Cloak of Echoes: A Netherwalker Short Story

Her chattering teeth almost overpowered the music blaring in her ears. Emma was soaked and freezing, but she was also smiling from ear to ear. She found the downpour exhilarating. Somehow the heavy rain was acting like a shield against all the emotions that plagued her daily life. She would take a nice hot shower instead of her normal bath when she got home to see if she could replicate the glorious effect.

  All of a sudden a cab pulled up to the curb and its back window rolled down. Emma pulled her earbuds out and was ecstatic to learn the rain’s effect was still intact even without the aid of her music.

  “If you want, I know a seat that’s not taken.” Mattox smiled at his own joke and gestured to the empty seat beside him.

  In that moment, Emma felt so normal. Suddenly finding herself without a care in the world, she decided to play along and run a little experiment in the process. “It’s just a light drizzle,” she laughed, enjoying the liquid curtain that surrounded her. “I’m sure it will clear up any minute now.” The rain was coming down in sheets and even Mattox was getting pretty wet from inside the cab.

  “Come on, Emma. I’ll even have the cab drop me off first so you don’t think I’m stalking you to find out where you live.” He opened the door and scooted to the far side.

  How does he know my name? She hadn’t even thought about him stalking her for real. Was he? No, now she was just being silly, still giddy from the break in the emotional assault she was always under.

  “Get in here already, would you? My treat.”

  That sealed the deal for Emma. Also, she didn’t want to get hypothermia, so she dove into the cab.  The rain’s shielding effect was holding even from inside the cab, as if it were a bubble of steel and glass protecting her from the outside world. Hmm, well that’s interesting, she thought as the driver’s emotions surfaced. Apparently since the cabbie was shielded from the rain along with her, her empathic abilities still worked on him. He was mentally preoccupied with a medical exam he was studying for. Emma wondered if walking down the street in the rain under an umbrella with someone would have the same effect as a vehicle. Her heart did a little skip as she thought about who she would want with her under that umbrella as she looked at Mattox. Being so isolated enabled Emma to focus completely on Mattox and his ever present lack of emotionally occupied space. “So where to?” She beamed, concentrating on his facial expressions, tone, and responses. It was refreshing to feel normal again.

  “Seriously? I was kidding about dropping me off first. In this rain it’d be about a thirty minute cab ride one-way.”

  “Seriously?” She thought about it for a minute, “Okay.”

  Mattox looked into her eyes as if he were trying to figure her out. “Well, okay then,” he smiled and turned to the cabby, “Madison Avenue and East Seventy-Fifth Street please.”

  “You got it.” The driver was happy for the long fare and the time to study mentally.

  Emma’s eyes got big. “Do you live in a castle or something?”

  “Or something,” Mattox shrugged.

  “What on earth are you doing at Jefferson?” she asked trying to get any emotion from him.

  “Would you believe I’m on a secret mission?” he teased.

  “You’d be surprised what I believe, but from you? No, I don’t believe it.”

  Mattox laughed. “Fair enough.”

  Emma looked out the cab window not knowing what to say. She hadn’t realized how heavily she relied on knowing someone’s emotions until now. Her torture device had become her crutch.

  “Do you need to call your dad, let him know what you’re doing?” Mattox reached in his pocket and held out his phone.

  Emma tried to hide the fact that his question sent a chill down her spine. She thought perhaps it was a lucky guess that he suggested her dad and not, say, her mom or her parents. Emma decided to play coy. She would be on guard, but she just had to find out what the deal was with this guy.

  “And, what am I doing?” she teased.

  “Stalking me?” he teased back.

  “Ha, you wish.”

  “Maybe,” he smiled and put his phone away. “So tell me something about yourself.”

  “No. You first,” she stated, not meaning to sound so defensive.

  “Well, I started at a new school today, I found lunchtime quite amusing since my attempt to make a new friend was thwarted, apparently by a lunch table occupied by dozens of invisible people,” he chuckled.

  Emma rolled her eyes and changed the subject, still embarrassed by how she had treated Mattox at lunch. “No, I mean tell me something I don’t know.”

  “Okay,” he thought about it for a minute. “I have a younger brother named Malcolm and a cat named Amelia.”

  “Ooh, so mysterious,” she still wasn’t getting any emotions from him. “I wouldn’t peg you for a cat man.”

