I looked out the window, watching the tree-lined streets disappear as we approached the highway. “Do you have any idea how weird it is that you guys were essentially stalking me? I mean, I should be creeped out. I get why you did it. Doesn’t make it any less odd.”
“It wasn’t really stalking. What’s the difference between that and what Chase does for a living sometimes? We watched. Sometimes. If you remembered, we had to know. As it was, you came to him. Everything worked out. That was a good day.”
His version and mine didn’t match. “Oh yeah? Malcolm put me through my paces. Told me to dress sexier. Made me feel like an idiot. It wasn’t a good day.”
“He treated you the way he treats all the new hires. He had no choice. Michael made us all vow not to interfere in the lives of those whose memories were altered. He had to pretend. Doesn’t mean he didn’t call me ten times that night. Although he doesn’t tell most of his newbies to dress sexy.”
We drove in silence. It didn’t feel awkward. I wasn’t sure I could hear any more about Malcolm’s hurt heart and pain while he remained missing. Block knew a whole side of Malcolm’s life I had yet to learn about. I wanted to know about those years. I’d own what pain was on my shoulders. I’d blame Michael where appropriate. There were bigger issues than our hearts. I’d do all of it—when we found Malcolm and brought him home safely.
With him missing, the thought of him hurting made me want to gauge out my eyes.
I pulled out my phone. No new texts. I supposed it would be too much to ask to be rushing to Fredericksburg and have Malcolm text he was on his way back.
The time passed, and when we pulled up to the house, Block checked the address against the one he’d written down. “This is it.”
A small, colonial looking home with white paint peeling on the outside and grass that needed to be mowed greeted us. I didn’t move for a second, staring at the house. “Doesn’t look like he particularly keeps up the house.”
“In my neighborhood, folks would complain to the HOA. They’d be fining me for the grass.”
My neighbors would probably start a campaign to ask me to move. “Why is it bugging me so much?”
“Because sometimes the outside matches the in? Of course, sometimes it doesn’t.” I wondered if he meant himself. How much of his life had been determined by the scars on his body and the paleness of his hair, skin, and eyes?
“Block …”
He shook his head. “Not now. Someday over a drink.”
“Fair enough.”
We walked to the front of the house, and Block rang the doorbell. Shuffling inside was the only noise I heard until the door creaked open. A woman stared at us. She was tall and very thin with blue eyes that seemed to sink into her face. Her nose was long, aristocratic looking. Though probably around my own age, she looked frail. And she wasn’t a shadow. I could see her soul’s light. It was still human.
“Can I help you?” Her voice was light, like a wisp on the wind.
“Hello.” I tried to smile. “We’re looking for Troy. Is he here?”
“Yes.” She didn’t move, didn’t call for Troy.
Block tried, his turn. “Could you get him for us? We’re old friends.”
“Okay.” She walked from the door, favoring her left leg. The house smelled like cat. I loved animals. We couldn’t have one because Molly was allergic to both dogs and cats.
My friend squeezed my arm. “Getting anything here? Ghosts?”
“No.” I shook my head. “Not even a little bit. Troy can clear them. He wouldn’t live in a house with them.”
“That’s right. He’s a clearer. Not with Malcolm’s precision or your innate ability. But good. He had some witch in him, too. From his mom.”
“You two.” Troy pointed at us. He was exactly as I remembered him from before we’d left the Other space. Tall, slightly balding brown hair, blue eyes, and a mustache. Now he wore glasses, which he hadn’t before. We’d been friends, reading together during studying times. “I will tell you what I told Malcolm and Chase. I don’t want you here. If I wished to participate, I would have sought you out. I live a good life. I take care of children. There is nothing about me Michael could criticize. You met my wife. I am not battling. Not ever. Go away. I don’t want to see you again.”
I held up my hand in front of me to stop his rant. He turned red, and his wife cowered behind him like we were demons come to wreck his life. “It’s nice to see you, Troy. It’s really been too long. Your wife is lovely. What’s her name?”
He blinked rapidly. I wanted him to remember me the way we used to be, not as some sort of destructive creature sent to wreck his life. If he didn’t want to battle, I wasn’t going to make him. I wished I could make the same choice.
“This is Zelda. Zelda, this is Keith and Kendall. They’re from that Other place, the one we never talk about.”
She dropped her gaze and didn’t move. I wondered if she was naturally this skittish or if something in her life made her this way. I wasn’t going to pry. I had one thing I wanted, and it was information.
“Malcolm and Chase came here.” I didn’t ask it as a question; he’d already informed me as much. Whatever had happened to them must have occurred after. “We’ve lost them. We’re trying to retrace their steps. I won’t ask you to fight; I won’t ask you for anything else. Just, please, can you help me?”
He opened the door further, and we walked inside, eventually finding our way to the living room where we sat on blue plaid couches. With shaking hands, Zelda poured us tea from a pot she took off the stove, even though we hadn’t asked for any. Silence loomed in Troy’s home. Was it always unhappy or was this just because, twice, company he didn’t want had invaded in the span of twenty-four hours?
I sat forward, my elbows on my knees. “Can you tell us what happened? When Chase and Malcolm were here?” I wondered if he realized I basically asked him to make my life better again.
