” he said slowly.

  “May we come in?” Finn redirected. “I can explain who she is, but please, we shouldn’t speak so openly.”

  Clement pursed his lips and sighed, tightening the scrappy belt around his robe. Waving his arm and allowing us to enter, he leaned against the wall. “Well, get in here. Don’t take all night.”

  I stayed close behind Finn as we rushed into the small apartment. Clement followed me with his eyes. I took a deep breath, looking away as the anxious feeling lingered in my chest while I prepared to speak to the man who had rescued me. Inside the apartment was cramped and cluttered. Clement had three full-sized bookcases. Each shelf was stacked with papers, manila folders stuffed with even more paper, and heavy, bound books. There was a small recliner in the corner with a handstitched patch over a hole in the armrest. A black futon was worn and the cushion nearly flat from constant use, but I sat next to Finn on the lumpy seat when Clement signaled to sit.

  I shifted my weight after sitting on the metal frame. The walls were bare, and I could see into the small bedroom off the sitting area. Clement had a single mattress on the floor with a heavy quilt over the top. His clothes were sprawled along the floor next to the mattress and I supposed there wasn’t use for a dresser if he spent his days in his robe.

  Clement popped three sodas and placed them in front of us on a small coffee table. Finn sipped the can and gulped it down, grimacing. I followed suit. The warm soda fizzled in the back of my throat and despite desperately needing some ice cubes, the drink seemed to sharpen my foggy senses for a moment.

  “What do you want with me?” Clement asked, cutting straight to it as he leaned back in his recliner.

  “Laney,” Finn whispered, peering down at me with his dark eyes. “Perhaps you could give Clement and I a moment to speak alone.”

  “No, the girl stays,” Clement insisted before I could protest.

  “Thank you,” I huffed, glancing at Finn.

  “In fact, why don’t you tell me what’s going on. I think I trust you more than anyone remotely close the realm of Tala,” Clement said, turning all his attention on me.

  I granted Finn a smug smile, grateful for someone to appreciate my input, but felt slightly guilty when I saw the distress in his expression. Clearing my throat, I began reciting the details of our tale. He watched me curiously, causing me to fidget in my seat, until I finished the details of our night.

  Clement gulped his soda, releasing a sigh of refreshing pleasure after he swallowed. “I love this stuff,” he said holding the can close to his eyes. “I never knew what I was missing in Tala.”

  He tossed the empty can into the kitchen sink from where he sat and pressed his fingertips together, bringing his focus back to me. “First things first, unl
ess something has changed since I was running around in Tala, the elders did not send him. He has yet to master his skills, and energy does not come naturally to him. I could sense it when you arrived. So, I’d like an explanation as to why someone like you is in my apartment.” His eyes poured into Finn, bringing his haughty composure down several notches.

  Finn sucked in a long rattling breath. I’d never seen him so shaken, but I felt heat rise up my neck and into my cheeks. He’d deceived me. He’d told me these so-called elders has trusted him with the task. Now, I wanted to know the answer too.

  Clearing his throat, Finn met Clement’s eye. They stared at one another for a long while. Finn’s knee bounced anxiously until he leaned forward and spoke in a deep growl. “I petitioned to Ama’s life stream to allow me to take on this burden. I hoped it would help me channel my abilities into mastering the energies. I was able to halt dark energy just moments ago. I am improving.

  “I didn’t tell you the truth about my situation because I wanted you to feel confident I could protect you,” he said, facing me. “I’ve seen human emotions when danger is present. It could have been worse if you were hysterical.”

  I scoffed and closed my eyes. “How is it you always turn everything into my fault. It isn’t my fault you lied. Perhaps instead of assuming something, you should give me a chance to show you for myself. I might surprise you.”

  Clement rolled his eyes. “You behave as if channeling energy is all there is to live for. Have you ever broadened your mind to other ways of life?”

  “We are born for our individual purposes. Ama is my life source, so I take great pride in helping this earth thrive and beautify,” Finn responded firmly.

  Clement opened another soda and shook his head in annoyance.

  “If the elders didn’t send you, how did you get all those weapons?” I asked when silence settled in the room.

  For some reason, the words piqued Clement’s interest. “Weapons? What weapons?”

  If Finn was uncomfortable before, it was nothing to how red his cheeks flared in the dim room. It was if he’d taken bright pink rouge across his cheeks and forehead in heavy splotches. “I borrowed the orbis, the evanesce crystal and…the Blade of Lore.”

  Clement’s eyes bulged behind his glasses. He chuckled as if he took pleasure in Finn’s discomfort. “You took the Blade of Lore? Aaron isn’t going to be happy with you when you return.”

  “Which is why I must succeed. When I discovered the imp presence here, I knew there must be a connection to her,” Finn said, cocking his head toward me. “And you, Clement. I read about you, I know what you did, and why you are still here. I thought we might be able to help one another.”

  Clement’s face contorted in a look of awe. His blue eyes found me, causing me to shrink into the lumpy futon. “You’re telling me this is her?”

  Finn nodded. “The imps wanted her for a purpose. Something about her upset the cosmos, I felt the power surge through me the moment she entered the vein.”

  Clement leapt to his feet and kneeled in front of me so quickly I didn’t have time to resist as he pulled my hand into his. He rubbed his thumb across the jagged scar along my palm as if he’d found a lost friend.

  “You are the paradox,” he smiled at me. “Do you understand what a gift you have?”

  I shook my head, gently tugging my hand out of his grip. “Yesterday I was living a simple life. Now, it’s all changed. I don’t understand much of anything, to be honest. Finn tells me you’re the one who saved me when I fell into the well as a child, and I’m thankful, but I don’t see how that has made me anything more than…me.”