  “Amelia is my brother’s really,” he smiled at her again. “Mystery, huh? Isn’t that what most typical girls want?”

  “I’m not typical,” she didn’t know what else to say, but she was also trying to get him to expose his emotions somehow.

  “I know you’re not,” he looked out the window for a while like he was contemplating something. “I think it’s your turn. Tell me something I don’t already know about you?”

  Emma was taken aback by his comment and decided to try and shock him into exposing some emotion. “I have an unopened letter from my dead mother.”

  “Oh?” He didn’t seem surprised. “What are you waiting for?” His tone wasn’t unkind, but still she couldn’t get a read on his emotions.

  Emma shrugged not wanting to explain the reason. She looked out the window for a long time while the buildings got taller and more expensive. Everyone’s emotions were still dulled by the rain and she started to feel an unusual tug towards the area of Manhattan they were headed. It wasn’t uncomfortable, but it was definitely a pulling sensation, almost like a yearning. Emma wondered if it had always been there, hidden just below the surface by the other feelings that always overwhelmed her.

  “I’m sorry about your mom,” Mattox finally said, seeming to watch her reaction to their surroundings.

  In the distance a beautiful building came into view directly across from Central Park. “You live in the Vaughn?”

  “You’ve heard of it?”

  She nodded, not remembering exactly how she knew the building’s name or what it looked like, “Pretty fancy.”

  “It’s home.”

  “It’s a palace!”

  “Would you like to see it?”

  His question gave her pause. Emma struggled with conflicting emotions. She was leery of this mystery guy but so terribly intrigued by him at the same time. Her stranger danger seemed to be on the fritz in the presence of Mattox. Could he be working with the shadow creature somehow? She thought. Emma visibly shivered this time, but tried to turn it into a convincing head shake.

  “Maybe next time.”

  “Well, the invitation is open, anytime,” he smiled.

  “Thanks,” she scrunched her eyebrows together. “How young is your brother? Why doesn’t he go to Jefferson?”

  “Ah, now there’s your mystery,” he laughed. Mattox instructed the driver to take Emma wherever she wanted to go, tipped enough for three rides home, and got out of the cab. “Thank you, oh gallant knight, for the safe escort to my humble castle.” Mattox teased her through the open window.

  “Ha ha, you think you’re clever,” Emma prodded.

  “Oh, if you only knew.” Mattox bowed at the waist, “Until the morrow at school, Lady Emma.”

  She laughed. “So which is it? Am I a lady or a knight?” she asked sarcastically.

  “Who says you can’t be both?” he smiled.

  “Um, every book I’ve ever read and every movie I’ve ever seen?” she replied.

  “Humph. Funny, you don’t seem like the type.”

  “The type of what?” she asked.

  “The type of girl that would let anyone define her.” Ma
ttox looked down at her and smiled. “Don’t let anyone tell you who you can or can’t be.” He was so sincere it almost frightened her. “Goodnight, Emma the Fair and Brave,” and with that he tapped the roof of the cab and the driver drove away.

  The tugging feeling was still there, almost as though it wanted her to go back to the Vaughn, but now Emma wasn’t sure where exactly it was coming from. Was it coming from the building itself, or was the pull coming from the boy that was still standing on the curb watching her leave?

  †

  Mattox must have been running late to lunch. Out of curiosity Emma turned towards the school and searched for his presence. She tried to convince herself that it was merely an experiment and had nothing to do with her attraction to him. She searched the farthest corners of the school to no avail.

  “Let me guess, it’s taken?” Emma jumped at the laughing voice behind made. Mattox was outside the school grounds leaning on the metal bars surrounding Jefferson High.

  “If you know the answer why do you keep asking?” she said, trying to slow her heart rate.

  “Glutton for punishment, I guess,” Mattox gave her a sly smile.

  “What are you doing out there?” Emma asked.

  “Sorry, that’s need to know.”

  “And I don’t?” she quipped.

  “See, you’re not just a pretty face,” he smiled sincerely.

  Emma blushed. Does he really think I’m pretty?

  “Have you read your mother’s letter yet?”

  For a moment his question caught Emma off guard. Her posture stiffened as she responded, “Sorry, that’s need to know.”

  “That’s a no,” he stated, but his tone wasn’t unkind. “So, same time next week then? I’ll ask if your entire table is taken, you’ll say yes...” he teased.

