Axiom Theory: Book Four of the Shadow Series (27 page)

Thad glared rudely at the native’s broken face, only realizing after several seconds that the stranger had extended his hand. Reluctantly, he shook it.

“Uh, hello, Ikuh
iebe,” he replied, mispronouncing the strangers name as he glanced over his shoulder to Cliff who was standing in the living room. “My name is Thad, but I guess you probably already knew that.”

“Ikuhabe,” answered Iku
, correcting Thad’s pronunciation. “My name is Ikuhabe, but as I said, friends may call me Iku.”

From the living room, Cliff spoke in a raised voice. “Boy, just call the man Iku and stop starin’ at his eye. It’s rude.”

Thad’s eyes grew wide with embarrassment as he folded his arms across his chest. “I’m sorry,” he muttered while trying to avoid looking at Iku without focusing on his eye. “That was very rude of me.”

Iku chuckled and slapped
Thad on the side of the shoulder. “Do not worry yourself, my friend. It is not the first, nor will it be the last, time that it has happened.” Iku turned to look at Prim as he remembered sitting at the bar while they were on the east coast. He’d halfway expected a smirk from Prim, but he hadn’t even been paying attention. Instead, while Test had gone to the kitchen, Prim had taken a seat on the couch and sat quietly.

Iku folded his arms in the same manner as
Thad and waited patiently for someone to say something. This wasn’t his home and he wanted to make sure that he was respectful, even though its owner inadvertently hadn’t been.

After rocking on his heals for several moments,
Thad snapped to and extended his left arm towards the living room. “I’m sorry. I guess I can’t help but be rude today,” he said to Iku. “Have a seat wherever you’d like.”

Iku bowed his head in thanks and
took a seat on the end opposite of Prim.

“So, boys,” said Cliff as he glanced into the kitchen to see Test standing in the opened door of the fridge. “What’s the plan?”

Prim could feel everyone looking to him, but the truth was he had nothing. He couldn’t stop thinking about Lauren and the baby. He looked up to the old man. “Why are you looking at me?” he asked harshly. “I don’t have the answer.”

Cliff held a hand up defensively. “Easy,” he replied. “
The question was for everybody.”

Prim glowered at the old man for a minute and turned to look at Test as he walked into the room. “You’re the
all-powerful
Test, what’s your idea?” he asked mockingly. He leaned back on the couch and put his feet up on the coffee table. “Personally, I don’t see how we can win.”

Though Test knew what Prim was going through,
he was still confused by his actions and words. It was becoming apparent that Prim was not at all what he thought when they’d met the year before, and he now saw how he was the perfect match for Lauren.

As Test stood motionless in thought, Prim rubbed his face and muttered under his breath. “This is stupid. We never should have come.”

Unable to filter his thoughts, Test spoke the first words that came to his mind. “Well why don’t you just go home then?”

In a flash, Prim was standing with arms to his side; his energy flaring brightly as he glared at Test. He fully expected Test to respond in the same manner, but was surprised to watch him only shake his head.

Though inside he was set to rage, Test looked at Prim with a naked, pitiful expression. “It seems like just yesterday you were lecturing me about self-control; am I wrong?”

Cliff looked back and forth between Prim and Test and swelled with pride as he watched the younger Shadow demonstrate such control. Turning to Prim, Cliff spoke. “The boy’s right; fightin’ each other sure as heck isn’t going to help us any.” He walked towards Test and stood beside him while looking at Prim. “I don’t know what you and Iku know, but from what I’ve heard, this boy that this wonderful government of ours created
sounds like he’d make Isaac look like a match stick man.”

“Can I ask a question?” interrupted
Thad. Without waiting for anyone to respond, he continued. “Dad filled me in on most of the details, but my question is, what is the point of you risking your lives to get this kid?”

“It’s not really about the kid,” answered Test. “It’s about what Casper and Ashley want to do with him.”

