The Reverence of One: Book Three of the Shadow Series (25 page)

Test scooted forward to the edge of the couch, lacing his fingers together and resting his elbows on his knees. Though it hadn’t been very long since his escape from the government compound, so much had happened since that it seemed like a lifetime ago. The events
of his escape
began to replay themselves in his mind; he and Cliff running, losing strength and phasing back to the world of the living, the bullet entering and exiting his body, the hotel bathroom, the healing…
.

“Did you see anything else?” asked Test.

“Well, I don’t need the gift of sight to see that your shoulder has made a miraculous recovery in such a short period of time,” answered Jenz with a mild sarcasm.

“I
s
that—normal,” asked Test.

“For the same reason that Shadows seemingly cease to age, we do possess some advanced healing abilities,” replied Jenz. “Tell me, how long did it take to heal?”

Test thought for a moment before responding. “Well, I’m not sure how much time there was between my being shot and the time Alyssa got me to the hotel, but I stood and watched it happen in the mirror. Maybe thirty seconds?”

Jenz’s eyes grew wide, showing more of the yellowish white that surrounded her pinkish-red pupils.

“What?” asked Test. “Is that not normal?”

“Certainly not,” she replied in awe. “Not from what I know anyway.” She paused. “Tell me, what did it look like?”

Unsure if the feeling growing inside of him was that of empowerment or fear, he tried to relive the moment for her.

“It seems like so long ago, but I remember the blue light coming from within the bullet hole the most. It was almost like a laser beam shot
ou
t the hole from the inside. After a few seconds, the hole just closed.”

Sitting straight up, Jenz listened intently, waiting for more, but Test offered nothing.

“That’s all?” she asked.

Test wrinkled his nose a
s
he scratched at an eyebrow
. “What do you mean?”

Jenz cocked her head slightly and looked to the wall over his shoulder. “Curious,”
she replied.

“What?” he asked with mild concern.

“It would appear, young Mr. Davis,
” replied Jenz, bringing her gaze back to him,
“
that my theory about you is correct.
Something within you is still progressing.” She took his hands into hers once more and shook them once while speaking assuredly. “You’re gifts are many and I believe there are still more to come, but you must remain careful. All the power in the world means nothing without the ability to control it.”

“Are we still talking about the healing thing?” asked Test in ignorance.

Jenz
laughed
as she patted his legs. “No, Test. I am talking about what is to come—what has yet to be realized.”

He stared at her in silence, trying to make sense of her cryptic
words
. She was amazing to him. Only hours ago, he found her frightening, both in appearance and
power
. Now, he felt drawn to her—he had endless questions that came to him, one after another; questions that he didn’t think Lauren could, or would, answer.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked.

Test had almost fallen into a trance, but her words brought him to. “I was just thinking…
.
”
H
e stopped, unsure if he wanted to be completely transparent with his thoughts.

“Yes,” she asked, trying to coax his words.

Test released his hands from hers and leaned back on the couch. Lacing his fingers behind his head, he took a deep breath and spoke.

“Back at Lauren’s, when I was trying to attack you, you were able to shift so fast.” He watched Jenz
’s
eyes glimmer as the corners of her lips turned up. “Can you teach me?”

A sudden glow of pride overcame her as she stood in front of him. “
It’s not a matter of if I can teach you;
I
must
teach you,” she replied forcefully. “I believe that is why our paths were meant to cross.”

Test’s faced beamed with excitement. For the first time in his Shadow life, he found someone who could provide the answers to all of the questions that he’d never been able to ask.

“Awesome,” he replied with the exuberance of his age. “Show me!”

Jenz exhaled deeply as she turned from him and walked towards the television. She reached down and turned off the T.V., and turned to him with a slight scowl.
“I’m afraid that you think this is something that can be easily learned,” she said in a cautious tone.

Test fidgeted nervously in his seat, suddenly feeling embarrassed.

“I wouldn’t say that,”
he replied as his cheeks flushed red.

Jenz placed her long, thin index finger to her chin as she contemplated how best to share with the young Shadow.

“Being an albino,” she began, waving her hands down
,
and then up
,
her torso, “I am sensitive to the sun. This was made worse by the fact that from the time I was born, I was hidden away by my parents.” She walked across the room slowly as she spoke. “You see, in those times, my appearance wasn’t understood well by others, and was considered something of a curse by the small community in which my family lived.”

“Where was that?” Test
interrupted  gently, a subtle hint of pity in his voice
. “If you don’t mind me asking
that is?
”

She glanced over her shoulder to him. “Of course not,” she replied. “I was born in a small village in
Sweden
.”

“Really?” asked Test inquisitively. “You don’t have an accent at all.”

She turned to face him and grinned. “I have lived in
North America
for over two hundred years now. In the early days of my arrival to this country, it was difficult enough to find acceptance, much more so than it is now.
My appearance aside, I had to learn a new language, and
I thought
that
if I taught myself to
speak without my native accent
,
it might make it easier for
me to fit in.”

“And how did that work?” asked Test, cringing to himself as the words left his lips, knowing that it was an inappropriate question to ask.

