“Excuse me, but that isn’t fair,” replied Maggie whose shaky voice told everyone that she was obviously upset. “Lauren was trying to protect her family. If you hadn’t been sneaking around in the woods, none….”
“Mom,” interrupted Test, holding up his hand. “I’m sure that Jenz didn’t mean it that way.” He turned to Jenz. “Did you?” he asked.
Jenz grinned devilishly. “Of course not, my apologies if I’ve offended anyone.” In the same breath she continued. “I think that it would be best to send Prim off to provide some sort of diversion—something that would lead them away and buy us some time.”
Test glanced to Prim who seemed to already know this would be his task.
“She’s right,” answered Prim. “I should go right away. I already have a location in min….”
“Hold on a second,” Test interrupted. “I have a few questions that I need answered.”
Prim stood from the hearth. “I understand, but we don’t have….”
“Prim,” interrupted Jenz as she motioned for him to retake his seat. “I think we can afford to answer a question or two.” She turned to Test. “Please, ask your questions, but understand that time is of the essence.”
Test leaned back and ran his fingers through his hair. “How did you know we were here?” he asked as he exhaled deeply.
“I felt you,” answered Prim. “Last night I felt a surge of energy come from this location.”
“So you must have been close by?” asked Lauren from across the room.
Prim shot her an admiring look. “Actually, we were in Seattle, taking a sort of vacation. We live outside of Salem, Oregon.”
Lauren’s face twisted with confusion. “That’s pretty convenient, don’t you think?” she asked. “Besides, that’s not possible. The only one with the ability to sense another Shadow from anywhere near that distance would be Isaac.”
Prim chuckled. “It would appear that your version of reality is somewhat different from the truth now, wouldn’t it, Miss Lauren?”
Lauren, slightly embarrassed, countered inquisitively. “You can sense a Shadow from that far away?”
“Not normally, no,” replied Prim as he glanced to Test. “Though I’ve learned my gift is much like that of Isaac’s, I do not have his range. The source of the energy must have been unusually strong.”
The room fell silent as everyone waited anxiously for Test’s response.
“It was an accident. I had a nightmare,” replied Test. The consequences of the incident began to quickly unfold in his mind and his heart began to race. “If you felt my outburst, wouldn’t Isaac have felt it too?” A frightening thought entered his mind as he glanced back and forth between the two strangers. “How do we know that you aren’t a….” He paused, hesitating to say the word.
“A Reaper?” answered Jenz.
Test swallowed hard. “Yeah.”
The room fell silent once more; all eyes on the albino woman, waiting for her reaction. Suddenly, from behind Lauren, a new voice entered the conversation.
“They’re tellin’ the truth, son.”
Test spun as Cliff’s voice echoed in the room. Though he was glad to see his friend, he needed answers first. “How do you know?”
Cliff huffed. “My grandson—he’s seen the woman teachin’ Test,” he replied motioning to Jenz. “Besides, you’d already be dead by now if Isaac had sent them for you.”
“Thank you,” said Jenz smoothly. She turned to Test. “This is true. Though you are powerful, I could have ended your life when we met.” She stared at him intently. “You have yet to realize the potential of your gifts, Test, and I don’t think anyone realizes how close your time is, not even Isaac. With that said, if Isaac were to enter the room right now, you would not survive.”
Test sat speechless, and before he could grasp Jenz’s words, she turned to Cliff and continued to speak.
“I assume your grandson has the gift of sight, Mr. …,” she asked, fishing for the old man’s name.
“Johnston, ma’am,” replied Cliff as he bowed his head. “Clifford T. Johnston. And yes, he can see things before they happen.” The old man turned his attention back to Test. “Thad had another vision last night. He saw a tall man with black hair walking in a suit. Said he ain’t never seen him before, and said the man wasn’t doin’ anythin’ but walkin’.”
Lauren’s heart sank. “That’s Isaac,” she blurted out.
“How certain are your grandson’s visions?” asked Jenz, her voice now filled with concern.
