Shadows of New York (3 page)

“That means Mrs. Effigy is calling you,” explained Rosemary. “I downloaded some ringtones before Mom and Dad gave it to you.” Their parents always gave the newest smart phone—for work use—to the newest nanny, even if they already had a cell phone. Josh guessed that it was like a signing bonus.

“Oh.” Aiden ended the song and put the phone to his ear. Josh heard only half of the conversation, but it was clear what was said on the other end. “Ann, what’s up? Sure, baby arugula. No, I have no idea what it looks like, but there will probably be a sign, right? Okay. Bye.”

“We have to stop on the way home and get some baby arugula,” said Rosemary to Josh, as if he hadn't just heard the conversation. Aiden nodded.

Around the corner from their apartment building was a small store specializing in gourmet supplies. They delivered, but charged a hefty fee for it. It wasn’t uncommon for Mrs. F-G to think of something that she wanted to cook, but lacked a few ingredients. Josh couldn’t count all the times they had picked things up on the way home from school.

Josh always got semi-queasy when they entered the store. Mrs. F-G had a way of working with food that made the kitchen smell heavenly. Here, there were just too many things, and the way they came together was more of a reek than a smell.

Aiden had the same reaction. As they entered the store, he paused and shook his head. “In and out fast.” His voice sounded like he was trying not to breathe through his nose.

They went straight to the vegetables. Rosemary took the lead in picking out the greens, examining each bunch closely.

Without warning, loud voices erupted near the cash register. Aiden shunted Josh and Rosemary toward the back and said, “No time to get out the front. Get in the restroom and lock the door.”

“What? I don’t have to—” began Rosemary, but she didn’t get to finish her sentence.

Aiden gently shoved them into the restroom. As the door swung closed, he said, “Don’t open it for anyone but me, got it?”

Josh gulped. He stared at the door, trying to hear what was happening on the other side. There was something, but not enough to decipher. A couple of short shouts, and then silence. He'd been in this very store many times over the years, and nothing like this had ever happened. Josh took some deep breaths to calm his rising fear and to center himself. He didn't quite know what that meant, but he'd heard his mom say it before.

The strange turn of events didn’t appear to phase Rosemary one bit. She stood in front of the mirror applying lip-gloss. “Do you think this makes my lips look
too
sparkly?”

Josh, his attention still focused outside, didn’t answer.

“
Josh!
”

He turned to his sister. “
What
?”

“Do you think my lips are too sparkly?”

“Not now, Rosemary.”

There was a knock on the door. “Who is it?” sang Rosemary.

“Aiden. Open up.”

Josh did as instructed. Aiden reached in, grabbed each of them by an arm, and began escorting them back toward the front of the store. It was a calm scene, but Josh had the impression that things had just been a whole lot crazier. Two men lay on the floor, not moving, and some sort of small gun lay near each of them. Behind the cash register stood the regular clerk with his mouth hanging wide open. As they passed, Aiden tilted his head away from the man.

“The baby arugula!” called out Rosemary. She broke free from Aiden’s grasp and ran back to the vegetables.

“Rosemary, come on, we have to go,” said Aiden.

She returned with a bundle of greens and placed it on the counter. “We’d like this, please.”

Aiden threw a twenty-dollar bill on the counter, snatched their purchase, and said, “Keep the change.”

As they left the store, Rosemary asked, “Aiden, are my lips too sparkly?”

* * * *

Josh stood in the hallway outside Aiden’s room. Listening in—eavesdropping, as his mother would call it—wasn’t on anyone’s list of good manners, but this wasn’t exactly a normal situation. As soon as they returned to the apartment, Aiden had handed over the salad greens, made sure the kids were settled in at the island for their afternoon snack (including Jackson in his high chair), and then, without another word, disappeared into his room. Now, he was on his phone. Josh could again hear one side of the conversation.

“I did.” Aiden’s voice was muffled by the closed door. “They were locked away in back. I couldn’t just…I know my first job is to keep them safe. I just thought, you know, if they were in back and I could keep the guys up front…That’s what I was doing. Just, you know, in a more pro-active way…No, it won’t…I didn’t change at all…Okay, I’ll be in tomorrow morning.”

Josh expected the conversation to go on a while longer. He was startled when the door opened, and he found himself standing right in front of Aiden.

