In the Shadows (2 page)

I secretly imagine him hiding in a tree with a telescope or binoculars complete with face paint to camouflage himself. But he’s way too serious to really do something that fun. On the other hand, that would be right up Jacoby’s alley. In fact, I’m kind of surprised he hasn’t tried to pull something like that yet.

“Good morning, Lark,” Jacoby greets me with the nickname he bestowed upon me so affectionately when we first met. He coerced me into singing for him and I really can’t carry a tune so of course he nicknamed me after the bird specifically known for its melodious song.

He thinks he’s funny.

He rarely calls me by my real name any more.

He’s wearing a navy blue flannel shirt, untucked and only partially-buttoned with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and artfully-holey jeans.  His auburn hair is messy in that on-purpose sort of way and his perpetually-mischievous green eyes are sparkling at me.

“You’re late,” Grey points out rather grumpily. I guess his irritation stems from the fact he had to hang out with Jacoby while waiting for me. I don’t think Grey and Jacoby will ever be BFFs but I do hope that one day, preferably sooner than later, they can at least move past being barely tolerable towards each other.

“I am not,” I argue, and glance at my phone to check the time. “I have exactly two minutes until first period.”

“Yeah, well, we better hurry if we are going to make it to class in time.”

“I’m not going to class this morning,” Jacoby announces. “I just stopped by to tell Lark good morning.”

“Jacoby! You can’t skip. We have a test today in Mr. Shilling’s class,” I remind him.

“Seriously, Lark, you know I’m not here for the stimulating academic atmosphere. It’s not like I need to graduate to get into college or anything. I’m only here for you.”

“Exactly,” Grey interjects. “You are supposed to be here protecting her, making her safety your top priority.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not really the responsible one in this trio, now am I?” Jacoby smirks. “Relax, Mr. Intensity, Alberico okayed it. He’s sending someone else to watch nearby while I’m gone. Besides, aren’t you always complaining that you don’t really need me here anyway?”

“Where’re you going?” I ask him before Grey can respond. I’m not really in the mood for any bickering this morning.

“Isobel asked me to meet with her this morning. She said it’s important,” he says with a sort of nonchalant shrug but there’s something off in his voice. I think he’s trying to brush it off like it isn’t a big deal when in fact, it probably is actually important. Anyway, I don’t think his aunt would ask him to skip unless it was.  I'm glad that Isobel and Jacoby are spending time together and getting to know one another. She's the only family he has left now.

“As long as Alberico gave his permission.” I don’t want him to get into any trouble with my dad.

“Isobel said she cleared it.”

“Tell her I said ‘hi’.”

“I’ll be back before lunch, okay?”

“Okay.” I stand on my tippy toes and kiss his cheek. “See you later.”

He glances around the parking lot to make sure nobody’s paying attention then walks off into a nearby cluster of trees, scans his surroundings once more for good measure, and then he vanishes.

I stand there staring at the spot where he just disappeared a little too long. Grey clears his throat to catch my attention.

“Sorry, I was just distracted,” I tell him as I shake my head back into the present. We walk towards the school. Since Jacoby’s gone for the morning, I know that Grey won’t leave my side except during class and even then, he will be waiting outside my classroom before the bell rings. It’s kind of frustrating actually because I spent the better part of first semester being extremely confused by his behavior.

Greyson’s a pretty boy—it’s an elf thing. They’re actually all out of this world beautiful, but I’ve always had a soft spot for his eyes. Nobody else has eyes like his. They’re an unusual, but gorgeous, shade of indigo-blue. He wears his dark hair long, almost to his chin, in order to disguise his slightly pointed ears. 

When he started school at MHS last fall, he caused quite the stir amongst the female population. It always struck me as odd that he only ever talked to me.

I had a major crush on him. That’s until I found out that he has seen me in diapers. That sort of freaked me out, but nothing would’ve changed my feelings if he would have given us a chance. He was completely adamant that we could be nothing more than friends. I know the logistics of a relationship with an elf do not make sense. But the heart wants what the heart wants.

