Elemental Shadows (12 page)

It grew louder, as if they were getting closer or I was, as the image of Crwys's face blurred, then sharpened and then came into painful and bright clarity. I put my hands to my face and made a sound.
 

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to use so much. Sam, I need you to focus on me. Please."
 

I heard Grey's claws clicking on the linoleum of the kitchen and then she had her nose in my face, licking me. I put my hands out to her and held her against me. "It's okay, girl."
 

But I was thinking of Crwys's words.
Use so much what? Of that damn power of yours?
I didn't say anything but I was pretty sure—no I was damn sure—he could hear me. I'd suspected for a long time Crwys could hear thoughts, or at least sense them. I felt his hand on my cheek and I tried to pull away but I was still disoriented
 

"What the hell did you do?"
 

I recognized that voice. It was Kyle.
 

"I stopped her from killing it," Crwys answered in a snippy tone. "I didn't realize she was so close."
 

"You also didn't realize her magic is actually tied into the Elementals, did you?" That was Ivan's voice and I smelled his cologne. He had moved to my side and had his hand on my shoulder.
 

I cleared my throat and at last the world, which seemed burnt on the edges, filled in and righted itself. "I…I think Crwys and I don't know a lot…about each other."
 

"That's the damn truth," Crwys said.
 

Blinking helped me focus until eventually I could see him much clearer. His expression wasn't one I'd seen that often on his face. Worry. His eyes were red now, without a touch of amber in them. He kept his hands on my face and never looked away. "Kyle, check Robin."
 

"I am. He's okay. He's unconscious and breathing."
 

"Robin?" I said and pulled my gaze from Crwys's. I could see the couch now. Robin was on his left side, his feet still on the floor as if he'd fallen over while sitting. I tried to get up and go to him but Ivan's hand on my shoulder and Crwys's hands on my face stopped me. I looked at Crwys. "What…why the hell did you stop me? That thing was coming after Robin."
 

"I'm pretty sure it was. And it was because part of it recognized him and was trying to talk to him."
 

Grey nestled harder against me and I scraped her neck.
 

"It looked more like it was going to eat him," I reached up and pulled Crwys hands away. "My Elementals wouldn't have attacked if it wasn't dangerous."
 

"The Elementals do what you tell them to do."
 

"No," I shook my head. "They won't attack innocents, even if I command it."
 

"She's right," Kyle said as he came up behind the still kneeling Crwys. "I've seen them downright refuse her if they don't perceive the threat as base evil or harmful."
 

I pointed to Robin. "He said he was talking to the ghost of Kathy and begged me to come over and see her. He said she asked for me."
 

"A Shadow Person actually
talked
?" Ivan said.
 

I looked up and back at him. "So, that was really a Shadow Person?"
 

"What we saw before Crwys played
lighthouse from hell
looked like one," Kyle said. "Or it looked like what we've been seeing all afternoon. That's why we wanted you to get over to that house."
 

Looking back at Robin, I felt a pang of guilt again. "My poor baby…he was so sure he was seeing Kathy's ghost."

"Well," Crwys said as he stood and moved away to the couch. "I'm not so sure he was wrong."
 

Hum… "What?"
 

Levi stepped in at that moment, his shades tight over his eyes and looking a bit ashy. Revenants did not like the daylight. He handed Crwys a small tablet. "Looks like you were right."
 

Crwys looked at the tablet and his eyes arched on his forehead. "Not me. Kyle figured this out."
 

My head throbbed and I had that old, familiar nausea that always happened when I tried a full on Elemental Power Spell and was either thwarted or interrupted. I was going to be sick, and I was going to need to sleep. There was no way of getting around either of those. I sent my apologies and thanks along my magical threads to the Elementals. And each of them answered back, if not a little pissed themselves. "Figured what out?"
 

Kyle held out his hand for the tablet and Crwys gave it to him. "Yeah…but what does it mean? I don't know anything about Shadow People. And Ivan doesn't either, except for what he found on the web."
 

"Can somebody just talk straight to me?"
 

"That rules me out," Kyle quipped.
 

I shot him a righteous bird.
 

Ivan came around to my left and sat on the coffee table. He was far enough away not to be in my personal space, and close enough for my damaged vision to see him just fine. He gestured with his hands as he talked. "Remember how I showed you the instances of Shadow People I'd found on web this morning?"
 

I nodded.
 

"And then Kyle found all those messages about ghosts?"
 

I nodded again and made a motion that meant keep going, spit it out.
 

"Kyle and I went to every house that called and at every house, we saw moving shadows. And they were always like he described to you on the phone. Short and skittish. Almost shy when you approached them," he licked his lips. "When we got to the last house, and this is why we called, Crwys and Levi were already there because the home owner called them."
 

"They called us
and
the police?"
 

Crwys spoke, "Levi and I got the call because we'd been in that house two weeks ago when the owner's son was found dead at his computer."
 

I looked up at him. "You mean like the dead Elders?"

"The only commonality was the dead at their computers. Their ages were wildly different and the cause of death was very different for this one." Crwys hooked his thumbs into the empty belt loops of his jeans. "His parents had left for a vacation in Italy."
 

"The kid didn't want to go to Italy?"
 

"No. The parents didn’t want him to go. They were gone for two weeks. When they got home, they found him dead. He'd been sitting at his computer gaming."
 