“The future can always change, ma’am. Nothin’s for sure until it happens.”
Jenz stood and looked to Prim. “You should go. Lead them as far away as you can.”
Prim stood and nodded.
Lauren erupted from her chair. “I’ll go with him.”
With the first genuine smile he’d shown since his arrival, Prim replied. “That’s very kind of you, but I don’t think it would be wise; the more Shadows that stay here the better.”
“He’s right,” replied Maggie. “I’ll go.”
Lauren folded her arms across her chest. She knew he was right, but that didn’t help her to feel better.
Again Prim smiled, only this time it was because he found humor in Maggie’s suggestion.
“No offense, but what could you possibly do to help?” he asked.
Maggie grimaced at the thought of her response. “Someone will have to come back here to warn the others if you fail.”
Prim’s smile quickly faded. “By fail, I assume that you mean I die?”
Maggie nodded her head slowly. “God forbid, yes.”
Prim’s smile returned, though with less grace than before. “Very well then,” he replied. “I accept your proposal.”
Maggie clasped her hands in front of her. “Good,” she replied nervously. “It’s settled then. Prim and I will go.”
Cliff’s head snapped to Prim as the mention of his name sparked a memory from long ago. He stared at the Shadow for a moment, and when the two of them made eye contact, it all became clear.
“You’re the boy,” began Cliff, stammering slightly. “You…you’re the boy who showed up in the barn when I was a little one. You warned me about….” He stopped with his mouth open, amazed that their paths had crossed once more.
Prim’s eyes narrowed for a moment, his mind searching for the same memory that the old man was speaking of. As his eyes widened, he began to nod his head. “Yes, I do remember you. It seems as if our fates are tied.”
Cliff chuckled with amusement and awe. “I’m pretty sure my fates done been decided,” he replied, raising his hand in the air and allowing it to become transparent. “Just the same, it does in fact seem that our paths were meant to cross.”
“I’m sorry to interrupt this miraculous reunion,” spoke Jenz, “but I’m afraid that the time has come for Prim and—Maggie, was it?” she asked motioning to Maggie. Getting an affirming nod from the spirit, Jenz continued. “I don’t think it’s safe for us to stay here any longer. There has been too much happen for it to be considered safe. I suggest that we all return together to our home in Salem.”
Lauren, still stewing, was quick with a reply. “We can’t,” she said forcefully. “Thad and Nicole aren’t here yet.”
Maggie looked at Lauren proudly as Cliff replied.
“I can go back to them,” he replied to Lauren. Turning to Jenz, he continued. “You all just tell me where it is that you’re goin’, and I’ll make sure we get there.”
Jenz stood from her seat and looked to Lauren with a more thoughtful expression than she’d offered to her before. “I certainly don’t want to leave your friends in harm’s way, but I do feel that it is important for us to leave.”
Lauren wanted to be angry, but she couldn’t argue with Jenz’s reasoning. She unfolded her arms and let her hands drop to her side. She looked to the woman with sad eyes as her bottom lip quivered. “But this is my home,” she replied in a defeated tone.
&n
bsp; “Everything will be fine,” spoke Prim with false confidence. “Soon this will be over and you can return home.”
Trying her best to remain strong, Lauren dropped her head and stared at the floor. After a brief bout of silence, she replied. “I guess you’d better get going then.”
Prim watched her with a pained expression, and as she lifted her eyes to his, he flashed a wide and genuine smile. Suddenly finding the thought of leaving more difficult by the moment, he turned to Maggie and spoke reluctantly.
“Ready?” he asked.
“I guess so,” she replied as she looked to her son.
Test stood, walked to his mother, and took her in his arms. “I love you, Mom. Be careful,” he whispered into her ear.
Maggie pulled away, holding him by his shoulders, struggling to contain her emotions. “There isn’t anything that can happen to me,” she replied. She looked around him to Jenz. “Please take care of my son?” she asked. “He’s all that I have.”
Jenz bowed her head. “I promise you that I will try to keep him from harm in any way that I can.”
