“Jane. I need you to keep this a secret, okay?”
Jane sighed, “Don’t make me do this, Rey. I owe you one, but still… Aaron would want to know.”
Freya Davidson, Arawn’s older twin sister, looked Jane hard in the eyes. “I didn’t tell you because I wanted him to know. I told you because you asked and I trust you.”
Jane bit her lip, as she always did when she was nervous. “Well… Fine. I won’t tell. But… Well, at least let me help you find him.”
Rey frowned. “I told you, I’m not sure if it’s him. He just… looked like him. He knows I live in this state, but I never told him the city. And what if he saw Aaron and put two and two together and told Aaron something and-”
Rey stopped talking as Jane put her hands on Rey’s shoulders. “Please calm down. Just tell me what he looks like and what his name is, and I’ll help you look for him, okay?”
She looked at Jane and closed her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she said, “He’s a little taller than me, but has a kind of scrawny look about him that makes him seem shorter. He’s got this really pretty golden-brown hair and wears a pair of green glasses. Brown eyes. No braces or freckles.”
She stopped as she saw Jane’s face drain of color. Jane said, looking slightly disturbed, “What did you say his name was..?”
For a moment, Rey fought with herself. Jane’s reaction was a little bit concerning, but she decided to tell Jane anyways. “Brian Hathcock.”
Jane looked like she had seen a ghost, but calmly informed Rey, “He’s in our group.”
Rey took a step back and blinked. “What?”
“Brian’s in the group that Aaron and I are in. He didn’t seem like he recognized Aaron though.”
It was Rey’s turn to drain of color. “Oh Good Lord. You’re kidding right?” She whispered hoarsely.
“No. I’m not.” Jane sighed again. “Who knew he actually had some connection with you, though. Aaron would kill him if he knew Brian was involved…”
Rey grabbed Jane’s hands, “You can not tell either of them.” She said, firmly. “Aaron would freak out and I don’t want Brian to know that I know he’s here. Heck, I don’t even want Brian to be sure that I am here. I mean, he didn’t do anything wrong, but I just can’t face someone connected to what happened right now. Not now, of all times, when I’ve just gotten used to it.”
“Rey, relax. I won’t tell either of them anything. It’s not going to kill you to see Brian, either. When you feel up to it, you know where we all are. But until then, it’s perfectly alright. Besides, didn’t you say that Brian was a friend of yours? And all this time Aaron thought that ring was from some lover.”
She gave a weak laugh. “Only you would use the word lover, Jane.” Rey nervously twisted the thin golden band around her right middle finger. The jade-green stone with a delicate carving of a tree went back and forth, though it still faced her palm so that no one could see the stone. “Brian knows. About me being a Shadow. And what if his sister is here? Carina hates me.”
Jane gave a little exasperated cry, “Rey, please stop freaking out so much. Yes, I understand. Brian’s sister hates you, but you’re taking this way over the top. Brian is your friend, right? He stopped you from rebounding and even gave you that ring as a Christmas present. Can’t you just let your history lie and treat him as you would any other friend?” Rey gave Jane a panicked look. Jane’s eyes narrowed. “Wait a minute. That’s not really why you’re panicking is it? You like him, don’t you? Brian that is.”
Rey glared at Jane, successfully replacing her panic with annoyance, “I’ll die before I admit to something like that.”
Jane laughed and said, “Ok, ok. I won’t say anything more on the subject. But don’t worry, ok? Brian hasn’t made any indication that he knows Aaron, even if he has made the connection. And I’m not going to tell either of them anything at all. It’ll be like this conversation never even happened.”
Rey’s shoulders slumped in relief, “Thank you so much, Jane.”
Jane smiled, “No problem, I owe you one for not letting Aaron incinerate me all those years ago.”
Rey smiled back, “You’re still going on about that? I think you’ve more than paid your due by being such a good mother for the younger ones while I was in California.” Jane flushed. Rey smirked and said, “While we’re talking about crushes, don’t think I haven’t noticed your feelings for Aaron. She gave Jane a wicked smile and turned and walked away.
Even though Jane had solidly promised not to say anything, Rey couldn’t help feeling nervous. She absent-mindedly picked up Izzy, the youngest child. Aaron was staring at a piece of paper, concentrating intensely. She could feel his frustration building up inside of her. He swore loudly.
“Hey, Ronny, stop that. You’ll teach Morgen and Izzy to start swearing. If you need help, why don’t you just ask Jane?”
Aaron looked at her, evenly, “You know I can’t do that. She’s got enough on her plate as it is. And I don’t see you trying to help.”
Rey frowned at him, irritated. “And you should know that you can do that. In fact, Jane would probably jump at any chance to get out of that drunkard’s house. You should just marry her already and let her live here. And I’m taking care of the others, so don’t bother me about it. I’ve finished it once already. And offered to let you see my work. You’re just too proud to admit to Jane that you have problems with math. Even though she already full well knows you’re no good at it.”
She knew she shouldn’t be so obviously restless, but the feeling just kept hitting her. She wanted to ask Aaron about Brian, but that wouldn’t be a good idea. He gave her a strange look, obviously concerned. He musingly said, “Yeah, maybe I’ll go ask her, then.” It was unlike Aaron to back down that fast, so she figured she must really be acting suspicious.
Suddenly, the jade on her ring twisted upwards and glared into her eye. She glanced down. Another assignment to do. “Actually, Aaron, I have something to do. Can you keep a watch on the kids?”
The minute he stood up, Rey ran out the door. She looked up at the sky, which was a stormy grey. It was perfect timing for an assignment, she needed to let off some steam. As soon as she entered the reservoir, Rey started running. Her full-bodied silver armor set, wings, and mask spread over her, rolling like mercury, both solid and liquid.
The ring, underneath her silver gauntlets, tugged her finger in the correct direction. Increasingly recklessly, she plowed through the forest. She practically ran into her quarry, which appeared to be a rabid, purple beaver.
Rey “tsk”ed in disgust. Purple beavers shouldn’t even be on the list of Shadow creatures, as far as she was concerned. She glared at the stupid thing, annoyed. The crazy thing hissed at her. This kind of creature was too easy to deal with. It wasn’t going to be helpful at all.
Without delay, Rey put her two palms in a circular shape, forming a non-existent orb in her hands. Silver strands began forming an orb directly below her hands. She stopped forming it, and shunted it towards the beaver with her right hand, like a pool player would shunt the ball using the stick thingy. The pathetic animal didn’t even try dodging as the silver orb swallowed it up and destroyed it.
The silver strands disbanded, leaving a sad little pile of dust behind, and slithered back to her side. Rey debated whether or not to go back, then shook her head. If she were to go back right then, she’d probably worry Aaron, or snap at one of the younger ones.
Jane’s words rang in her ears, “That’s not really why you’re panicking is it? You like him, don’t you? Brian that is.”
“As if!” Rey yelled out loud. It was raining hard, now. Then it came, Rey’s ultimate fear. She froze as a bright white light flashed, lighting up the sky. It was followed with a rumble. She started to scream.
