Return to the Shadows (7 page)

“Claire.” Mike was wary. “I still wish you
had let me clear that up with the police.”

“There was no point in the police questioning
both of us. It was easier to let them think that John tried to have
me hurt because he was angry I had found evidence of his corruption
through his position at LanTech.”

“Between you and me, I half expected him to
spill the whole sordid tale when they arrested him.

How I found the artifact and the old legend.
All of it.”

“Hah. Well if nothing else, it would have
made for a fabulous insanity defense. Personally, I’m a little
relieved that he kept his mouth shut.”

“It wouldn’t have mattered either way,” Mike
shrugged. “They never would have believed him.”

“Some days I can hardly believe it myself.” I
toyed with the handle on my coffee mug. “Do you ever think about
it?”

“We’re talking about it right now.” He was
ever evasive.

“No. Do you ever think about Terlain? About
being there?”

“No. It was a mistake.”

“Was it? Do you honestly believe that it was
all just a big mistake?” I searched his face for the truth.

“Claire, how can you even ask me that?
Because of me, because of that place, you and your daughter are in
danger. And how many times did you cheat death last year? All
because I didn’t leave it alone. I should have walked away, but I
didn’t. Even worse, I dragged you right into the middle of it. And
you’re still paying for it. You and Ashley. So, yes, I do honestly
believe that it was a mistake.”

“I don’t.” My quiet admission stunned Mike
into silence. “At first maybe I did. And most of the time that I
spent searching for you, all that I could think about was getting
back home.” I felt as though the words were being dragged from me
and I sounded forced even to my own ears. I pressed on anyway,
needing to finally get the words out. “I know you don’t like to
talk about it. But something happened to me over there. Something
good, and I can’t just pretend it was all a dream. Maybe you can,
but I can’t, God knows I have been trying. Partially out of respect
for your feelings, but mostly for Ashley’s sake, because she
deserves a normal, stable life. But I can’t make it any less real.
Terlain gave me my daughter. Terlain gave me a lot.” I looked
away.

“What was his name?”

“Mark,” I murmured. “His name was Mark.”

“Is he…?”

“No, he’s alive. At least he was when I
left.”

“Was it serious?”

“Yes. He was a good person. I hope he still
is.”

“I don’t mean to be insensitive, Claire, but
what’s this about? Why are you thinking about all of this now?”

“I think about it all the time,” I replied
with a trace of bitterness. “I’ve been having these dreams lately.
They started a couple of months back. Dreams of Terlain and danger.
I think they’re in trouble over there. Or they will be. I know I’m
in trouble again....” I trailed off.

“And?”

“Maybe it’s not a coincidence. Maybe someone
is trying to tell me something.”

“I think you have an overactive
imagination.”

“Me?” I sat back hard against the seat,
astounded. “You dig up a relic in another country and go realm
hunting and I’m the one with the overactive imagination?”

“Point taken,” he grumbled. “The fact
remains, I don’t see how the two can possibly have a connection.
The dreams are from stress, Claire. Stress and anxiety over leaving
your…Mark. There was no closure.”

“No, there wasn’t,” I agreed wistfully.

“I’m sorry.”

“He wanted me to stay, you know. He was
willing to follow me here.” I peeked from beneath the bangs that
had fallen into my eyes to gauge his reaction.

“We can’t go back,” he gently reminded
me.

“Aries would have come back too. She was
waiting for you.”

“Claire—” He exhaled sharply and walked to
the window above the sink. I waited. “Don’t think I don’t miss her.
Don’t think that I didn’t care about her.”

“What if you could go back? Would you do it?
Or would that be a mistake too?” I grilled.

“That would be pointless to think about.
What’s done is done.”

“What happened to you over there?”

“It’s done, Claire. We can’t go back. No one
can ever go there again. It’s just a story now, as it should
be.”

“Right,” I snorted. “And you still haven’t
answered the question. What if there was a way that you could go
back?”

He turned slowly to pin me with a wary eye.
“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying....” I cleared my throat. “I’m
saying, maybe there’s a way.”

“There was only one key,” he stated
flatly.

