Chasing Shadows
Authors: S.H. Kolee
Chasing Shadows
Shadow Series #2
by S.H. Kolee
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2012 S.H. Kolee
All Rights Reserved.
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The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter One
I hadn't been able to take a full breath since I left Rochester. The train ride had done nothing to calm me. Instead, the inability to do anything except sit there as the train sped towards Connecticut made me more anxious. A hundred thoughts crowded into my head. I feared that it was too late for my aunt and that I was headed towards tragedy. I wondered what Simon and Sarah would think once they found my note. I was hyper aware of every person in my car, jumping every time someone walked past my seat, convinced that I was about to be attacked.
It was a relief to finally pull into the station. I grabbed my bag and made my way outside, shivering from more than the bitter cold that took my breath away. Morning was still an hour away and the black sky offered no relief from the feeling of foreboding. I couldn't escape the sense of inevitably that I was about to face my mortality, but I had no other choice. I needed to find out what happened to Aunt Brenda. For one brief moment in my life, I had known what it was like to have a family member that cared about me. A family member who had risked her own safety to help me. She deserved nothing less than the same.
A gruff cab driver threw my bag into the trunk and nodded when I gave him the address of my aunt's house. I leaned my head against the seat, feeling fatigue wash over me. The events of the past forty-eight hours had taken a toll on me, both physically and mentally, and I felt bone weary. It was hard to believe how dramatically my life had changed in the span of a few days. It was even harder to come to terms with the fact that I was now being hunted by shadows and I had no idea how to defend myself.
I was grateful when the sun started to rise, washing the fields whizzing by the car window in a hazy glow. It was a deceptively calm ride, but I felt myself tense the closer we got to our destination. My stomach clenched in anxiety when the cab pulled in front of my aunt's house. It looked exactly the same as it had a few days ago, neat and tidy; incongruous with how I expected to find it. I wasn't sure what I was expecting after my aunt's frantic phone call, but it wasn't this peaceful facade.
"Seventeen fifty," the cab driver grumbled, not bothering to look at me. I handed him a twenty and he popped the trunk, clearly not intending to give me change or help me with my bag. I climbed out of the backseat, figuring this was the least of my problems, and grabbed my bag from the trunk before the cabbie sped off.
I took a deep breath as I stood in front of my aunt's house, trepidation oozing from every pore as I braced myself for whatever I would find inside. I forced myself to put one foot in front of the other until I was at the doorstep. I considered ringing the doorbell but decided against it, not wanting to alert anyone I was here, although I doubted anyone, or
anything
, could have missed the sound of the cab.
I held my breath as I twisted the doorknob, not sure whether I wanted to find it unlocked or not. When the knob turned and I was able to push the door ajar, a frisson of fear went through me. I doubted my aunt kept her front door unlocked. I could only assume that this was a bad sign.
I stepped in, closing the door behind me as I surveyed the foyer. Nothing seemed out of place, no struggle looked to have occurred from my vantage point. I walked into the living room where we had talked earlier, noting that it looked as tidy as before. My confusion increased as I explored the rest of the house, not seeing anything out of order. Could I have been mistaken and my aunt was okay? Had she just stepped out to run a few errands? I checked her garage and saw her car sitting there.
I wandered into the kitchen and sat down at the table, contemplating what my next steps should be, when I heard the front door open. I froze, not having heard a car approach or any footsteps on the front steps. I frantically looked around the kitchen, wondering where I could hide, when I heard women's voices. I couldn't make out what they were saying but they didn't sound threatening. Still, I knew better than to take anything at face value and remained at the kitchen table, straining to overhear their conversation.
"I don't know what to do. I'm not picking up any energy."
"Maybe there's no energy to pick up. We don't know exactly what happened."
"Nonsense. You just need to try harder."
The conversation stopped as I watched three women approach, their eyes widening as they caught sight of me. I stood up quickly, not wanting to be at a disadvantage by sitting, although the women looked as dangerous as three bunny rabbits. But I knew that didn't mean much.
"What are you doing here?" a tall woman with long brown hair asked abruptly, her tone expressing her disapproval. The woman next to her, much shorter with graying hair that softly framed a gentle face, put her hand on the taller woman's arm, stopping her from saying more.
"You're Caitlin, aren't you?"
I nodded jerkily, clenching my hands into fists. I was ready to flee at any moment, my muscles tensed to react to any danger.
The woman who guessed who I was rushed towards me and I instinctively took a step back, glancing at the back door in the kitchen. She stopped short, seeing my anxiety at her approach.