Rey wasn’t afraid of anything else she could think of. Bugs, snakes, other predators, cars, pain, illnesses, even death. She’d been faced with each of those things before and they had not scared her. But she could not stand lightning, for reasons even she didn’t know. Whenever a lightning storm hit, the moment the thunder rumbled she would start screaming uncontrollably. And no matter how much Aaron, or anyone else except for Brian pleaded with her, she would not be able to stop herself. Even Brad hadn’t been able to calm her down. But then again, Brad had been an arrogant cheater.
She dropped where she stood, curling herself into a little ball and covering her head with her hands. She continued screaming, right on through to the next two flashes of lightning. The silver strands, which had still been hovering around her, began to solidify into a little ball around her, a natural response to fear and the unrelenting rain.
Rey vaguely felt her protective ball being pushed harshly aside. One of her hands was pulled away from her head and a familiar voice was speaking in her ear. The calm tone with which the person was talking, as well as the warmth of his gentle breath, caused Rey’s screaming to stop. She felt herself drifting off a little, losing consciousness.
****************************************************************************************************************************
Brian’s Mom, Agatha, looked up from her computer at her son, who was sitting at the dining table, scratching busily on a pad of paper. “Brian, I need you to go outside.”
“Sure,” Brian said, pushing his glasses up his nose without looking at her. “What for?”
“Just do it.”
Brian turned to her in surprise, opening his mouth to utter an objection, when he saw the grim look on her face. Agatha Hathcock, once Agatha Anders, had won the bronze medal for swimming in the Olympics when she was a senior in high school. She obviously wasn’t in Olympic shape after 30 years and three kids, but that didn’t mean she was weak. One glare was enough to shut Brian up.
He sighed and turned back to his notebook. “So, when do you want me to go?”
She looked up at the clock, then said, “Now.”
Without another word, Brian stood up, picked up the small backpack that he always took with him, and walked out of the door. It was raining, so he turned back to get an umbrella, but his mother threw his rain jacket at him and told him not to take an umbrella. Completely perplexed, Brian slung his rain jacket over himself and his backpack and put the hood up.
Being the very efficient person that he was, he decided not to waste time sitting near his house, and might as well go do something. He first went to the small shops downtown, which he had not had the opportunity to do in the one month they had been there, due to unpacking and schoolwork.
He was halfway down the hill when the first bolt of lightning struck. He froze. Panic welled up inside of him. So this was why his mom had kicked him out of the house. She had always had an impeccable sense of weather and hated his reaction to lightning. Ever since she discovered him screaming in her closet when he was four she had kicked him out of the house whenever there was a thunderstorm. Luckily, in California, there weren’t too many of those, but they weren’t in California anymore.
Brian wasn’t as afraid of lightning as he had been when he was four, so he didn’t start screaming. It didn’t prevent him, however, from getting really twitchy. He turned and ran back towards the house, heading for the woods their house bordered. This was probably a stupid idea, since more things are likely to fall in a forest during a thunderstorm than out in the open, but he hated feeling unprotected during a storm.
Once in the “safety” of the thick foliage, Brian huddled at the base of a large, sturdy-looking tree. If he had been in a dry enough place, he would have started assembling his rifle. It was a comfort thing. As it was, he just sat at the base of the tree trying hard not to jump at every sound. A gust of wind blew his way and he heard someone screaming. It was a high-pitched, keening wail that could not be mistaken for the cry of the wind. To be frank, it was a somewhat familiar scream…
Another bolt of lightning lit the sky and the scream intensified. Yup, definitely familiar. Brian stood up and began heading towards the sound. If it was what he thought it was, maybe he’d be able to take his mind off of his own fear of lightning for a bit.
The screaming was fading off into a weedy, quieter cry, but it was definitely closer. He strained to find the direction from which the cry came and paused a bit. If another bolt of lightning would just strike, then he might be able to hear it more clearly. After several excruciatingly slow minutes, another burst of lightning and the crackle of thunder. The scream pierced the air again and Brian began moving more quickly towards the sound, his fear of lightning temporarily overthrown.
Another long, five minutes later, Brian almost tripped over Freya. True, his transition lens were actually special shadow-issue and therefore were better and faster than normal transition lens, but lightning bolts are a bit TOO fast to guard against completely, so he was half-blind.
She was on the ground, hands covering her ears, screaming without seeming to be taking any breaths. Silver strands were gathered around her wispily, forming a small orb around her. If that orb finished forming he’d never get to her. Hunching down, he roughly shoved several of the strands away and grabbed her right hand. He adopted a slow, soothing tone and began rambling. As far as he could tell she never remembered what he said when things like this happened, so anything was safe to talk about. HE didn’t even remember what he said most of the time, because the only reason he himself wasn’t panicking was because he was intensely concentrating on keeping his voice smooth and calm and soft.
However, he knew they needed to start moving. It would be best to get her out of the rain, since the only thing she had to protect her from it was her silver wisps, which had dispersed at his touch. He thought about it for a moment. His house was rather far, it had taken him twenty minutes to get him where he was, after all. That meant that they were at least a mile and a half into the forest.
He looked at Freya, whose sobs had subsided and who seemed to be asleep in his arms now. From the moment he had met Arawn Davidson he had guessed that the two were twins. Now it was time to test that hypothesis. Where had Arawn said he lived again? He had told Brian and Diana mainly out of obligation, though they all knew that there was little chance they would ever use each others’ addresses.
His exceptional memory did not fail him. If he wasn’t much mistaken, the Davidsons lived approximately 10 minutes away from here, if you were walking very slowly, maybe a third of a mile, much closer. He glared at the unconscious Freya, then moved forward and hoisted her up over his shoulder. It wasn’t a very dignified way to carry a lady, but definitely the most expedient.
As he walked, as swiftly as he could while carrying a hundred plus pounds over one shoulder, Brian tried to have some sense of direction. One of his talents was never getting lost, no matter where he was, and keeping track of time, no matter how distracted he was. That was how he could tell which way to go when all the direction he had been given, “It’s a single house on the very, very edge of the reservoir. Go up the hill from the school, about 4 miles to the North. It’s one of the few two story buildings, you can’t miss it.”
His mind began to wander to his experiences with Freya. The first time he had heard her name had been from his sister. It was another one of those days she was spending gossiping on the phone with her best friend Helen, a black girl with a disposition much like Carina’s.
He remembered the conversation with displeasure. “Oh my God, Brad was cheating on you?! No way. With who?”
“It’s with whom,” he had thought absent-mindedly at the time.
“Eww…. Who gives their kid a stupid name like Freya. Huh. She’s not even in our grade. What a total slut. Who does she think she is?”
Brian had heard millions of such conversations before, and somehow the theme never changed. Why is it that some teenage girls just couldn’t be a little bit more… imaginative? Yet every time without fail, it was “slut” and “bitch” and “Oh my God” and “No way.” He knew Carina wasn’t stupid, due to her fantastic grades and persuasive, logical arguments, yet it became hard to believe when she talked like that. Brian wasn’t half as smart as she was and he didn’t do anything as absolutely imbecilic as that.
But as irksome as it was, he wouldn’t have remembered the conversation at all if the name Freya hadn’t popped out at him. Having always been a pretty pragmatic type of person, Brian didn’t have much interest in the various types of mythology, but he knew a little bit about the goddess Freya from some of the few fantasy books he had enjoyed as a child. The Norse goddess of love and beauty and, well, a lot of other things, had instantly caught his interest because in the book she was portrayed as a character both extremely strong and extremely weak. She represented the emotional, sensual side of love, but also kept half of the dead and was a war goddess.
