Axiom Theory: Book Four of the Shadow Series (26 page)

Suddenly, Cliff’s form began to wave and shimmer in the afternoon su
n. A fog seemed to wash over him, as if he was being erased, but beneath his form, another appeared. Test watched in shock as Cliff’s features morphed into Alyssa’s.

“What the hell?” he asked in a breathless voice.
“When the hell did you…,” he paused, stunned beyond belief. “How long have you been able to do that?” he asked.

Alyssa looked to the ground. With a
shameful expression embedded on her face, she looked up to Test with tears streaming. “I’m sorry,” she said. “But I had to know.”

His anger replaced with total and utter confusion, Test rubbed his eyes and forcefully exhaled. “Had to know what?”

“What you were thinking,” she replied as she folded her arms across her chest. “How you really felt.”

Test closed his eyes and took a deep breath as his mind was racing in circles trying to understand the situation.
Though he felt somewhat betrayed, the anguish in her voice steered him away from a knee-jerk reaction. Instead of getting upset, he reached out his hand to Alyssa, but his heart sank as she only looked at it. “Why didn’t you just ask me?” he asked as he lowered his arm.

“Why should I have to?” she replied.

Test took a step forward and touched her arm. She spun away from him and stared at the ground. “Alyssa, I don’t know what to say.”

“Then don’t say anything.”

Wanting to take her into his arms, he was fearful that she would once again release the use of his power and vanish to the other side. “I love you,” he said tenderly. “Yes, I want to spend the rest of our days together, for however long that may be. I hope it is eternity.” He waited for her to respond, but aside from a quick glance, she remained motionless.

“When I was a little girl,” she began
as she stared at the gound, “I played with dolls. I would pretend that I was their mommy and would do everything for them. As I got older, I started thinking about what it would be like to be a real mom. I even wrote down my favorite names. Most of them were girls’ names, because that’s just always what my dolls were, but I did have some boy names picked out too.”

A lump began to develop in Test’s throat. “One of them was Aiden?” he asked softly.

She looked up to him. “No, it wasn’t. The point is that I always wanted to be a mother and have a family.” As the tears began to roll from her eyes, she chewed on her bottom lip, struggling for composure. She looked up to the sky and then lowered her gaze to Test. “Don’t you see, Test? This is the only chance I’ll ever have at being a mother. You, me, and Aiden…it’s the only chance I’ll ever have at having a family of my own.”

Test felt as though the wind had just been knocked out of him. Unable to come up with the words, he pulled her into him and held her tightly. Somewhere
, not far away, a bird began to sing a song and the breeze picked up, setting the leaves to gently rustle.

Kissing the top of her head, Test pulled her from his chest and tucked her hair behind her ears. “Well, I guess we’d better no
t let this chance go to waste then, should we?”

“You’re just saying that,” replied Alyssa as she wiped her eyes. “You don’t mean it.”

Taking her firmly by the arms, Test leaned into her and looked her straight in the eyes. “Yes, I do. I love you and that means that what is important to you is important to me. We are going to be a family.”

Nearly collapsing into him, Alyssa released the emotion she’d been keeping inside. Test held her and swore that he would never let her feel pain like that again.
As he caressed the back of her hair, he suddenly felt a tug at his shirt. Craning his neck, he looked down and to his right to see little Aiden standing with a grin.

“Are we happy again?” asked the little boy in a tiny
, innocent voice.

Alyssa lifted her head and looked down
at him. She quickly took him into her arms and leaned back into Test who wrapped his arms around the both of them.

An unimaginable warmth flooded Test’s body and
, for the first time, he began to understand his future. It may have come to him slowly, but he finally realized that he held his future in his arms.

As Alyssa kissed Aiden on the cheek, his heart swelled with pride as he looked down at his family. With more love and truth than he’d spoken at any other time in his life, he whispered into Aiden’s ear. “As long as we stay together, buddy, that’s all we need to be happy.”

Their entrance into the house was met with a discrete tension. The air felt thick as Test, Alyssa, and Aiden walked into the living room to find Lauren curled up in a blanket and sleeping soundly on the couch. Stopping the instant they saw her, they backed out and headed toward the kitchen where Iku and Prim sat at the table.

“Can I draw?” asked Aiden.

Alyssa looked to both Iku and Prim. “Do you mind if we join you?” she asked quietly, trying not to wake Lauren in the other room.

As if coming out of a fog, Prim pushed himself back from the table and then pulled out the chair beside him. “Yeah, sure,” he replied.

Test took Aiden’s hand, walked him to the table, and lifted him into the seat as Alyssa went to the counter to get a pen and some paper. As he pushed Aiden’s chair in, Test could see clearly the pain Prim was dealing with. “Did you talk to her?” he asked.

Prim glanced up as he rubbed his now stubbly chin. “Yeah.”

Test walked around the table and took a seat opposite of him. “How’d it go?” he asked with a measure of care.

Prim raised his eyebrows and sighed deeply. “It was hard, but I think she understands.” He threw his hands in the air and then let them fall hard on the table. “Hell, I don’t know.”

“It’s hard for her,” said Alyssa as she placed the pen and paper in front of Aiden. “She’s worried about you. And let’s face it; asking Lauren to be passive is about like asking a politician not to lie. The odds of it happening, regardless of what is agreed upon, are slim.”

Prim turned in his seat to look at her. “What are you saying? That you think she’ll go even though she told me she wouldn’t?”

Alyssa’s eyes flared as she replied with a shrug of her shoulders. “Not necessarily. I’m just saying that for someone like Lauren—someone who is as strong willed as she is—sitting on the sidelines isn’t going to be an easy thing for her to do.” She glanced to Test. “It’s going to be hard enough for me.”

