The Reverence of One: Book Three of the Shadow Series (23 page)

Following Isaac’s lead, the others did the same but landed upon the roof instead of blasting through
. Though they didn’t speak to one another, each of them feared his wrath as much as the other and knew it best to keep their distance
.

Standing in what was once Lauren’s living room, Isaac stood with radiant waves of energy streaming from his core. Fragments of shingles, two-by-sixes, and insulation bounced away from him as they fell from above.
K
nowing that the home was empty,
h
e glared around the room
.
I
n a fit of rage,
he
began to throw his palms in every direction. The fireplace bricks were the first to feel his fury as they
fractured
from the force of his pulse. Inte
rior walls shattered like glass, and glass disintegrated into dust.

As suddenly as the mayhem began, it stopped as he dropped his arms to his side and lowered his head in concentration.
The gray material of his suit coat began to reveal the wealth of energy building for release from within
his
core. With a primal scream
,
and instead of a pulse, he
raised his right arm and
released a
stream of energy from his palm, creating a thundering roar as
it
penetrated the first
exterior
wall
. He spun in a circle,
the energy stream blasting through wood and glass as though they were air
. A
s he finished the
three-hundred and sixty degree
turn, he effectively
separat
ed
the home into two pieces.

On the roof, Iku
had
watched as Isaac’s blast sent shrapnel flying out of the home
and reached out into the surrounding tree line, cutting the trees closest to the home off six feet above their base
. His eyes
had
followed the path as it made a clean circle around the perimeter of the home. As he felt the shingles beneath his feet buckle, he quickly glanced to the others and pulsed into the sky. There, along with
Casper
and Ashley, he watched the home implode on itself. As the dust slowly settled to the earth, Isaac’s form became visible from within the rubble; the waves of energy continuing to push
falling debris
away from him.

Isaac looked up to the sky, glaring at his servants as they allowed themselves to fall back to the ground.
He walked forward, the mounds of rubble at his feet being pushed away as they came into contact with the energy waves, and stepped out of the carnage and into the clearing. Letting his energy fade, Isaac tilted his head from side to side, the bones in his neck cracking loudly as he
pulled at his cuffs to
straightened the sleeves on his coat.

“What do we do now?” asked Ashley
hesitantly
,
though
seething through clenched teeth at the opportunity that
she felt
had been stolen from her.

“We wait,”
Isaac
replied indignantly. “We wait for them to make yet another mistake.” He turned to
Casper
. “Find the Paxton girl,” he commanded. “She is the key.”

“But…
,
” began
Casper
.
             

“But nothing!” shouted Isaac with a flash of light erupting from his hands
as he gripped
Casper
by the cuff
. “Find her, or I will feel your flesh turn to dust in Test’s place!”

Casper
cowered before Isaac. His eyes to the ground, he replied subserviently. “Yes,
master
. I will not fail you.”

Standing next to her brother, Ashley watched his reaction to Isaac with a mixture of pity and disgust.

Chapter 16

Lauren walked through the garden trail of Jenz’s home, struggling with the inner demons of her past.
Though the timing was catastrophically bad, s
he wanted to act on her feelings
for Prim
, but feared that once
he
found out more about her, any chance she might have had, something—anything, would be destroyed.
She had never had feelings for anyone like she had for
him
; love at first sight had alwa
ys been a thing of fairy tales.

Though she wasn’t
sure
,
she didn’t think that Jenz and Prim were together. Something about their interactions was more paternal than amorous. Still, it was a question for which she desired an answer. Even if she was to receive the answer that she’d hoped for, how could she possibly expec
t him to have feelings for her?

“
God, w
hen he looks at me”,
she thought to herself, “
I can’t breathe.”

As she continued to walk absently,
her mind on anything but her next step,
she happened upon a stone
design
in the middle of the path. It was beautiful.
The light green stones making up the configuration were arranged in a circular pattern roughly six feet in diameter
,
and
the bright light of the moon
shone
so intense
ly upon them
that it was as if
they
were glowing
. Each
one
within was irregularly shaped, comprised of varying sizes of triangles, trapezoids, and rectangles. A lush bluish-green moss had begun to cover the right hand side, givin
g it a thick, velvety look
that
made her want to reach out and touch it
.

As she stared for a moment, she found herself comparing the formation to herself and Prim.
To her, t
he left sid
e represented Prim; clean as the day it was placed, seemingly untouched by time. The stones on the right, she saw as herself; obscured and tainted, the edges of reality not clearly defined.

“It’s pretty isn’t it?”

Lauren spun on her heals to see Jenz standing behind her,
her white hair taking on the color of the moonlight
. Quickly looking away from her and back to the stones, she replied. “Yes, it is.” She took a step forward, holding her eyes to the ground, and tried to make small talk. “What kind of rock is it?”

“It’s Green Limestone,” replied Jenz, taking a step forward and looking to the sky.
“The moon
light
is giving it a little something special tonight it appears.”