“Uh, want a cookie?” he asked, holding up the extra chocolate crinkle he’d brought with him from the kitchen.

“I’m not hungry right now.” Aiden looked tense.

“Okay.” Josh stepped backward while starting in on the cookie. It was gone in two bites, making Aiden smile.

“Slow down there, partner. We don’t want you to choke.”

Josh, glad he could cheer Aiden up a little, nodded and swallowed.

Following Aiden back to the kitchen, Josh heard him say, “Who wants to go to the park?”

“Me!” Rosemary cried, raising her hand in the air and waving it back and forth like crazy.

“Eeeeee!” Jackson squealed, raising both hands above his head.

“Josh?” Aiden asked, turning to him. “You in?”

“Sure. I’ll get my skateboard.”

“Don’t forget your helmet,” Rosemary reminded her brother. “Mommy says to always wear your helmet.” Josh rolled his eyes, but grabbed his helmet on the way out.

* * * *

“Yes!” Josh yelled. “We got ’em!”

“We sure did,” Aiden agreed. “But let’s keep the noise level down a little, okay? We don’t want to wake up the youngsters.”

“Right.”

The two were on the couch playing Josh’s favorite zombie-slaying video game. His little brother and sister had gone to bed. Josh was enjoying the privilege of his later bedtime more than ever now that he had a cool nanny to hang out with.

“I don’t mean to interrupt…” came Mrs. F-G’s voice from the archway to the dining room. Josh hit pause, and they both looked in her direction.

“That’s okay,” Aiden said. “What’s up?”

“Well, I just had a sudden inspiration for a new dish I’d like to try out. The trouble is, it calls for organic vanilla yogurt, and we don’t seem to have any.”

“No problem. I can pick some up tomorrow.”

“Well, that’s nice of you, dear, but I really wanted to make it for breakfast in the morning.”

“I guess I could go out now,” Aiden said.

“Oh, could you? That would be so lovely of you. I’ll keep an ear out for the little ones, and an eye on Josh.”

“I want to go with you, Aiden. Can I please?” Josh was still curious about the events at the store that afternoon. He hoped to pick up some information during this trip. Maybe he could even get up the courage to ask the clerk for details while Aiden went to the dairy aisle.

“I don’t know, buddy. It’s getting kinda late.”

“But my bedtime isn’t for almost an hour, and I finished all my homework. Please?”

“Well,” Aiden drawled. “I guess so.”

“Yes!” Josh went to the hall closet to grab his light jacket.

Once out on the sidewalk, Aiden turned in the opposite direction from the one Josh expected.

“That’s the wrong way,” Josh said, confused. “The store is right over here, remember?”

“I thought we’d try a different one. There’s another store two or three blocks this way.”

“How’d you know that?”

“I took Jackson on a walk while you guys were at school today, got the lay of the land.”

“Oh.” He started after Aiden. “I really think we should go to our normal store. Mrs. F-G really likes that one.”

“This one will do just fine.”

After a quick visit to the store—which was a little smaller than their usual place, but Josh had to admit, smelled a lot better—they headed right back home. Josh, carrying the bag from the store, walked along in silence. He was disappointed the he didn’t get a chance to “gather intelligence,” as Rosemary would say.

Absorbed in these thoughts, Josh didn’t notice the group of men approaching until they were almost in front of him. Their loud, raucous speech blended in with the background noise. There were five of them, taking up the width of the sidewalk.

“’Scuse me, fellas,” said Aiden as he tried to move around them.

Their laughing stopped for a second but started back up right away, even louder than before. The one closest to Aiden replied in an exaggerated Southern accent, “Not a problem, pardner.” His friends guffawed.

“I don’t want any trouble,” Aiden said calmly. “We’re just headed home.”

“Where’s that? Okeefenokee?” This resulted in another round of laughter.

Aiden didn’t respond. He put an arm on Josh’s shoulder and started moving him toward the curb. “Let’s cross the street.”

The Ringleader, as Josh thought of him, stepped between Aiden and the street. “Hey, you brought something to our hoedown?” He grabbed the bag before Aiden could stop him, peering inside. “Organic yogurt? You some kind of hippy hillbilly? Like, a hillhippy?”

Again, there was a chorus of laughter. The others shouted out other possible combinations, such as billhippy or hipbilly. This egged on the Ringleader.

Aiden glared at him as he snatched back the bag. “I’m gonna ask you one time to get out of our way.”

