Into the Shadows (25 page)

“Now what, Paivi?” Torsten plopped down in the snow,
sitting on his backpack. “How are you going to get lover-boy’s
attention?”

“Funny. And anyways, there are still plenty of
lights on in the house. His room is that one, there, at the back.
We can always throw snowballs at the window.”

“Wait, look!” Torsten pointed to the back door.
“Someone’s coming!”

They pressed up against the shed, trying to hide
themselves while still attempting to catch a glimpse.

Paivi was immediately relieved to see it was Jason.
He had a shovel in hand and was clearing the patio, and oddly
enough, some of the grass, of snow. She threw a few snowballs in
his direction, all of them falling far short of where he was
standing. Before she could get his attention, he disappeared back
into the house.

“You missed him, come on!” Torsten whispered
angrily. “Just say something!”

Jason returned a minute later, with two dogs on
leashes that Paivi had met earlier that night at dinner. A large
brown bulldog named Peanut wore a fuzzy pink sweater. The other dog
looked like a hamster next to Peanut. It was a tiny Chihuahua named
Beast. He wore a black sweater with a skull and crossbones printed
on it. Jason walked both dogs to the yard, not fifteen feet from
where Paivi and Torsten stood.

Paivi took a deep breath and stepped out from the
shadows that hid her.

“Whoa!” Jason jumped back a step. Beast started
growling and barking while Peanut tried to drag Jason back to the
house, whimpering.

Paivi took another step forward.

Jason squinted, trying to see her clearly in the
thick snow.

“It’s okay Jason, it’s just me, Paivi. Oh, and my
brother.”

Torsten stepped out from behind Paivi.

“Hi,” Torsten offered.

“Oh my god, Paivi! You scared the crap out of me! I
thought I might have to tussle with someone!” He took a few jabs at
the air with his fists.

Paivi and Torsten moved closer to Jason and the
dogs, who had relaxed and ran forward to greet them, jumping on
their legs. The light from the porch brightened everything around
them.

“Paivi, what happened?” Jason looked closely at her
face as they moved into the light. She had tried to clean the blood
and makeup off the best she could with a few swipes of a towel
before they left the house earlier, but clearly it hadn’t done the
trick. “Were you in a fight? Are you okay?”

She dropped her eyes, trying to fight the emotions
that were welling up inside. Anger, rage, horror, sadness. She
pushed them all to the back of her mind.

“They took our parents. We had to leave, and we had
nowhere else to go.”

“They took your Mom and Dad? Those bastards.”
Jason’s eyes narrowed in anger.

“Look, we don’t want to get you or your family in
any trouble, we can go. We could just wait out in the shed until
morning, if that’s all right.”

Jason stepped forward and wrapped Paivi in a hug.
“You’re not going to stay in the shed!” He put his arm around Paivi
and patted Torsten’s back while still trying to control the dogs as
they danced around his feet. “Let’s get inside.”

Paivi could feel the warmth as they entered the
kitchen and due to the layers of clothes, she felt like she was
going to suffocate. She slipped her feet out of her wet boots,
unwrapped her scarf and took off her hood. She was suddenly
embarrassed that she looked such a frightful mess. Paivi and
Torsten sat down at the kitchen table after removing their heavy
winter coats.

“Do you guys want something warm? I could make some
tea or coffee?” Jason offered.

“Maybe just some water please?” Paivi noticed that
her throat ached.

“Ma,” Jason called down the hallway, “could you come
here please?”

He filled two glasses with water from the faucet and
set them down in front of Paivi and Torsten. Paivi took a look at
her brother as he eagerly downed his glass of water. She hadn’t
realized how bruised his face was. He looked terrible.

Mrs. Santos entered the kitchen and noticed Paivi
and Torsten right away. She looked slightly embarrassed, as she was
already sporting a pair of red flannel pajamas and a pink robe. She
looked up again and noticed their faces, and appeared to forget all
about her mismatched wardrobe. She crossed the room in one long
stride and took Paivi’s bruised face in her hands.

“Oh! Honey, what happened?”

Paivi could feel a lump forming in her throat. Her
own mother would have reacted in the same way.

“They took our parents,” Paivi whispered, fighting
back the tears that began to well up. “We didn’t have anywhere else
to go.”

