The Reverence of One: Book Three of the Shadow Series (30 page)

“Yep,” replied Nicole shortly.

Test began to turn the page and Nicole quickly ripped it from his hands, tearing the corner off the sheet he was holding. He sat for a moment, stunned, while his hands remained in their position, looking as though they held an invisible piece of paper. He looked to her with a crooked grin.

“Sorry,” she spoke shortly once again. “It’s just that…
.
”

“No apologies needed,” Test interrupted. “I would like to read
more
though, when you’re ready.”

He watched as a hint of a smile formed on her lips. It was the best thing he’d seen all morning.

Lauren had watched as Prim slipped out the back door and
her mind twisted itself into knots trying to decide if she would follow him or not
. Everyone had gathered in the kitchen and she hadn’t yet gotten used to being around so many people. Without saying a word
,
she began to walk to the back door, doing her best to go unnoticed. As if a knife stuck in her back,
she straightened up when
Maggie’s voice called out.

“And where are you going, Lauren?”

Lauren stopped mid-stride and laid her head back. “I was just going to get a breath of fresh air
?
” she replied, her tone lifting slightly at the end of her sentence.

“Oh. Well why don’t you see if you can help Prim with anything?”

Lauren turned slowly and, with a playful scowl, replied to Maggie as she smiled mischievously. “I may just do that.” She bowed her head and then slipped out the back door, shutting it with more force than was needed.

As she descended the steps, she stopped on the last stair and looked around for Prim. To her right was the garden. While its magic seemed slightly diminished from
what it was
the night before, it was still an incredible sight
, even
without the moonlight. To her left, sitting at an angle so that she could see a full side, was a modern day barn of sorts; a moderate sized structure with a sliding door on the front. It was covered with corrugated siding
,
the roof in a dark green and the sides tan. Beside the barn, Lauren recognized a small chicken coop. As she continued to look around the property, she heard someone call her name.

“Lauren!” shouted Prim.

She looked to the rear of the barn and saw him standing with a bucket in his right hand and waving
for
her to join him with his left.
B
utterflies filled her stomach as she stepped to the ground.

“Good God, you’d think I was fifteen,” she muttered to herself.

****

With Maggie having excused herself from the room for an undeclared reason,
Jenz, Cliff, Alyssa, and Thad sat around the kitchen table, each of them in a somber mood. The conversation revolved around Nicole and her addiction.

Alyssa remained quiet, unsure of how she felt about Nicole’s presence. Though she and Test hadn’t really
talked about her, it was obvious that there was a past—a story that she had yet to hear. She felt threatened by Nicole being alone with him, and wanted so badly to let go of the energy of the Shadows that surrounded her to slip away and eaves drop. She knew that would work if Test was human, but he wasn’t. He would sense her right away and the last thing that she wanted was to give him another reason to be upset.

She looked around the table and noticed that Jenz was conspicuously silent. She sat with her legs crossed, her right elbow atop her knee, and her chin resting in the palm of her hand while her fingers partially covered her mouth.

“Are you okay, Jenz?” asked Alyssa.

Startled by the mention of her name, Jenz arched her back quickly and placed both hands on the table. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

“I was just asking if you were okay. You look like something’s bothering you,” replied Alyssa.

Sitting between Jenz and Thad, Cliff let out a short huff. “I think there’s plenty ‘round here to be bothered about,” answered Cliff in a mildly sarcastic
, yet playful,
manner.

Not in the mood, but playing along, Alyssa stuck her tongue out at the old man.

“Actually,” replied Jenz in
a
reflective tone, “I was thinking about a way to help young Nicole overcome her problem. As bad as she is now, it will get worse as her body begins to go through withdrawal.”

“Really?” asked Alyssa. “Let’s hear it.”

Jenz pursed her lips, seemingly trying to keep her thought from leaving her mouth.

Rubbing his jaw
as he let out a short chuckle
, Thad spoke up. “If she gets any worse than that, we’re going to have to bring in Mike Tyson to deal with her.” He made eye contact with Jenz, and could clearly see that she did not find the humor in his remark. “Sorry,” he replied as he slouched in his chair. “I was just trying to lighten things up a little bit.”

“I understand,”
answered Jenz
dryly
as she quickly looked back to Alyssa. “I
’m hesitant to even suggest it.”

Still gnawing on his cigar, Cliff slowly leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table. “
Go ahead, there’s no harm in sharin’,
”
h
e
replied as he
plucked the cigar from his mouth
while
g
iving
her a wink. “Over the course of my life, I’ve found there’s a whole lot of things possible that I’d have sworn on the Bible couldn’t be done.”

Tucking her long white hair behind her ears, she opened her mouth several times, each time preventing the words from exiting, unt
il finally they broke free. “It’s not that it’s impossible, it’s just that it
poses a large danger to the girl.”

“What does?” asked Thad.

“
There’s a rehabilitation facility in
Salem
,” she replied.
“We could take her there to get the help she needs.”

The weight of the room suddenly increased as the suggestion sunk in to those around the table.

Raising her hand in meek
ly
, Alyssa questioned
,
“I’m sorry, but I don’t understand why that would be dangerous for her.”

“Because,” replied Cliff, his demeanor suddenly becoming more serious. “We brought her here to protect her. If we take her to a facility, we won’t be able to keep an eye on her.”

“I’ll watch her.”

The group spun in their chairs at the sound of Maggie’s voice entering the conversation. She had materialized in front of the refrigerator and stood with a worried look in her eyes.

“That would certainly be of benefit,” replied Jenz. “We have much to do to prepare and an undetermined amount of time in which to do it.” She paused for a moment, staring down at the table as she tapped her nails on its surface. “I don’t mean to sound cruel, but the girl already proves to be a distraction. Should her
behavior continue to escalate, a fact of
which it is virtually assured
if she stays
, it could jeopardize all of our safety.”

