The Reverence of One: Book Three of the Shadow Series (13 page)

He stepped to her forcefully and grabbed her by the arm, lifting her to her feet
as a syringe and spoon fell to the floor
.

She stumbled, her eyes barely open, and spoke
,
her words slurring so badly that Thad could barely understand.
“Okay, okay,” she responded. “I’m packed and ready to go.”

Thad struggled to keep her upright as she continually tried to sit back down on the bed. His small frame didn’t allow him to lift her,
so
he slung her left arm around his shoulder and walked her out into the living room. As he
approached
the front door, nearly dragging Nicole’s comatose body, he barked angrily.

“I’ll never understand how someone can get to this point.”
He gripped the door handle forcefully with his free hand and flung the door open, rattling its hinges. “Come on, Grandpa.
Let’s get the hell out of this shit-hole!”

As they reached the first floor, Thad’s adrenaline was fully engaged and the girl’s weight barely registered with him anymore. He glanced around the room, grateful that no one really paid any attention to them. “
Funny
,” he thought to himself. “
I come in and it feels like everyone’s looking at me. I walk out with
a
junkie, and it’s like I’m one of the crowd
.”

Once to the car, Thad opened the back door and basically poured Nicole’s limp body into the back seat
. She lay still across the seat,
her eyes open only to slits, and stared blankly at the back of the front seats. Thad slammed the door and quickly rushed around the side to get in.

The instant he turned the
key in the
ignition, Cliff appeared in the seat next to him. Though not in full form, he was visible enough for Cliff to see the look of concern on his face.

As he pulled out into the street, Thad asked. “Now what?”

“We go and pick up Lauren,” replied Cliff.

“And then what?”

“We head to
Washington
.”

“What?” shouted Thad. “I
have work. I can’t just up and
…
.
” He stopped himself mid-sentence, suddenly remembering the vision he’d had as he was entering the apartment building.

“Look, boy,” began Cliff. “You need to…
.
”

Thad waved a hand to his grandfather in a quieting manner, and then closed his eyes briefly in thought, struggling to remember the details.

“What is it?” asked Cliff.

“You said we need to go to
Washington
?”

Nodding his head, Cliff replied. “Yes, around Forks.”

“There’s lots of trees there, right?”

Cliff nodded his head once more. “Yes. Why, what’s on your mind?”

“
When I was going into the building, I had a quick vision. It was really fast, but I saw a bunch of trees.” He paused in thought again. “A bunch of
trees—and
a house with a big back porch.”

Cliff’s eyes opened wide. “What else did you see?”

Thad glanced in his rearview mirror, checking to see if it was clear to change lanes, and then glanced at Cliff. “There was a man there. I couldn’t see his face, but he was standing in the trees just watching the house.”

Cliff turned anxiously in his seat. “What did he look like?”

“I told you, I couldn’t see him. The only thing I could see was his hair. He had dark brown hair that was all messed up.”

“That’s it?” replied Cliff. “There’s nothing else?”

Feeling the fright in the old man’s words, he responded regretfully as he gripped the steering wheel with both hands. “No. That’s all I saw.
What does it mean?”

“It means we’d better
get
our behinds to
Washington
, and in a hurry.”

Evening had come and Test found himself struggling once again. Lauren was right, the comfort hadn’t lasted long.

He stood in the spare bathroom with the door closed and the shower running. The hot water quickly humidified the air, causing the mirror to fog over. Having removed his shirt, he stood leaning on the counter o
ver the sink in his sweatpants. He looked at his reflection through the fog and wiped away a spot so he could see his face. His hair short and stubbly,
just growing in
, he struggled to even know who he was anymore.

The dream had left him feeling helpless and full of regret. It seemed to him that his life was destined to be filled with tragedy and heartache. Just as his mind had begun to spiral into a vortex of self-pity, he felt what was becoming a familiar pull to his left.

“Who’s there?” he asked, though he was fairly certain of who it was.

With no reply, he held out his hand and began to release a mild pulse of energy. He felt her hand grip his first, and then watched as Alyssa materialized.

“You
doin’
okay?” she asked.

Test shrugged
. He could tell by the troubled look on her face that she was genuinely concerned. “I guess,” he replied.

She pulled him into her and placed a gentle kiss on the center of his chest. Turning her c
heek and resting her head on his bare flesh
, she listened to his heartbeat. She’d never thought of it before, but as she listened, she found it to be amazingly un-extraordinary.

“You seen Mom?” he asked.

“No, I haven’t.”

She lifted her head and peered into his blue-gray eyes. Placing her palm on his cheek
and, trying not to let him see her notice his scar
, she rubbed it back and forth. “Getting kind of scruffy there, mister,” she said with a playful grin.

Test tried to restrain it, but her smile was contagious. “Yeah, well, I’ve been a little preoccupied,” he replied.

Alyssa
slid around him, letting her hand slide across his bare back as she passed. She opened the wooden medicine cabinet that hung on the wall, but not finding what she was looking for, promptly closed it. She opened the top drawer on the cabinet, just to the right of Test, and pulled out a package of razors.

The two of them looked at each other’s hazy reflection in the mirror. Alyssa stepped behind him and held the razor up as she caressed his right cheek with her free hand. She watched as a smile washed Test’s lips.