Brian had always considered the phrase “all’s fair in love and war” as nonsensical and foolish, but in the book it became clear what the colloquialism could mean. Freya was the balance between war and love. It wasn’t really that anything is okay when it comes to love and war, it was that, in the end, everything comes to it’s balance between the two ultimate forms of battle, love and war.
So whenever Brian heard the name Freya, he thought of that idea. He wondered what kind of girl this Freya was, but he knew better than to try talking to Carina. Do not get involved in anything to do with the buff older sister. He had followed that faithfully for many years and wasn’t going to break that tradition for the sake of a name.
But it would seem that fate didn’t have any interest in Brian’s protective traditions at all. Two weeks later, a girl named Rey who sat in front of Brian in their third period slid under her desk and started crying.
No one moved. It wasn’t like she was being loud or disruptive either. All the same, Brian couldn’t help but feel sorry for her, crying all alone.
Sighing a little, Brian hunched down next to her. He wanted to say, “Are you okay?” But it was pretty obvious she wasn’t. Instead he just said, “Hey, do you want talk about it?” It sounded lame coming out of his mouth, but it was all he could think of saying.
In response, she gave one bitter laugh followed by a hiccup and her tears intensified. He didn’t know this girl, but it was clear she needed to let go of something. He leaned under the desk and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. For a moment, she stiffened, then something seemed to crack inside her and she began crying for real.
He assumed that was a good thing, since Carina always seemed better after she had had a good cry, and didn’t let go. He noticed people shifting uncomfortably around them, but since the teacher just talked a little bit louder and didn’t make a fuss, no one else saw any need to, either.
They sat there on the floor for the rest of the period. By the time the bell rang, the girl seemed to have calmed down a little bit. She pushed him away and slid out from under the desk, mumbling something incoherent. Wiping away her tears, she stood up and packed silently. Brian followed suit and the two of them parted ways without another word.
Brian didn’t expect anything to happen as a result of that day, but the next day Rey came up to him and thanked him.
He looked at her in surprise and shrugged, “Can’t say anyone would have done the same, since they clearly didn’t, but let’s just say it was what anyone should have done.”
She laughed, looking at him with a sort of strong-willed interest. She stuck out her hand, “I know we’ve met before, but I believe I owe you a proper introduction. My name is Freya Davidson, but most people call me Rey. Nice to meet you.”
Brian looked at the hand, then reluctantly shook it. “Brian Hathcock. Nice to meet you, too. Mind if I just call you Freya?”
“Sure. Nice name you got there, by the way. A Hathcock is in the list of top ten snipers. But…”
“Yes…?”
“Sunglasses don’t suit you.” He gave her a look, but she just smiled and walked off.
From then on, Freya trusted Brian. He remained a little bit reserved, ever wary of women with strong personalities. It got worse when they realized that they lived close to each other. Brian also kept his friendship with Freya a secret from Carina, not that she cared about his friends.
Although at the time they were both only sophomores, the two of them quickly developed a strong bond. Brian found out about what had happened. It turned out that Freya’s ex-boyfriend had been cheating on her with Carina’s best friend, and Carina’s little groupie had made her life hell since. Freya hadn’t even kissed Bradley Hopkins on the lips in the few months they had gone out, but Helen and Carina seemed convinced that Brad’s unfaithfulness was Freya’s fault. That day she had been crying because it had all gotten to be too much.
Brian’s wariness of Freya persisted through the next few months, but, as luck would have it, a rare thunderstorm hit the small town. Brian had been kicked out of the house, while Freya had been heading towards her house with a bag full of groceries. It wasn’t so much different from the situation they were in at the moment, actually. In a desperate attempt to calm her down and get her off of the stupid sidewalk, Brian had tried everything from shouting himself hoarse to slapping her in the face.
He was almost as frightened as she was, but he cast around in his thoughts for things that would calm him down if he were in the same situation. Frowning, he turned to the “how to calm an animal down” method, which was to speak in a calm, soft voice. To his utter shock , it worked and he somehow managed to drag a half-calm Freya to her house. He rang the doorbell twice, let her go, and sprinted off home, forgetting that his mom probably wouldn’t let him back in the house.
For some reason, seeing Freya so helpless like that made him a little bit more comfortable around her, perhaps because she was no longer under the “dangerously strong and opinionated females” group and more under the “little sister who needs to be taken care of” group. Because unlike when she had been crying under the desk, there wasn’t the slightest semblance of control in her fear of lightning. Of course, he never told her anything about this, but his manner towards her lightened considerably.
Over the next year, the two of them had gotten incredibly close. Had Brian been more interested in having a relationship with any girl, Freya might have even rebounded on him. But when she brought up the idea of getting together he refused, and she had later agreed that it would have been a bad idea. All the same they were good friends.
The summer after sophomore year, Brian had gotten his egg . As Brian was walking home one day, from school, he noticed a small brown package on his front porch. The words “open in secret” were taped neatly on the top.
He didn’t know why he did it, but he picked up the box and took it inside his room. When he proceeded at the egg’s bequest, he was attacked by it. For some reason, he always remembered the experience. It was excruciatingly painful. The egg latched onto his head. Inside his brain, he could feel something checking out every piece of his body. His body began jerking around, disregarding his wishes. His mouth spouted a number of languages at different intensities. Brian sneezed, chewed on thin air, twiggled his fingers. He blinked and his eyes stung fiercely, inducing tears.
When the egg had finished its work, his whole body ached and his sunglasses were broken on the floor. He was sitting on his bed, which was a bit of a miracle, since it looked suspiciously like he was about to fall off and hit his desk, which stood at the foot of his bed. Next to him was a rifle and a pair of green-rimmed glasses. The egg was hovering in front of him flashing a message: “learn.” From that day on, Brian had been a shadow.
Brian jerked back to the present as a flash of lightning split the sky. He swore as Freya woke up suddenly and began screaming again. He was about to put her down, when he felt an irregular pounding vibrating up his shoes. Looking behind him, his face drained of color. A stampede of some of the weirdest shadow creatures Brian had ever seen were heading straight for them. If he stopped now, at best they would be trampled to death. They were close though, he could see the end of the forest and the two-story building. He shifted Freya a little bit and hurtled towards the house.
The back door was closer, but there was a fence enclosing it. Praying fervently to make it over the fence, Brian jumped. He almost broke the door down, trying frantically to get it open. It was opened by a very startled boy, who looked to be about two years younger than him, with black hair and green eyes.
The boy looked at Brian like he was crazy, but Brian didn’t have time for that. He pushed past the boy and ran into the house, Freya still screaming over his shoulder. Jane met him at the living room, looking menacing for a moment. Her expression morphed first into one of shock, and then one of calm and serious control. “Take her upstairs. Her room is the first one on the right. Quickly. We don’t want the younger ones starting up a fit.”
Brian swore again as he looked past Jane and saw several animals congregated outside the front door. She turned. Moving forward swiftly, she slammed the curtains closed and called out, “Odie dear, close the back door quickly. Juju, set up a barrier around the house, please.” She turned back to Brian. “Go.”
Brian sprinted up the stairs and into Freya’s room. He sat Freya on the floor at the foot of the bed and pulled her blanket around her. She kept screaming.
