Overshadow (13 page)

Raena

It had now been six months since my mother died. Not significant enough to begin to heal, to begin to forget. I needed to be alone.

I left my house, taking my keys, but not my car. There was no use in trying to drive it into the Village. It was September, but the tourists were still out in full force.

It was still early. I would go get some of my mother’s favorite flowers and put them in the water for her. Hopefully, the pier wouldn’t be too crowded yet.

As I approached the school behind my house, I noticed a figure exiting the church across the street. Logan! I hid behind the school’s sign. Hopefully he wouldn’t see me. Then he would really think I was stalking him. I stared hard at him. His wings were out. From where I stood, they looked darker. Maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me. Why was he at the church? Maybe the spell was beginning to break? I couldn’t help but wonder how his wings had come out… it had originally happened when he fought Andrei. Had Andrei come after him yet again? He had sworn he was on my side now. Had he said that just so I would drop my guard and begin to trust him again?

Well, whatever happened, I hoped Logan’s wings were a good sign. Hopefully, the priest would help him. If he couldn’t, I didn’t know what else to do.

As I watched, crouched behind the sign, Logan’s wings suddenly retracted. He looked around at his back, then jumped in his car and sped off.

I crept out from behind the sign and watched him head down the road away from the Village. Maybe he was heading home. When I figured he was out of sight, I started walking again, this time heading in the opposite direction.

Tears streamed down my face as I approached the church. I had to speak with the priest. I needed to know what had happened. Cautiously, I pulled one of the heavy, carved, wooden doors open. The priest was nowhere to be seen.

I walked up to the altar. Incense smoke hung in the air. “Father Matthias?” I called softly.

No answer. I noticed tall white candles off to the side, some lit, some not. I wandered over to them.

“Prayer candles,” a voice said behind me.

I whirled. Father Matthias stood behind me. “People
have
to stop doing that to me!”

“What do you mean?”

“Sneaking up on me.”

He laughed. “I did not mean to. You did call for me, after all.”

That was true. “Yeah, I suppose I did.”

“Who else has been sneaking up on you?”

“You, my foster mom, Ismene…”

Frowning, he said, “I have heard of the psychic. You would do well to not trust her.”

“Funny, she said the same about you.”

“Then why are you here, my child?”

Good question. “I, umm… I thought I saw Logan leaving.”

“Yes,” he said simply.

Prying information out of this priest was like pulling teeth. “What happened?”

He gestured behind us. “See for yourself.”

I turned and saw the rubble of several broken wooden benches. Why didn’t I notice those when I first came in? I guess I had been too preoccupied. “Oh wow.”

“Yes, Logan is not the same. He is being pulled further and further under the witch’s spell.”

“What can we do?”

“I’m trying to come up with a solution.”

I hesitated. “Ismene said she would help.”

He did
not
look happy. Maybe I shouldn’t have said that. “I wouldn’t trust the psychic any more than I would the witch.”

“But she’s helped me before.”

“What exactly has she done to help?”

“She… well, she warned me.”

“And what has she done beyond that?”

What
had
she done? She had promised me that she would come up with a solution to save Logan, but I hadn’t heard from her. Maybe I should stop and talk to her.

Father Matthias’s voice interrupted my thoughts. “Just be cautious of what she has to say.”

“Okay. These days, I’m being cautious of what everyone has to say.”

That elicited a small smile from him. “That is a wise choice.”

“I should go.” I wasn’t getting anywhere here.

“Feel free to stop by anytime. I hope to have some answers for you soon.”

“Thanks.” I probably wouldn’t be coming back. He hadn’t been any help. I headed toward the doors.

“Raena?”

I paused. “Yes?”

“I want to help him just as much as you do. Remember that.”

“No offense, Father, but I doubt that.”

“Believe what you will. But know this. The world needs him, and it needs him to be his old self, his true self.”

I nodded, not sure what to say. I walked out, still trying to puzzle out his meaning.