“Well, I am not surprised. Look what’s on the news.”
Mrs. Santos grabbed a remote and turned on the television set that
sat on the kitchen counter.

A news anchor sat behind a desk, a picture of a man
over her shoulder.

“
In addition to the mass round-ups of EOS
criminals that have been in progress nation-wide, there has been a
shocking development. Peter Farmington, head of Vantage Tech was
arrested earlier this evening at his home in Seattle, Washington on
charges of murder and fraud. Let’s go to Olivia Krakov for more on
this story…”

Mrs. Santos turned the television off. “Even the
richest man in the world couldn’t save himself. And by the way, you
are welcome to stay here as long as you like.” Mrs. Santos threw
her arms around Paivi.

Paivi took a deep breath.

Mrs. Santos released Paivi and sat down next to her
at the kitchen table. Jason took the chair opposite, next to
Torsten.

“Thank you for your offer, but we can only stay
until tomorrow.” Paivi played with her glass of water. “We have to
get to Duluth — as soon as possible.”

“Duluth Minnesota?” Jason looked surprised. “Why
would you want to go there? It’s freezing!”

“I know. My parents were talking about sending us
there right before they, uh, left.” She hesitated. “Torsten and I
decided it’s where we should go.”

“How will you get there?” Mrs. Santos looked
concerned. “If you need us too, we could drive you.”

“I don’t know, but it’s too dangerous for you to
take us. We’re sort of illegal now. We left our EOS badges
behind.”

Mrs. Santos and Jason looked at them for a moment
and then at each other.

“Well, if they’re illegal Mom, couldn’t we just hide
them here?” He looked at them encouragingly. “Come on, what do you
say? We have a really nice basement! You could stay down
there.”

Mrs. Santos nodded her head in agreement.

Paivi thought about it for a moment, her mind
drifting to scenes of her and Jason talking late into the night,
watching movies and eating popcorn. It would be like an endless
slumber party.

But she had seen the ATC, seen what they could do to
a family. The scene in her head changed, to one of Jason’s mother
being beaten by an ATC guard while Jason looked on, unable to help.
She didn’t want that for them, however small the possibility. She
had not been able to save Mrs. Brown, or her own parents. She would
do whatever she could to protect Jason’s family.

“No.” Paivi was firm. “We appreciate the offer so
much, but if they found us here, I know what they would do.”

She shivered.

“Well, that still doesn’t solve the problem of how
you will get to Duluth.” Mrs. Santos looked perplexed.

At that moment, Paivi’s necklace heated up, burning
her neck and chest. She wanted to grab the locket, but she
hesitated, unsure what to do. She didn’t know if they would
understand. But it burned so badly.

Torsten could see her gritting her teeth across the
table and grabbing at the chain.

“Just look at it Paivi,” he encouraged.

Jason and Mrs. Santos looked at Paivi curiously as
she pulled the locket from under her layers of clothing and flipped
it over. The words began breaking apart into the strange alphabet
soup. The letters pressed themselves slowly against the lockets
surface.

CHRISTIAN

“It says ‘Christian.’ I don’t think it’s safe to
call him though. Does it mean Christian will get us to Duluth?” she
asked aloud, not quite sure to whom the question was directed.

The letters on the necklace stirred around,
producing a new word.

YES

“Ask it when,” Torsten piped up from across the
table.

The letters rolled — some closer to the surface,
some floating off into the distance.

TOMORROW

FOUR PM

“Well, I guess that’s that, then.” Paivi watched the
letters swirl back to their original places. She looked up
hesitantly.

Paivi was surprised to see Mrs. Santos looking at
her calmly.

“May I see it?” she asked, gesturing towards the
locket.

“Oh, uh, sure.” Paivi pulled it over her head and
handed it to Mrs. Santos.

Mrs. Santos turned it over in her hands, admiring
it.

“It’s beautiful. My grandmother had one similar to
this.”

Paivi looked at Mrs. Santos, shocked.

Jason stared at his mother, bewildered.

“Of course, hers wasn’t in Gaelic, it was in
Spanish. How does this one work?”

Paivi was confused. “I didn’t know it did anything
at all until it burned me tonight. And then the words started to
move all over the surface. It turned into an alphabet soup and
started sending us messages.”