He, however, didn’t think I was worth it so I moved on. I moved on to somebody who does think I’m worth it.  But even though I’ve moved on, that doesn’t mean I can escape Grey. Since my father has placed him in charge of protecting me he’s always around, which gets a little awkward since Jacoby’s usually nearby as well.

“How are you feeling?” he asks as we approach the glass doors that lead into Manhattan High School.

“Good,” I lie. I absentmindedly start to twirl a strand of my hair around my finger. Grey reaches out and pulls my hand down. The warmth of his hand causes a jolt to my system and I instinctively pull my hand away.  There was a time I would have been thrilled that he was holding my hand. But things are so very different now.

“I know when you are lying. I may not be able to tell from your aura like your boyfriend, but I can tell because I know you. Everything about you. Including your nervous habits.” He touches the side of my face. “You seem upset today.”

I stare at him for a moment, trying to decide whether or not I want to talk to him about it.

“Fine, I had another nightmare,” I blurt out.

“Another?” Grey tilts his head to the side curiously, stepping close enough to me that there’s hardly any space between us. I take a deep breath, catching a whiff of apples and sandalwood and I find myself comforted by the familiarity of him.

“Yeah, I’ve been having them almost every night since….you know.” It’s been weeks but I still struggle to say the words out loud. It’s difficult to even think them: I killed someone.

“What happens?”

I look around to make sure no one is paying any attention. Everyone is so absorbed with their own gossiping and exchanging of possible theories about what really happened to Seth that I don’t have to worry about anyone overhearing me.

After I tell him what happened in my dream, Grey seems to ponder everything I just told him for a moment before speaking again, “You know that you aren’t like them, right?”

He doesn’t have to explain, I know he means the Dark Elves.

“I hope not,” I say without looking at him.

“You are not evil. You didn’t kill Brian for pure enjoyment. You were trying to defend your people. There’s honor in that.”

The bell rings signaling the start of first hour and I still haven’t made it to my locker yet. Then I notice the Missing Person posters that now clutter the walls of the hallway. I scan the hallway for any sign of Hannah's strawberry blonde hair but I don't see her.

“Did you hear about Seth?” I ask Grey.

“Yes.”

“Hannah must be so upset, but she hasn't said a word to me about it.” I'm still baffled by this. Why wouldn't she talk to me about it? Her boyfriend is missing for goodness sake! It's kind of a big deal and surely she would've noticed before now. I mean, if Jacoby was gone for a week, I'd notice. Heck, I'd notice if he was missing for a day.

“I am afraid there may be more to the story,” Grey says.

“Do you think--?”

“It’s easy to jump to that conclusion right now, after all, people disappear all the time without any help from the Dökkálfar so I believe we should wait until we have more information before assuming the worst. However, I have a bad feeling about this.”

“Is it wrong to hope that he just ran away? His parents must be so worried, but still—”

I don’t have to finish my sentence. Grey knows that believing Seth ran away on his own accord is much easier to swallow than thinking the Dark Elves had anything to do with it.

Grey and I walk in uncomfortable silence side by side to my locker. He stays with me until I gather all my books and then he walks me to my first class. I guess he doesn’t care that by doing so he’s making himself even later.

“I’ll see you later,” he says softly.

“Yeah, see ya.” I turn to go but he suddenly grabs my arm to stop me. “What?”

I turn to face him, his stance has stiffened and his eyes are narrowed at something or someone behind me. I follow his gaze—past Mrs. Coleman who’s watching me curiously, probably wondering what’s going on—and my eyes fall upon the gangly figure sitting in the front row in the desk next to mine and shock hits me like a Mack truck.

Ethan’s back.

Grey pulls me back into the hallway and I stumble over my feet trying to keep up.

“What’s he doing here?” I ask. The last time I saw Ethan was the night Hannah and I were attacked in the parking lot of the movie theater. He’s one of the humans who, like Brian, had been working undercover for Dugan in his attempts to kidnap me and force me into breaking the curse placed on the Dark Elves by Sól.

“I don’t know, but I’ve got to get you out of here.”

“Grey, I can’t—”

“Mia,” he whispers frantically. “Just, please, for once, don’t be stubborn. Just let me get you out of here.”