I checked the time on my phone as I stepped outside. Later than I had hoped, but maybe I would still miss the tourists. I headed down the street, pausing on the sidewalk in front of the park, the park where Logan and I had looked for Nuada when she had gone missing. He had snuck up behind me that night, scaring me half to death, but after I had yelled at him, he had been really sweet. He helped me look for her. It was the first time I saw his true personality that he buried underneath the sarcasm and self-assurance. I missed him so much.

A single tear trailed down my cheek. I quickly wiped it away. Crying wasn’t going to help anything. I needed to come up with a solution. First, I needed to take flowers to my mom.

I started walking again. Finally I reached the small store across the street from my work that sold flowers. I bought a bouquet of pink carnations — my mother’s favorite — and headed toward the Village.

I hesitated when I reached the beginning of the pier. So many bad memories centered around that pier, but there was no need to fear anymore, right?

Shrugging off my uncertainty, I stepped onto the wide wooden boards. I clutched the flowers so tightly I thought I might snap the stems. A board creaked under my foot and I froze. I laughed at myself. I was acting silly. Andrei was on our side now. Nothing else would come through the portal… hopefully.

I wandered out to my favorite spot at the end of the pier. It was clear and sunny for once. I could see all the way to Monterey on the other side of the peninsula. I closed my eyes to absorb the feeling of the sun beating against my face.

“Well, well… if it isn’t my stalker.”

Logan! I whirled to face him. He wore his leather jacket despite the growing warmth of the day. His brow was pulled together in a scowl. I looked around. He was alone for once.

“You’re here,” I whispered.

“Don’t think anything of it, Crazy. I’m not here for you.”

I took a step closer to him. “Then why are you here?”

For a brief instance, he looked confused. His expression softened. “I don’t know. I felt like I needed to come here, like something was drawing me here.” Then the scowl came back. “But if you think it had anything to do with you, then you really are crazy.”

“I never said…”

“So you’re actually here without your entourage?”

“My…? You mean Nuada?”

“Yeah, and that idiot Tristan. And who is that creepy old guy?”

He must mean Andrei. I would have laughed if it hadn’t been so sad that Logan didn’t remember. To me, Andrei looked like the eighteen year old he claimed to be. Maybe since Logan was basically immortal too, Andrei looked like the several thousand-year-old being he actually was. “Umm… Andrei?”

“Yeah. Who the heck is that guy?”

“You really don’t remember, do you?”

“For the last time, Raena, I don’t remember all of these conversations, events — whatever you claim I should. Now leave me alone about it!”

I cringed a little at the anger in his tone, but there was hope in that one word: my name. “You called me Raena.”

“Well, don’t get used to it, Crazy. I still think you need therapy.”

Great. We were back to that. I wondered what he would say if he found out that Genevra had sent me to therapy. He’d probably laugh and make even more fun of me than he already was. “I still think you’ll remember someday.”

His eyes narrowed. “What are you doing out here anyway?” He snatched the flowers out of my hands. “These aren’t supposed to be for me, are they?”

“No! How would I have known you were going to be out here anyway?”

“Because you stalk me. It’s not going to work, Crazy.” In one swift motion he snapped all of the stems in half, then tossed the flowers at his feet.

A gasp escaped my mouth before I could rein it in, and I tried to dive for the flowers. It was too late. He was already trampling them under his feet. “Those were for my dead mother, you jerk!” I shrieked, momentarily forgetting I was trying to get him back to normal.

For just a moment, he softened. “I… I’m sorry. I had no idea.” His lip curled up in a sneer. “That’s what you get for following me around like a love-sick freak. Later, Crazy.” He pivoted and stormed away from me.

I watched him go with flowers strewn around my feet, and tears streaming down my face. After he stepped off the pier and disappeared around a corner, I knelt down and picked up the scattered pieces of the flowers. I cradled them close to my body, then flung them over the railing. “I’m sorry, Mom,” I whispered.

“Rae?”

Now what? This time it was a girl’s voice behind me. “How does everyone always find me out here?” I muttered under my breath.

“Don’t think I didn’t hear that. Enhanced hearing from being a cat, you know?”

“What do you want, Nuada?”