Looking out the window, which was right next to them, he saw a couple of the shadow creatures. Ripping the pieces of his rifle out of his backpack, he assembled them quickly and propped it up against the wall behind him, just in case a shadow creature got too close for comfort.
He began murmuring to Freya again. A few minutes later, a cough aroused him and he jumped upwards, snatching his rifle and pointing it at the intruder. A startled Aaron looked back at him. With a sigh of relief, Brian said, “Oh, it’s just you.”
He began putting down his rifle when a burst of lightning caused him to drop it. If it hadn’t been for the renewal of Freya’s screaming he might have run and started looking for a safe place to hide, but as it was he hunched back down and began murmuring to her again…
During junior year, things had gotten tense for the two of them. It had taken all of his willpower for Brian to make it through without breaking down, but Freya seemed to have had it even worse. She never cried where he could see it, but her eyes were always red and she seemed depressed every time he talked to her. He was worried about her, but schoolwork didn’t allow him to take any time off.
One Friday in late September, after school had gotten out and he was walking home, his first shadow assignment came. He had forgotten all about the egg and didn’t realize, at first, that his glasses were changing color rapidly, going from green to blue, and back again. He stopped for a moment and took them off, a risky move in broad daylight. Turning his eyes into little slits he peaked at his glasses. Sure enough, they were still changing color.
It hit him. Putting his glasses back on, he turned in a slow circle. The glasses turned blue and he set off in that direction. In some random, dark, back alley he had never been to before, Brian’s glasses turned back to normal. He, magically, had brought the components of his rifle and his egg to school with him, which he didn’t normally do, but he didn’t yet really know how to use the rifle well. He didn’t even know that he was in shadow creature territory.
Frowning, he took off his glasses and looked at them. He put them back on and looked around. He became aware of a sweet singing emanating from all around him. He pulled out his rifle, assembling it clumsily, and turned around, looking for the source of the music, but found nothing. Brian could feel himself getting sleepy, but he didn’t know why. He realized too late that this must be the work of shadow creatures.
Suddenly, a shriek sliced through the music and Brian started. Someone in a full set of silver armor with a mask completely covering their face and wings sprouting from their back strode in. Startled, Brian fumbled with his rifle and fired at the thing.
A solid strand of silver whipped around and smacked the bullet away. The helmet and mask melted away and Freya’s face appeared, strands of her gold-streaked brown hair waving wildly around it. “Hey! That’s rude to someone who just saved your life.”
Brian blinked at her, “Freya?!”
Freya stared. “Brian?!” All of her armor melted away from her and she took a step towards him. “Are you a shadow?”
Brian paused for a moment, hesitating, then nodded.
She took an egg out of her pocket and narrowed her eyes, “Oh really?”
Hastily, Brian whipped out his own egg and Freya relaxed.
The rest of the school semester went by without much incident. Brian learned a lot of things from Freya about being a shadow. He realized that his first assignment had been to dispatch a nest of sirens. He had been lucky that Freya had been passing by and had a strange feeling that a shadow creature was close. When she heard the singing she plugged her ears and headed straight towards the back alley. She had been concentrating on the sirens, which was why she hadn’t realized that Brian was there.
Later missions went more smoothly for Brian, which was good since he was almost always busy. As the year went by, he talked to Freya less and less and didn’t realize how stressed she was getting.
Winter break drew near and Christmas shopping began. Not one for much ceremony, Brian hated Christmas, but got gifts for his friends and family anyways. Walking around a store one day, he caught sight of a thin, golden ring with a small, green stone on it. The green stone had a delicate carving of a tree on it and Brian instantly thought of the Yggdrasil, a humongous, legendary tree in Norse mythology. He laughed at himself for thinking that way, but bought the ring for Freya, as a goddess of Norse mythology, anyways.
He gave the ring to her the day before she left for her hometown, throwing it at her lightly and wishing her a Merry Christmas. She hadn’t given him any indication that something was going to happen.
That day was the last day he had seen her, until now. He sighed to himself, forgetting to continue speaking. The first time he sees his dear friend in a year and she doesn’t recognize him cause she’s screaming herself silly over lightning, go figure.
Freya’s voice sounded sleepy, “Brian?”
He jerked his face back and looked at her. The blanket had fallen off of the top of her head and she was looking at him in a somewhat stunned fashion. She turned her head away from him in embarrassment and looked out the window.
“Holy-!”
In an instant, Brian was shoved backwards by a crazy whirling of silver strands as they wrapped themselves around Freya’s body. She was out of the room before he was even fully aware of what had happened. Sighing and confused, Brian glanced out the window and swore.
A large flying animal was flapping its wings and cawing. It swooped out of sight, and then reappeared, as if it were kamikaze. Several smaller birds were flapping around it, doing goodness knows what, but agitating it all the same.
Brian snatched up his rifle again and yanked the window open. Praying that he wouldn’t hit any of the other birds, he aimed at the giant creature and fired. The moment he pulled the trigger, Brian ducked down, pressing his back against the wall of the house, and braced for the ensuing implosion.
He peeked up a bit and ducked as a crow came hurtling into the room. It squawked at him angrily for a bit, then turned into the black-haired boy who had met him at the door. “You didn’t have to do that. We had it handled!” The boy looked annoyed.
Brian extended a hand to calm the boy down, but the kid glared at him ferociously. “Stay out of our fights, greeny.” Then, he jumped into the air, turning back into a crow.
For a moment, the room was silent, then Brian stood up, rifle in his hand, and went downstairs. Jane looked up as he passed her and went out into the hallway. For a moment, it looked like she wanted to stop him, but they just shared a glance and she went back to tending five children, four of which looked to be in elementary school, and one of which looked like she was fainting. He paused and looked at them, then headed on over to the front of the house.
The sight that met Brian’s eyes when he opened the door caused him to drop his rifle and stare in awe. In front of him was a scene of destruction in a cloud of mist that didn’t belong in the post-storm day.. Freya Davidson, clad in her customary silver armor, was standing calmly in the center, moving her hands expansively and destroying anything that came near her. Arawn Davidson, on the other hand, was a whirl of motion. Wearing large sunglasses and wielding two strange …. sword hilts that were connected by a long, silver chain, he would whip his body around smoothly, using his momentum to snap one end of the weapon outwards towards his target. Although he was in constant motion, no movement seemed to be wasted. Every once in awhile, he would stop, look at one of the dead animals and touch the side of his sunglasses. The creature would burst into flame and Aaron would be off again, fighting a different target. In another section of the battle, two identical girls with long, black pigtails were fighting back to back. They looked to be about middle-school age. One was using a katana, the other was using a staff. They didn’t move from their position very often, much like Freya, but when they did they used extremely fast, swirling motions that kept them back to back, inseparable, as if they were glued together. Up against the wall were two boys. One was wearing a biker’s helmet and seemed to be typing on a keyboard, or playing some game. Whenever a creature approached the biker, a gust of wind and mist would swirl around it and it would be whisked away. The biker’s helmet prevented Brian from being able to tell very much about the boy. The other boy had black hair, though slightly taller and skinnier than the first black-haired boy, and seemed to be sleeping, or sleep-talking to be precise. His mouth was moving, but his arms were crossed across his chest and his eyes were closed, a very peaceful expression on his face. A hissing snake shot towards him, but seemed to slam against some sort of invisible barrier and tottered off in a different direction.