“Thank you,” replied Maggie as she reached up to kiss Test on the cheek. She then turned to Lauren, quickly kissed her cheek, and walked to Prim’s side. “I’m ready.”
Prim grinned with understanding of Maggie’s heartache. He took a deep breath and, taking one last look around the room, saw Lauren staring at him with the same tragic expression that Maggie’s face displayed.
“I’ll be back,” he said to her, the corners of his lips curling up just slightly.
Her eyes welling with tears, Lauren nearly struggled to speak. “You do that.”
With her eyes locked on his, the white flash of light burned in her memory as Prim and Maggie disappeared from the room. She closed her eyes to retain their image.
****
With the gift of sensing a Shadow’s presence stifled when phased, Isaac was forced to walk calmly down the dirt road that led to Lauren’s home as he intermittently adjusted his tie and shirt collar. His confidence never waning, he felt assured that what had become his greatest challenge would soon come to an end. Accustomed to the finer things, he walked domineeringly in his gray three piece suit with every strand of his brown hair slicked back and remaining perfectly in place. In the cool darkness of the night, he methodically paced his steps; remaining patient as the moment he’d been waiting for would soon present itself.
To his right, and in stark contrast to himself, walked Ikuhabe. The Native American’s black hair swayed rhythmically from left to right across the back of his plain white t-shirt with each step taken. To Isaac’s left walked the twin Reapers, Casper and Ashley. Anxious to capture and destroy the one Shadow they’d heard so much about, each of them wore dark clothing, causing their already pale flesh to seem even more so against the backdrop of the night. Ashley, a strawberry blonde, wore dark make-up around her eyes and on her lips which made her face appear nearly as though it were a skull floating in the darkness. Casper, an awkward and spindly looking red-head, lived up to the reputation of red-heads having a temper. Though he lacked the outwardly shocking appearance of his sister, his lips nearly always held a devilish grin.
Having sensed two distinctive energy spikes from the area over the last two days, Isaac chuckled to himself at how Test’s own power could not be overcome by his youthful lack of self-control. He was certain that he could play this weakness to his advantage. Still, he was angered at the failure of his Faithful to carry-out his wishes on prior occasions. It had been well over a century since he had accompanied anyone on a hunt, and though he was unwilling to admit it to himself, his fear of what Test could become, as well of the recent defeat of Anil, heightened his sense of urgency. The time had come to give the matter his personal attention.
As the group rounded a turn in the road, Isaac could feel the familiar pull of a Shadows presence a short distance away. He began to salivate at the thought of holding Test’s life in his hands. Though he had never seen him, he visualized looking into Test’s eyes as he ended his life, hoping that the young man would beg him for mercy—something he would absolutely never receive. A cryptic smile painted Isaac’s lips.
Just as he was about to order the others to phase and attack, the energy coming from the Shadows disappeared. Stopping in his tracks, he closed his eyes and angled his head, searching for the lost signal.
“No,” he growled as he took two quick steps forward. Turning to Ikuhabe, he mumbled inaudibly as he pushed him backwards on his heels.
Led by Isaac, they one by one ignited with color, illuminating the darkness of the woods with brilliant blues and reds. The four of them pulsed into the air, like bottle rockets launched on the Fourth of July.
Hovering for a brief moment, Isaac quickly saw a clearing in the trees just ahead. He forcefully leaned forward and, throwing his hands back, released a pulse that nearly caught the others in its wake as he raced to the roof of the home within the clearing. Only several feet before impact, he flung his feet beneath him and threw his hands forward releasing a massive pulse, sending the roof in his path collapsing in upon its self.
Following Isaac’s lead, the others did the same but landed upon the roof instead of blasting through. Though they didn’t speak to one another, each of them feared his wrath as much as the other and knew it best to keep their distance.
Standing in what was once Lauren’s living room, Isaac stood with radiant waves of energy streaming from his core. Fragments of shingles, two-by-sixes, and insulation bounced away from him as they fell from above. Knowing that the home was empty, he glared around the room. In a fit of rage, he began to throw his palms in every direction. The fireplace bricks were the first to feel his fury as they fractured from the force of his pulse. Interior walls shattered like glass, and glass disintegrated into dust.