“Grandma told me she could send messages to people.
Not letters or anything, but some other kind. She never really
explained, but she always seemed to know if they were received or
not.” Mrs. Santos handed the locket back to Paivi.

Paivi pictured all of the messages she had gotten.
Tater tots, cookies, sticks, signs along the road. She remembered
seeing a chain around Christian’s neck that disappeared under his
shirt. That’s how he had bothered her all those months. She
wondered if he could look at her locket and see what else it was
capable of.

“So, Mrs. Santos, your grandma was special, like my
sister?” Torsten asked.

Paivi blushed and looked down at the locket in her
hands. She had never told Jason about her abilities. She hoped he
wouldn’t see her as some kind of freak.

Jason still had a dazed look on his face. He
listened, trying to grasp just what he was hearing.

“Oh, yes, grandma was special. I don’t know what
your talent is, Paivi, but she could move things, just by looking
at them. She showed me once. It was wild! Her brother, Pépé, had a
unique gift. He could speak any language in the world. He was like
one of those electronic translators.”

“Wait, slow down! Your grandma could move things
with her mind?” Jason interrupted.

“That’s nothing! Paivi blew out all the windows on
our block before we left tonight.” Torsten was excited to finally
meet someone he could talk to about it.

Paivi was mortified and sank a little lower into her
chair.

“Wow, that’s impressive!” Mrs. Santos looked
thoughtful. “No wonder you need to leave town. Grandma just showed
me some small things, moving cups and spoons, things like that. She
told me I had to promise not to tell anyone. My mother later told
me that once there was an earthquake in grandma’s village, when
grandma was a young girl. Many of the houses collapsed, including
the home of her aunt and uncle, who lived next door. They had three
small children, my grandma’s cousins, whom she loved dearly. The
children were trapped under the collapsed walls and would have died
if my grandma hadn’t used her power to lift the walls and free
them. She was only eleven at the time and didn’t realize her gifts
were special.”

“She was able to save her cousins! That was a good
thing,” Jason said, as he focused intently on his mother’s
words.

“You would think so. But remember, grandma lived in
a small village in Colombia. As far as the townspeople thought,
talent like my grandma’s was either a gift from God or a curse from
the Devil. So they sent her to a convent until she was eighteen to
ensure the townspeople thought it was no more than a miracle and
she was spending her time thanking God for it.”

“So why don’t any of us have these abilities, Ma?”
Jason asked.

“I’m not sure dear. As far as I know, the family
gifts died with my grandma and her brother. My mother still has the
necklace, the one that’s similar to Paivi’s. We’ll have to have her
show us sometime.” Mrs. Santos got up from the table, clearing the
glasses away. “It’s getting late. You kids could all use some
sleep, especially if you plan to travel tomorrow. Come on Jason,
grab their backpacks and we can show them to the guest room.”

Paivi and Torsten followed Jason and Mrs. Santos up
the stairs to a small room on the second floor. There were two twin
beds. The Santos’ said goodnight and closed the door. No sooner did
Paivi’s head hit her pillow than she fell into a heavy sleep, her
exhaustion finally catching up to her. She dreamt no dreams that
night.

* * *

She woke to the smell of eggs and bacon. She pushed
herself up onto one elbow, and fell back, groaning. Her muscles
were sore and her face felt swollen and stiff.

“Are you awake?” She heard Torsten’s voice across
the room. He sounded hoarse.

“Yeah.” Hers didn’t sound much better.

“I’m starving and something smells good. Let’s go
eat.” Torsten rolled over, attempting to get up. “Ugh, everything
hurts!”

They headed downstairs, entering the bright, sunny
kitchen. The sun reflected off of the newly fallen snow. It was
absolutely blinding if one looked at it too long.

Jason and his sister Jessica were already in the
kitchen, preparing breakfast. Jason was stirring eggs in a pan on
the stove, while Jessica loaded bread into the toaster.

“Good morning!” said Jessica brightly. “Have a seat
— we’re just about done here.”

Paivi and Torsten took seats at the table, which had
already been set for breakfast. Jason brought the pan of eggs to
the table and Jessica arrived as well, carrying a plate each of
toast and bacon.