Stunned into inaction, Brian leaned on his gun and waited until everything was quiet. The fog dissipated and the two boys leaning against the wall fell down where they stood, looking exhausted. A very beat-up looking crow flapped clumsily from the sky and materialized into the boy, cradling his right arm. One of the raven-haired twins appeared to be limping. Freya’s armor melted away from her.
She looked at him critically, “Don’t you have anything better to do than stand there?”
Brian, not even fully aware that he was mildly smirking to himself, said, “I suppose so.” He glanced up at them, all full of bruises, and remembered the girl waiting in the living room. “You all need to get patched up, and I’m sure Jane’s worried.”
The black-haired boy pushed Brian roughly to the side, supporting the twin with the bad foot. He glared at Brian, “Of course she is, lightning freak, she’s been like a mother to us since Aaron met her.”
Brian’s face took on a surprised expression. “Lightning freak?”
Freya and the three others passed him and went into the house, leaving Brian with Aaron, who sighed and began dragging the black-haired boy upwards. Brian couldn’t help it. “Hey. How is it that you have so many shadows in your household?”
Aaron blinked at him a couple times and sighed in resignation, “Our good-for-nothing parents are both shadows. All twelve of us were born perfect to be shadows, so it’s natural that the egg came to all of us who are old enough.” He shrugged. “It’s tiring and sometimes I worry about what will happen to us all, but I don’t really think it can be helped. Being a shadow, well…. It’s in the blood, I guess.”
Brian almost laughed out loud. Thinking to himself, “In the blood, huh? I should’ve known.” he went inside and helped get the biker helmet boy into the house, since the black-haired one seemed to be stirring.
For the first time, Brian got a good look at the first floor of the Davidson house and the people residing there. Down the hall, and directly opposite the front door, was the back door. The two entrances were mirrors of each other except that the front door had a tiled section for shoes, while the back door just had hardwood flooring like the rest of the house. The kitchen was near the back door and the dining room connected directly to it. Walking in through the front door, the kitchen and dining room were on the right. The dining room table was a large, oak, oval table with an air of ancient wisdom to it. The stairs to the second floor were also to the right but closer to the front door.
The living room, however, was off to the left. Past the living room, still to the left, was a hallway that led to two doors which appeared to be an empty bedroom and a small bathroom. The living room was a cozy thing, with curtains covering glass doors that led into the backyard and a fireplace on one end. A couple sofas and a recliner chair sat side by side across from the fireplace. A small piano was shoved up against the wall right next to the glass doors. A simply-patterned shag carpet adorned the floor, on top of which was a coffee table. Toys were strewn across both the table and the floor, but the room was large enough that it didn’t seem cluttered or uncomfortable.
Jane was sitting in one of the couches, cradling a sleeping girl with golden-brown hair, who was sucking her thumb. A girl similar to the sleeping one was concentrating on a crayon drawing she was making on the wooden part of the floor. An older boy, who seemed to be in maybe 2nd or 3rd grade was sleeping underneath the coffee table. A girl about the same age, with identical dark brown hair, was curled up next to him, holding his hand. The girl Brian had seen fainting earlier was also sleeping, though she was sprawled on the couch next to Jane and seemed to be in the process of waking up. The others he had seen from before were sitting on the floor in front of Jane in various positions of exhaustion.
The moment he entered the room, helping Aaron carry the boy with the biker helmet, all attention was focused on him and there was complete and utter silence. Aaron took the boy’s weight off of Brian’s shoulder and placed him gently on the ground.
Everyone looked at Brian expectantly. “Uhm….”
With a little sigh, Freya stood up from her cross-legged position on the floor and went up to Brian, facing everyone else. She turned to Brian and said, “Excluding Jane, this is my family.”
She took a deep breath and seemed to be about to say more, but Brian cut her off, almost a little bit skeptically. “This is your family?” Freya frowned and nodded. Brian blinked. “There are really twelve of you. With no parents.” Half as much a statement as a question.
Freya put her hands on her hips with a little smile and said, “I told you my family was big.”
Brian looked at her, then nodded. “Go on.”
She smiled, pointing out each person as she said their names. “I think you’ve met Arawn already, though he goes by Aaron. Odin, also known as Odie, is the black-haired one over there. The short one with the weird green eyes. He’s a sophomore and the second eldest after me and Aaron, since Aaron and I are twins. Next come the twins Nazha and Yoeiju, though we usually call them Nathan and Juju. Nathan’s the black-haired brown one that looks like the mangy cat someone dragged in, while Juju is that girl sitting next to Jane, who I assume you know already. They’re freshmen. Prajapati is.. oh for goodness sake’s.” Freya went over to where biker helmet boy was snoring away and yanked the helmet off of his head. “Yeah, this is him. We call him Patty. He’s still an eighth grader. Scathac and Amaterasu, Scatty and Rose, are the pig-tail twins, who entered middle school this year. Jarilo goes by Jerry, he’s the one sleeping under the table. His twin sister, the one sleeping next to him, is our little princess, Lilitu, aka Lilly. Both of them are in 2nd grade. Our youngest ones, Morgen and Isis, are still in preschool. Morgen’s the lazy one sleeping in Jane’s lap and Izzy’s the one who’s currently obsessed with coloring. Our parents are alive, but I’ve told you before, haven’t I? They don’t really bother with us much, so Aaron and I end up doing most of the housework. When I was in California with you, Jane kind of took over and became the mother of the household in my stead.”
Brian took a good look at each and every one of them. He could see the resemblance for most of them. From what he could see, they all had sort of angular features and tanned, but still white, skin. However, there seemed to be an inordinate amount of variation as well.
Aaron and Freya, the oldest pair, had the same chocolate brown eyes and facial shape and were about the same height, but Freya’s hair, unlike Aaron’s dark brown hair, was streaked with gold. Odin, he thought that boy was called, was shorter and held himself like he belonged with his two feet on the ground. His messy black hair didn’t seem to quite fit with his sharp, sea green eyes. It was kind of ironic that he could fly. He was sitting comfortably on his butt, giving Brian a cold stare. Nathan and… Yoeiju was it? Those were the oddest two. Freya said they were twins, but they didn’t look anything like it. They were both awake now. Nathan was standing watching Brian in a warning manner, while the Yoeiju girl had both her arms wrapped around one of his, peeking out at Brian shyly from behind Nathan’s protective shoulder. How could those two possibly be twins though? Though her brother wasn’t bulky, Yoeiju, with her pale, golden-brown hair and almost yellow brown eyes seemed like a wisp of cloud behind the tall, black-haired Nathan with his narrow, mistrustful, sharp brown eyes. Patty, another one of the rare non-twins in the family, appeared to be somewhat of an in between. Neither as wispy as Yoeiju, nor as solid as Arawn and Freya, though just like them he had brown eyes and hair. Everything was mild-colored on him, his impish face just lending further to the sense that he was a bit here or there, even though he was still just sleeping sprawled on the floor. Scatty and Amaterasu were a lot like Nathan in some way. They had the same straight, glossy black hair and sharp, dark brown eyes, but they seemed to have more cynical energy, a bit more like Odin, then. They were glaring at him with as little trust as were Nathan and Odin, huddled close together and whispering to each other. The boy Jerry had hair similar to Aaron’s, but he was much smaller and rounder than Aaron was. His twin sister was a picture of him, but had rich, blonde hair. Morgen and Izzy, he couldn’t tell which was which anymore than he could for Scatty and Amaterasu, appeared to be a lot like Yoeiju, just more childlike.
