The Shadows Trilogy (Box Set: Edge of Shadows, Shadows Deep, Veiled Shadows) (59 page)

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

It felt like Lila’s eyes bore deep into his soul. David twisted and writhed, but she didn’t let go. He was aware of the other two transports, but it was Lila who held him tight. David felt as if his blood was being fused with hers. Vibrant scenes flashed through his mind.

He saw Lila as a young girl, her hair in pigtails, jumping rope in the backyard of a small house. He saw her, a few years older now, smoking behind a brick building and glancing furtively over her shoulder. Her strawberry hair was streaked with black, and her clothing was black and baggy. Then the scene showed Lila at the age she looked now, crying, a long bridge spanning out behind her and the only light coming from the torn headlights of a car that was wrapped around a light post off to the side.

As the air tightened into recognizable patterns around them, David found himself drawn to the girl in front of him wanting to understand the darkness that had wrapped itself around her. He stepped closer to her and yanked her forward, grasping her forearms. “What did you do?”

Her eyes widened and David felt strong hands on his arms trying to pull his hands away. “What did you do?” he demanded.

“I didn’t do anything,” she whispered. “What did you see?”

“Lila!” Peter’s arm wrapped around her chest just as Dane’s tightened around David’s and then dragged him away from her.

“You’d better calm down,” Dane hissed in his ear. “You touch her again I’ll figure out a way to kill you so that you don’t come back. I don’t care who you are.”

Lila’s face was ashen. “I didn’t expect that. He was in my head.”

“You aren’t supposed to let the souls in when you move them, you know better than that,” Peter scolded.

“I couldn’t keep him out,” Lila said. “We started to shift and then he was just in there.”

David had no idea what they were talking about, but he knew that there was a lot more to Lila’s story. She was in Purgatory for a reason, and David wondered who exactly Braz had entrusted to get him back to Ellie.

“I didn’t mean to,” he said slowly. He wondered if somehow his thoughts had caused him to turn the tables on the transport nonetheless. “Are we here?”

He looked around them. The foggy gloom was falling away even as he watched, and a stone sidewalk came into view. It led to a large door that appeared to be built into the side of a large rock wall. Then David saw that they were not alone. Robed figures emerged from the gloom and enclosed them in a tight circle.

“We wish to speak to the Council,” Lila said lifting her chin. “We are the Afterlife transports, and we’ve brought a soul that belongs to them.”

David didn’t like the idea that he belonged to anyone. He tried to see beneath the hood of the nearest figure next to him, but the depth of the cowl was too deep. He felt a push against his back driving him forward onto the path. He started to say something when he saw Lila quickly shake her head.

He wondered for just a moment how the guards would know that he was the soul in question, and then realized that he was the only one who wasn’t wearing a pin signifying his sector. He was the obvious choice.

He glared at the figures on either side and began to walk. As his feet touched the path, he saw more of fog clear away from the ground. The fog revealed that the ground fell away on either side of the path into two deep pits. He could not see the bottom. There was only the path and the door. David felt the first twitching of fear. He had no idea what he was about to walk into, and he wished that he had thought to ask more questions.

As they reached the midpoint of the path, the door in front of them began to open. David looked behind him and realized that the transports were not following. Lila’s helpless eyes caught his, and she mouthed “
Good Luck
”. David wasn’t expecting to face the Council alone, but it appeared that was the intention.

Moments later they were through the door, and David saw that he had entered a large chamber with a high domed ceiling. There were columns running along both sides. The focal point of the room was a small raised dais that held three chairs. Only the middle chair was occupied.

A prod in the back told David that he was supposed to continue forward. He felt flutters of nervousness in his stomach even as he saw a warm smile light up the face of the woman who sat in the chair. She looked young, older than Lila but younger than himself. She had long blonde hair that fell just below her shoulders. With her fitted silver turtleneck and jeans, she looked like a typical college student on the Other Side.

David stopped a few feet away from the dais uncertain if he was supposed to kneel or bow or give some sign of submission to her obviously high ranking position. In the end, he just stood and clasped his hands in front of him and waited for her to speak.

“Well, this is a surprise,” the woman said. “You aren’t due here for several years.”

David’s eyebrows arched. “You knew that I would come here?”

“Eventually, yes,” the woman said. “Of course you would.” She frowned. “The fact that you are here now though is worrisome. You are early.”