“So the story goes.”

“We destroyed both halves of that one key. We
burned them to ashes.”

“Yes.”

“Claire.”

“Yes, we destroyed them,” I hedged, hating
that I had to lie to him. “I’m simply saying maybe there’s another
way in.”

“Well, there isn’t.” He started for the door
with purposeful strides.

“Where are you going?”

“To the hardware store. I want to get some
alarms for the windows.”

“We have a security system. What do we need
with window alarms?”

“You can never be too careful, especially in
light of recent developments. I want to stop off and pick up some
surveillance equipment too.”

“Cameras.” I nodded. “Now that’s a good
idea.”

“Are you picking up Ashley?”

“At nine,” I confirmed.

“I’ll be back before then.”

“Do you need money?”

“No, I got it,” he tossed over his
shoulder.

“Thanks.” I winced as the front door shut
behind him. “That went well.” I exhaled. Actually, I had to admit,
it had gone exceptionally smooth. But I knew my brother enough to
know he wasn’t thrilled to think of Terlain and other access points
to the land. I thought of the key tucked safely away in my bedroom,
and wondered what Mike’s reaction would have been had I told him
the whole truth about what really happened to the key. The phrase
“worried to death” popped into my head.

There was no need for Mike to worry, though.
Not really. My initial reasons for keeping the key hidden at the
bottom of a drawer were still valid. I would put my daughter first
at all costs. Not to mention she still had three weeks of school
left before break. The adoption process had been a grueling ordeal,
and it was nothing short of a miracle that we managed to finalize
in a matter of months. No way would I do anything to jeopardize
that. No, I conceded, the key would stay where it was…for now.

Chapter Four

Hunted

The thin, shrill cry split the silence of
night, jerking me from a sound sleep. Ashley.

“Mom...” she whimpered from across the
hall.

I was on my feet and trudging into her room
immediately, groggy but steady and coming more awake by the minute.
She must have had another nightmare, I realized, taking a deep
breath and entering the room slowly so as not to startle the child
in her already distressed state.

“Hey, baby doll. Is that you making all the
noise in here?” I gently teased.

“I had a bad dream.” Her voice wavered in the
dim room, her Dora the Explorer nightlight doing little to banish
the deep midnight shadows that clung to the room.

“We’ve got to get you a brighter nightlight,”
I muttered, more to myself than Ashley. “I’m turning the big light
on, okay?”

“I’ll close my eyes,” she replied, her tiny
little voice growing a bit stronger.

“There we go. Goodbye darkness. Now,” I
began, moving her small form over and squeezing into the pink
ruffled twin bed with her, “do you want to talk about your bad
dream?” I steeled myself against the disappointment I knew was
coming when she would refuse to discuss the monsters that sometimes
ran through her dreams in the night. I was determined not to press
her to talk about it if she didn’t want to, but I couldn’t help but
feel the sharp sting of disappointment and the feelings of
helplessness that went along with that rejection. I was sure that
if we could just talk about the dreams, we could make them go away,
together. But as I was constantly forced to remind myself, Ashley
was her own person. Sometimes she was willing to talk about them,
but sometimes she preferred not to drag her fears out into the
open. Me forcing her to open up wouldn’t do anyone any good.
Tonight, however, was one of those rare nights when she chose to
open up a bit.

“I dreamed that Earl was chasing me through
the streets and I told him to leave me alone, but he wouldn’t so I
ran into the park to hide because he had his knife instead of his
gun and I’m really scared of knives,” she blurted in a mad rush,
pausing halfway through her account to take a breath.

“Okay.” I nodded, mentally struggling to keep
up with the child.

“So I ran into the park to hide because the
park has great big giant trees, and I was going to climb up one and
get away, but when I got to the park, all the trees were made of
water and they were see-through, and I couldn’t climb them because
they were all water. So I ran to the playground to hide in the big
yellow curly slide, but it was made of water too, everything was.
Even the swings,” she finished, turning fearful eyes to me.

“Oh, well see? Swings can’t be made of
water.”