Swallowing the lump that had developed in his throat, Thad spoke up
again
. “Well, I guess it’s settled then.”

Cliff huffed next to his grandson. “Ain’t you forgettin’ somethin’?” he asked.

Furrowing his brow, Thad replied. “What?”

“Nicole has to agree to go first,”
replied Cliff
, shoving his cigar back into his mouth.

“What do I have to agree to?”

Again the group spun, this time in the opposite direction towards the hallway. There stood Nicole with Test behind her. Test held her shoulders as
her body flinched involuntarily. Those at the table could hear her teeth grinding as she waited for their answer.

“Come on in, hon,” said Maggie as she stepped toward Nicole. She swatted at Thad, motioning for him to stand. “Why don’
t you take a seat in Thad’s chair?
”

Nicole glared around the room, scowling at each face that her eyes met. “I’m fine, thanks
,” she replied, bringing her focus to Cliff. “
Someone want to tell me what’s going on?”

Cliff stood from his chair. “Now, now, swe
e
theart, no sense in getting’ upset. Why don’t you go ahead and take a seat and we’ll tell you what we was thinkin’.”

With his hands still on her shoulders, Test gave her a gentle nudge towards the table. He watched as she looked over her shoulder, through her hair, and shot him a
scathing
look. Without giving her the chance to speak, he continued to guide her until she was at the table.

“Please sit down,” he asked
gently
, pulling the chair out a little farther.

Like a bratty child, she plopped into the chair and crossed her legs. She was trembling from head to toe
,
and if there was any doubt in anyone’s mind about the action that needed to be taken, her presence at the table had erased it.

Test walked to his mother’s side and shrugged his shoulders as if to ask what was going on. She replied by simply placing an index finger to her lips and then motioned to the table.

“Hello
,
Nicole,” said Jenz. “We haven’t been formally introduced. My name is Kirsten Jenz, but my friends call me Jenz, so I would like it very much if you could do the same.”

With a brash flip of her hand, Nicole leaned forward. “It’s nice to meet you Kirsten. I’m Nicole Paxton.”

Clasping her hands in front of her on the table, Jenz puckered her lips, trying to keep the disdainful smile from appearing on her face. “Very well, as you wish. You are in my home
, mine and Prim’s actually. He and I…
.
”

“Prim?” interrupted Nicole venomously. “Isn’t that a girl’s name?”

A sudden look of anger on her face, Jenz replied poignantly. “Actually, it is derived from the Latin word Primus and has been h
istorically used in the naming of males. Now, if you’re done being a brash, arrogant little brat, we would like to offer you some help.”

Nicole leaned back forcefully in her chair and folded her arms across her chest. “Do you think big words from a pink-eyed freak are going to intimidate me?”

“That’s quite enough, young lady!” exclaimed Maggie. “Jenz has been kind enough to take us all into her home. People have risked their lives to save yours!”

Nicole exploded from her chair, sending it toppling to the floor, and planted her hands on the table while leaning on it with all her weight. “And what if I’d rather be dead?” she shouted, every vein in her neck straining beneath her pale flesh.

The air seemed to disappear from the room. No one had recognized the severity of Nicole’s mental condition.
The sound of Thad’s smooth, yet solemn, voice glided around the room.

“You don’t want that,” he replied. “You may think you do, but you don’t.”

From behind his grandson, Cliff patted him on the shoulder. “Thad, leave it be.”

“No, Grandpa,” he replied with his eyes locked on Nicole’s.
“I know how she’s feeling. I’ve been there.” He watched as Nicole’s eyes narrowed and her nostrils flared. “When I was growing up, I didn’t exactly fit in. I was small, I wore thick glasses, and I got made fun of a lot. The fact that I would blank out all the time didn’t help either.

“You see, I started having visions at a very young age. I didn’t understand them, or why they were happening to me. I didn’t have anyone to talk to about it.” He felt Cliff’s hand grip his shoulder and patted it with his own, knowing that his grandfather was feeling a great amount of guilt.
“Anyway, to make a long story short, I tried to kill myself when I was a freshman in high school.”

“Thad,” exclaimed Cliff in a breathy voice full of pain.

Never once taking his eyes off Nicole, Thad continued. “I took a whole bottle of my father’s pain medicine and very nearly succeeded at my goal. Mom found me on the floor in my room soon enough that the
doctors were able to save me.”

Suddenly the anger began to melt away from Nicole’s face. Her eyes widened and her eyes began to glisten.

“You want know what the worst part of the entire thing was?” asked Thad.

Nicole remained still, her hands still firmly planted on the table.

“The worst part was that after I’d failed, I felt the most immense sense of guilt that…
.
”
H
e paused as his voice began to break.  He cleared his throat before continuing. “You don’t know the pain that your actions can cause someone until you’ve looked into your mother’s eyes after doing something like that.”

With a straight face and a single tear falling down her cheek, Nicole replied coldly. “My mother doesn’t care about me.”

Thad dropped his head slightly and shook it side to side. “That’s not the point, Nicole. The point is that there are people right here—in this room—that have risked their life for you.
Blood or not, these people are family. Could you really want to die knowing that it would cause them so much pain?”

Her trembling slowly intensif
ied
,
and as
Nicole
lifted her hands from the table she
arched her back, placing her hands in her face and then running them back through her hair. “I’m just so tired!” she exclaimed
, her pain nearly bursting from within
.

“I know you are, kid,” replied Thad. “That’s why you need to let us help you
out
.” He stood and placed a hand
gently
on the middle of her back. “There are other ways of dealing with pain, Nicole.”

From her right, Nicole heard Jenz’s voice
, t
he anger and frustration
in the words
that
she
had s
poken
moments before
had disappeared
.