“They came in. As per usual, and no offense Kendall, Malcolm was rude and Chase tried to make excuses for him. You would think another lifetime would have changed them. But they remain as they ever were.”
I shifted in my seat. His words made me want to punch him the nose and—
“As they’ve clearly changed you. The years here have altered you.” Block said the words blandly, but I could hear the bite in them even if Troy couldn’t. This was not the Troy I remembered. What had happened to him? I had a hard time imagining Malcolm, who sat on the boards of hospitals, immediately sitting down and being so rude to Troy right off the bat.
Troy sat up straighter. “It has. I’m a doctor.”
“We know.” He’d told us already, and we’d looked him up. “That’s wonderful. Now back to what happened? You obviously told them you weren’t going to join us, and they didn’t like that. I don’t want to rehash the argument. Can you tell me when they left and if they told you where they were going?”
“They upset Zelda a lot. She had to lie down for hours after. I have no idea where they went when I threw them out. Around three o’clock. I hope to never see them again.”
Zelda dropped her cup and jumped to her feet to clean the mess. I got on my knees to help her, and she gripped my arm so tightly it burned. “I’ve got it.”
“Oh, okay.” I got back up on the couch.
Block shook his head. “I’m sorry to hear that. Honestly, I was really hoping for more. We’re in a situation, and frankly brother, what I need is my friend Troy back. Help us out. Isn’t there anything you can tell me? Malcolm and Chase aren’t cowards. They’re putting themselves out there every day to save the world. You remember what happens if the shadows take over? You remember how everyone dies? They came here in good faith that you were still one of us. I have to believe somewhere inside of you there is the guy who took down a shadow so fast he still holds the record. Isn’t there anything you can tell us?”
“When they left, they headed in the direction that would take them back to the highway.”
In other words, he knew nothing at all.
“Troy.” I stood. “We’ll go, and I won’t bother you about joining us. Listen, something happened between here and home that took Chase and Malcolm from us. Maybe it was the shadows. Trust me on this: if the shadows have them, we’re all done for. In the event that whatever it is that interfered with them coming home to us shows up here, can you let me know? Would it be okay if I texted you once a week to see? I won’t ask you to join. Not ever.”
It took him a full half a minute to nod once. Our Troy wasn’t here in this strange, dirty, disheveled house with a wife who was terrified of something. If I didn’t have the world to save, I might even want to investigate why.
***
I cried myself to sleep in my pillow and woke up looking like I had. My eyes were bloodshot and my head fogged over. I checked my phone. No one had called or texted. Malcolm and Chase’s whereabouts remained a mystery.
I managed to get myself dressed and fed before my phone dinged. I rushed over to it. Block had sent a message. I know I’m not the one you want to hear from, but the app is blowing up. I’ve sent the invoices to the other brokers in the other cities, but we’ve got to do something about Austin and San Antonio. I’m not good at this.
I didn’t know where Malcolm was or when he’d be coming back—I had to think when and not if. I wasn’t going to let him lose his business.
Looked like I’d be spending Friday night at the Vortex meeting with his contractors and dishing out jobs this week. I could only hope I really didn’t screw it up.
Chapter Three
I was almost ready to leave the house to go pick up Molly when the doorbell rang. Grayson would be another hour before he got off the bus from the middle school. My parents were out with Dexter. My father liked to teach poetry from the top of hills, and Dex liked to run up mountains. They’d headed to Enchanted Rock for the day to do both of those things. As strange a time as this had been for me, watching my kids bond to my parents was a pleasure I would not ever forgo.
“Kendall Madison?” A man wearing jeans a white t-shirt whom I’d never seen before greeted me. As was my usual these days, I checked to make sure the person I spoke with actually lived and hadn’t been taken over by the shadows. Ever since a summoning gone bad had turned me into the lightbringer, I could see the living souls of those around me—they looked like bright, sparkling lights right over the center of their bodies. If one was absent, I was in the presence of a shadow not a human.
This man was human.
“Yes,” I finally answered him. Human strangers were okay. Shadow strangers wielded guns sometimes and landed me in near-death situations. I wasn’t going to find myself in that position again if I could help it. The next time would mean death for sure.
He handed me a manila envelope. “You’ve been served.”
“I’ve been what?”
The man walked away, down the path from my porch toward his waiting gray sedan parked on the street. I stared down at the envelope. What was happening?
My hand shook. I’d been served? I tore the envelope and stared at the words on the legal document in front of me. It was like I couldn’t read, my eyes not wanting to believe what I saw. I went over it four times before I could believe it.
Levi was suing me for full custody of the kids. He’d also filed for temporary emergency custody, claiming I wasn’t fit to be around the kids. Their safety was in question. I wasn’t to pick them up, I wasn’t to go near them, until the judge heard the restraint case in forty-eight hours. I couldn’t breathe.
I let the letter sink to the floor before I did. The whole world shifted on its axis.
I grabbed my phone. Texting Levi was out of the question. This was an in person argument for sure. How dare he do this? Why would he? Levi had never shown the least bit of interest in having the kids all for himself. He always said, even when he hadn’t believed me, that I was the best mother he knew.