“Yeah, and if I touched them they went ‘poof’
and all of the water just fell on the ground. Like a water balloon.
Only there was no balloon. Just the water in the shape of the
swings and slides.”

“Wow. Well, that proves it then, see? It was
definitely just a….” I stopped as the full weight of her words hit
me. “Ashley, did you say that Earl had a knife, but not his
gun?”

“Earl has a gun under his coat. Like the
cowboys on TV.”

“He was wearing it in a holster?”

“Uh-huh,” she nodded. “Can we watch TV in
your room? I want to watch SpongeBob.”

I fought to stay calm. “Ash, why didn’t you
tell me and your uncle that Earl was wearing his guns last
week?”

“No.” She shook her head. “Not last week. He
had them on yesterday.”

“Yest-yesterday?” I stammered.

“Yes. He was mad.”

“Mad? Ashley, honey, why didn’t you tell me
you saw him yesterday? It’s very important that you tell me these
things.”

“But you said not to talk to him and I
didn’t.”

“I also said to tell a grown-up right away if
you did see him, or if any other stranger tried to talk to
you.”

“Oh.”

“What happened yesterday?” I kept my tone
light so that she didn’t get scared and clam up.

“He was at school.”

“No one else saw him this time?”

“My teacher talked to him. And the other kids
did too. He’s gonna give us ribbons on Friday, but I don’t think
he’s gonna give me one because he’s mad at me.”

“Earl was inside your school? Are you
sure?”

“Yes. Are you sure he doesn’t know you? He’s
really mad. He tried to talk to me when my teacher had to go to the
office to answer the phone.”

“Your teacher had a telephone call and Earl
was in charge,” I repeated slowly, trying to piece everything
together. “She left him in charge of your class?”

“Yes, and he tried to talk to me, but I
didn’t talk to him because you told me not to. He got mad. Well, he
smiled, but it wasn’t a nice smile. And he leaned forward, and
that’s how I saw his guns.”

“What did he want to talk about?” My fingers
twisted around the edge of her bed sheet.

“I don’t know, but he said he would see you
soon, and he smiled his mean smile again. Then my teacher came back
and he left. But he is coming back to school tomorrow. Do I have to
go to school tomorrow?”

“Ah. No.” I pressed a hand to my
forehead.

“Yay!” She was practically bouncing with
excitement.

“Are you sure it was the same man who tried
to talk to you by the playground?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re sure that he said his name was
Earl?”

“Yes. Can we go watch SpongeBob now? I can
stay up late since I don’t have school tomorrow, right?”

“No and no. SpongeBob is not on right now,
and it’s already the middle of the night. We will put something
nice and boring on the TV. But first I want you to do something for
me.”

“What?” She sat up straight.

“I want you,” I rummaged around in her
nightstand, “to draw me a picture of Earl.” I produced a box of
colored pencils and a writing tablet. “Can you do that?”

“Sure. Then can I watch TV?”

“Then you can watch TV,” I confirmed.

“Okay.”

She made quick work of the rough sketch and
glanced up at my sharp intake of breath. “Mama?”

“I…” I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t
think, couldn’t focus. For a moment, it was impossible to process
what I was trying my best not to see…what I desperately wished I
was not seeing. Lance. Officer Jones. Ashley had not drawn Earl at
all. She had sketched Lance Jones.

The room spun, and then abruptly cleared. I
had to stay focused and remain calm if I was going to be of any use
to Ashley, or anyone else for that matter. Besides, the last thing
I needed was for Ashley to catch on to the fact that I was
borderline terrified and begin to panic. Quite frankly, I was
panicked enough for the both of us, and I seriously doubted my
ability to calm a panicked child at the moment. If for no other
reason than that, I had to keep it together. I knew this. Still, it
took no small measure of grace to hold onto my composure and clear
my head in order to think clearly and rationally.

“Ashley, are you sure this is who you
saw?”

“Yes,” she responded slowly, confused.

“And you’re sure he told you that his name is
Earl?”

“Yes. Why?”

“No reason, sweetie,” I replied brightly,
hoping for a nonchalant tone of voice, my mind racing.