The Reverence of One: Book Three of the Shadow Series (8 page)

The old man
instantly
broke down in tears. Seeing a picture of his son after all this time brought about emotions so strong that he couldn’t have even fathomed their existence. He stepped closer and admired what a handsome man he’d grown to be. Elijah’s skin was four shades lighter than his own, an obvious result since his mother had white supple skin. With her having been a red head, Cliff had tried to imagine what Elijah’s hair would look like, and he was
somewhat
surprised that it showed little if any of his ex-wife’s influence. Smiling happily next to his son in the photograph was a beautiful black woman with a smile that Cliff was sure could light up any room.

“Nice catch, boy,” Cliff muttered with a tearful chuckle.

The sound of a can being opened broke Cliff from his stupor. He glanced out into the small living room to see Thad leaning back on the sofa with a beer in his hand. He looked at the clock which told him it was only nine a.m., and shook his head in disapproval. A quick reflection on his alcoholic past made him hope that the gift wasn’t the only thing his grandson had inherited from him.

Cliff took a seat beside Thad on the couch. On the coffee table in front of the young man was a notebook with a bunch of handwriting. In a quick jolt, Thad lunged forward and picked up the notebook as well as a pen that had sat beside it, and began to write. When finished, he threw it back to the coffee table and tipped the beer can back sharply. Cliff watched as Thad took several large gulps, the can burping air, and then leaned forward to read what his grandson had written.

The lined paper had hand drawn bulle
t points, and next to each were barely legible words scribbled in black ink
. Cliff read them slowly.


      
Old green sign with white lettering. Paint peeling.


      
Brick building


      
Dirty


      
Girl with
long straight
black hair, skinny and white


      
Indian


      
Blue and red light
, one flash


      
Girl knows grandpa


      
WHAT THE HELL DOES THIS MEAN?????

Cliff recoiled in shock as he connected the dots. The girl with long straight black hair was Nicole. The brick building with the old green sign was her apartment building. The Indian, the blue and red flash; he knew immediately who the man in Thad’s vision was.

Ikuhabe was a formidable Reaper, but one that he’d thought Test had killed. He thought back to the moment when Anil was defeated and tried to remember Ikuhabe’s body being present. He could not. It was possible, he surmised, that there was yet another Native American Reaper, but something within told him that this enemy had returned. But for what? Why would they want Nicole? She was nothing more than a figment of Test’s past.

Suddenly, a sickening thought struck him.

“They’re trying to bring him out of hiding,” he muttered. “Dear Lord, they’re going to use her as bait.”

Cliff turned to his grandson and watched as he emptied the beer can, crushing it
while still holding it to his lips
as if to squeeze out every last drop. Though he wanted to introduce himself slowly, Cliff now found himself with an unknown time frame in which to save Nicole. Drugs had suddenly become the least of her concerns.

With as much energy as he could pull from the room, Cliff tried to force himself to be seen. The lines separating the world of the living from that of the shadow world began to blend, becoming more of a brush stroke instead of penciled scratches. As he strained, he watched Thad lean his head back and close his eyes.

“No!” he shouted.

Thad’s head snapped up. His head jerked to the front door, thinking that possibly he’d heard shouting from the hallway. A sudden chill came over him and he folded his arms across his chest.

Knowing that he
’d
got
ten
his grandson’s attention, he shouted once more.

“Thadeus!”

Thad jumped to his feet, eyes wide and heart thumping. He stepped sideways, away from the couch, and listened intently for the distant
, disembodied
voice.

Cliff stepped closer to him and reached out, touching Thad on the forearm.

“What the hell?” Thad screamed as he jumped backwards into the kitchen. He stared at the spot in front of the couch and, against the cream colored wall, could see a faint black shadow hovering beside the coffee table. He squinted and rubbed his eyes, not able to comprehend what it was that he was seeing.

Cliff desperately strained to become more solid, but there wasn’t enough energy to even sustain the shadowy state that he was currently in. He watched painfully as the brush strokes once again became pencil scratches, and the metaphoric wall separating the two worlds had returned.

Thad watched the shadow quickly fade from view. He wiped his brow, the
fear of the moment causing
sweat to trickle down into his eyes.

“Who’s there?” he asked, not sure if he wanted an actual reply.

Inaudibly, Cliff answered. “It’s me, son. Grandpa Cliff.”

Almost speaking over the old man’s words, Thad asked, “
Who are you and w
hat do you want?”

Knowing immediately what he had to do, Cliff replied to himself. “I’ll be back, boy. We’re gonna need some help.”

Lauren sat quietly at the
vanity in her bedroom, brushing her long brown hair in even strokes. In the soft light of the room, the vicious look that her eyes typically gave others had disappeared and been replaced with those of a sad young woman.

She was
angry with herself for her behavior a short time ago
and
didn’t like the fact that she could be so inconsiderate
. The truth was that she
couldn’t control it; it was something she’d struggled with since
before
she’d even become a Shadow.
She’d always found it a cruel twist of fate that not only was she forced to live in a youthful body for what seemed like an eternity, a body that never seemed to lose the hormonal fluctuations of the age, but that she was also given the ‘gift’ of being a Shadow, a byproduct of which was even less stability. She knew that most humans would say that they would love to be in her shoes, to be young forever, but they could never know the price she’d had to pay in pain and loneliness.