Freya coughed awkwardly in the silence and said, “Uhm… This is Brian. He’s my friend from California.”
At the word, California, a flurry of whispering burst out between the awake ones. Brian caught a few words which sounded suspiciously like, “fangs” and “devil” and “oh my goodness.” He looked at Freya in somewhat concerned bemusement, trying to ignore Aaron’s suddenly intense stare from the other side of the room. “Uh… Freya?”
Yoeiju gasped. Brian saw her wrap her arms more tightly around Nathan’s arm and heard her audibly whisper, “He called her Freya.” More frantic whispering.
Impatiently, Jane cut in, not even deigning to look up. “Brian, take off your glasses and smile so that they can see your teeth.”
Brian blinked. “Huh?”
“Just do it, please. Quickly now.”
He did as he was told. Scatty darted off the ground and towards him swiftly. She stopped right in front of his face and cocked her head to her side, then poked his face. He yelled, “Hey!” and she hopped backwards, retreating to announce the results of her observation to her sister.
Freya flushed and reprovingly said, “Scatty!”
Amaterasu looked up innocently and said, “Sorry, Sister Freya. We just needed to make sure.”
Scatty triumphantly announced, “We’re pretty sure he’s human.”
Spluttering, Brian said, “Yeah, I could’ve told you that.”
Scatty gave him a cold glare. “Why would we trust a Californian’s word?” She spat out the word “Californian” like it was some kind of disease or a cockroach.
Brian gave Freya an incredulous look, “What in the world did you tell them?”
Odin cut in before she could say anything, arms crossed. “She didn’t tell us anything, lightning freak. If she had we could be rest assured that the people from your country are capable of being defeated.”
“What the- California is in the same country.”
Moving forward as swiftly as Scatty had earlier, Odin punched Brian in the stomach. Had Brian been a second slower in jumping backwards, he might have started spitting blood. By the time he had finished coughing and looked up again, Odin was sitting back in his original position, glaring at him even more fiercely than before. “He’s human, alright. We could take him down if we needed to. He might be a little bit more difficult to deal with than most, though.”
“Odie!” Freya said, angrily. In a blink of an eye, she moved towards him and slapped him across the face hard enough to leave a red mark. “That’s very rude. I would think a Davidson would know better than that. You especially.”
Odin looked subdued, though not particularly hurt. He closed his eyes and nodded. “I’m sorry.”
He turned his face up towards her, looking a little bit angry. He seemed to want to say more, but choked on the words.
Brian glanced at Freya, who was shaking. Standing straight and tall, he could practically see the anger rolling off of her. “Freya-”
“Don’t.” Brian looked at Jane, who was now watching Odin and Freya, absent-mindedly stroking Morgen’s hair. “If you say anything you’ll just aggravate them more. This is something that needs to be dealt with within the family. I know none of it was your fault, but that’s something Freya needs to make clear to her family herself. This whole time she’s been trying to be a good mother and hole it up inside of her, even for Aaron’s sake, but Odie’s right. She’s not that far apart in age from them, and they’ve all been worried sick about her.”
Brian looked up from Jane to Freya. “How has she been acting differently since she came back?”
He noticed that Jane turned her head towards him, somewhat uneasily, then looked away again. “She just has. It’s hard to describe. She used to be more… energetic, I suppose. She was always very responsible, but she had a sort of irrepressible energy. She still has that fire there, but it’s subdued now, and at times it disappears altogether and she looks tired and worn out.”
“Isn’t that just naturally how people become as they grow up?”
“Perhaps, but they can’t help but be worried, I’m sure. They don’t know the reason she’s “grown up” in that sense. All they know is that something big happened while she was away, and they don’t like it.”
Brian thought about it. He wondered if he would feel the same way were he to go away to college and come back to find that Sarah was no longer the sweet, cheerful child that she had been. He supposed it would be scary, even knowing that such a thing would happen anyways. How much worse would it be if that someone had taken care of you ever since you were little.
Freya still hadn’t said anything, but Odin was looking away now, appearing to be a little ashamed. Brian tried determining Freya’s mood. She was less tense and threatening now, but most definitely not calm. She kept clenching and unclenching her fists and was breathing very, very slowly, sure signs that she was barely holding in her anger.
She let out a puff of air and knelt down in front of Odin. “Look, Odie. It’s okay. I’m alright, see? Look at me.” She took his face in her hands. “You’re right, of course. I’m sure I must have worried you all, but that was something that I had to deal with by myself.” She took in a deep breath and sighed. “In California, I did change. A lot of things about me changed, but please don’t think of it like that. Everyone changes and grows up no matter where they are and who they’re with. He’s helped me a lot and was there for me when I needed him to be. So for my sake, don’t treat him like that, okay?”
Odin looked at her, the lines in his face softening a little, and roughly said, “Fine. But don’t ask me to like him. Cause I’m not doing that.”
Freya grinned and pinched his cheek, “That’s okay, you cheeky little bugger. I’m sure he doesn’t care if you like him, either.”
****************************************************************************************************************************
Jane watched the family’s interaction coolly. She sighed in relief a little. The Davidsons were no easy family to handle. She loved them to death, but they were all strong-willed, excitable people with strong family ties. It hadn’t surprised her at all that Brian had not been given the least welcome. Although the children were usually very polite, they tended to beat down people they considered threats. That constituted anyone who had ever hurt one of them.
Since no one knew exactly why Rey came back changed, they assumed California had done something horrible to her, and none of them trusted the “Californians,” who they thought of almost as aliens. To have this person from a piece of Freya’s past that none of them knew about just come pop out of nowhere would of course make them wary. The manner in which Brian had rushed into the house wouldn’t have made them feel any better. “I mean,” Jane thought, “Who wants to see their mother figure screaming and being carried over a stranger’s shoulder?”
Rey stood up, strong, cool, and confident. She smiled, turning around and striding past Brian into the dining room. “Did you all eat dinner without me already?”
The twins, Scatty and Rose, jumped up and followed her into the dining room. The rest of the family followed suit, barring the sleeping ones and Izzy. Jane was left, curling Morgen’s soft hair in her fingers. She looked up as Brian gave a little awkward cough. He was still standing there, as if not sure where his place stood in the near-empty living room.
Jane gave him a contented, reassuring smile. “It’s alright now. They’ve all eaten already, but I’m sure they’ve regained their appetites after that fight.” She frowned. “Once they’re done with that I have to get Scatty’s ankle and Odie’s arm fixed, though. They act like they don’t feel a thing, but it isn’t good for them.” She looked back up at Brian. “Oh, sit down. They’ll be expecting you to still be here when they come back, you know.”
Brian looked around the room for a moment, then looked down at his watch, “My family’s going to be expecting me back, I should go.”
Jane went back to curling Morgen’s hair, “I’ll tell them where you’ve gone.” She looked up at Brian again and grinned, “Don’t be expecting the Davidson family to leave you alone, though. They’ll all be bugging you for details, from now on.”