              I nod to let him know I’ll be good and reach out my hand to him. He pulls me behind him out of the nearest exit and back into the parking lot, heading straight for the tree line. As soon as we are hidden from view, our fingers entwine. A moment later the world spins and we’re surrounded in a bright and warm golden light.

Chapter Three

H
e transports us into the familiar white stone walls and shiny marble floors of the main hall and leads me down the south wing of the castle. Grey stops the first servant we see, a dark-haired elf with severe, pointy features, and demands to know where Alberico is. I think his name is Xavier but I have a hard time keeping everyone’s name straight.

“I’m not sure sir, I believe he was in his sitting room,” he says with a slight quiver in his voice.

Greyson is still holding my hand as we make our way further down the stone hall to Alberico’s private sitting room. Alberico can often be found in there, he said it’s his favorite part of the castle. 

He knocks twice and waits for Alberico to grant us permission to enter.

My golden-haired father is standing behind an easel, paint brush in hand. His shoulder-length corn silk hair is tied back away from his face. He isn’t wearing his usual kingly robe or crown, but instead just the everyday attire of the male Light Elves that typically consists of a tunic and pants. I’m not all that interested in fashion, but if you ask me, the male elves got the short end of the stick. The tunics they wear are typically a pale, solid-color with absolutely no embellishments and they only wear plain dull, neutral colored pants. The ladies however are always dressed in lovely, floor length dresses with long bell sleeves and intricate designs.

The simple blue tunic he’s wearing today brings out the brightness of his eyes. You wouldn’t think he was old enough to be my father, in fact his youthful appearance still freaks me out on occasion but that’s how all the Light Elves are. They are pretty much immortal but they still age—just at a much slower rate than humans. He’s actually over 300-years-old but looks maybe twenty-three, twenty-five tops.

“Ah, Mia, my dear. To what do I owe this pleasure?” He flashes me a beaming smile from behind a canvas. He quickly throws a sheet over whatever it is that he was working on. I didn’t even know he could paint.

“Ethan was at school today,” Grey interjects and Alberico’s expression falters.

“What?” Alberico turns his attention away from me and focuses intently as Greyson tells him what we know, which really is nothing, but I take advantage of their momentary distraction to call out to Jacoby using Mind-Speak. We’re the only ones, that we are aware of, who possess this skill.

Most elves have normal elemental magic abilities. Alberico is a Fire user, Grey is Earth, and Isobel is Water.  Jacoby and I stand out not only because we’re the only Half-bloods here, but we’re also Spirit users. We can’t control any of the normal elements but he can see auras, I can heal, and we can exchange telepathic secrets.

“Jacoby, are you here?  I’m in Alberico’s sitting room
.”

“Yeah, I’m here. Isobel and I just got back. What are you doing here? You can’t get on to me for skipping if you are going to turn around and do the same thing.”

“
I’m not skipping—not exactly anyway and definitely not willingly.”

“
Are you okay?”
The teasing tone is completely gone from his voice.

“I’m fine. Ethan’s back.”

“Isobel and I will be right there.”

While waiting for Jacoby to appear, I wander over to the painting of the rose garden with the stone water fountain that was painted by my mother and now resides in a place of honor among the rest of the paintings in this room. I want to sneak a peek at what Alberico’s hiding underneath the canvas but if he wanted me to see, he probably wouldn’t have covered it up in the first place.

I wonder if he has painted any of the pieces in here. I make a point to examine each painting for a name in the corner but most of them are so swirly that they’re hard to decipher. I can’t read the individual names, but it’s obvious that there are several by the same artist. I guess it really wouldn’t make much sense for him to have his own paintings in here. It would seem a little pretentious and that’s really not Alberico’s style. Still, I am curious…  

There’s a knock on the door and Jacoby and Isobel enter the room, followed by her husband, Finnegan. I instantly feel better as soon as his hand is holding mine. Jacoby and Isobel listen patiently while Grey fills them in on what he just told Alberico.

“What do we need to do?” Grey asks Alberico once he’s finished catching Jacoby and Isobel up to speed. Alberico has his chin resting on both of his hands as though in prayer with a faraway look in his eyes.