Blood Shadow: Book of Hartwell

  “It did at first, but then that same person that saved me helped me feel better. And we were by the water.”

  Just then, Andrew ran out of the gym and into the hallway, “Guys, c’mon! The game’s gonna’ start!”

  Daniel started running but noticed that Nicole hadn’t moved. “Are you all right, Nicky?”

  She started sweating from the eerie thoughts rebounding through her

  head.

  “Yeah, I’ll be there in a minute.”

  Daniel ran ahead and Nicole was slowed by the thought that their dreams were so connected. But, being only 12 years old, she quickly shrugged it off and then ran into the gym.

  EIGHT

  The fluid motion of bodies perfectly in sync made the Beach Haven Hedgehogs volleyball games akin to attending the ballet. The first time Daniel and Nicole talked about their dreams, she thought she’s caught a glimpse of long scratch marks on his back.

  He dove on the floor to dig a spike and his shirt quickly rose up, revealing some skin. Between games she patted him on the back in the spot where so thought she saw the marks, but his skin was perfectly smooth. And her suspicions were squashed the next time he dove, because there were no marks on his back at all.

  “Do you have dreams?” Nicole asked her mom one evening before dinner.

  Sharon Phillips was facing the sink, her back to Nicole, and she smiled. However, when she turned around her face revealed no pride, no joy.

  “Dreams? Sure, everyone has dreams.”

  Nicole shook her head back-and-forth in frustration, because she figured that her mother lacked the understanding to respond to her. However, Sharon was one of the few people in the world that could understand what Nicole was going through, being that she was the daughter of Garrison Phillips.

  “Daddy, do I have a mom?” 12-year-old Sharon Phillips had asked her father years earlier.

  Of course, Garrison Phillips knew that every child had a mother, but the shelf life of mortal mothers exposed to radiation in the 1940’s was fairly short. Nicole certainly would have perished in the womb is she wasn’t carrying the dominant ‘protector’ gene.

  Eloise Phillips died before her baby's due date, so Sharon was brought into the world via an emergency C-section. Eloise arrived at the

  hospital cold and without breath – doctors needed prodding from an animated Gary, “She has a baby in her stomach! You have to get her out!”

  The doctors became so frantic they didn’t process that Gary said

  “her” when referring to the baby's sex.

  Gary and his wife decided on the names of Sharon and Steven about a month before her death, as she was starting to fade. But the moment the baby was conceived, Gary was in tune with his Sharon.

  Gary answered his pre-teen daughter, “Your mom helped us win World War II. She worked at a factory that tested and assembled one of the atomic bombs.”

  “So, she was a hero?” a wide-eyed Sharon asked. Gary smiled, “Yes, your mom was a hero.”

  “But I thought she worked as a nurse in a doctor’s office?”

  Gary looked around, creating the illusion of secretiveness. “That was her cover. Her mission was top secret.”

  The stretch of the truth seemed to make Sharon feel more important, so Gary had no problem keeping the alternate realty alive. The real truth was that Eloise Phillips was an ex-ray technician in a doctor’s office, performing as many as two dozen unprotected x-rays per day. This was a

  time when the impact of such radiation was unknown to the public and most neighborhood doctors.

  The side effects of the radiation were all positive for Sharon, however, giving her freakish lung capacity and limitless energy on land. While most dolphins had to surface above water every few minutes, Sharon could stay underwater for hours at a time without resurfacing. The radiation also caused a permanent mutation in the gene sequence of both Sharon and her daughter Nicole.

  Sharon’s discussion with her daughter about her father wasn’t as straightforward, or nearly as honest. Coming from a place where her mom was an x-ray technician turned international spy, it normally would have been difficult to stretch the truth any more.

  The story of the rocky romance of Sharon Phillips and Blake Wallace was one for the ages, though. They met in 1978 when Sharon was 52 and Blake was 22. Of course, Sharon didn’t look a day over 20 and he knew it.

  It was summer and Sharon was at her favorite beach in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Blake was the blonde-haired lifeguard with the red Speedo and the hard body that all the girls were after that summer. Sharon thought about becoming a lifeguard when she first saw him, but that would have taken her away from her primary obligation: watching over Hartwell.

  She was at the beach every day honing her water-saving skills. After a few weeks of watching kids and adults thanking the girl in various form- fitting bikinis, Senior Lifeguard Blake Wallace had seen just about enough.

  He walked up to Sharon after her latest save and tapped her on the shoulder, “Excuse me, Miss.”

  Sharon with her 5’7” sleek frame, jet-black hair, and bright green eyes, turned around expecting another thanks for a job well done.

  “You’re welcome,” she said before realizing it was the boy she had a crush on for the past four summers, ‘Cake’ Blake.

  “But I didn’t thank you!” he said in a pissy tone. “Why have you been saving all those people?”

  Sharon didn’t like pissy, or short, or inconsiderate. All of the nerves she initially felt from seeing him so close quickly dissipated. “Do you mean, this year? Or are you referring to last year or the years before that?”