Brian gave her a strange look. “What details?”
Jane laughed. “You’ll see. You go on home, now.”
He seemed to hesitate for a moment, then he nodded curtly, and walked out the door, picking up his rifle on his way out.
Jane sighed and leaned back, closing her eyes. She half-listened as the Davidsons noisily munched away in the dining room. The Davidsons were Jane’s real family, as far as she was concerned, and she was like their surrogate mother. But since Rey had returned, Jane had come to realize just how insufficient she was as a mother figure compared to Rey.
Although everyone acted like Jane was so much more mature than Rey at school, Jane couldn’t see it. The Davidsons were all so impossible to control, since they all shared that same endearing obstinance, but the minute Rey told them to do something, it got done, no questions asked. There was no need for supplications, yelling, or bouts of frustration; she just naturally exuded the air of someone who must be obeyed. Jane considered that proof that Rey was much more mature than herself.
She remembered the time she had become a shadow.
****************************************************************************************************************************
“Jane! Where’ve you been!?” 10-year old Jane Fleming quaked. Her light, golden curls trembled about her delicate, white face, her grey eyes not daring to look towards the sound of her angry mother.
She’d been hiding again, hoping both her parents would be asleep by the time she got home. Often, they were, but on some days, such as these, she was particularly unlucky and they were still awake. George must be more sober than usual, that was the only reason the two of them ever stayed up past ten.
Speak of the devil, George Fleming’s gruff voice croaked, “The little witch home, now?”
An hour later, Jane’s throat was choked with tears, as she sat alone on the floor of her bedroom, nursing a new collection of bruises. She took several deep breaths in and out, although the occasional hiccup interrupted her flow. She waited, breathing slowly and constantly, for 10 minutes, 20, an hour. The house became utterly quiet, her own breath now calm. Her sobs had subsided, but the customary drowsiness hadn’t overtaken her yet.
A knock came. Jane ignored it, she was used to the occasional weird noise. Another knock, followed by a quick, furtive succession of taps. Jane stood up with a frown and headed to the door. When she opened it, she found, not a very persistent person, but a small brown package with the words, “Open in secret.” taped neatly on top.
Jane considered it for a moment. Perhaps it was an illicit drug shipment for George, but usually these were obtained by proxy, not through mail. Jane looked left and right, but no one appeared to be there. She sang a small song under her breath for courage and picked up the package.
She closed the door to her room, since her parents were asleep, and opened it in solitude. A flash brightened the room and faded away to reveal a glowing, floating, metal egg. It was flashing a message: “Do you wish to proceed?”
Jane, in open-mouthed curiosity, sang, “Yes!”
She regretted it the instant it left her mouth, for what happened next was a series of indescribably painful events, which her brain blocked from her memory as best it could. When she returned to active consciousness, Jane was sprawled on the floor, staring in disbelief at the cheeky little egg, which was flashing a message again: “Learn.”
Angrily, Jane got to her feet, grabbed the egg, and attempted to chuck it out of her window. The egg began flashing a multitude of colors, refused to budge from its cushy spot in the air, and knocked her out with a “flash grenade” type mechanism.
As much as she initially hated the egg, and its many counterattacks against her attempts to disassemble it, Jane’s shadow status became the apple of her eye. She found life and excitement and meaning her work as a shadow. Even the beatings George gave her while drunk seemed more manageable.
But a year later, being a shadow drastically changed her life in an unexpected way.
Because of the nature of her shadow abilities, Jane didn’t need lenses or goggles to see the signs of “invisible” shadow creatures. She once found a strange trail of ethereal slime and followed it warily into the forest, after school. At the end of the rainbow she found a pot, but it wasn’t filled with gold, but platinum.
A boy in a pair of ridiculously large and, Jane didn’t want to admit, cool, sunglasses was attacking a green, pulsating snail. He didn’t seem much older than her, but he moved like a boy who had known his weapon for years.
He swung the chain in a quick circle, using his body as momentum for it, whipping its end far and wide. A strange, black stick attached to the end of the chain smacked the snail, agitating it, but not obviously injuring it. Swinging it over his head like a lasso, he let go of the white stick, with the weird circular bridge-looking thing on it, and managed to snatch the black stick out of the arch, without touching the chain. He wound the chain around his body again and snapped the white end outwards. The white handle hit the snail, and actually seemed to harm the creature, leaving a black scorch-mark.
The boy caught the white stick, now holding both in his two hands. As if knowing that the snail would hiss and shoot out its head in anger, at that exact moment the boy made a strange, sideways lunging motion, allowing him to sling his chain around the creature’s large, slimy neck and yank down, killing the creature instantly.
Although Jane wasn’t sure if the creature’s gelatinous body could be seen by most humans, she was pretty sure the horse-sized shell would be hard to hide. But the boy simply touched the side of his sunglasses and a burst of light engulfed the creature, incinerating it.
Jane let out a scream, and the boy’s gaze was instantly on her. He reached inside one of his pants pockets with his left hand, gathering his sticks in his right.
Jane got a bad feeling. She opened her mouth and sang a frantic, 3-note song.
The boy jumped backwards, red rashes appearing on his skin.
He whipped off his sunglasses, thrusting the hand with the sticks in it out awkwardly. “Stop!”
She stopped. “Geez..” The boy said, ruffling his dark brown hair. “Control yourself, weirdo.”
She said, in a panic. “I.. I just… You scared me. I didn’t mean… I mean… I wasn’t trying to…”
He gave her a lopsided grin, “Your singing is scary. You a shadow witchy?”
Incensed by the word “witch,” which George always called her when he was about to beat her, she yelled, “I’m not a witch.” She started singing a loud, angry song that her parents blasted whenever George was sober.
The boy yelled, “Hey!” slapping on his sunglasses hastily and covering his ears. His fingers inched towards the side of his sunglasses from where his palms were protecting his ears. His hands couldn’t completely protect him from the song, which was causing a well-up of fears inside of him. Jane could tell that inducing his fears was causing him to attack, but didn’t see how he could.
Just as his middle finger seemed to be about to reach its target, a silver strand wrapped around his right hand and ripped it away from his face. Jane stopped singing, abruptly.
She heard the boy’s annoyed yell, “Rey!”
A girl’s tinny voice replied, “You’re not supposed to press that button against a human, Ronny! You should know that better than anyone. What were you doing?!”
Out from a thick clump of trees walked a silver statue of some sort of battle goddess. Its blank, cold eyes stared at her, as it turned its head. The plate armor on top was adorned with a pair of large, silver wings, folded against the apparition’s back. From its waist, a strange curtain of silver strands swished around the statue’s armor-plated legs.
Suddenly, everything except for the wings and the skirt of strands melted away, revealing a girl with gold-streaked brown hair in a ponytail. The girl was about as tall as Jane, though maybe a little shorter, and was wearing a pair of jean-shorts and a light T-shirt.
The girl sighed. “Admittedly, it was Aaron’s fault for insulting you.”
“Hey!” The boy said indignantly, but the girl ignored him.
She walked up to Jane and held out her hand, the other still on her hip. Jane flinched a little, but girl didn’t seem to notice. “Hi. I’m Freya, but most people just call me Rey. Nice to meet you. That useless twit back there is my brother, Arawn, but he goes by Aaron, and I just call him Ronny. What’s your name.”