“Why would I have come in the future?”

“To find out why you are here,” the woman said as if the answer was obvious.

“Well, that’s why I’m here now,” David said. “So I guess it doesn’t hurt anything to get that out of the way sooner rather than later.”

The woman sighed. “Perhaps.”

David shuffled his feet. “Since you obviously know who I am, may I ask who you are?”

“My name is Veronica. If you are here, that can only mean that events around Ellie are derailing.”

“You know Ellie?” David was immediately on the defensive. “What do you want with her?”

“I want nothing, but for Ellie to embrace her destiny and be happy,” Veronica said. “I knew Ellie for a short time on the Other Side. It was before she knew what she was. I had hoped to help guide her.”

“Seems like everyone who offers up help around here has an ulterior motive,” David said. He didn’t like this woman. He didn’t like her at all. “Lila said that your council takes the souls of those who have supernatural gifts.”

Veronica nodded. “Yes, that is true.”

“So if Ellie hadn’t become the Guardian of the Bradford waypoint, she would have come to you,” David said.

Veronica’s eyes narrowed. “I suppose that is true.”

David knew that he had hit a nerve. He quickly changed the subject, intending to keep the woman off-balance so that he could turn the conversation to his advantage. “Lila also said that only your council could have had the necessary power to bind my soul to that waypoint. I should have died during the same blood sacrifice that killed my parents. Instead, I was somehow bounced into an existence in the Afterlife without actually dying. That wasn’t the way that was supposed to happen.”

“There is part of me that says that this conversation should wait until the time that it was supposed to happen,” Veronica said.

“Clearly your ability to see the future leaves something to be desired,” David said, clenching his fists. “If you had such an interest in Ellie, you’d also know that she needs help, my help.  So cut the crap and tell me what you did.”

“You are so insistent that we did something intentional. Did it never occur to you that your existence was completely unintentional?”

“Nice try,” David said, although her words were exactly his deepest fear. “Nothing happens around here without a reason. That has come through loud and clear.”

“Oh, I’m not denying that my colleagues and I attempted to interfere with Lillian Bradford’s spell when she opened the way line and allowed Mikel full access again to that waypoint. She’s not a witch, at least not literally, and so it was easy to meddle with the spell. We intended to take the magic and bend it so that it basically didn’t work.”

“But it did work,” David said.

“Yes, it did. It did because of you.” Veronica pointed at David’s chest. “We didn’t anticipate that any of the sacrifices that Lillian had scoured up had abilities.”

“She didn’t think she was sacrificing me. She took me away from my mother because she couldn’t have children herself.”

“She needed three,” Veronica said. “Because of her own shortcomings, she needed to hijack the emotional connection shared between the three of you, you and your parents. She never intended you to live.”

David was dumbfounded. It was another truth he wasn’t prepared for, although he wasn’t sure why he was surprised. Although Lillian professed a desire for motherhood, it would have been more than overshadowed by her own thirst for youth and power.

“My parents still died,” he said.

“I’m sorry, David. We were tasked with keeping the waypoint closed, not with saving you or your parents.”
David’s anger bubbled. “Sacrifice. It is amazing how easily you all speak of it.”

“Blood. Sacrifice. Death. Life. It is the everlasting circle of our existence,” Veronica said. There was no apology or regret in her tone. “Your father passed on. Your mother, as you well know, refused to leave. Her spirit haunts the house on the Other Side and will continue to do so until she decides to return here to the Afterlife.”

“So I lived,” David said.

“Yes. Even as an infant you had incredible survival instincts. By saving yourself, you tied yourself to the waypoint and threw the gateway wide open.”

“I did this to myself?” David was horrified.

“Yes,” Veronica nodded solemnly. “And burned out your gift in the process. You came to us for answers. Are you satisfied with them?”

“How do I fix it? How do I make it so that whatever gateway is within me is closed for good?”

Veronica stood and stepped around her chair. She stood with her back to David for several minutes. Then she turned and rested her forearms on the back of her chair. “What if I told you there was a way to make all of this disappear?”

“What do you mean?” David asked.

“All of it. The Afterlife. Your previous life. Ellie’s transformation into a Ripher. The waypoint’s dependence on Ellie’s energy. All of it would be gone, and you and Ellie could enjoy your lives on the Other Side.”

“Sounds too good to be true,” David said suspiciously.