As suddenly as the mayhem began, it stopped as he dropped his arms to his side and lowered his head in concentration. The gray material of his suit coat began to reveal the wealth of energy building for release from within his core. With a primal scream, and instead of a pulse, he raised his right arm and released a stream of energy from his palm, creating a thundering roar as it penetrated the first exterior wall. He spun in a circle, the energy stream blasting through wood and glass as though they were air. As he finished the three-hundred and sixty degree turn, he effectively separated the home into two pieces.
On the roof, Iku had watched as Isaac’s blast sent shrapnel flying out of the home and reached out into the surrounding tree line, cutting the trees closest to the home off six feet above their base. His eyes had followed the path as it made a clean circle around the perimeter of the home. As he felt the shingles beneath his feet buckle, he quickly glanced to the others and pulsed into the sky. There, along with Casper and Ashley, he watched the home implode on itself. As the dust slowly settled to the earth, Isaac’s form became visible from within the rubble; the waves of energy continuing to push falling debris away from him.
Isaac looked up to the sky, glaring at his servants as they allowed themselves to fall back to the ground. He walked forward, the mounds of rubble at his feet being pushed away as they came into contact with the energy waves, and stepped out of the carnage and into the clearing. Letting his energy fade, Isaac tilted his head from side to side, the bones in his neck cracking loudly as he pulled at his cuffs to straightened the sleeves on his coat.
“What do we do now?” asked Ashley hesitantly, though seething through clenched teeth at the opportunity that she felt had been stolen from her.
“We wait,” Isaac replied indignantly. “We wait for them to make yet another mistake.” He turned to Casper. “Find the Paxton girl,” he commanded. “She is the key.”
“But…,” began Casper.
“But nothing!” shouted Isaac with a flash of light erupting from his hands as he gripped Casper by the cuff. “Find her, or I will feel your flesh turn to dust in Test’s place!”
Casper cowered before Isaac. His eyes to t
he ground, he replied subserviently. “Yes, master. I will not fail you.”
Standing next to her brother, Ashley watched his reaction to Isaac with a mixture of pity and disgust.
Chapter 16
Lauren walked through the garden trail of Jenz’s home, struggling with the inner demons of her past. Though the timing was catastrophically bad, she wanted to act on her feelings for Prim, but feared that once he found out more about her, any chance she might have had, something—anything, would be destroyed. She had never had feelings for anyone like she had for him; love at first sight had always been a thing of fairy tales.
Though she wasn’t sure, she didn’t think that Jenz and Prim were together. Something about their interactions was more paternal than amorous. Still, it was a question for which she desired an answer. Even if she was to receive the answer that she’d hoped for, how could she possibly expect him to have feelings for her?
“God, when he looks at me”, she thought to herself, “I can’t breathe.”
As she continued to walk absently, her mind on anything but her next step, she happened upon a stone design in the middle of the path. It was beautiful. The light green stones making up the configuration were arranged in a circular pattern roughly six feet in diameter, and the bright light of the moon shone so intensely upon them that it was as if they were glowing. Each one within was irregularly shaped, comprised of varying sizes of triangles, trapezoids, and rectangles. A lush bluish-green moss had begun to cover the right hand side, giving it a thick, velvety look that made her want to reach out and touch it.
As she stared for a moment, she found herself comparing the formation to herself and Prim. To her, the left side represented Prim; clean as the day it was placed, seemingly untouched by time. The stones on the right, she saw as herself; obscured and tainted, the edges of reality not clearly defined.
“It’s pretty isn’t it?”
Lauren spun on her heals to see Jenz standing behind her, her white hair taking on the color of the moonlight. Quickly looking away from her and back to the stones, she replied. “Yes, it is.” She took a step forward, holding her eyes to the ground, and tried to make small talk. “What kind of rock is it?”
The Reverence of One: Book Three of the Shadow Series Page 15