Shadeland (The Ethereal Crossings, 1)

by D.L. Miles

  Chapter 11

  I had to give myself a little credit for being able to stay so calm, considering the situation. I mean, my best friend, whom I considered family, had just been arrested a second time for murder and now it was public. Everyone knew his name, his face. Everyone was talking about him; friends, coworkers. He was now known as a killer for something he didn’t do. It didn’t help that he was an Eidolon too. Soon enough everyone was calling him the killer The Ellengale Nightstalker.

  I gripped the steering wheel in my car, trying to ignore the thoughts that Luke may never be freed. My phone began to ring on the passenger seat but I ignored it, knowing it was my family. My brothers and my father had been leaving endless messages ever since the first news report; I never called them back. I would fix this, I would make Jared find the real killer and fix everything. First I just had to find Jared.

  Last night I had gone into a zombie-like state. After listening to Det. Miller tell the reporter all about Luke and “his” victims my hands were shaking, I couldn’t even see straight. I had wanted to rush over to her and just push her to the ground. But Jared stopped me, which was a good thing…I guessed. It was oddly out of character for him to help me the way he did; he escorted me back home, made sure I got into my apartment. He wanted to check that I didn’t do anything crazy, say like break into a crime scene. I didn’t even say “thank you”; in fact, I didn’t say a single word to him. I should probably do that when I saw him next.

  I checked the time. I had to leave, but I stalled in the parking lot. Luke may have not been with me, but I was still going to go to the third class with Dr. Wineman. I needed to talk to him, ask him why he tried to help Luke and maybe ask for help finding the real killer. He knew something; the only question was how I could get it out of him. I thought Jared’s gun would have been quite handy about then.

  The drive to the college seemed excruciatingly long without Luke to keep me company. I was so used to him changing stations on the radio like he did on the television, used to him talking about how excited he was for the class or for something else. I glanced at the empty seat next to me; Luke had only been gone a short time but I really missed him.

  As I drove down the dimming streets my mind wandered to Cindy, the blonde, bright-eyed reporter that had released Luke’s photo. Not very responsible reporting on her part, but then again she was fed misinformation by a cop with a grudge against Eidolon’s. My grip on the wheel tightened again, my knuckles beginning to change colour just slightly. Everything was just getting out of hand with the Eidolon’s. Honestly, who cared if you weren’t human? We had managed to live together this long, what difference did it make if someone had a tail or could fly? It didn’t bother me, so why did it bother everyone else so much?

  I finally made it to the college and by the time I had gotten there most of the parking lot was full. I pulled in where I had the past two visits and made my way through the maze of cars till I reached the B Hall entrance. A part of me was really hoping to see Jared’s car sitting there, with him awaiting my arrival. No such luck.

  Walking through the doors I saw two new women working the desk. It only occurred to me then that they may not let me in, seeing as I was only a “plus one”. I strolled over to the wooden doors, hoping I looked like I belonged; neither of them even glanced my way. Breathing a sigh of relief I opened the doors to find almost every seat already filled.

  Sitting where I usually did, I ignored the whispers and frightened glances. I was there to talk to the doctor, help Luke and nothing else. Yet, it finally occurred to me that I could have waited until class was over…

  Moments after I sat down Dr. Wineman came in, appearing to be a happy medium between his two previous moods. He was neither bouncy nor tired, he just seemed…average.

  “Hello class,” he said, setting his briefcase on the table. “I’m glad you could all make it to our third official class. Today’s lesson will be—”

  “What about the killer?” a girl interrupted from the front row, raising her hand in the air.

  “I beg your pardon?” Dr. Wineman asked. He must have what she meant, but just wanted her to clarify. She was about to ask what was on everyone’s mind.

  “The man that killed those women,” she said, her head beginning to turn towards me but suddenly stopped, “he was in this class…” A few people around me risked a glance, but I tried not to give them any notice. I wasn’t completely sure they were looking at me and not the empty seat beside me. Dr. Wineman looked uncomfortable.