  Emma couldn’t help the giggle that erupted out of her belly and for that brief moment everyone’s emotions around her ceased to exist almost naturally.

  “Ah, there she is,” Mattox stated.

  “Wha- what do you mean?” Emma asked.

  “Nice to finally meet you, Emma Kincaid.” He gave her another sly smile before walking down the street. “Talk to you Monday!”

  Emma shouted after him, “Why are you so interested in that letter?” He didn’t turn around or give any indication he had heard. She figured he was too far away to hear, but still had to ask the question. Some of the students around Emma stared at her, she felt their dismay, but she didn’t care.  Who is this guy?

  †

  Emma stayed in her room most of the weekend, telling her dad she had a ton of homework. It wasn’t true, but she needed the time alone to recover from the hours at school and the never ending emotions that followed her. Besides the nightmares, playing a game of mental dodgeball against hundreds of students was taking a toll on her and she was losing the game. Emma laid in bed with the covers over her head and tried to drown out her father and the neighbors’ senses. After the reprieve the downpour had given her the other day, Emma was disappointed to find out her shower hadn’t been able to create the same effect. But it was supposed to rain again today, so Emma waited. Maybe the answer was the creation of so much ozone. Whatever it was, it had been glorious and Emma was desperate for more.

  Relief finally came as Emma heard thick raindrops start to fall and clatter against her closed window. Thunder rumbled in the distance. If the silence was somehow tied to thunder and lightning she was screwed. There was no way she was going to experiment with electricity. She thought about the alley and how something had been able to block everything out so effortlessly. Could she replicate that herself? Emma decided it was worth finding out as sleep threatened to take her. And what about Mattox? Was he projecting himself as a void in space or had she done that somehow? Sunday her dad would go to work and she could at least investigate the alley, but for now exhaustion won and everything faded to black.

  In her dreamscape, the sun was setting as Emma soared like a bird just above the water’s surface. The sun’s purple and orange streamers were a feast to her eyes and its glow warmed her skin. As she glided she let the salt spray hit her tongue and energize her wings as they carried her towards the Cliffs of Moher. The steep jagged rocks jutted straight out of the crashing waves and beckoned her to climb them. She plunged deep into the water and emerged like a rocket up and over the cliff’s ledge to pastures of green rolling hills. Driven to continue Southeast, Emma flew towards the ancient land that called to her.

  Vehicles and roads faded, transforming into dirt trails and men on horseback the closer she got to Cadbury. A large tree lined hillfort stood vigil over the lush English countryside and welcomed her. Emma blinked and with a shimmer the empty hill transformed into a vibrant stone castle. Suddenly the hillfort turned dark and leather wings beat at the night sky as large masses screeched through the air. Trees around the castle creaked as ice leached into them, cracking them from the inside. The deafening whipping sound the wood made as it broke and exploded shrouded the screams coming from the castle as tree after tree fell. Defending their leader, knights surrounded their king who wielded a magnificent sword of golden light. Its light shimmered off a wall of encroaching black smoke. Emma gasped when she realized what the wall was. Hundreds of shadow creatures from her nightmares surrounded the hillfort. Dragons blacked out the remnants of the sun as they soared through the air circling the castle and demolishing it to rubble. A giant among men emerged from the wall of shadows and bowled down hundreds of knights as he made his way to the king. His tattered fluidic armor trailed behind him along with his most obedient beasts. With a simple flick of his wrist another wave of knights fell to their deaths. The giant stepped over ashen husks that once were men and cackled with pleasure.

  Wind from dozens of dragon wings lifted the human dust into the air and the fallen men were reduced to unrecognizable mounds of grey powder. With every step the giant’s once emaciated skeletal form grew stronger, engorged with life essence from the fallen knights. He looked to the king and screeched and howled. The king showed no fear as he sliced through shadow beasts one after the other. Somehow, his remaining knights created purple glowing orbs out of midair that grew and encased the beasts banishing them back to their own realm.

  The scene shimmered again and sounds of a celebration rang in Emma’s ears. Children laughed and maidens giggled as everyone danced. The withered and dying trees were lush and green and the castle was no longer in ruins. Emma wondered if she was seeing something before or after the horrific battle she had just witnessed. Before. Definitely before, she thought, opening her senses up to the people below her. The king looked into the sky. Had he had heard her thoughts? Did he feel her presence when she listened to the court’s emotions?

