Axiom Theory: Book Four of the Shadow Series (30 page)

Without a word, Richardson raised his rifle and aimed at the door while retreating back to the glass partition. Each of the Shadows retreated to a similar position
with Iku standing next to him while Test and Prim stood farther off to either side. “What are we going to do?” he asked.

Ignoring Richardson’s question, Prim spoke to Iku and Test. “They’re at the...”

Before Prim could finish his sentence, the immense steel doors exploded from the wall. With no time to react, Test reached out to catch the doors as they flew through the air. Only succeeding in catching one, he let it drop to the floor and watched the other catch the desk as it ripped through the room, through the glass partition, and into the opposing wall.

The concussion of the blast sent Test into the curved wall behind him and
, as his ears rang, he watched three blurred figures pass in front of him. Blinking his eyes several times, he tried to focus as one of the figures stopped. He then heard a female voice shouting.

“Leave it alone, Casper! Another time!”

As Test propped himself on an elbow, he suddenly felt something around his neck. He struggled for his next breath and climbed to his knees as he looked at the glowing figure that stood before him. The smile on Casper’s face was insidious, but Test could see the pleasure taken in the pain he was inflicting.

Allowing the rage within him to break free, Test’s body ignited and he threw an arm forward. The pulse hit Casper with enough force
to send him into the opposite wall. His airway finally clear, Test coughed as he took a much needed breath before he turned and reached out to grab Ashley.

Though he expected her to defend herself, the sight of the boy igniting with color shocked him. He watched as the boy raised his right arm
, and suddenly felt a strong pull from his core. “
No,”
he thought to himself, knowing what was about to happen. Instinctively, he phased to the Shadow realm and felt the pull disappear. He watched as the boy lowered his arm and then recognized the horror on the ground behind him. He strained to see what he knew to be the broken, lifeless bodies of Iku and Lieutenant Richardson lying on the floor amidst pieces of concrete and steel. His heart lurched as he scanned the room for Prim, but it stopped when he found him.

Staring through the haze and blur into the world of the living, he saw Prim hovering in the air just in front of the fractured entrance to the
corridor. His arms were pinned to his side and his mouth hung agape while his eyes rolled into the back of his head. He looked to his right and saw Ashley with her blazing red arms reaching towards Prim. Standing to her left was the boy. He too had an arm extended, only the energy streamed up his arms instead of down.

Moving with the speed his ethereal form allowed, he raced towards Ashley and the boy, phasing back into the world of the living just before impact. He felt a surge of pain in his knee as it collided with the boy’s
head. In the same moment he took a fistful of Ashley’s hair and pulled her to the ground with him. Before he could recover, he felt the pressure around his neck once again and knew that Casper had awoken from his temporary slumber. As quickly as it appeared, his breath had returned, and he heard Prim shouting through labored breaths behind him.

“Come and get me, you little bastard!”

Test rolled over in time to see Prim turn and run down into the darkened corridor. He watched as Casper followed without hesitation. Just as he tried to get up, he felt an impact on his cheekbone that nearly forced the light of the room to disappear. He quickly rolled to his side and felt another impact in his ribs which sent all the air to race from his lungs. As he pulled into a fetal position, his mind swam in and out of consciousness while he braced for the ensuing blows. But they didn’t come. Instead, the sounds of a struggle filled his ears.

Quickly releasing his legs, his body screamed in pain as he spun on his knees to see what was going on.
He could not have predicted what his eyes would see.

There in front of him, some five f
eet away, stood Ashley with an arm draped around her neck. Test followed the arm until he saw Iku’s face. Confused, he looked down to where he’d seen Iku’s body lying in an unnatural and twisted position on the floor. The body remained. The grotesque pose of Iku’s empty shell was something that his eyes could barely make sense of. He looked back to Ashley and the revelation that he was seeing Iku in spirit form struck him with such force that he lost the meaning of the moment. Instead of acting, he watched as the spirit of Richardson came into view and grabbed Ashley’s left arm. A split second later, Cliff appeared, clutching her right.