Thad, sitting in the recliner, replied. “And what is that?”

“Revenge,” answered Iku morosely.

Thad eyed the stranger and a cold chill ran down his back as Iku turned to him. He couldn’t help but focus on the dead eye as the Native spoke.

“Casper and Ashley were the youngest of Isaac’s Reapers. They were also the most ruthless, aside from Anil.”

The image of Anil flashed into Test’s mind. The face frightened him as much now as the day he had ended the Reaper’s life. It was the same day that Anil had ended Alyssa’s.

“They worshipped him,” continued Iku. “When Isaac was destroyed, there was never any doubt that they would
want revenge.” He turned to Test. “Lucky for all of us, I was the first on their hit list.”

“Why?” asked
Thad, his focus now becoming more intent on Iku’s story.

“I was one of them, and I betrayed them,” answered Iku. He turned to look at Test once again. “They fear you, Test; or at least they did. That’s why they took the clone.”

Thad leaned forward with his hands clasped in front of him. “They thought the only way to beat you was to have you?”

Test raised an eyebrow. “I guess they got what they needed then.”

“And more,” replied Prim as he returned to his seat on the couch. Leaning his head back, he ran his fingers through his hair repeatedly. “This kid is like nothing I’ve ever seen or heard of before.”

“If he’s a clone,” asked
Thad, “then how can he be different than Test? Doesn’t being a clone mean that you’re identical?”

“It’s hard to say,” answered Prim. “They’ve done things to manipulate his growth rate. There’s no way of knowing how that’s affected him
. Also, when you’re talking about messing with DNA, there are so many variables that can be changed that any one little thing could mean life or death.”

“Or the ability to absorb energy,” said Test.

Prim craned his neck to see Test. “Yeah—that too.”

Thad
’s brow furrowed deeply as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “Okay, let’s think about this. This kid can steal your energy, right?” He looked between the others in the room as each of them nodded their heads. “So how is that different than what you all did last year? Didn’t you use an army of ghosts to steal the Reapers power?”

Cliff took a step to his son. “Yeah. Where are you goin’ with this?”

“Well, if I understand how your powers work, you all can become ghosts in a sense, right?” asked Thad.

“Yes,” answered Iku.

“Well, if you go at him from the other side, wouldn’t that work?”

“No,” answered Iku in a firm voice without saying more.

“Why not?” asked Thad.

Stepping directly behind the couch, Test answered. “Because they can’t touch anything in the world of the living while they’re in the world of the dead.” Test watched as
Thad deflated. “I said
they
; I didn’t say anything about me.”

Prim pulled his feet from the coffee table and sat up, turning in his seat so that he could see Test. “You’re forgetting one thing,” he said.

“What’s that?” asked Test in a mildly arrogant manner.

Prim rolled his eyes. “Think about it, genius; if you’re half in one side, that means that your power is still available to the kid. He’d still be able to suck you dry.”

Matching Thad’s reaction a moment ago, the smug look on Test’s face melted as his face blushed with embarrassment.

Prim stared him down for a moment before turning around and leaning back once again.

“There’s got to be a way,” said Cliff as he rubbed his chin.

“Perhaps,” began Iku, “if we could somehow separate the boy from Ashley and Casper
, perhaps then we could at least take the twins out of the equation so that we can focus on the boy.”

“There’s the problem,” answered Prim. “If the boy was by himself, this would still be next to impossible. But with the twins by his side, it is exponentially more difficult to win.” Prim stood and walked around to the front of the coffee table, pacing back and forth. “Ashley’s got that kid wrapped around her finger though.” He looked to Test. “You should have seen the look on her face as that kid was wringing the life out of me. The pride in her smile as she watched him was sickening.”

Prim returned to pacing as the room fell silent. Test walked around the couch and took the seat that Prim had occupied while Cliff remained behind the couch. Everyone was deep in thought when Prim stopped suddenly and turned toward the west.