“I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

Still I refused to face her. “I’m not,” I told her flatly.

“I know. I followed you from home. I felt like I needed to come out here.”

“Logan said the same thing.”

“He was here?”

“Yeah. He ruined the flowers I got for my mom.” I gestured below, to where the pieces of flowers still sat of the surface of the gently rolling waves.

“I’m sorry.”

Now I turned toward her. “So how did you know I was here?”

“Well, when your father asked me to keep an eye out for you, I needed a way to find you. I cast a location spell. It’s quite more elaborate than a regular location spell. I have to renew it quite often, but it enables me to be able to find you wherever you are.”

“Why didn’t it work when I was in the Shadow Imperium?” I asked bitterly. “It would have been nice if you could have helped me then.”

“It doesn’t work in other dimensions, unfortunately. Only on the earthly plane.”

“Will I ever see him?”

“Logan? You just saw him, didn’t you? Well, not as you wanted, but still…”

“No, my father.”

She hesitated. “I don’t know. He has to be careful. If he’s found — well, let’s just say things wouldn’t go well. For anyone.”

For some reason, the idea of never seeing my father, even though I hadn’t seen him before and had thought he was dead at one time, broke something in me. I flung myself into Nuada’s arms, sobbing. “Everything feels like it’s falling apart.”

She patted me on the back and let me cry. “It will work out.”

“I don’t even understand why I’m so upset. I don’t know my father. I thought I had gotten used to the idea of never seeing him. Why is it bothering me now?”

“You’re feeling overwhelmed. It’s understandable. It’s probably bothering you because if it weren’t for him, then you wouldn’t be in this mess.”

I pulled away from her and stared. “What do you mean?”

“Think about it. The devils want to sacrifice you because of your Nephilim blood. That’s your father’s blood. Without his angel blood, you would only be human.”

“I hadn’t thought about it that way. So is there a way to separate the angel blood?”

She stared at me like I was every bit as crazy as Logan claimed. “Don’t be ridiculous. You can’t get rid of your angel blood without getting rid of your human blood. In a word… you die.”

“That’s two words.”

She tossed her long black hair over a shoulder. “I don’t think making fun of me is going to help you at all.”

“You made fun of me too.”

“But that was to put you in a better mood.” She grinned. “How about if we go home?”

I agreed and we walked away from the ocean. “Let’s invite Andrei and Tristan over. I think we need a relaxing day,” she suggested.

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. “I thought you hated Andrei.”

“He’s kind of growing on me.”

“Do you have a crush on him?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Of course not. I hated him when he was evil. We worked on opposite sides. Now that he’s ‘good…’” here she used air quotes “…he’s not so bad.”

I laughed despite myself. “You have a crush on him. It’s okay. I did too once.”

“Yeah, and that’s what got you into this mess.”

“I thought you said my father’s blood was the cause.”

She thought about that for a minute. “Both. You’re a little naïve, you know.”

I decided not to take offense to that. “Nuada? How old are you anyway?”

She sniffed. “A lady never tells her age.”

“But you’re not a lady. You’re a shape shifting sorceress.”

“Sorceresses especially don’t tell their ages.”

“Because you’re so old?”

“Not as old as Andrei.”

“See, you’re bringing him up again. You do like him.”

She rolled her eyes at me, but said nothing. “Just call them.”

I pulled out my phone and dialed Andrei. “Come to my house,” I said in lieu of a greeting when he answered.

“What happened?”

“Nothing. Just come over.” I hung up. Nuada stared at me. “What? It was the easiest way to get him over. Although, I had to admit that after what happened, I never thought I’d see the day when I was inviting Andrei over my house again.”

I dialed Tristan. This time I was a little more polite. “Hey! Want to come over?”

“I guess… everything okay?”

“Yeah, I just need a hang-out day.”

“Is it just going to be us?” he asked hopefully.

Oops. “Uh… no. Andrei’s coming.”

“What? You’re inviting him over?”

“Don’t worry about it. Are you in or not?”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll be there soon.” He clicked off.

“Well, that’s set,” I said as we were rounding the corner by the school.