Jenz eyed him curiously. “As should have been expected—it helped very little.
Unfortunately, m
y appearance is difficult for most to get past
, b
ut it is something that I’ve learned to accept.
” S
he paused with her hands on her hips
.
“
Now,
may I continue with my original line of thought?”

Again
,
Test’s cheeks flushed red. “Yes, I’m sorry. Please go ahead.”

“My parents,”
she resumed as she
slowly
paced the room,
“forced me to stay indoors, hidden from the outside world. Few in the village knew of my
existence
, only
select members of
my extended family
,
and to everyone else, I had been lost at birth.

“Though I was too young to know for sure, I have a feeling that my father was initially loving, and not at peace with th
eir decision regarding my care.”

Test watched Jenz with a heavy heart as her voice began to waver. “You don’t have to…
.
” began Test, stopped by Jenz’s raised hand.

“I won’t go into specifics,” she continued, pursing her lips as she struggled to reign in her emotions, “but I’ll just say that the conditions in which I was forced to live would be considered inappropriate for a family pet in this day and age.” She wiped a tear nearly ready to fall from the corner of her eye and flipped her hair over her shoulders. “Around the time I turned twelve or thirteen, something happened that still, to this day, I can see a
s
plainly in my mind as though it happened yesterday.

“
In my room,” she paused with a huff, “if you could even call it that, I had four items in my possession; my bed, a stool, a cup, and a brush for my hair. The brush was my most cherished possession.” She turned to him
and
, stopping mid-step
, looked at him with a whimsical expression
. “In fact, I still have it. I can’t remember the circumstances of how the brush became mine, but I like to think that it was a gift from my father.
”

Test’s eyes held hers, and though she was looking at him, it was as if she were in another place.

“Anyway,” she continued, flipping her hands into the air and continu
ing her slow pacing of the room.
“
O
ne day I was sitting on the floor of my room and listening to my parents argue, something that they did quite often,”
she interjected as she glanced to Test. “I would always put my fingers in my ears, trying my best to tune out everything they would say. On that day, however, when I placed my fingertips into my ear, they felt hot. Not only did they feel hot, but when I touched them to my
flesh
, I could feel a slight vibration coming from them. Does that make sense?” she asked.

Test nodded, remembering his own moment of discovery as she described hers.

“I immediately dropped my hands to the floor, palms open, and unintentionally heard the sound of my mother shouting
as she
slapp
ed
my father in the
next
room.
In hearing that sound, a sudden and great anger swelled inside of me, unlike anything I’d felt before. I wanted to do things, terrible things; things that I don’t care to speak of.” She stopped in her place and stared
with wide eyes
blankly at the floor.

Feeling
her
pain, Test tried to help. “
Y
ou don’t have to tell me any
more. It’s okay.”

Without acknowledging his comment, she continued.

“I stood and ran to the locked door, pounding with every ounce of my strength. I could hear my mother shouting at me to be quiet,
which only served to intensify
my rage. I looked down to my stool, on which my cup and brush both rested. In one step I took the cup into my hand, threw it at the door, and watched it fall to the ground in pieces. Well,” she said with a twisted grin, “that made me even angrier, so I reached for my brush
.
”

Test sat breathless, waiting for her to continue.

“As I reached for the brush, and as soon as my hand was over top of it, something happened.” She walked to the couch and sat on the arm farthest from Test. “It was as if…
.
”

“Time stopped,” Test interrupted
, finishing her sente
n
ce
. Her
head snapped in his direction with
eyes
opened
wide and
st
aring.

“Yes,” she replied.

Test clasped his hands in front of him and squeezed them together so tightly that his knuckles turned white. He swallowed hard and continued. “It was like you were gone, just for a moment, and when you came back, you’re brush had—changed.” He stopped, waiting for a response.
He watched as s
he let her head move up and down slowly in acknowledgment.
“The same thing, more or less happened to me,” he spoke solemnly.

The room had taken on a heavy air, and the two of them sat in their positions silent and visibly shaken. Suddenly, Jenz stood and, slapping her hands on her thighs, forced a more upbeat tone as she spoke.

“
Well—it
seems I’ve strayed from what I was originally going to tell you, but I suppose it will make more sense now that you have a better understanding of my beginnings.”

Still
shaken, yet somber
, Test replied quietly. “Yeah, I guess.”

Jenz inhaled deeply, her nostrils flaring slightly, and glowered at Test. “Intelligent response,” she replied as she pinched the bridge of her nose.
“We shall skip forward,” she continued, “knowing that I had discovered m
y gifts, to several weeks
later.”

“
I kept my secret hidden from my parents—I don’t know what I would have said
even
if I had wanted to tell them.” Shaking her head at the realization she had begun to reflect and stray from the point once again, she resumed. “Several weeks later, I stumbled into the ability to phase to the world of the dead. I remember it being a very frightening event; a young girl, sheltered my entire life, suddenly being thrust into a strange place. I saw no spirits the first couple of times I phased, but on the third occasion, I stepped through the wall and out into the village.