  “I’m sorry, but we aren’t here to discuss that,” he said, his eyes didn’t even flick towards me. “Now, today’s class will be a little shorter than our others as I have to leave early.” He shuffled through his bag and pulled out a laptop. I tried to stay focused on him while he plugged it into the projector; I tried not to focus on the classroom and their accusations about Luke. I did wonder though, what the woman wanted to know about it. Why would she ask the professor? It’s not like he would really know anything. I knew he knew something, but the rest of the world shouldn’t know that.

  “In this world there are humans that are truly evil,” the doctor said, bringing my attention back to him from the woman in the front, “and there are humans that are good. It is the same for Etheric’s; some are just born…bad.” He kept his eyes on his computer, searching for a file. I had a hunch that he just didn’t want to look up at the class, or me, because of Luke. How wonderful, Luke was arrested for murder, twice, and now we were in a class talking about evil. Somebody up there had a twisted sense of humour.

  “Etheric’s are a little different though,” the doctor continued, “when they’re evil it isn’t because they were raised in a violent household, or because they need to be medicated, it’s because it’s in their nature. It’s simply in their nature.” The doctor clicked a button and an image popped up on the screen behind him.

  Three women sat atop a pile of bones and jewels, every one of them naked. Cloth covered their lower halves as the one on the right held open arms to a boat out at sea. The middle woman played on a flute while the other dipped her hand in the nearby water, her mouth open as if singing. It wasn’t a very detailed drawing, but it could still be considered good; I knew I couldn’t draw anything like that.

  “Can anyone tell me what this is?” Dr. Wineman asked, looking around the classroom. Nobody answered, not even daring to guess.

  “I can tell you,” someone said by the door. All eyes turned, including mine, to find Jared standing there, hands in his pockets. “They’re sirens. The sketch is a little inaccurate though.” His hands came out of his pockets as he walked up the stairs, directly towards me. Taking two steps at a time, the room watched him; they must have seen him as some mysterious, attractive man with all the answers. Nobody seemed surprised when he sat down next to me in what had once been Luke’s seat.

  “That’s correct,” Dr. Wineman said, not asking who Jared was once he sat down. “Why do you say it’s inaccurate?”

  “Well, Greek mythology had a couple of different stories for sirens; one was that they were servants to Persephone but when she was kidnapped by Hades and brought to the underworld her mother Demeter cursed them, making them half bird.” Jared leaned back in his seat and all I could do was stare at him in disbelief. “Another story was that Demeter gave them to bodies of birds to search for Persephone but eventually gave up and made a home in Southern Italy. But none of that is true.”

  I was at a loss for words. Jared was…Jared was actually kind of smart. He sat there, looking smug, most likely because he knew exactly what I was thinking. I had known he was a bounty hunter, but I had never expected him to actually…know things.

  “That’s right,” the doctor said slowly, walking around the projector, “there are many different tales of how the sirens came about. They had the bodies of birds, but the heads of women and the truth is that there were only three sirens, daughte
rs to the Greek river god Achelous. Eventually they all left the riverbank where they decided to remain on an island in Southern Italy.”

  “But why did they leave?” a student asked.

  “All children have to leave home some time,” Dr. Wineman said, opening his arms out wide. “The sirens were not always evil either. They challenged the Muses to a musical contest but were defeated. As punishment the Muses plucked their feathers and kept them as a trophy, turning the sirens into creatures that had a woman’s torso, but legs of a bird. It was then that they started to lure sailors to their death on the rocky shore.”

  “Are they still around?” someone else asked. Jared let out a quick and quiet laugh, obviously knowing the answer. The doctor caught it and gave him a stern look, warning him not to insult the students.

  “There are two types of sirens still alive today,” he explained, “there are the ones with birds legs, kept hidden from the world with magic amulets. They are the most dangerous ones of all as they could be anyone around you and you would never know until they strike.” The man that asked the question paled a little.