“Indeed, it does, doesn’t it?” A smug smile appeared on her face.

“It sounds like a trap.”

“What choice do you have?”

David realized that she was right. He didn’t have any choice. He would do anything to take Ellie away from this place and give her life on the Other Side back to her.

“What do I have to do?”

“I’m going to tell you. But David, if you don’t do everything exactly the way I’m going to lay it out for you, then you put everything at risk. Your life and Ellie’s. If you do this wrong, or question my instructions for a second, you may well find that you and Ellie are gone, forever.”

David felt like he should have been prepared for her words, but the enormity of what he was about to agree to do hit him like a ton of bricks. “I understand.”

“Good,” Veronica said. “Now I assume that Lillian Bradford has still been in contact with you.”

“She has.” David wondered what Lillian had to do with any of it.

“All of your troubles started with Lillian Bradford,” Veronica said as if reading his thoughts. “She has caused nothing but trouble both here and on the Other Side since her arrival. You said that you would do anything it took.”

A feeling of dread came over David. “I will. Whatever it takes. For Ellie.”

The smile blossomed on Veronica’s face again. “I’m so glad to hear you say that, David. That’s what you have to remember as you put this into action. Do everything I say, and you and Ellie will be on the Other Side again and safe in no time.”

David knew that he would follow her directive without question. The possibility of saving Ellie was worth the risk to his soul.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Ellie crept out of the stairwell onto the third floor landing. She kept close to the wall and hoped that Jake would keep his end of the bargain and at least give her some warning if any of the Palmer children headed in her direction. She wondered who had sent them. She felt a kind of numbness sweep over her as she thought about Jeffrey. No one deserved the end that had found him. Ellie had developed a kind of affection for the man since arriving in the Afterlife. Even knowing that he was Lillian’s spy didn’t diminish the fact that he had helped her transition. Now her guide was gone, and she was left with a witch, a man from Hell, and a ghost on her side.

She wondered what David was doing and then swept that thought aside. David had made it clear how he felt about her. She had to forget him, even if she didn’t want to. If she had learned nothing else during her time growing up in foster homes, it was that the only person that she could fully count on was herself.

Ellie’s plan was simple. She would try to find Lucy, and if that didn’t work, she fully intended to take on the Palmer children on her own. She wasn’t quite sure how that would work, but she had the element of surprise and would use that to her advantage.

Since her room was on the far side of the third floor, Ellie had to make her way completely around the landing to reach her door. If Christopher lingered on the second floor landing, she would be in his line of sight while she moved across it. She had to hope that he had gone down to the foyer.

As Ellie slid along the wall, she found herself studying the chandelier, which on the third floor was at eye level, hanging in the open space that opened to the downstairs. It looked different. Her study took her mind off of her situation for a few minutes and so she welcomed it.

Then she realized that the fixture was swinging ever so slightly, and she caught the flicker of metal reflected beneath it. Ellie’s brain registered that there were several razor thin wires hanging from each corner of the chandelier that disappeared into the levels below. She had no idea why the wires were there or what purpose they served, but she shivered. She had a feeling that it had something to do with Christopher’s instructions to Bobby to lure her up to the foyer.

One thing was certain; Ellie had no intention of finding out what they had planned. The children’s angelic faces hid monsters. It made her angry to think how easily she had been manipulated. She also felt guilt for not suspecting something was amiss. Perhaps she could have saved Jeffrey if she hadn’t been so distracted.

Shaking those thoughts from her head, Ellie reached the area of the landing that was the moment of truth. She hinged forward from the waist just far enough so that she could peek onto the landing below. She saw movement by one of the doors and yanked her head back. Then she heard a loud noise from somewhere below.

“What’s going on down there?” Christopher’s voice drifted up to her.

There was no answer.

“Melissa? Bobby?”

Ellie peeked again, and she saw the top of Christopher’s head look over the railing and down into the front foyer. He had been sitting in the shadows by one of the bedroom doors. When he still didn’t hear an answer, he kicked at one of the posts and then scooted around to the head of the stairs. He started down the stairs and was out of sight a moment later.

Ellie didn’t wait to see if he came back or turned around. She swiftly crossed the landing and then saw that the door to her room was slightly ajar. She pushed the door open and slipped inside, gently shutting the door behind her. She turned and jumped as she found Mikel standing there with his arms crossed. He wore a grim expression.