  Come to us, Emma, you are one of us, the king’s words bounced around in her skull as he stared at her floating there in the morning sky.

  Emma’s vision zoomed in to the king’s table as a woman sat down. Mom! But the woman never looked Emma’s way. She was focused on a young man sitting beside her. Mattox? At the mention of his name Mattox looked up at Emma.

  You’re one of us, Mattox stated inside Emma’s head.

  “You’re one of us. You’re one of us,” the crowd chanted. Emma’s mother finally looked up into the sky and smiled at her daughter.

  “Mom!”

  “Emm-” her mother’s voice was cut off. Headlights rushed passed Emma’s vision followed by a loud crash. Emma was thrust inside the car with her mother as it flipped over. Their bodies flew up and out of their seats crashing into everything over and over again as the car rolled. Windows shattered, metal crumpled, and the rolling finally stopped. A deathly silence shrouded the wreckage that had been their car. Pieces of glass clung to the blood and sweat coating her mother’s skin and a river of her blood was pooling below their feet.

  “Mom!” Emma gasped. The impact of the crash had left her breathless. “Don’t leave me!”

  Emma opened her eyes, covered her head with her p
illow and wept. She hadn’t been with her mom the night she died but the dream had been so real. Staying strong for her dad, she hadn’t realized how much she missed her mother until she saw her and was ripped away from her even if it had been a nightmare.

  The noises of the real world began to creep in along with other people's emotions. Someone in two apartments down was happy and celebrating a birthday. Not being alone with her grief and able to mourn her mother without someone’s happiness flooding into her, Emma bit down on her pillow and screamed.

  †

  The empty soup can clanked and skipped as it hit the brick wall and rolled with an uneven lilt deeper into the alley. Emma pinched her arm. Ow! Okay, I’m awake. She kicked the dented can again as hard as she could and looked all around, hoping to stir...something. But the sun was shining straight down and without a cloud in the sky the dingy alley was void of most its shadows. There’s nothing here. Emma rubbed her eyes and exhaled in frustration, maybe I was just sleep deprived? Defeated, and only partially relieved, she headed home to await Monday and the second part of her investigation.

  Slithering through the darkest crevices of the alley the creature stalked its prey. This one was worth a hefty bounty to the master, so ripe with overflowing life essence, the shadowy beast had never tasted anything quite like her. It shuddered, anticipating the opiate caresses its master would bestow upon it once it returned to the Netherworld. The earth’s darkness would camouflage it soon and allow for more movement and better feeding ground. It sensed no guardians near and for that it was thankful. Being banished by a hunter now before devouring the sweet girl would undoubtedly be a death sentence at its master’s hand. No, the creature would lie in wait near the girl. She seemed to be curious and it knew she would return. Knowing the girl’s desires the creature set its lure and let a tangible thought be carried on the wind along with her name. Emma.

  †

  The bell rang and the cacophony of students shuffling out of class was drowning out Mr. Grey, “Don’t forget I need your permission slips tomorrow for the field trip!”

  Emma shook her head and put her earbuds in. A field trip with half the high school was not her idea of fun. She moaned at the thought of being trapped on a school bus the size of a sardine can with dozens of teenagers’ emotions invading her mind. Ugh! I hate my life! Then her heart unexpectedly did a little flip flop as Mattox smiled at her before disappearing around the corner.

  It wasn’t until lunchtime Emma realized Mel was home with the flu. Mel texted Emma to save her a seat next to Mattox for when she got back unless they got married by then. Emma was responding with a sarcastic “Ha ha” when someone sat down across from her; someone with no emotional signature.

  “Assume much?” Emma stated only half-heartedly as she looked up,

  “Out of U and me,” Mattox retorted.

  “Ha, ha.”

  “Hey, I’m just following your lead,” he beamed.

  “I don’t dance.” Emma ranted.

  “No? Because you’re quite good at it from where I’m standing. Well, sitting actually, finally.” A sly smile was plastered across his face.

  He had her so distracted that for the second time since meeting Mattox Daniels everyone around them faded away. She looked from one side of the courtyard to the other with a smile on her face. Her grin widened as she turned back to Mattox, but the echoes soon returned.

  “What?” he quizzed her.

  “Nothing.”