“Or what? You gonna lasso me?”

Taking a deep breath, Aiden turned around and started walking back the way they came, putting an arm around Josh to bring him along. The gang moved to block their path.

Josh glanced up and down the sidewalk. He saw other people, but they were on the other side of the street or crossing to get there, avoiding whatever trouble was brewing.

“Josh,” said Aiden quietly, “you should always try to talk your way out of situations like this.”

“I know.”

“I tried to. I tried real hard.”

“I know.”

“It’s just that, sometimes you have to stand up for yourself. And for the people you care about.” The way Aiden said it told Josh they were more than just words; he was dead serious. “Now close your eyes.”

“What?” Josh asked, surprised by this last bit.

“Just close them.” Aiden’s tone of voice left no room for argument.

Josh did as he was told and felt Aiden’s arm leave his shoulder. The laughing stopped instantly. The next thing Josh heard was one of the men saying, “What the—oof!”

He had seen enough karate movies to know what a fight sounded like. This was kind of like that, but different. There was no “hi-yah” to signify a punch. There were only grunts and random nonsensical yells. Heavy thuds made Josh picture bodies hitting the ground. Is that what was happening?

When things went silent again, Josh felt safe to open his eyes. Aiden was the only one left standing. Josh did a doubletake, realizing that it wasn’t his nanny, but a creature wearing Aiden’s clothes. Some sort of half-man, half-beast, it stood there breathing heavily and turning in circles, looking at the men splayed on the ground. One of them started getting to his feet. The beast shot to the man like a dart, grabbing the front of his shirt and pinning him up against the wall of the building behind them. It was the Ringleader, and he was terrified. The creature’s bared teeth were inches from the guy’s face. A low growl came from between the long, sharp teeth.

“Where’s Aiden?” Josh asked, his voice shaking with fear.

The beast looked around with Aiden’s blue eyes. He let go of the Ringleader, who broke into a sprint the second his feet hit the pavement.

The creature stepped from under the streetlights, retreating into the building’s shadow. In the darkness, Josh couldn't see what was going on. When the thing in Aiden’s clothes came back out into the light, it looked like regular old Aiden.

“What?” Josh asked, the fear gripping his heart and making his breath catch in his throat. “How?”

“Josh, I—” Aiden started.

Josh didn't stick around for any explanations. He started running toward home.

* * * *

Aiden kept pace with Josh, staying a constant fifteen feet behind to keep an eye on him, but not crowd him. When they entered the apartment, Josh bolted straight to his room and slammed the door.

Mrs. F-G sat at the kitchen table, working on something involving a large bowl and a red fruit. She gave Aiden a “what was that all about?” look the second he came in to deliver the yogurt.

“What was that all about?” she asked when he failed to answer her eyes.

“Just, um, you know. Normal pre-teen boy stuff.”

She shook her head. “I know Josh. That’s not normal. Not for him, at least.”

Aiden put the yogurt in the fridge, slamming the door a little harder than he intended. Condiment bottles clanked together. “Well, I hope that breakfast is good tomorrow. It might be my last meal here.”

“Meaning?” She stood and took the bowl to the sink, tipping it on its side to pour out a considerable amount of water.

“Meaning…I sort of wolfed out in front of Josh.”

“Oh, dear.”

Mrs. F-G held the bowl out to Aiden, who looked at it and said absently, “Oh. Pomegranate. I love these things.”

“They’re right behind sausage gravy and biscuits on your favorite food list, yes?”

“Something like that, yeah.” Aiden tossed a handful of red, juicy seed casings in his mouth. “How do you know all this food stuff? And, come to think of it, how did you know about…my condition?”

“Food oracle,” she said, as if those two words would explain it all.

Aiden shook his head, a blank look on his face. “No idea what you mean.”

“You don’t know about food oracles?”

Again, Aiden shook his head.

“So you must have been bitten not too long ago. You didn’t grow up surrounded by all things mythical and mystical.” Mrs. F-G began cleaning up the white pulp and red rind from the sink, the bits of the pomegranate left over after picking out the edible seedpods. “Well, there’s no such thing as the classic oracle anymore, the kind you read about in books. The know-all, see-all, riddle-spouting fortuneteller. We have rather narrow fields. I can see the future, but only as it relates to food. You’ve noticed that I prefer to keep my quarters private?”