“So what’s the scoop?” Mikel asked.

“Demons.” Ellie almost cried out in relief at hearing Lucy’s voice answering Mikel’s question.

Then she saw Lucy emerge from the bathroom and the joy in her heart was washed away. Lucy’s face had a bruise that covered the entire side of her face, and she was limping. One arm was cradled in her other arm.

“Lucy!” Ellie flew across the room and stopped just short of her friend. She wanted to hug her, but she couldn’t see where she could touch Lucy without possibly causing her pain. Ellie’s hands worked the air around her frantically. “What happened?”

“I’m not babysitting for you ever again so don’t even ask,” Lucy said.

“What kind of demons?” Mikel demanded.

“Mikel! Can’t you see that Lucy’s hurt?” Ellie snapped. “One thing at a time. Are you okay?” She searched Lucy’s face.

Lucy shrugged. “I managed to get away before they did any permanent damage. But I blew out my magic when I did that, so until that recharges or I get a boost, I’m out of commission. I’ve just been trying to stay out of their way until you got back, and hoped that they didn’t decide to come looking too hard for me.”

“They’re downstairs. Bobby and Melissa went into the basement to wait for me, and left Christopher on the second floor by himself. I’ll get a warning if they move,” Ellie said before she could catch herself.

“How would you get a warning?” Mikel asked.

“I mean, we should be able to hear them coming,” Ellie said trying to cover her misstep.

“That’s not what you said, El,” Lucy said.

Ellie wondered how the conversation had managed to derail so quickly. “One thing at a time. So you are okay, but you can’t do magic.”

Lucy nodded. “I don’t know when it’ll come back. Those things are vicious.”

“Who did you say they were again?” Mikel asked. His voice was wary now.

Ellie turned to him. “I don’t know who they actually are,” Ellie said. “They showed up yesterday. Three kids. They said their mom killed them. I didn’t sense anything supernatural about them.”

She watched Mikel drop onto the edge of the bed and run a hand through his hair. He looked pale.

“They are Scolosi demons. That is unfortunate,” he said.

“What are Scolosi demons?” Ellie looked at Lucy who shook her head. She didn’t know either.

With as shaken as Mikel looked, Ellie knew that she wasn’t going to like his answer. Mikel shot up and went to the door. He put his ear there and listened. “If they are waiting for you, it’s just a matter of time before they come knocking on this door. We need to think up a plan, and fast.”

“I have a plan,” Ellie said. “I’m going use whatever talent this is inside me and blow them right back to Hell.”

“You don’t even know what talents you have, much less how to use any of them to your benefit,” he scoffed.

Ellie’s hands bunched up into fists. “You don’t know everything you think you do about me, Mikel. Everybody keeps telling me that my blood has magic in it, magic that all of you continually hijack to do all sorts of things. I will find a way to do the same thing.”

“El, you don’t know what you’re saying. As much as this pains me to admit it, I have to agree with Mikel,” Lucy said. “Yes, you have magical blood. Yes, you have innate psychic abilities. But you aren’t a witch. Your ability to use your own power is limited at best.”

“Besides, these are Scolosi demons,” Mikel said. “They are immune to magic.”

“Immune to magic?” Lucy’s voice was scornful. “There is no such thing.”

Mikel rubbed his face. “We don’t have time for a history lesson on Scolosi demons.”

Ellie put her hands on her hips. She wasn’t going to let him worm his way out of an explanation. “Make time, Mikel. I disagree with the two of you about my abilities. I’ve ripped out psychic abilities and a soul. I’m a Ripher and it’s time I used that ability for something good. But we need to know what we are dealing with; it’s only fair.”

Mikel threw up his hands. “Scolosi demons are children who have committed such awful crimes in their lives on the Other Side that they are condemned to Hell. We’re not talking your regular run-of-the-mill murder and mayhem. We’re talking torture. Acts of brutality that would make your hair turn white. An utter lack of regard for any kind of human life, and it’s because they never had any. These are the most detestable souls in the entire Afterlife, and the punch line is that they look like innocents. One is bad enough. With three of them here, then they’ll be at full strength. Whoever sent them isn’t messing around.”

“If they are part of the Afterlife, why haven’t I ever heard of them?” Lucy asked.

“Every sector harbors its own little secrets,” Mikel said with a smirk. “As long as the balance is maintained there is no need for the other measures of…security, if you will. We use them in Hell for our own purposes.”