  “And the other one?” he asked, swallowing loudly, his mouth most likely drying from fear.

  “They are what you know as mermaids,” the doctor clicked a button on his computer and the image behind him flashed to a woman with a fish tail, combing her hair in a mirror on a single rock. “Mermaids can only live in the sea, in rivers and streams or in waterfalls, so they cannot attack as easily as their bird-like sisters. In many cultures they are mistaken for an undine, or water-spirit, but are almost always seen as a symbol of coming doom.

  “They came about over many years as some of the sirens changed their image to continue luring men to their death, especially after they were defeated in the Odyssey. The mermaids are much more powerful than their avian counterparts, and their scales are highly regarded for their magic. A mermaid’s scale can actually sell for thousands on the black market.”

  “Are they really that powerful professor?” the same man from before asked. Dr. Wineman thought for a moment.

  “Though they are incredibly strong, they are sold for such a high price because it is almost impossible to get one.”

  “Is it possible to get one right from a mermaid?”

  The doctor thought for another moment and considered the question. “Maybe,” he finally said, “though there has never been a documented case. I suggest if you ever come across a siren that you get away as quickly as possible. They’re extremely dangerous, to both men and women.”

  “Got that right,” Jared mumbled harshly, his hand covering his mouth so I barely made out the words. I was about to ask him what he was doing here when he turned to me and whispered, “We need to talk.”

  “Not now,” I said, trying to ignore not only his remarks but his very presence in general.

  “It’s important,” he prodded, watching the doctor speak about the sirens. I guessed he was cataloguing which facts were right and which were wrong. He was no longer scoffing at the material so most must’ve been correct, at least in his mind. Just how many sirens had he come across in his travels?

  “I need to talk to Dr. Wineman after the class,” I said, crossing my legs away from him, “that’s more important.” Jared sighed and sat back in the chair. Obviously he wasn’t going to go away; instead he was going to wait out the class with me. That seemed rather out of character for a bounty hunter; shouldn’t he have just dragged me away in front of everyone?

  “Next on the list of dangerous Etheric’s,” the doctor said, clicking to another picture, “are Ghouls.” The photo behind him was…repulsive. It was a black and white sketch of a large hairy creature with fangs protruding from its mouth. It almost looked like a twisted version of Big Foot or even a werewolf.

  “I hate Ghouls,” Jared mumbled to himself. Apparently I was going to get commentary through the rest of the class. Splendid.

  “Ghouls are not exactly…evil,” Dr. Wineman continued, ignoring Jared’s comments. “They feed off of freshly buried cadavers in graveyards so you can most often find them in abandoned mausoleums.

  “Most of their history comes from the East, where they were known as an inferior form of Djinn. But Western stories tell them to be a sort of… vampire elemental, preying on the energies of humans, haunting places where tragedy occurred.”

  Dr. Wineman took a few questions from the class, but I was having trouble concentrating with Jared sitting next to me. He had moved as close as he could to me, trying to make me uncomfortable enough to leave. I could smell the leather of his jacket and the dirt-caked steel scent of his skin and underneath that some kind of cologne. It wasn’t going to work though, his tactics that is. I needed to find out why the doctor lied for Luke and what he was hiding. Nothing could stand between me and those answers, not even a bounty hunter.

  The doctor moved on, clicking his button to switch photos. An hour and a half later the doctor finally dismissed the class. Honestly I hadn’t expected it to end so soon, the class was extremely interested in the topic, most likely because of the recent killings though. A few people stood and left, leaving the doors open on their way out.

  “Doctor,” said a girl, the same one that was so interested in Luke, “what about that man? Is he something that can’t help but be evil?” Dr. Wineman flinched and a few of the people that were so ready to leave froze in place, waiting for an answer.

  “No,” the doctor said, carefully choosing his words, “he is not.”

  “So he’s just…evil by choice then?” the girl asked. I clenched a fist over my phone in my pocket. I would not say anything. I would not say anything.