He stood and walked fo
rward two steps. Had the situation been different, he might have taken some sort of pleasure in the wide-eyed fear on Ashley’s face. Instead, he was numb.

As if walking through a dream, the fog lifted slightly when
he looked down to see the boy lying unconscious on the ground. He knelt down, rolled the boy onto his back, and placed a hand on his chest. He felt it rise and fall and, though the child had nearly killed Prim on two occasions, he felt a strange sense of relief. There was a deep cut over the boy’s eyebrow, and blood streamed into his eye and over his nose.

“Leave him alone!” shouted Ashley from above him.

Test looked up as she struggled against the spirits surrounding her with a twisted sneer on her lips. Test surmised that, along with the constant and steady pull of the three spirits, she must have exhausted herself prior to their arrival as her pulses of energy were only faintly visible as they flashed down her pale-skinned arms.

“What is his name?” he asked calmly.

His relaxed tone and demeanor seemed to incense her as she spat on him before replying. “To you, his name is Death!”

Instead of growing angry, Test looked upon the Reaper with a deep sense of pity. He thought about both Lauren and Iku; the few stories they had shared of their former lives were tragic. He couldn’t help but think what she would have been like if Isaac had never found her.

Shaking his head, Test replied. “I don’t intend to harm him.” As he spoke the boy began to stir.

“Destin!” shouted Ashley
, beginning to thrash wildly. “Wake up! Help me!”

In a panic, Test stood and looked to Cliff. “You’ve got to get her out of here.”

“We’re not going to leave you alone with this boy,” Cliff replied firmly.

“Let me worry about that. I stand a better chance of dealing with him without her here to influence him!”

“But what if…”

“Damn
it, Cliff! We don’t have time to talk about this! Get her the hell out of here before the kid wakes up!”

The old man scowled at Test, but didn’t argue again. In unison, the three spirits turned her towards the exit and began the slow ascent to the ground above.

****

Cliff led the way as Lieutenant Richardson and Iku held Ashley’s arms
tightly. As they neared the surface, Ashley began to giggle.

“I don’t know what you’re laughing at, bitch,” said Richardson
piously, “but in case you haven’t noticed, you’re team isn’t doing so hot.”

She snickered once again as she replied. “
You cling to your false hope, soldier boy. Soon Davis will be joining you in that see-through suit. When Destin wakes up, Test will die, and then the boy will come for me.”

Richardson clenched his
fist and reared back. “How see-through is this?” He didn’t regard her as a woman—he saw her as a monster that had taken away his life. His fist collided with her jaw and her head snapped sideways.

“That’s enough of that!” shouted Cliff as he watched Ashley’s head roll back around towards the Lieutenant.

Richardson watched as she rolled her tongue around in her mouth, licking her lips grotesquely before she spat a wad of blood laced saliva on his chest.

“That the best you got?” she asked, smiling with blood covered teeth. She turned to Iku. “What about you, Iku? You ready for Test to join you?” She winked. “Karma’s a bitch, ain’t it?”

Iku glanced to Cliff. Knowing full well that her words could become reality, he was struck by the wistful expression on the old man’s face. With a wink of his own, Cliff looked up and smiled. Iku followed his line of sight and saw three figures standing on the steps above them.

“
Where are Prim and Test?” shouted Lauren while skipping steps as she rushed towards them.

“They’re still down there,” shouted Cliff in reply.

Lauren looked to the soldier who was clutching Ashley’s left arm. She was unsure if he was a spirit or not. With Iku, Ashley, Cliff, Alyssa, and Aiden all standing so close together, it made it nearly impossible to sense who was in what state of being. “Who’s this?” she asked, pointing to Richardson.

“Lieutenant C.S. Richardson, ma’am,” he replied with a saddened attempt at a smile.