I made a face. "People don't just die sitting at the computer while they play games."
 

Crwys shrugged. "We had everything in the room bagged and tagged. Coroner ruled the kid's cause of death as neglect. There were no signs of foul play on him or in the room."
 

"Neglect?" I shifted in my chair. "How does someone die of neglect at their computer?" I glanced at Ivan. He didn't look so good.

"Remember this morning when I asked you if Ivan knew of any others like himself?" He glanced at Ivan. "This is why I asked. I couldn't justify a kid sitting at his computer and dying. But if I thought of Matrix Guy here," he nodded at Ivan. "The way he enters the web?"
 

I looked at Ivan. "Is it possible?"
 

When he nodded I felt my stomach flip. "I've had a few experiences when I dive in and I lose track of time. I was in the web or the net, whatever you want to call it, for over twenty-four hours once. When I actually pulled out—" he blushed red and I got a pretty clear image of what he found happens to bodily functions when ignored. "I'll just say I was starving and my legs and feet went to sleep."
 

"Is that why you abruptly got interested in exercising and hiking?" Kyle looked at him.

Ivan nodded. "That's exactly why. That scared the crap out of me. If this guy was like me and he was diving into the cyber world, he might have let time get away from him."
 

Levi spoke up, "Then that makes sense. The victim, a kid named Ronald Kennett, had pretty much starved himself to death. He started playing games and never ate, never drank and never slept. Forensics showed he'd even soiled himself before he died."
 

Ivan blushed again. I was right.
 

"Sweet Lady," I mumbled.
 

"It was the weirdest case we'd ever come across," Crwys said. "The parents are trying to sue somebody for their kid's death, but there's just nothing for them to grasp on to. We got a call this morning from some cyber terrorist organization requesting all information on the case be transferred to them. Including the kid's computer and his equipment."
 

"I'm sure Captain Prescott isn't too happy about that?"
 

"No she's not," Levi said. "Which is why we were over there speaking with the mother about why this cyber terrorist group would be interested in her son when these two arrived. The mom corroborated their story that she left a message with the shop saying that she'd been seeing things in the house and wanted to know if they could exorcise their home."
 

"Did you see another Shadow Person while you were there?"
 

Kyle nodded. "We did. But this one was taller, and he had a hat."
 

"And he was pissed off," Levi said. "Thing hissed at us before it disappeared. Crwys here suddenly started calling you and when you didn't answer, we all piled in Kyle's car and Crwys lead us here."
 

I looked at Crwys. "You knew I was in trouble."
 

"I knew something was wrong. But it wasn't from you," he reached out and moved his hand gently over Grey's head. "She told me."

"Grey?" I looked down at her. She looked up at me with those eyes that looked so human sometimes.
 

"She
is
your Familiar. And," Crwys shrugged. "Your Salamander thought something was wrong."
 

Now that really freaked me out. "
You
can
hear
my Salamander? My Fire?"
 

Kyle cleared his throat. "We need to let her know the other part."
 

"What other part?" I was miffed. What the hell was this bastard if he could talk to Elementals?
 

"All the addresses you got calls from," Levi said. "With the exception of this last one and the Daemon possessed dog, were homes those kids disappeared from last month."
 

I gasped. "The Changelings?"
 

Kyle, Crwys, Levi and Ivan nodded in unison. Kyle spoke up. "I didn't put it together because I didn't have a list of all the missing children. But Levi did."
 

"And we've got three more messages on the store phone about the same issue," Ivan said. When everyone looked at him, he held up his phone. "I checked remotely."
 

Yeah, he'd checked remotely, just not with the damn phone. "This isn't a coincidence. All of the homes where the children turned on their parents are now experiencing hauntings, but they're all Shadow People."
 

"Looks that way," Crwys pointed to Robin. "And this is the house where his niece lived, isn't it?"
 

"Yeah but that wasn't his niece that came out of the fireplace. That thing morphed into a tall, red-eyed goblin."
 

"Shadow People," Crwys said. "By definition, are little more than impressions. Bundles of emotions that are kinetically assembled between worlds and exist there."
 

"Not sure I get your explanation this time either." Ivan sat in a chair.
 

Levi put a hand on Crwys's shoulder. "Let me try this time, bro." His eyes shifted and became black over the whites. When he spoke his voice had a dual quality that I recognized as being the voice of the demon Ashur speaking through. "In my world, where thoughts create things in a more rapid fashion, and magic as you call it, is a much more tangible tool, there are always cast offs. Things that never grow into their full potential. The last Phantasm to rule my world liked to experiment with these things. And when she was done with them, she cast them off. With no purpose, they had no home and became little more than junk. They can move from world to world but they can never fully be a part of it," he inhaled and then sighed. "They exist between the worlds. Like things caught between two panes of glass."
 

"But we perceive them," Ivan said. "They're like…on a different frequency. We just aren't made to fully see them, just their impression, like Crwys said."
 

Ashur/Levi nodded. "That is correct. The Shadow People seen in these houses are somehow linked to the missing children."
 

I had a really, really bad thought at that moment. Something that terrified me more than what the Arcane Magic could do to me. "What if…what if the Shadow People aren't linked. What if these Shadow People
are
the missing children?"