He might never get my text, but I’d never wanted Malcolm’s calming presence more. I don’t know if you’ll get this. I miss you. Be okay.
I wasn’t going to lose my kids.
***
With shaking hands and fury fueling me forward, I stormed from the car to Levi’s house. He was working from home for now. The company hadn’t figured out what they were going to do since the building burned down—thanks to the shadows giving us no choice but to do so. All of them were telecommuting.
I had his key, and I used it. He wasn’t going to stop me at the door. He’d be lucky if I didn’t break all his windows and kick down his home-office door. Somewhere inside, I recognized I wasn’t being reasonable. Breaking things wouldn’t get him to drop the custodial suit.
“Levi.” I slammed the door behind me. “What the fuck?”
His back was to me as he faced the window of his home office in his black leather chair. “Maybe I should have included a restraining order on you for me as well.”
“This doesn’t make any sense. Why would you do this? I don’t understand …”
He swiveled to face me. “You’re a terrible mother? The kids are being destroyed, and I care about them more deeply than anything in the world? It’s my duty to protect them?”
I shook my head. “You and I both know that what has been happening …”
I stopped talking. Something was off. What was it? I stared at the man I’d been married to for the better portion of my adult life. He seemed so different …
His light was missing. I covered my mouth with my hands to stop from screaming.
“Oh good job, Kendall. I thought it would take you a whole lot longer than this to work it out.” He stood so I could get a better view. Yes, his light was gone. “You don’t feel so smug now, do you? Beating me down with that stupid trick of holding onto the sunlight. It won’t happen again.”
I backed up. I talked to Top Hat, and he wore the body of my ex-husband. The first person I’d loved in this life, the father of my children, the sunlight to so many dark days, was dead. Gone. Ripped from me, from his children, his friends, his colleagues, the whole world by this disgusting creature who should be rotting in a hell dimension instead of destroying lives here.
“When?” I don’t know why I asked that every time. To me, it was important to recognize when the person the shadow wore had been taken. How long had he been dead?
He sat back down laughing. “I took him on a roller coaster at Six Flags.”
“When you were with my children.” I rushed forward, grabbing the stapler off Levi’s desk. I don’t know what I’d thought I’d do. Bash him over the head with it? I couldn’t beat him with the light in the room. I needed sunlight.
He laughed again. “Your children are fine. For now. If you want them to stay that way, you’re going to play ball with me now.”
My Levi was gone. “I don’t make deals with monsters.”
“You’ll do what I say or I have the legal right now to turn the police on you and take those babies from you. You’ll never see them again. They witnessed a shooting in your presence. You think you’re talking to shadow creatures. Taking drugs?”
I pointed my finger in his face. “Prove that. You never will. We beat you in that. Even the ambulance people won’t remember it and they can blood test me. I’m not taking drugs.”
“You’re such a smart girl.” He rose and crossed to me. “Okay, I’ll grant you that your shooting did not go the way I wanted it to. You should be dead. You’re not. I had to improvise. But you actually did us a favor. We saw the phoenix, and now we know your boyfriend is in possession of it. You’ll get it for me or the next time I pick up the children, they’ll never come home to you again.”
In the midst of my utter horror—and I was going to fall apart as soon as I could get out of here—I learned something. The shadows didn’t have Malcolm. They thought I could speak to him, could find out where the phoenix was.
That was interesting, and I filed it away for when—or maybe better if—I coul
d ever think again.
“Malcolm is never going to tell you where the phoenix is. He hates kids. I think he’d be just as happy to see Levi dead.” I couldn’t be lying more if I tried. Malcolm was many things—and he frequently liked to portray himself as an asshole. He cared about my kids, even though they frightened him to death. He didn’t much care for Levi, but he wouldn’t want him dead.
“What about you? Do you want Levi dead?”
I was done talking to the shadow. I had to figure out what to do with my kids. I had to find them, hide them. This was an utter nightmare. Levi... Tears started to form, but they couldn’t fall, not yet.
“I think that’s past the point. You’ve killed him, and so help me, I will fry you. You will know pain before I lock you back up so tight in your dimension you will never get out.”
He rocked back on his heels. “Do you remember the time you and Levi went up in that hot air balloon? You guys stumbled upon the hot air balloon festival. You stopped. Even though you were broke, Levi paid the guy to take you guys up for a ride. You were terrified. He put his arms around you, and he felt like a king when you grinned at him and told him it was the most fun you’d ever had.”
I threw the stapler at him, hitting him on the arm. He winced and rubbed it before laughing again.
“How did you know that? You’re wearing his body. You don’t have his soul.”
“Oh, I have all of him, babe. It’s a new little trick the top level of us can do. Levi’s not dead. Not yet. I can keep him here for a little while and really get to know him. I could even leave him. Now, I can’t promise what state he’ll be in if you get him back. Malcolm might let Levi die. What will you do?”
I sat in my living room watching the clock tick by. Thanks to his very legal restraining order, I had to stay away from my own kids tonight. The shadow had them. The only thing I could think to keep from losing my mind was that he’d been with them for three days and hadn’t hurt them yet.