  Clement turned to one of the bookshelves and pulled out a heavy book with a thin layer of dust over the cover. He flipped open the yellowed pages searching vigorously for something inside the text.

  Both Finn and I jumped back when he slammed the open book on the coffee table.

  “This is what you’ve created.” I leaned over the battered pages and saw a simple drawing. A single vertical line with a bowed line floating above it, like a floppy capital ‘T’. “I altered your destined path, creating the paradox. A paradox strong enough to create the Pontem, a bridge between the worlds. The bridge is you.”

  “I don’t understand,” I replied, sliding the book back toward Clement.

  He sighed in frustration, and grabbed my hand pointing to my scar. “This mark was made because a Talan—me—saved you, which goes against all our laws. Your time was up, but I changed it so you could live. But in so doing, I upset the balance of energy, and it changed you. You are both a part of your realm, as well as Tala. Because of this anomaly, your body, your soul, is filled with unknown energy and unlocked the dark energy vein. If all the energy is released, it will deprive this world of any lifesource and it will soon die.”

  “You’re saying the imps want to kill this realm? Why?”

  Clement shook his head. “They may not realize how dire the consequences. They could simply want to cause chaos.”

  “So…I’m not human?” I asked, my voice quivering. I could feel Finn’s curious eyes on me which caused me to have a sudden desire to run and never think about this night again.

  “You are a human, but Ama is within you too, something we have not seen before. The energy of Ama doesn’t reside in our cores, we simply harness it. But with you, the energy is inside you, powering you. I always knew the warnings of interfering with the energy cycle, but I never imagined I would actually come face to face with the creation of such an interference. A paradox of two worlds.”

  I backed away, slightly frightened how thrilled Clement seemed to be for creating such a disturbance for both of us.

  “The elders banished you didn’t they?” Finn asked slowly, but his eyes were firmly pressed toward Clement.

  “They contained me to the earth realm,” Clement corrected. “I was stripped of my access to Tala, and Ama’s endless light energy. So, now I will die in this realm.”

  “You sacrificed all that for me?” I asked, wiping a tear which had escaped. “Why would you do it?”

  Clement looked away. “Because for some reason, I couldn’t watch you suffer and die. I’d never had such a feeling before. Human death had never affected me; it was part of the plan. Until I saw you struggling. I couldn’t stand by when I could so easily return you to those who loved you. I tried to explain myself, but the elders would not hear my reasons. They are not known for being open-minded.”

  “I…I don’t know what to say. You’ve risked so much…” I trailed off, watching Clement with furious eyes.

  “Don’t say anything,” he said softly. “But we still have a mystery to solve. If Ama is corrupted, it will be only a matter of time before the lifesource fades from this realm, and possibly fades from Tala completely. We must find a way to stop this from happening.”

  Finn straightened his shoulders and nodded curtly. “I will do anything to protect Tala.”

  Clement looked at me. “Laney?”

  My blood pounded in my ears, and I imagined I was being crushed by hundreds of gallons of water. Clement watched me with such intensity, I feared I might shrivel beneath his gaze. I looked at Finn. The arrogance he’d carried in his demeanor had softened. A humble light crossed his face. He was just like me, only from a different world. He wasn’t anyone special in the eyes of his realm, yet he’d risked his life to stop this from happening. If he could do it, shouldn’t I?

  I returned Clement’s stern gaze. The man had given up his home, his power, for a frightened little girl. He’d gone against the laws of the universe and rescued me. I had an insatiable desire to repay him for his sacrifice. Clement must’ve believed we had a chance at defeating the imps, or he wouldn’t have said anything.

  I repeated the thought in my mind several times before I straightened as Finn had. With a deep breath I said. “I’m in. What do we do next?”

  Chapter 12

  Morning light poured into the apartment, creating a gilded sheen across
the ratty carpet. We’d shoved the coffee table to one side and covered the floor in books and papers from Clement’s library. The books were strange, filled with spells requiring energy, and myths of crossing barriers.

  Somewhere between reading amongst two books, one focusing on the difference between the shades of light energy and another explaining how a mix of light and dark can be used to manipulate minds, I dozed off. My eyes had screamed for sleep, and my body ached from the beating of slamming against the stone walls of the well as I had fallen.

  As the warm sunlight cascaded over my face, I fluttered open my eyes, trying to orient myself to my surroundings. The room was still littered with open books and images of symbols and scratchy writings along parchment paper. The shades had been pulled, but the material was so thin, they did little in keeping the sunlight out.

  I was sprawled on the futon, and slowly I came to realize my head was resting on Finn’s lap. His intoxicating spicy smell wafted toward my nose. He was entrenched in a thick book about portals and their relationship to different hotspots around the human realm. He didn’t appear to mind I’d been using him as a pillow, and one of his hands had even come to rest around one of my shoulders. I don’t know why feeling his arm around me caused such a sense of security, but I couldn’t bring myself to move. The day would surely bring new challenges, new frightening discoveries, and I simply wanted to feel safe—even for a moment.

  I studied Finn, without giving away I was awake. His furrowed brow wasn’t so stern and dark in the morning light. The deep blue buried in the color of his eyes was almost hypnotic, but I would never admit it to him. His strong jaw was relaxed, and I could see how if he smiled more his face would be next to perfect.

  Finn flipped the page, reading on. His hand on my shoulder tightened briefly, tugging me a little closer before relaxing again. I smiled, trying to push down the knots in my stomach. He seemed just as comfortable as me in our position. I wasn’t sure why it caused my palms to clam up, but I had to wipe them on my jeans after a moment. I was in no position to be attracted to anyone, since we had much bigger problems. And Justin’s snide smile as he tossed me over the edge of the well didn’t exactly make me thrilled about dating—ever again.