Lauren stood awkwardly, not knowing what to say next, and that bothered her. She’d never been one to be at a loss for words, of course she’d never cared about what anyone thought of her before either. Kicking lightly at the edge of one of the stones, Lauren wetted her lips.

“So, you and Prim,” she began. “Are you two?”

Jenz chuckled as Lauren looked at her with a cautious expression. “No, no. I am—was—Prim’s mentor.”

Lauren let out a sigh of relief, but then wrinkled her nose as she replied. “But you both live here
,
right?”

Jenz reached out and caressed a leaf from one of the bushes that lined the trail. “Yes, we do, but it is nothing more than…
.
”
S
he paused and turned to Lauren. “To be honest, I think of Prim as a son. I have been with him since shortly after he came into his gift.”

“How long ago has that been?” asked Lauren.

“Let’s see,” replied Jenz as she
tucked her hair behind her ears
while squinting to the sky in thought
. “I believe it was around sixty to seventy years ago.” She furrowed her brow as she shook her head slightly. “Time has such little meaning to me anymore, but he would know for sure.” She walked around Lauren’s side and stood in front of her, the two of them now centered on the stones. “Yo
u should ask him,” she said as
her lips curled upward slightly. “It seems he’s smitten with you.”

A hot flash of excitement rushed through Lauren’s body. She could feel her cheeks flush and she’d hoped that the moonlight wasn’t strong enough to reveal it.

Suddenly fidgeting with her hair, twirling strands around her fingers, Lauren replied. “Really? What makes you say that?”

Though she tried to contain her excitement, the speed of which she spoke her words gave her away.

Jenz laughed softly with a grace that Lauren had never witnessed. “Do you really need that question answered?” she asked playfully.

Lauren could feel the flush on her cheeks intensify. She
nervously
ran her fingers through her hair, letting
it
fall back over the side
of her face on which Jenz stood. H
id
ing
behind it
,
she answered
the woman bashfully.

“No,” she
smiled
. “I guess not.”

Jenz reached out and
brushed
Lauren’s hair from her face. “You know, this is a good look for you; much better than the brash young lady that you pretended to be earlier.”

Taken aback by Jenz’s comment, Lauren recoiled from her hand. “I—I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She pulled her hair behind her ears and looked to Jenz with a pained expression. “That is me—more than anything, unfortunately, that is who I am.”

“Lauren, you don’t have to…
,
” began Jenz.

“No!” interrupted Lauren, raising her voice slightly. “You don’t understand.” Her voice began to quiver as she spoke. “I’m a monster. I’ve always been a monster. This,” she said forcefully
while motioning to herself
, “is
not
who I am!”

Jenz watched as a single tear fell down Lauren’s left cheek. She reached out and wiped the tear away. “You’re wrong,” she spoke softly. “I know who you are—what you were. But you are not that person any longer.” She caressed Lauren’s cheek with the back side of her hand. “The truth is that you are nothing like those
who
forced you to be a Reaper.”

Lauren’s eyes widened at her words as another tear fell from them. Her eyes squinted and her brow furrowed with confusion. “You know?” she asked.

Jenz simply nodded.

“Then you know I’m right,” replied Lauren, her voice continuing to waver.

“Let me tell you what I know, my dear,” answered
Jenz
as she gripped Laurens hands into hers.
“The reverence of one means little to those
who have no value for another’s life. I know you have done things that you regret, and the very fact that you show regret separates you from the Reaper that
they
made you to be. The fact that you are here right now, in this very place, making sure that Test remains safe, is proof that you are a Reaper no more.” Sh
e released Lauren’s hands and gripped her biceps. Though her
lips
held a smile, her tone became more serious
. “This
,
my dear, is why I say that you no longer have to pretend to be anything other than what you now are.
You must forgive yourself of your past and embrace your future.
Do not feel ashamed
to show that you care
. It is not weak to cry, to feel, to empathize…
.
”
S
he paused and placed her index finger underneath Lauren’s chin, raising her head so their eyes would meet
as she spoke.
“
T
o love.”

Touched by the compassion that this strange woman was showing, Lauren’s
bottom lip trembled and tears now came from her eyes, not one at a time, but in a stream.
N
o one
, including Maggie,
had ever put
it to her so simply before. She felt an overwhelming release as she finally allowed herself to believe what now both Maggie and Jenz had claimed to be the truth. She
had
changed. She was no longer
a
monster
, and her actions from now on would avenge those whose lives she had destroyed
.

***
*

Test and Alyssa sat on the living room couch watching television inside Jenz’s modest home. Like he had been with Lauren’s home, he was surprised by
its modesty
; it wasn’t at all what he’d had pictured. Jenz spoke so eloquently and carried herself with such poise that he’d imagined something of a palace, though on a smaller scale. As it was, the home reminded him of the little house in Nebraska, the one outside of town where he’d go to get away from everything. That in
and
of itself gave him some comfort.