  “I’m sorry, but if you wish to know something please consult a newspaper.” The doctor turned and began to pack his bag. The girl seemed surprised by his response but quickly left once realizing she had upset him. When the room was empty I climbed down the stairs and approached the doctor; it was clear he was expecting me to talk to him. The only thing that caught him off guard was Jared, who was on my heels the entire way down.

  “What can I do for you?” Dr. Wineman asked, desperately trying to stay casual.

  “I just wanted to ask you a couple questions,” I said, also trying to stay casual, “why did you help Luke?” The doctor glanced at Jared over my shoulder then back to me. Was he trying to tell if Jared was trustworthy? Good luck with that, I still wasn’t sure myself.

  “I’m aware that he is innocent,” the doctor said, folding his arms behind his back, “I didn’t want him to seem more suspect than he already had.” His eyes darkened, thinking about how that didn’t matter anymore; Luke had been thrown into jail once again thanks to the person directly behind me.

  “But how do you know he’s innocent?” everything the police had said was pointing to him being guilty. Everything that was reported said he was guilty. Dr. Wineman sighed and gave me a sympathetic look.

  “Because of the smoke,” he said, attracting Jared’s interest.

  “You know what that is?” Jared asked, pulling on my shoulder to get closer to the doctor who merely nodded. “What is it? How do I kill it?”

  “I can’t tell you,” the doctor said, not budging when Jared stepped forward. I had to give him credit for that, at least. Jared reached forward to hold Dr. Wineman by the collar but I grabbed his hands before he could.

  “Why the hell not?” he shouted. “This thing is killing people and you’re not gonna do a damn thing about it?” Jared ripped his hands from mine, grabbing the doctor’s collar and shoving him against the wall.

  “Stop it!” I said, trying to pull Jared off the doctor. I was angry too, but this wasn’t going to solve anything.

  “It’s not doing the killings,” the doctor panicked, “Shadeland doesn’t kill humans like this.” Oh, but they do kill humans? Dr. Wineman froze, realizing he told us what he never intended to.

  “Shadeland?” Jared said as if realizing someth
ing I wasn’t. Suddenly he smiled and released the doctor. “Fine, I’ve got enough information from you to do this on my own.”

  “No!” the doctor yelled to him as he stormed away. “You’re wrong!” He looked at me, then back at the door, not knowing what to do. I debated staying with him, asking him more questions but I couldn’t afford to lose Jared now. I chased after him, hearing the doctor dialling a phone as I ran out the doors.

  By the time I caught up with Jared he was already at the front doors. I almost risked yanking on his arm to make him stop but decided against it again.

  “What are you going to do?” I asked, pacing his long strides.

  “I’m gonna kill this thing,” he said, “I just need a little help.”

  “From who?”

  “That doesn’t matter to you,” he said, pulling out a set of keys from his jacket.

  “Yes it does!” I yelled back. Suddenly he stopped in his tracks and turned to me.

  “All right,” he said and suddenly he grabbed my arm, dragging me across the lot, “if you aren’t going to leave me alone, I’ll make you leave me alone.”

  “What?” I shouted. Jared brought me to my car and threw me into the driver’s seat, slamming the door shut. I was so flustered, I didn’t even question as to why my car was left unlocked. My arm hurt where he had grabbed it but I was too focused on him to really notice.

  “I’m going to do what I do best,” he said through the window, his breath creating a slight fog over the glass. I tried to open the door, it opened an inch before he slammed it shut again; the difference in our strength gave me a severe disadvantage. Jared’s voice was harsh, “And to make sure you don’t follow me, I’ll tell you what I was going to tell you sooner; Luke got released again. He’s waiting for you to get home. You’re welcome.” He banged on the window and walked away. Jared came all the way to see me…to make sure I knew about Luke?

  I stared out the window, his words registering in my head; Luke was released from jail and waiting for me at home.

  I broke every speed limit driving back to the apartment and back to Luke.