  Blake was all about image, even though he always had a girlfriend outside of the beach. “Get shot!” he yelled with his best New England accent. “You couldn’t have been doing that!”

  She calmly ran both of her hands through her thick, short, Pat

  Benetar-inspired hair, further exposing her completely ‘cut’ body.

  “Let me ask you one question then, before I get back to doing what I do, and you can get back to standing there and looking pretty for all of the high school girls. When was the last time you got good and wet, Mr. Superstar? Or is all that,” she motioned to the length of his body, “just for show?”

  He had never been challenged before on this beach, which was usually inhabited by tourists and people that ‘summered’ in Cape Cod.

  Blake, as usual, said the first thing he could think of, “I’ll race you to the buoy and back.”

  Sharon continued her ‘mockumentary,' “Ooh! I don’t know? Do you think it’s safe to go that far out?”

  He was furious as he walked back to his elevated, white lifeguard stand and removed the whistle that dangled around his neck. “It’s time for a beat-down,” he muttered under his breath.

  “First one back to my stand wins,” Blake said as he stomped through the golden sand back toward Sharon.

  “Wins what?” she questioned.

  He didn’t have the time or the patience for negotiation, “What do you want?”

  She looked him over and replied, “I kinda’ fancy that whistle you had around your neck.” Sharon then walked toward the edge of the shore and he followed.

  “Don’t you want to hear what I want when I win?” he said with the last shred of pride and machismo he could muster.

  She looked at him dead in the eye, “We both know that will not be necessary.”

  They dove into an oncoming wave, only Sharon quickly disappeared and transformed into a Bottlenose Dolphin. Blake was paddling in style, as he thought his freestyle stroke had never been better.

  He was halfway to the buoy when Sharon changed into Orca and butted her huge snout on the buoy. The red flag dropped into the water, where the newly-changed dolphin snatched the flag and cut through the water. Blake felt a furious “Swoosh!” going by him and quickly wrote it off as just rough current.

  When Blake was a few feet from the buoy, he picked his head
out of the water and saw no sight of Sharon. He smiled and then looked over at the buoy and there was no sight of the flag, either. He looked back at the shore and squinted to see what he thought was a person sitting in his chair, waving a red flag.

  Sharon sat back in the oversized, white high-chair, and initially thought she would wait for him to come back in to collect her whistle. That was, until, she spotted a hostile fin in the near distance behind Blake.

  Blake was taking his time, still feeling the sting of his defeat, as the quite sizable shark inched closer to its early lunch. Sharon again dove into the water and completed the transformation from human, to dolphin, to

  killer whale, just as she had done moments earlier. Only this time, she did not slow down once she approached the buoy.

  Sharon could sense the jaws of the massive shark opening under the water, as it ascended on Blake’s fluttering legs. Blake felt a huge current pass him as he was sucked down under the water by its sheer force. Sharon then rammed her huge snout into the side of the shark, sending it surprised and hurt, away from Blake, who had swallowed a great deal of water from being sucked into the swell.

  She flipped around and switched back into dolphin and then her human form, as she scooped up the sinking Blake and swam back to the shore within seconds. Before emerging from the surf, Sharon put her mouth on Blake’s and inhaled all of the water out of his lungs without anyone seeing it. He regained consciousness, coughing and spitting up salty sea water.

  “What happened?” he asked as she helped him to his feet.

  “A speed boat went by and created quite a current,” she said trying to protect both of them from the truth.

  Blake ran his fingers through his blonde hair and attempted to regain his composure, but it was Sharon that was now more flustered than ever.

  He touched his lips and a memory flash went through his mind. “Did you just kiss me?”

  She hesitated at first and then quickly regained her composure as they started walking toward the lifeguard chair.

  “More like ‘the kiss of life,” she replied.

  “It felt more like a kiss than CPR,” he continued, kidding her. “You’ll know when I kiss you,” she boldly replied.

  “Oh, will I?” he countered. “We’ll have to see about that.”

  It was the first time Blake was the savee not the savor, but the feeling was one of exhilaration and freedom, more than the anxiety and obligation he felt while saving people. Outwardly, he was all cool and brave, but inside he was a cauldron of nerves – even with Sharon doing most of the work. This would only serve to deteriorate his coping skills as their relationship progressed from dating to marriage within a three-year period.

  He always sensed a greater truth from his first question on their date that night, “Where did you get that scratch on your nose?” to his last question before he left at the end of their marriage, “Do you think you’ll ever be honest with me?"

  Blake became obsessed with Sharon’s extra-marital activities to the point where he kept a journal about her extensive injuries and her remarkable healing power. His job as a marine biologist gave Blake a keen insight into the window of the aquatic world, and set him up for the next stage of his professional life once he left Sharon – who was in the early stages of her pregnancy – unbeknownst to Blake and Sharon’s father,

  Gary.

  NINE

  “One, two, three, Hedgehogs!” the group of Beach Haven High School Volleyball players shouted as their hands met in the center of the huddle.

  ‘The Three Slamigo’s’ were now in tenth grade and the hormones were fully matriculating, even for these special teens.

