“Is that—normal,” asked Test.
“For the same reason that Shadows seemingly cease to age, we do possess some advanced healing abilities,” replied Jenz. “Tell me, how long did it take to heal?”
Test thought for a moment before responding. “Well, I’m not sure how much time there was between my being shot and the time Alyssa got me to the hotel, but I stood and watched it happen in the mirror. Maybe thirty seconds?”
Jenz’s eyes grew wide, showing more of the yellowish white that surrounded her pinkish-red pupils.
“What?” asked Test. “Is that not normal?”
“Certainly not,” she replied in awe. “Not from what I know anyway.” She paused. “Tell me, what did it look like?”
Unsure if the feeling growing inside of him was that of empowerment or fear, he tried to relive the moment for her.
“It seems like so long ago, but I remember the blue light coming from within the bullet hole the most. It was almost like a laser beam shot out the hole from the inside. After a few seconds, the hole just closed.”
Sitting straight up, Jenz listened intently, waiting for more, but Test offered nothing.
“That’s all?” she asked.
Test wrinkled his nose as he scratched at an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
Jenz cocked her head slightly and looked to the wall over his shoulder. “Curious,” she replied.
“What?” he asked with mild concern.
“It would appear, young Mr. Davis,” replied Jenz, bringing her gaze back to him, “that my theory about you is correct. Something within you is still progressing.” She took his hands into hers once more and shook them once while speaking assuredly. “You’re gifts are many and I believe there are still more to come, but you must remain careful. All the power in the world means nothing without the ability to control it.”
“Are we still talking about the healing thing?” asked Test in ignorance.
Jenz laughed as she patted his legs. “No, Test. I am talking about what is to come—what has yet to be realized.”
He stared at her in silence, trying to make sense of her cryptic words. She was amazing to him. Only hours ago, he found her frightening, both in appearance and power. Now, he felt drawn to her—he had endless questions that came to him, one after another; questions that he didn’t think Lauren could, or would, answer.
“What are you thinking about?” she asked.
Test had almost fallen into a trance, but her words brought him to. “I was just thinking….” He stopped, unsure if he wanted to be completely transparent with his thoughts.
“Yes,” she asked, trying to coax his words.
Test released his hands from hers and leaned back on the couch. Lacing his fingers behind his head, he took a deep breath and spoke.
“Back at Lauren’s, when I was trying to attack you, you were able to shift so fast.” He watched Jenz’s eyes glimmer as the corners of her lips turned up. “Can you teach me?”
A sudden glow of pride overcame her as she stood in front of him. “It’s not a matter of if I can teach you; I must teach you,” she replied forcefully. “I believe that is why our paths were meant to cross.”
Test’s faced beamed with excitement. For the first time in his Shadow life, he found someone who could provide the answers to all of the questions that he’d never been able to ask.
“Awesome,” he replied with the exuberance of his age. “Show me!”
Jenz exhaled deeply as she turned from him and walked towards the television. She reached down and turned off the T.V., and turned to him with a slight scowl. “I’m afraid that you think this is something that can be easily learned,” she said in a cautious tone.
Test fidgeted nervously in his seat, suddenly feeling embarrassed.
“I wouldn’t say that,” he replied as his cheeks flushed red.
Jenz placed her long, thin index finger to her chin as she contemplated how best to share with the young Shadow.
“Being an albino,” she began, waving her hands down, and then up, her torso, “I am sensitive to the sun. This was made worse by the fact that from the time I was born, I was hidden away by my parents.” She walked across the room slowly as she spoke. “You see, in those times, my appearance wasn’t understood well by others, and was considered something of a curse by the small community in which my family lived.”
“Where was that?” Test interrupted gently, a subtle hint of pity in his voice. “If you don’t mind me asking that is?”
She glanced over her shoulder to him. “Of course not,” she replied. “I was born in a small village in Sweden.”
“Really?” asked Test inquisitively. “You don’t have an accent at all.”
She turned to face him and grinned. “I have lived in North America for over two hundred years now. In the early days of my arrival to this country, it was difficult enough to find acceptance, much more so than it is now. My appearance aside, I had to learn a new language, and I thought that if I taught myself to speak without my native accent, it might make it easier for me to fit in.”
“And how did that work?” asked Test, cringing to himself as the words left his lips, knowing that it was an inappropriate question to ask.
Jenz eyed him curiously. “As should have been expected—it helped very little. Unfortunately, my appearance is difficult for most to get past, but it is something that I’ve learned to accept.” She paused with her hands on her hips. “Now, may I continue with my original line of thought?”
Again, Test’s cheeks flushed red. “Yes, I’m sorry. Please go ahead.”
“My parents,” she resumed as she slowly paced the room, “forced me to stay indoors, hidden from the outside world. Few in the village knew of my existence, only select members of my extended family, and to everyone else, I had been lost at birth.
“Though I was too young to know for sure, I have a feeling that my father was initially loving, and not at peace with their decision regarding my care.”
Test watched Jenz with a heavy heart as her voice began to waver. “You don’t have to….” began Test, stopped by Jenz’s raised hand.