Prim glanced to her and then to Test. “She’s not going?” he asked.

Looking nervously to Alyssa and then down to the table, Test replied while tapping his fingers. “No. She’s going to stay here and look after Aiden.”

A sudden glimmer of hope appeared on Prim’s face. “Can you keep an eye on Lauren for me?” he asked.

Though she knew she would have no control over Lauren what-so-ever, she replied with a sweet smile as she placed a hand on Prim’s shoulder. “Of course.”

Suddenly realizing that the old man wasn’t around, Test asked, “Where’s Cliff?”

Iku answered through a yawn as he clasped his hands in front of him. “He went ahead to Kansas City to be with his son.”

To Test, it was obvious that Iku had grown bored with waiting and, though he yawned once again, his incessantly bouncing legs showed the jitters that were hiding just beneath the surface. “When do we leave?” asked Test.

“Yes,” asked Iku as he looked to Prim. “When do we leave?”

The echo brought a surprise smile to Test’s face as he waited for Prim to respond.

“I suppose any time,” Prim replied. “The old man should be done filling Thad in by now.”

Iku pushed himself away from the table and stood quickly. “Yes, we should go. There’s no telling how much time we have until the twins act.”

Prim stood as well and raised his arms high over his head in a stretch. “Okay then, let me go say goodbye to Lauren and we’ll hit the road.”

Test watched Prim and knew that everyone else in the room was thinking the same thing
as he was. They didn’t want to be around when the goodbyes were said.

“I’m going to wait outside,” said Iku as he pushed in his chair.

Prim nodded and then watched as Iku left the room. Turning back to Test, when he spoke, his pain was nearly palpable. “I’ll make it quick.”

Leaning back in his chair, Test replied as he looked to Alyssa. “Take your time and make it count.”

Prim pursed his lips and then turned and walked away, leaving Test, Alyssa, and Aiden alone in the kitchen.

Alyssa pulled out the chair of which Prim just pushed in and sat next to Aiden. “He really seems to be having a tough time.”

With a deep sigh, Test placed his chin on his fists as his elbows rested on the table. “Yep—leaving behind the ones you love is tough,” he replied with a smirk.

“It doesn’t have to be,” Alyssa replied. “I could just make myself look like Prim so she thinks he stayed.”

Test rested his arms back on the table. “Hey, about that,” he began. “When did you figure out you could do that? I didn’t even know it was possible.”

Alyssa giggled under her breath. “I had this little kid come visit me all the time when I was…” she shrugged her shoulders, “well, you know, alive, and he was amazing at it. It became a game between us to see if I could guess if it was him or not.” She leaned forward on the table. “It caused some embarrassing
and uncomfortable moments between me and Uncle E once in a while, but it was fun.”

“But how did you figure out how to do it?” asked Test.

“Believe it or not,” she said playfully, “I have quite a bit of free time when you’re sleeping. Besides, it’s nothing new to you really. Haven’t you ever wondered why Cliff was able to appear to you as his younger self?”

Test’s face blushed hotly as a smile so large it hurt his cheeks took a
hold of his face. “Point taken—still, impersonating Prim probably isn’t the best idea.”

“I know; I was only trying to lighten the mood a little,” replied Alyssa.

With a forced chuckle, Test’s glanced to Aiden who drew stick figures quietly on the notepad in front of him. “What are you drawing, buddy?”

Without answering, Aiden held up the notepad. The image was of three stick figures, one with long hair, one tall, and one short in the middle. The sticks representing arms had been drawn so that they appeared as if they were holding hands.

“Is that us?” asked Test.

“Yep,” replied Aiden as he lowered the notepad and continued to draw.

Alyssa put her arm around Aiden and watched in silence. Whatever mood lightening she had done moments before had suddenly been erased as the reality of Test’s departure returned to her thoughts.

After a moment of silent reflection, she felt Test’s eyes upon her. “I guess this is it then, huh?” she said quietly, scared to look at him.

Test reached out across the table and took her hands into his. “No—this is not
it.
This is just see you soon, okay?” He watched as she glanced up and the long, tragic expression on her face nearly drove him insane. He stood from the table and walked around to her. Pulling her from the chair and into his arms, he held her tightly as Prim’s voice came from the doorway.

“Time to go,” he said somberly.

Test turned his head, not ready to let go of Alyssa just yet. “One more minute, okay?” he asked.

Prim nodded as he bowed out of the door way. “One minute.”

Alyssa’s grip on him was intense. He didn’t think that a tornado would be strong enough to separate her from him. He kissed the top of her head and then rested his cheek atop it. “I have to go,” he whispered.

“I know,” she replied, though her grip remained strong.

Test reached out to his side towards Aiden and ruffled his hair. “You take care of things, okay? You’re the man of the house,” he said with a wink as the boy looked up to him.

“How long are you going to be gone?” asked Aiden.

Alyssa pulled away slightly and watched Test as she waited for the answer.

Test looked to her
, though replying to Aiden, and answered as honestly as he could. “Not long, buddy. Not long.”

The pain of saying goodbye was something not unfamiliar to Test, but this time was different. Never before had he had so much to say goodbye to. Never before had he
had a better reason to return.

The three of them had gathered outside the house in New Mexico and
, with barely a word spoken, Iku, Prim, and Test phased into the Shadow realm and raced to Kansas City. When they arrived, the words were still far and few in between as Thad opened the door.

Iku felt anxious as the young man stared at him fearfully. He suppressed his reflex to cover his eye and wished for the first time in a long time that he still had the long hair to hide behind. Waiting just a few steps past the front door, Iku waited for
Thad to close it and then, swallowing his hesitance, offered his hand to him.

“Hello. My name is Ikuhabe,” he stated in a proud voice. “But friends may call me Iku.”