"I'm sorry, dear. I didn't mean to scare you. I'm Cecelia, a friend of your aunt's." She paused, glancing back at the other two women who remained where they were. "We're part of your aunt's inner circle."
The third women, younger than the two with black hair and startling green eyes, stepped forward, standing next to the woman who had introduced herself as Cecelia. "Caitlin, I'm Marie. We were going to contact you, but it seems you've made that unnecessary."
Marie reached out, laying a gentle hand on my arm, and I couldn't stop myself from trembling. From fear, relief, sadness and a myriad of other emotions rushing through me.
"Where's Aunt Brenda?" I choked out.
The tall stern woman approached me, but her face no longer looked rigid and cold. Instead she looked at me sympathetically. That scared me most of all.
"Caitlin, we don't know what happened. The police were here last night looking for Brenda. Apparently they received a 911 call informing them that Brenda had been attacked. One of her neighbors called me because she knows I'm the closest thing Brenda has to a relative around here. No one's seen her, and the police aren't doing anything right now because they don't believe any foul play is involved. They said we have to wait 48 hours to file a missing person's report."
"That was me." My voice was shaking, but I forced my lips to form the words. "I called the police. I was on the phone with her, and I heard something attack her. She was screaming and she sounded terrified. She sounded like—" I shook my head, tears streaming down my face. "She sounded like she was suffering."
Cecelia and Marie both turned to the tall woman, as if they were waiting for her to take the lead. She walked towards me, clasping my hands in hers. "I think we should all sit down before we discuss anything more. I'm Lenore and I've been Brenda's friend for a long time. I know how much it meant to her to reunite with you. We'll do everything we can to help you find her."
I let Lenore lead me into the living room and guide me gently onto the couch as I wiped away my tears, trying to get a hold of myself. I had to remember to be strong. A scared sniveling seer wouldn't do anyone any good. Especially my aunt. Or Simon and Sarah.
The thought gave me renewed strength and I took a deep breath, steeling myself for whatever I learned in this conversation.
"So you think she's alive? You think we can find her?" I was desperate to believe that my aunt was still alive somewhere.
"We're not sure," Lenore replied as she sat next to me. "We've been checking everywhere she could be, but we know she wouldn't disappear of her own free will without telling us. It's useless trying to call her because she left her cell phone behind."
Cecelia and Marie sat opposite us, both looking at me with concern. I was relieved to have found people who could help me, people who understood what was happening, but at the same time I felt like I was under a microscope and it was an uncomfortable feeling.
"Caitlin," Lenore continued, watching me closely. "What was Brenda able to tell you before...you two were disconnected?"
"She told me that you had put her under hypnosis and she saw that the vardogers were after me. That somehow Sarah and Simon's vardogers were able to detach themselves and are trying to kill me." My voice shook at my last sentence, not wanting to believe it. "They're working with my own vardoger and Claudia, who's already been overtaken."
My body tensed as I thought about the girl who had tried to kill me. Or more accurately, the vardoger that had overtaken Claudia's body. I looked around nervously. "Maybe they're here now," I whispered.
"Don't worry," Cecelia interjected. "We're here to protect you. Your aunt was probably just taken off guard and that's why she..." Cecelia trailed off, as if she realized that her answer wouldn't reassure me. I caught Lenore's sharp look at her before she turned back to me.
"You're wearing iridium, right?"
I pulled the iridium coin out of my pocket, raising it for her inspection. I thought about the necklace that Claudia had torn away, the last piece of my mother I had. Ever since my aunt had told me that iridium would not only protect me from vardogers entering me, but allow me to kill them, I had never taken it off. Now it was lost in an alleyway, my fear and disorientation after Claudia's attack making me leave it behind. I pushed the pain away as I spoke. "I used to have a necklace but it was taken away from me. I'm planning on making this into a necklace as well so I'm always in contact with it."
Lenore nodded in approval before continuing. "Your aunt was able to see a lot when she was under hypnosis, but we don't understand everything that she saw. I'm sure she told you that the actions of vardogers are hard to predict because they're constantly evolving, but never at the rate we're seeing now. We don't understand how the vardogers have detached from your friends and are working together. But we're here to help you."
I felt relief that I wasn't alone, but I still didn't have answers about my aunt. "What about Aunt Brenda? What if she's somewhere and needs our help? What do you think happened to her?"
"We're not sure, Caitlin," Marie said, leaning in closer to me. While Lenore and Cecelia looked to be around my aunt's age, Marie looked like she was only in her thirties. I wondered how long she had been fighting vardogers since she looked so young, but I pushed the thought aside. I wasn't about to begrudge anyone's help right now. "We came here today because Cecelia is very attuned to energies and we wanted to see if she could pick up anything."