“You’re a fresh one, aren’t you?” asked Lauren, taking an educated guess.

“Lauren!” gasped Alyssa who was standing just behind with Aiden holding her hand.

“What?” Lauren replied defensively. “I don’t mean anything bad by it, that’s just what we always called them.”

Alyssa’s eyes drew to slits as she replied. “Well, don’t do that anymore. That is
so
disrespectful.” Turning to the soldier, Alyssa’s voice softened. “I’m very sorry.”

Hearing a distant clang from below, Cliff felt forced to break up the moment. “I don’t mean to be heartless,”
he interrupted as he gestured with his free hand, “but we still have a job to do.”

The old man’s voice seemed to echo in the tall, narrow tube that lined the staircase. The air was thick with regret, but each of them knew he was right.

“Alyssa, you’d probably better change and get down there,” said Cliff. “Test is with the boy right now. He was unconscious when we left, but there’s no telling when he’ll wake up, if he hasn’t already.”

Looking down to Aiden, Alyssa
tried to speak in a comforting voice though her anxiousness to get down to Test was extreme. “I want you to stay with Auntie Lauren, okay?”

Aiden grimaced. “Why? Why can’t I come?”

“Honey, I don’t have time to explain, okay? I just need you to listen to me and do as I ask.”

Though she was hesitant to show it, being called Auntie gave Lauren a surge of happiness. With a weak smile, she
reached back and ruffled Aiden’s hair. “You can hang with me kid, okay?” She turned back and grinned at Ashley. “You can help Auntie take out the trash.”

“Who would’ve ever thought?” snipped Ashley
. “Lauren becoming domesticated?”

In the subdued light of the tube, Lauren’s power ignited as she held a pulsing hand to Ashley’s cheek. “Keep running that mouth of yours and I’ll show you who’s domesticated.”
As Ashley opened her mouth, Lauren pinched her throat closed without touching her. “Shhhh,” she whispered, leaning in to Ashley’s ear. “There’s a kid in the room. I don’t want to have to kill you in front of him.” She pulled back and, with a cheesy grin, released the Reaper’s neck. The look of fear that she’d been waiting for had finally appeared.

“It’s time
, Alyssa,” said Cliff.

Giving Aiden a kiss on the top of his head, Alyssa released him and stepped down to the step on which Lauren stood. She studied Ashley’s entire body carefully. After little more than a minute, she began the change.

“What are you doing?” asked Ashley as she suddenly found herself staring at her own face.

“I’m going to save that boy from the poison you put in his mind,” replied Alyssa.

“Destin will know you’re not me. He loves me.”

“Destin?” replied Alyssa, her voice now sounding like Ashley’s. “Thank you. I was going to ask you for hi
s name, but now I don’t have to.”

As yet another errant clang echoed from below, Cliff took Alyssa’s elbow. “Get going,” he said.

She turned and smiled at Aiden. “You listen okay?  Auntie Lauren’s in charge.”

Aiden stared at her with a grimace, struggling to recognize her as she appeared before him.
In a tiny, disconcerted voice, he replied. “Okay.”

Alyssa turned to Lauren. “Take care of him, please.”

Lauren grinned playfully. “I will, besides, it’s not like…”

Alyssa lifted a finger to stop her. “Ah…”

“Kidding, sis,” replied Lauren. “Just kidding. You can count on me.”

A wave of energy swelled through the ground, but only Ashley and Lauren felt it. Rolling her head back, Ashley giggled to herself as Lauren motioned
with a twitch of her head for Alyssa to go.

Without hesitation, Alyssa released Lauren’s power and floated through Ashley
and down the staircase.

As Alyssa passed through her, Ashley shivered.

“I’ve got her fellas,” said Lauren as she placed her hands lower towards her mid-section. Ashley’s arms folded into her sides tightly as Lauren squeezed. Richardson released the Reaper as Lauren passed by to get behind Ashley. As she began to move forward, Iku stopped her.