“I won’t go into specifics,” she continued, pursing her lips as she struggled to reign in her emotions, “but I’ll just say that the conditions in which I was forced to live would be considered inappropriate for a family pet in this day and age.” She wiped a tear nearly ready to fall from the corner of her eye and flipped her hair over her shoulders. “Around the time I turned twelve or thirteen, something happened that still, to this day, I can see as plainly in my mind as though it happened yesterday.
“In my room,” she paused with a huff, “if you could even call it that, I had four items in my possession; my bed, a stool, a cup, and a brush for my hair. The brush was my most cherished possession.” She turned to him and, stopping mid-step, looked at him with a whimsical expression. “In fact, I still have it. I can’t remember the circumstances of how the brush became mine, but I like to think that it was a gift from my father.”
Test’s eyes held hers, and though she was looking at him, it was as if she were in another place.
“Anyway,” she continued, flipping her hands into the air and continuing her slow pacing of the room. “One day I was sitting on the floor of my room and listening to my parents argue, something that they did quite often,” she interjected as she glanced to Test. “I would always put my fingers in my ears, trying my best to tune out everything they would say. On that day, however, when I placed my fingertips into my ear, they felt hot. Not only did they feel hot, but when I touched them to my flesh, I could feel a slight vibration coming from them. Does that make sense?” she asked.
Test nodded, remembering his own moment of discovery as she described hers.
“I immediately dropped my hands to the floor, palms open, and unintentionally heard the sound of my mother shouting as she slapped my father in the next room. In hearing that sound, a sudden and great anger swelled inside of me, unlike anything
I’d felt before. I wanted to do things, terrible things; things that I don’t care to speak of.” She stopped in her place and stared with wide eyes blankly at the floor.
Feeling her pain, Test tried to help. “You don’t have to tell me any more. It’s okay.”
Without acknowledging his comment, she continued.
“I stood and ran to the locked door, pounding with every ounce of my strength. I could hear my mother shouting at me to be quiet, which only served to intensify my rage. I looked down to my stool, on which my cup and brush both rested. In one step I took the cup into my hand, threw it at the door, and watched it fall to the ground in pieces. Well,” she said with a twisted grin, “that made me even angrier, so I reached for my brush.”
Test sat breathless, waiting for her to continue.
“As I reached for the brush, and as soon as my hand was over top of it, something happened.” She walked to the couch and sat on the arm farthest from Test. “It was as if….”
“Time stopped,” Test interrupted, finishing her sentence. Her head snapped in his direction with eyes opened wide and staring.
“Yes,” she replied.
Test clasped his hands in front of him and squeezed them together so tightly that his knuckles turned white. He swallowed hard and continued. “It was like you were gone, just for a moment, and when you came back, you’re brush had—changed.” He stopped, waiting for a response. He watched as she let her head move up and down slowly in acknowledgment. “The same thing, more or less happened to me,” he spoke solemnly.
The room had taken on a heavy air, and the two of them sat in their positions silent and visibly shaken. Suddenly, Jenz stood and, slapping her hands on her thighs, forced a more upbeat tone as she spoke.
“Well—it seems I’ve strayed from what I was originally going to tell you, but I suppose it will make more sense now that you have a better understanding of my beginnings.”
Still shaken, yet somber, Test replied quietly. “Yeah, I guess.”
Jenz inhaled deeply, her nostrils flaring slightly, and glowered at Test. “Intelligent response,” she replied as she pinched the bridge of her nose. “We shall skip forward,” she continued, “knowing that I had discovered my gifts, to several weeks later.”
“I kept my secret hidden from my parents—I don’t know what I would have said even if I had wanted to tell them.” Shaking her head at the realization she had begun to reflect and stray from the point once again, she resumed. “Several weeks later, I stumbled into the ability to phase to the world of the dead. I remember it being a very frightening event; a young girl, sheltered my entire life, suddenly being thrust into a strange place. I saw no spirits the first couple of times I phased, but on the third occasion, I stepped through the wall and out into the village.
“It was an extraordinary moment. I had never seen the light of day, except through the small window within my room. Even then, my view was of the woods directly behind our home. It was late evening, and the sun was just beginning to set. It was wondrous, and after I had walked a short distance away from my home, I watched the sun set in its great majesty for the first time in my life. Seeing it through the blur of the boundary that separates the two worlds, I longed to see it with my living eyes.”
Test huffed unconsciously.
“Did I say something funny?” asked Jenz, the irritation of his interruption apparent in her tone.
Test’s eye snapped to hers as he replied. “No, no!” he replied emphatically. “Actually, I was just thinking of how much we have in common.” He paused for a moment and remembered the poem that he’d written for Nicole so long ago. “I used to go out into the country where I live and watch the sunsets, too.”
Jenz’s expression lightened some as she replied. “It would seem so, wouldn’t it?” She walked to one of the recliners that was in the room opposite of the couch and sat gracefully on the edge of its seat. “I will never forget the moment that the sun disappeared behind the trees. I’d never seen such color before. I didn’t even really know that such a thing could exist.” Her brow furrowed as she looked at Test sternly. “There was so much I didn’t know.