“They are Hell’s assassins,” Ellie said putting the pieces of Mikel’s words together.

“Something like that,” Mikel said. “If Hell wants someone taken care of, it sends in the Scolosi. Like I said, to find them outside of Hell is unprecedented. So whoever in Hell is after you, they want you badly.”

“Did I miss something?” Lucy asked, looking between Ellie and Mikel.

“My parents,” Ellie said slowly. “I think they were murdered, and the car accident was a cover-up. I found out that they were both Pure Ones who ran away after they fell in love. Obviously that really pissed someone off. My father’s friends hid me away until Mikel found me again.”

“Oh wow, Ellie. That is crazy,” Lucy said as she stroked Ellie’s arm. “I’m so sorry.”

“Who would do this?” Ellie asked. “Why?”

“Why ask why?” Mikel said. “Sometimes the reason that anyone does anything is so insignificant that your mind would explode at the simplicity of it all. It’s simple. You can assume that whoever it is either wants you dead or wants you for Hell. My guess is the latter; otherwise you would have been decimated the moment those demons arrived on your doorstep.”

“Why did they kill Jeffrey then?”

“Maybe because they were bored,” Mikel said. “Or maybe because Jeffrey was a spy for Lillian Bradford. Who knows their reasons?”

Lucy shook her head. “I still can’t believe I missed that one.”

Mikel shook his head. “You are pathetic. The old man played you like a well-oiled instrument. Why do you think I had to use David to do my spying? That old codger switched sides on me the day Lillian Bradford crossed the threshold of the waypoint. He’s been playing on her side ever since.”

“He helped us expose you,” Ellie said.

“Of course he did,” Mikel said spreading his hands wide. “Because Lillian wanted to get back at me for banishing her. I didn’t expect her to move so fast. The woman’s a viper.”

“So is it Lillian who is after me?” Ellie asked. She felt sick that it seemed like all roads always led back to Lillian Bradford.

“Lillian is conniving, backstabbing, and opportunistic,” Mikel said. “But there’s no way she’d have the pull to conjure up and command Scolosi demons. No, it’s not her. I can’t say that she didn’t hook up with another partner once she dropped Joseph though.”

“David said that he called Lillian in to expose you,” Ellie said remembering that painful conversation.

“Lillian had a back-up plan in case Jeffrey couldn’t manipulate you,” Mikel shrugged. “Every good mastermind should have a back-up plan.”

“This is all your fault!” Ellie snapped. “If you hadn’t propositioned Lillian Bradford all those years ago none of this would have happened.”

“Hey, let’s not forget that Lillian found me, not the other way around,” Mikel said. “I can’t open up the waypoint from my side, remember?”

Lucy put her hand up. “Guys, this bickering isn’t doing us any good. We have to focus. Mikel, how does one go about killing a Scolosi demon?”

“You can’t kill a Scolosi demon,” Mikel sighed. “You only have two options. One, we injure them badly enough that they have to return to Hell to get fixed up. The other is that Witchy-rella here gets her mojo back and is able to break the conjuring spell that sent them here. Like I said, they are immune to magic, but that will automatically send them back.”

“But they can still come back after that to finish the job,” Ellie said. She put her hand on her stomach, trying to calm the nerves that were threatening to shake her apart.

“Yes,” Mikel said with a grimace. “What we really need to do is figure out who is behind them and sent them here to begin with. Once we deal with that person, then you should be safe.” He rubbed his chin. “Now that I think about it, if I expose the person who assassinated two Pure Ones and plotted against you, I may be able to bargain my way out of my sentence.”

Ellie wanted to smack the man. “Oh, well as long as whatever happens here works out for your benefit, Mikel.”

“Quite right,” he said with a smug smile. “See, but I told you that I could be helpful though to you too.”

“Um, guys?” Lucy’s voice dropped to a hushed whisper. “I think we have company.”

Ellie and Mikel turned, and Ellie saw Jake standing inside the door.  She tried to appear nonchalant wondering why he had chosen that moment to reveal himself. “Oh, it’s okay, Lucy. That’s Jake. He’s been helping me.”

Then Ellie saw Jake’s face drop. He stepped aside, and she watched in horror as the doorknob turned and the door flung open. The three Palmer children stood there smiling at them.

Jake’s soft voice reached her ears.

“Sorry, Ellie.”