“We’re out of time,” he whispered.

“What?” asked Thad.

Test’s heart froze as Prim turned to look at him. “Something’s happening. I can feel them; that way,” he said as he pointed to the west.

“Manhattan’s that way,” answered Thad.

Pri
m turned to him. “So are they.”

Taking a few quick steps to the side of the couch, Cliff looked back and forth between Prim and Test. “You all go ahead,” he said forcefully. “I’ve got an idea.”

“What is it?” asked Test.

The old man turned. “I need the two of you to trust me. I’ll be there just as soon as I can.”

Before either Prim or Test could respond, Cliff faded from view.

Destin stood in a room full of death as he watched Casper clutching the last of the guards by the throat. Though Casper wasn’t in direct contact with the man, Destin watched as he twisted his hand and then watched as the guard’s neck folded to the side in a ninety-degree angle. He was horrified to the point that he had no ability to speak or move. It wasn’t until Ashley gripped him by the arm that sound was able to even register in his mind.

“Let’s go,” she said as she tugged his arm, dragging him down a long corridor.

The walls were concrete with what looked like giant metal wheels embedded into them. It wasn’t until he was dragged past the third one that he realized they were fans. Every ten feet or so was a bright white light overhead and between every fourth one was a red bulb that shone fiercely.

They walked slowly with Casper in the lead. The corridor curved to the right just enough that the line of sight was cut off at twenty feet. Casper hung tightly to the left side of the corridor so that he could see what might be ahead.

“This is stupid,” said Casper in a whisper. “Why don’t we just go back to the dead side and walk right in?”

“We went over that,” replied Ashley with a hiss. “We can’t afford to waste any of our strength. Who knows who might come to try and crash our party?”

Casper stopped and turned. “Seriously? With the kid he
re they couldn’t do squat.”

Though Destin knew exactly what Casper meant, he couldn’t help but feel confused. “Why are we here?” he asked timidly. “What is this place?”

“I told you,” said Ashley, squeezing his arm more tightly. “There’s something here that belongs to us, and we’re here to get it.”

He glanced behind them towards
the room that led to the corridor, the room that contained the bodies of at least four men that he watched die. “Why did you have to kill those people?” he asked with a furrowed brow.

“Oh, Jesus,” replied Casper as he rolled his eyes. “Look kid, you’d better…”

“Shut up,” interrupted Ashley as she pointed at Casper. She turned back to Destin. “Destin, I’ve told you that there are people in this world that are out to do bad things to us. Those men are a part of that group. If we didn’t kill them, they’d have killed us…or worse.”

“Or worse?” asked Destin as he wrinkled his nose. “What’s worse than dying?”

Ashley brushed his hair away from his eyes. “You’ll see. Now just be patient and let’s keep moving.” She turned and, with Destin in hand, passed by Casper who shot her a sinister look.

“I’m getting tired of your…”

In a flash Ashley snapped around and put a glowing hand in Casper’s face. “Watch it, brother. I’m growing tired of things as well.”

Casper’s pale face glowed in the blue light coming from his sister’s hand. Pushing it from his face, he looked down to Destin and then back to her. “You’re pretty confident
with that kid standing by you, aren’t you?”

A frightening grin took over Ashley’s lips as she looked down to Destin. Shrugging her shoulders, her grin still intact, she turned and began the slow trek forward once again.

For Destin, the walk seemed to go on endlessly. As the corridor continued to wind in what seemed like a downward spiral, he tried to imagine what it was they were going to find. Once his imagination took over, however, he quickly tried to forget those thoughts.

Ashley had stopped just ahead of him and then backed up a few paces, pushing both Destin and Casper back against the wall.

“The entrance is just ahead,” she whispered. As she turned back towards the large steel doors, the white lights went out, leaving only the red ones to glare in the darkness while an alarm echoed off of the concrete walls. She looked up and saw two cameras on either side of the door pointed directly at them.