Setting her brush down on the antique, cherry-wood vanity, she s
louch
ed
in her chair and
began
lightly
drumming her fingers on
the deep red wood. As she stared at her reflection with a blank expression,
she became aware of a presence behind her in a corner of the room.

“Would you like to have a seat?” she asked, her fingers continuing their rhythm.

She felt whoever it was walk closer and, breaking her own rule, summoned the energy from within her to begin pulsing. The back side of her hands began to emit a peaceful blue glow, and from under her drumming fingers came a faint red. She looked to her left and watched as Maggie materialized beside her.

With one step to the side
, Maggie sat slowly
on the bed behind
Lauren.

“Thank you,” she said lovingly.

Lauren grinned, staring at the woman awkwardly. “You’re welcome,” she replied in a submissive tone.

“You don’t like us, do you?” asked Maggie.

Lauren cocked her head and stared blankly at the
brush on the vanity
. “No, I actually do like you; very much as a matter of fact.” She glanced briefly to Maggie
’s reflection in the mirror
. “You remind me of my own mother.”

Maggie giggled. “That’s ironic, now isn’t it?”

Sitting up in her chair, Lauren asked. “How’s that?”

“Because you remind me a lot of my son.”

Lauren turned in her chair, her left arm resting on its back.
The two of the
m
stared at each other for a moment
,
soaking in the silence of the room.

“
I know that none of this can be easy for you,” said Maggie, placing a hand gently on Lauren’s forearm. “I want you to know how much I appreciate you helping Test. I know he wouldn’t be alive right now if it weren’t for you.”

Lauren stared at Maggie’s hand with tears welling in her eyes. As she looked up, a single tear fell softly down her cheek.

“Mrs. Davis,” began Lauren, but Maggie cut her short.

“Call me Maggie, hon.”

“Maggie—I don’t know if I
have
saved him.” Lauren’s tears began to flow more heavily. “Every moment of every day from here on out is going to be a struggle. Every day will be a test.”

Maggie pursed her lips for a moment and stared at the ceiling, searching for the right words.
“Lauren, I can’t pretend to know the life that you’ve had to live, or my son’s for that matter. What I do know is that life, whether you’re a Shadow or not, is a struggle. Ultimately, the decision has to be made as to whether or not we are strong enough to live the life we’ve been given.

“I know you think that you’re an evil person, and I know you’ve done some horrific things. But I don’t think that’s who you are. You were forced to live that life in order to survive. You were deceived into thinking that it was the only way.”

Pulling her arm away from Maggie’s touch, Lauren stood and walked to the
dresser in the opposite corner of the room. With her back to Maggie, she
wip
ed
the tears from her cheeks. “I appreciate that, Maggie, but…”

“But nothing.
If you are the monster that you think you are, then why did you not kill my son when you first had the chance? It would have been easy for you?”

Lauren
turned,
roll
ing
her eyes
,
and replied. “Yeah, but instead of coming back to
Lincoln
when he needed me, I ran and hid like a coward.”

“But you came back when he really needed it
,
didn’t you?” asked Maggie. “No one can blame you for protecting yourself, Lauren. The important thing is that you came back, risking your own life to save his. No one asked you to, you did that on your own. Would a monster do something so selfless?”

Burying her hands in her face, Lauren began to sob heavily as Maggie stood from the
bed
. Standing in front of the distraught woman, Maggie parted Lauren’s hands and lovingly brushed her hair from her face.

In a soft voice, Maggie spoke. “You have got to forgive yourself for the past that was forced upon you. In my eyes, you are an angel. Maybe a little brash at times,” Maggie winked
, a corner of her lip lifting
with a smile, “
but I think you’ve earned the right to be that way.”

Lauren smiled
back
. It was the deepest, truest, most heartfelt smile that she’d ever had in her life. As if hugging her own mother, she wrapped her arms around Maggie and held her tightly. Laying her head on the woman’s shoulder, she took a deep and cleansing breath.

“Thank you, Maggie.”

The tenderness of the moment was shattered when a man’s voice caused them both to jump.

“Ladies, we have a problem.”

Lauren lifted her head from Maggie’s shoulder and could see Cliff, slightly transparent, standing in the doorway to
her room
. As the two women released each other, he walked closer and became more solid with each step. Her mind
was
quick to come up with a smart ass reply,
but
she forced her mouth to filter it.

“What’s wrong?” she asked as she folded her arms to her chest.

Cliff briefly glanced to Maggie and gave her a nod. Looking back to Lauren, he replied. “It’s a long story, but I think the Reapers are trying to set a trap for Test.”

Lauren straightened out her arms and placed her hands on her hips. “That wouldn’t surprise me. You and I both knew that they would come again.”

Cliff shook his head and
took another step forward
. “You don’t understand,” he replied, giving Maggie a foreboding look. “They have bait.”

“What do you mean?” asked Maggie, the
strain of fear now present in her voice.

“They’re going to use th
e
Paxton girl.”

Maggie gasped while Lauren responded with a series of frantic questions. “Who is she? What does she mean to Test? Where are they?”