  “Did Daniel tell you about the dance coming up?” Emily Brewster asked Belinda Thompson as they sat in the stands of the aged gymnasium watching their sons.

  Belinda loved going to games and witnessing her son pass the ball to his teammates and effortlessly float through the air. She was so into the game that she mindlessly replied, “Dance? I don’t think he mentioned a dance.”

  Emily’s eyes were burning as she looked at long-legged, Nicole Phillips. She knew that the blonde bombshell could make her son really happy, but for some reason she had a gnawing feeling that Nicole would not only break Drew's heart, but would be the kind of girl that would shatter it into little pieces.

  “Do you think he’ll take Nicole?” Emily continued her fact-finding mission.

  Belinda had already moved on, “To what?”

  Emily reached into her waste-basket-sized bag of popcorn and threw a fist-full of the popped and buttered colonels down her throat.

  Andrew Brewster was all bravado, but when it came to girls he was awkward like a lot of his sophomore friends. And when it came to Nicole, he was only about sports and the physical. In the eight years they knew

  each other, the two never sat down and had a calm – what most people would call ‘normal’ – cerebral discussion.

  This was where Nicole’s relationship with the two boys differed. She felt a kinship with Andrew because they had been close for so long. They were buddies - pals - like two old friends of the same sex, only they were quickly realizing that the gender divide was widening with each passing day.

  When Nicole thought of Daniel, however, she dreamt back to the first day they met when they were waiting in line to get into Mrs. Williams’ class. She knew then, like a hungry kid in a bakery knows when they see a chocolate brownie with walnuts, that he was special. Her heart fluttered extra-fast when he was around, and she never really ‘had eyes’ for any other boy.

  Daniel had gone through a growth spurt and was now a well- proportioned 6’2”. Nicole was a gangly 5’9”, and Andrew was the runt of the litter at 5’8”, but what he lacked in height he made up with his fiery personality.

  Nicole was daydreaming about the dance from the moment she heard about it, and was getting a bit antsy waiting for Daniel to ask her.

  She was also sensitive to her good friend Drew, and didn’t want to leave him out in the cold.

  Emily and Belinda waited for their sons to emerge from the locker room after another straight-sets victory, when they saw Nicole walking out of the girl’s locker room. Emily grabbed Belinda’s arm and nearly dragged her across the gym.

  “Great game, Nicole!” Belinda said as she moved in and they met in a hug.

  “Thanks, Mrs. T.,” Nicole replied after breaking the hug.

  Emily smiled one of those phony smiles that people get caught in when the lens of a camera snaps. “So Nicky, are you going to the dance?”

  Both boys heard the question as they emerged from the boy’s locker room, which was on the other side of the gym. They ran into the hallway and then burst through the doors to the girl’s side of the gym where Nicole and their moms were standing.

  The three ladies turned to see what the noise was, and only Emily knew the boys had heard the pointed question.

  “Where did you guys come from?” Belinda innocently asked. “We were running in the hallway,” Daniel replied.

  He looked at Andrew for confirmation and Andrew awkwardly nodded his head and stated, “Yeah, running in the hallway.”

  Belinda looked at Emily and said, “I don’t know where they get all that energy.”

  Emily replied, “They’re teenagers.”

  Emily quickly turned her attention back to Nicole and the question that was left hanging.

  “So Nicole, are you going?”

  It took Nicole a moment to understand what Mrs. Brewster was referencing.

  “Oh, the dance!”

  Andrew started sweating and, mind you, he barely raised his blood pressure during an entire volleyball match.

  Nicole thought about it for five seconds – her first impulse was to choose Daniel, but she looked at both of the guys standing in front of her with those puppy-dog eyes, and opted for Switzerland.

  “Why don’t we all go together?”

  Daniel was a bit miffed, but didn’t want to show
his displeasure in front of everyone. Both Andrew and Emily breathed a sigh of relief at surviving the first major aversion to pain at the hand of Nicole.

  Belinda was just happy that everyone was getting along so well. “Well, isn’t that great! What a wonderful idea! And we can all meet

  your mother. It will be great to finally put a face behind the voice after all these years," Emily stated.

  Nicole had no response for the whereabouts of her mother, who had never seen her play a single volleyball game. Her grandfather, Garrison, had managed to miss every game, too.

  She went home that night and was ready to confront her mother and grandpa’. They were sitting at the dinner table when Nicole opened up, “How come neither one of you ever come to my games? Daniel and Andrew’s moms are always there.”

  The two elders would have like to say, “That’s the reason we don’t come,” but Sharon went with, “Honey, you know we have to work.”

  Nicole shot back, “Even on Saturday’s?”

  Grandpa’ Garrison replied, “People need seafood on their table every day,” as he cracked open a five-pound lobster with bare hands.

  “Well, I want you to meet Daniel and Andrew and their families when we go to the dance,” Nicole said as if everyone knew what she was talking about.

  Gary started coughing and Sharon was quick to slap him on the back, hoping to avoid the subject.

  “Are you okay, dad?”

  He nodded ‘yes’ and then said, “Dance? What dance?”