“I began to look for some place that I could remain hidden, but still phase back so as to look at the dwindling colors and the sparkling lights in the sky without the blur of the spirit world around me. However, as I traveled, something happened.”
“You stayed too long,” said Test, almost in a whisper, his eyes wide with intensity.
“Yes. I had just reached a building several places away from my home, when the blur disappeared. At first, I froze, marveling at the world outside. The sounds, the smells, the colors—it was all new. Time seemed to have stopped once again, but in a pleasant way, as I stared into the sky. As sudden as my shifting from world to world, as was shaken from my pleasure by the scream of a woman.
“I turned quickly to the source of the scream, and saw an old woman standing on her doorstep with a finger pointed at me. The woman screamed ‘Ande, ande!’ over and over again, which is the Swedish word for spirit. Instinctively, I turned and began to run home, hearing more and more voices shouting behind me with each step. As I entered my home, the look of shock on my parents’ faces as they sat at the table will forever hold a place in my memory.
“My father, his surprise beyond words, sat in his chair while my mother erupted from her seat. She was so angry that her words were almost unintelligible, and before assaulting me, she opened my door in an attempt to find out how I’d escaped the room. With no obvious sign, she returned and slapped me several times as people outside had begun to pound on the front door. The room was suddenly alive, and the sounds of my mother shouting, combined with the pounding on the door, had become overwhelming. After one last slap from my mother, she gripped my arms and began to shake me, trying to coax out an answer. Without a word, I looked her in the eye, and then summoned every last bit of my strength to phase to the other side, literally vanishing from her grasp.
“Once on the other side, I stepped through her and looked at my father who had finally stood from his chair. With a horrified look on his face, he stared at where I had been standing a moment ago. I could see the dried blood in the corners of his mouth from where my mother had hit him, and watched as his skin became nearly as pale as my own. Without thinking, I turned away and ran out of the house. I flew through the trees as if they were no different than the air that surrounded them. Never once did I look back.
“I had to learn everything for myself. I survived by stealing from the village, phasing to the other side in order to gain access. Failing to keep myself hidden at all times, I became something of a legend. They called me vit djävulen, the white devil, and did what they could to keep their wares from me. It did cause me some aggravation, them putting everything away so that it was harder for me to take, but it didn’t stop me.
“In this time, which is truly the point of my telling you this story, I became highly skilled at the art of phasing in and out of worlds,” she paused and chuckled to herself, “or teleporting as Prim likes to call it. Personally, I think popular culture has corrupted him slightly.”
Listening intently, Test found the humor in her comment, but kept it to himself as she continued, her words taking on a serious tone once more.
“You see, not only did I have to learn to phase quickly in order to procure food and drink, I also honed my skill to avoid the sun. I began to practice in the woods, shifting between worlds to avoid the light that filtered through the trees. It might only have been for a yard at a time, but I would go in and out as soon as the light met the dark, and vice versa.”
She looked to Test who sat quietly nodding his head. “You look as though you want to say something. What is it?” she asked.
Test blinked, his eyes dry from watching Jenz so intently, and replied. “It just makes sense now; how I wasn’t able to hit you before. You were so fast.”
A broad smile graced Jenz’s pale face, as she sat on the cushion next to him. Sh
e could see a look of excitement wash across his face. His eyes were wide and shining, reflecting the dim light of the room.
“You can teach me?” he asked.
“I can try,” she replied softly. “I cannot make any promises. After this conversation, it is even more apparent to me that each Shadow is blessed with slightly varying degrees of each gift. I’m sure that I can make you better, but I can’t promise that your abilities will ever match mine when it comes to phasing.”
Test chuckled as he replied. “Don’t you mean teleporting?”
Jenz’s head dropped as she sighed playfully. “I suppose so, if that’s what you prefer to call it. Prim would be pleased.”
Test slapped her thigh gently. “I’m just teasing,” he replied. “But I did have one other question.”
Jenz’s face regained the seriousness of moments prior, her jaw tensed and brow furrowed slightly. Seeing this, Test spoke quickly. “It’s not a big deal, really. You can relax.” Her mouth opened, her lips parted slightly, and he watched the worry disappear from her eyes. “If you had the gift of sight, why didn’t you see all of it coming? Why weren’t you prepared?”
She didn’t agree that his question wasn’t important, but tried to reply with a light hearted tone. “That is actually a very good question, one that I originally asked myself as a matter of fact. I think that I had experienced visions before, from a young age, but considered them a form of a dream. Having been basically alone for my entire life, I guess I thought it was normal. I had no one to ask or to tell me any different.”
Another glimmer appeared in Test’s eye, and Jenz couldn’t help but wonder what else he was thinking. “Out with it,” she said.
Test planted his elbows on his knees and, resting his chin on his fists, looked to her thoughtfully. “Don’t you think it’s strange that the two places Shadows live are towns that are associated with mythological creatures?”
Taken aback by his question, Jenz angled her head curiously. “I don’t understand?”
“Well, I would think the entire world knows that vampires are associated with Forks, and you live in Salem.” Jenz opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off. “I know, I know, it’s Salem, Massachusetts that’s know for witches, but still.…”
The Reverence of One: Book Three of the Shadow Series Page 17