Without a word spoken, she gripped his arm and guided him to the edge of the bathtub, sitting him down
purposefully
. Turning back to the sink, and with no shaving cream to be seen, she grabbed at the bar of soap that rested by the sink and turned on the faucet. Working a thick lather in her hands, she turned of
f the faucet with her wrist. Kneeling before
him
, she placed her lathered hands on his cheeks, and leaned in to him, kissing his lips softly three times. She worked the lather into his stubble, coating his face and neck, and then grabbed a towel that Test had set out for himself earlier. Bringing the razor to his face, she started at his right ear and brought the blade down gently. With each pass she placed her lips to his, each kiss lasting a touch longer than the one previous.
As she got to his neck, she lifted his chin with her index finger and gracefully guided the razor up, tenderly kissing the strip of freshly shaven flesh after she lifted the razor.

With the touch of her lips on his neck, Test’s pulse began to race, igniting within him
an increase of
the energy that allowed Alyssa to become more real, more alive. His eyes nearly closed as he
savored
her touch, he could see the red pulses of light through the slits in his eyelids
as they
rac
ed
down his arms. All too quickly, he felt her lips press against the o
pposite
side of his neck as she made the final pass
with the razor
. With his eyes now closed, the white noise of the shower nearly hypnotized him. He felt a gentle push on his chest as Alyssa’s lips connected forcefully with his, causing him to grip the side of the tub. She continued to push, and he allowed himself to be maneuvered into the hot stream of water coming from the shower head. He swung his legs over
the tub’s edge
and, with
their lips still connected, lay back in the tub with Alyssa
on top of him. The bliss of her touch overshadowed the lack of comfort that the tub provided, and he allowed himself to get lost within
it
.

****

It took a matter of minutes for Thad, Cliff, and Nicole to reach Thad’s apartment to pick up Lauren, and in a half hours’ time, Thad had downloaded directions to Forks from the internet, and packed the essentials
.

Now h
eading West on
H
ighway
T
wo,
no one in the vehicle had said more than two words since leaving
Kansas City
.
Per Cliff’s instructions, Thad had made sure that their
route
would take them through
Lincoln
,
Nebraska
. Though he knew that this is where his grandfather had lived, he wasn’t privy to the reason why they were to pass through it.

Lauren sat in the back seat and stared impatiently out her window. Nev
er in her life had she taken a substantial
trip in a car and she knew that this
one
was going to be brutally long. When she was younger, before her transformation, her family didn’t own a car. Back then, a car was a luxury item owned by the wealthy, something her family was far from. While she did own a car now, she rarely used it; mainly for trips into town to get food and supplies. If ever there was somewhere to go that involved a considerable distance, her powers allowed her to travel much faster than any car could take her.

“So how long until we get there?” she asked, sounding something like a five year old whining from the back seat.

“
Lincoln
?” asked Thad. “A couple of hours.”

“No,” replied Lauren, “home, in Forks. How long until we’re back in
Washington
?”

Thad rolled his eyes as he looked at her in the rearview mirror. “Oh, well, that’s a little over thirty hours according to the website I got the directions from. Two-thousand some miles I think.” He let out a slight chuckle as Lauren’s eyes opened so wide that they nearly looked as though they’d fall out of their sockets.

“Are you shit
t
ing me?” she shouted as she gripped the back of the front passenger seat
. “I could walk faster than that!” A lone red pulse raced down her arm, and when she saw it, she closed her eyes in an effort to calm herself. She took a deep breath, in through her nose slowly, and then out through her mouth. In a calm voice, she spoke matter-of-factly. “I’m getting out at the next stop.”

“You can’t,” replied Cliff as he appeared transparently in the front passenger seat. “I may need you.”

Lauren
closed her eyes,
squeez
ing them tightly as if in pain
. “How did I know you were going to say that?”

“He may need you, hell,” chimed Thad, “If you’re not around and the Reapers show up, we’ll all end up just like him.” He turned to his grandfather and with a wink, was quick to clarify. “No offense, grandpa.”

“Just shut up and drive,
Thadeus
,
” replied Lauren
, speaking his full name
sarcastically as she flopped back in her seat. “Do you think you can maybe go a little faster, too?”

Leaning forward in his seat to see her better in the rearview mirror, Thad raised his voice in response. “The name’s Thad, Lauren. And I don’t think getting pulled over while we’ve got a young girl comatose and passed out in the back seat
is going to get us to Forks any faster!
”

“Oh come on, I can just…
,
” shouted Lauren.

“Enough,” interrupted Cliff. “Damn! It’s like being on a car ride with a couple of five year olds.” He turned round in his seat and scowled at Lauren. “Look, I know this isn’t your ideal way of travel
lin’
, but it’s what we have to do right now. You were so concerned about rest earlier, why don’t you close your eyes and get some sleep.” Thad chuckled next to the old man as Lauren stared wide eyed in shock at the old man’s sudden aggravation. Cliff turned to him. “And you! You’d best wipe that grin off your face, boy.
We’re all family here now. True, not all of us blood, but we’ve all got to stick together like we was.”

Thad grimaced as he thought of the next thirty some hours stuck in the car with his new ‘family’.