Timidly, Jane mumbled, “Jane Fleming.”
Rey smiled and held out her hand, “Well, don’t quiver there like that, I’m not going to bite. It’s always a pleasure to meet new shadows anyways. Come on, I’ll introduce you to my family.”
Arawn stood up. He looked at her with stunning chocolate brown eyes as cold as steel, but said nothing. They walked mostly in silence, cold on Aaron’s side, awkward on hers, and cheerfully on Rey’s.
A few minutes later, Jane could see the end of the forest. The light was glaring after the gloom of the reservoir and Jane couldn’t see anything clearly. She shielded her eyes and gasped in surprise when her vision cleared and she could see what was in front of her.
A fair-sized, wooden, two-story building spiraled up from the ground. It was somehow majestic, despite its age. She loved it instantly. It had a homey feel to it, but seemed clean and well-kept, unlike her own, beaten up haunted house. A light was on in one of the windows upstairs.
Rey and Aaron strode forward, not bothering to ask Jane what she was stopping for. Most houses only had one story in Medimnum, so most had this reaction when they saw the nice, two-story building the Davidsons lived in, as Jane found out later.
Rey looked up and frowned at the light in the window. She muttered to herself, “Juju doesn’t usually turn on the light during the daytime. Well, the two’ve them have had a rough day.” They kept moving.
Blinking herself back to normal, Jane followed them into the nice house, stopping to gape every once in a while. Rey cheerfully motioned her to sit down, then went upstairs. Aaron sat on a different sofa and the two were silent for a while. There was an awkward silence for a while.
Suddenly, several loud bangs and thumps emanated from upstairs. Jane jumped up wildly, but Aaron simply got up and made two cups of tea.
Upstairs went silent.
Jane whispered, “What was that?”
Aaron handed her one cup of tea. “Nathan and Juju probably attacked Rey. Sorry, but we only have green tea. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Wait, what?”
Aaron said, “Well, they got their eggs last night. Juju woke the whole house up with her screaming. She and Nathan have been practicing ever since. Usually, as shadows, we don’t get to practice our skills much in the open, but they can do that, here. Problem is, they haven’t really recovered from the egg’s work, so their magic probably went out of control when Rey, as a higher level shadow who also uses magic, entered the room. Don’t worry about it. Rey’s got it handled.”
Jane stared at him in horror. She almost got up, but at that exact moment, a very annoyed-looking Rey stomped down the stairs. Her hair was ruffled, but she seemed otherwise unscathed.
She gave Aaron the stink eye. “Thanks for the help.”
Aaron shrugged. “You wouldn’t have needed it, anyways.”
A small, dark-haired boy with sharp green eyes followed Rey into the hallway. His eyes lingered on Jane for a moment, and she shivered.
Coldly, the boy said, “She looks like a witch.”
Jane felt her anger rise, sharply. She said, through gritted teeth, “I am not a witch.” She spat the words out with so much fury that a little bit of her song magic weaved its way into her words and pushed its way out, causing the room to shake and darken. In an instant, three things happened at once.
Rey dashed upstairs, silver armor covering her body as several loud thumps reverberated throughout the house. The boy turned into a large crow and launched itself at Jane. Aaron quickly stepped in front of Jane, his strange weapon appearing and throwing the crow harshly to the side.
The crow turned back into a boy in midair. He managed to land with his two feet and one hand, skidding on the floor before stopping, looking at Aaron, his eyes flashing. Aaron regarded the boy calmly. “It’s alright, Odie. The girl’s just scared.”
“Scared?!” Odie said, disbelief and hostility rolling off of him in waves. He turned his glare on her. “She doesn’t seem scared to me.”
Aaron brandished his weapon. “Well, she doesn’t like being called witch, then. Whatever. Don’t attack her. She’s a guest. If Juju and Nathan weren’t have problems with their magic, Rey would have been the one to stop you.”
Odie glared at Jane some more, then tromped upstairs.
Aaron’s weapon disappeared, and he sat back down. “Don’t worry. Rey’s decided you’re safe, so you’re not going to be hurt by anyone in this family. That one’s Odie. Our idiot parents named him Odin, but we don’t use our mythy names in this house. I hate them.”
Jane didn’t know if Aaron was referring to the “idiot parents” or the “mythy names,” but seeing how fast he had moved earlier, she didn’t dare say anything, and the two of them fell back into uncomfortable silence.
Rey didn’t come back down, and Jane became increasingly nervous. Finally, Aaron let out a long sigh and stood up. He turned towards her and held out his hand. “Sorry for scaring you earlier, and calling you a witch.”
She looked up at him in slight surprise. He refused to meet her eyes. After a moment’s pause, she smiled and took the hand. “It’s ok. I shouldn’t be so sensitive about the word witch, I guess.”
Aaron looked at her, letting go of her hand. “Why are you so sensitive about it?”
Jane paused. She didn’t know if she should tell him, but his gaze drew the timid answer out of her. “My Dad, George. He calls me that… when he… when he’s angry. When he wants to hurt me.”
Aaron’s face contorted into one of fury and disgust. “This George, he hits you?”
With a strange sense of urgency, she said, “Don’t tell anyone! I don’t… I don’t want to… I don’t want to get thrown into social services or… or something like that. I can… I can handle it.”
Aaron looked like he wanted to burst. “I get that you don’t want to go to social services, but you let some douche, who calls himself your parent, beat you? You obviously can’t handle it.”
She frowned at him. “You don’t know what it’s like. Your parents just leave you alone. This is what I’ve grown up with. I know how to deal with it, okay? It’s not like he’s ever gotten close to killing me or anything. And at least I have a home that I don’t have to work to live in. Someday, I’ll be able to get out of here, when I’m older, but for now I just have to wait. Don’t waste all the work I’ve done because you don’t understand anything about me.”
Aaron was frowning right back at her. After a moment’s silence he exclaimed, “Fine!” and so saying, he turned and walked out of the door.
Aaron hadn’t seemed very happy with that, but he seemed to feel sorry for her, because he looked for her during school. He offered to let her hang out at his house, after realizing she never went home right away. It was thanks to him that she had gotten to know and love all of the Davidsons. The blue earring and green ipod were both gifts from the Davidsons. They had also taught her to control her shadow abilities better. When Rey was sent off to California, she had left Jane in charge of the motherly duties, and Jane loved it. Being with the Davidsons made her happy, like she had a place to belong. Ever since Rey had come back, though, she felt somehow… cheated, in a way. Like someone had stolen something from her.
The whole family, especially the younger ones who had no memory of Rey, still treated her like the mother, but Jane still felt as if her quiet, caring position in the family had been supplanted by Rey’s easy charisma. It was unfair to Rey and a little bit disconcerting.
She leaned her head back up against the wall behind the couch and let out a great sigh.
“I think you’ve curled Morgen’s hair enough by now, don’t you?”
Jane jolted upwards, almost waking Morgen. “Aaron,” she hissed, “You startled me!”
He gave his signature lopsided grin. “Stop complaining and put the child down. The others are waiting.” She blinked at him in confusion and he rolled his eyes. “You didn’t have dinner, right? Come on.”
Jane laid Morgen gently on the couch and stood up, taking Aaron’s hand and joining her family at the dinner table, right where she belonged.