A Shadow's Light BK 2 (20 page)

Cliff laughed and chastised him. “Come on, boy. Now’s not the time to showcase your ineptitude. Think.” The old man tapped Test’s forehead. “It’s because you aren’t dreamin’. You’ve begun your change. That first night that you saw me here, while you was sittin’ in the truck, that was your new beginning.”

Test remained silent, listening to each word intently.

“You see, that Professor was right about many things, but he ain’t even begun to know what you are or what you can do. Right now, you are on the other side. Your mind and spirit are able to do what your body don’t yet know how. You are walking with the dead, and to most of those that have passed, you are no different than I am; just another bundle of energy walking around in another reality.”

Test looked at his hands and felt a cold chill inside of him. “Am I dead?”

With a smile, Cliff replied shaking his head. “No. Ain’t you listenin’? I’m saying that you can go between worlds. You can slide between realities.” His words were met with silence. “That shadow woman, she had reached her maturity, so to speak. You are nearly there. Soon, you will be able to shift between worlds without leaving your body.”

Test struggled to grasp all that Cliff was telling him. Feeling the need to sit, he knelt to the ground and took a knee. “How can…I don’t…how can this be real, Cliff? How do I know that this really isn’t a dream?”

Cliff looked down to the young man with a gentle smile. He raised his arm and pointed over Test to his right. “Look over there.”

Test turned and could see a young woman walking towards him. He squinted through what seemed like a haze that separated them, but in reality, it was the figure of the woman that was hazy. The closer she came, the more clearly he could see her. Not only did the woman become clearer with each step, she had also begun to age until a sudden rush of emotion came over Test.

“Mom!” he shouted as he jumped up and ran to her.

He wrapped his arms around her and lifted her from the ground. She returned his embrace with vigor, and then leaned back to look at him.

Test set Maggie back on the ground, his breath coming in short huffs. His mother’s face was the same as he’d remembered; only now it showed no signs of the troubled life that she had lived. She smiled at him as the two of them stood face to face with hands clasped together.

“Test,” said Maggie. “You are a very special young man, and I’m not just saying that because you’re mine.” A proud mother’s smile painted her face. “You are meant to do great things.”

“What if I don’t want it?” asked Test.

“I’m afraid that you’ve got no choice, honey. The only thing that you can decide is if you’re strong enough to handle what you’ve been blessed with.”

“Alive?” asked Maggie. “You don’t know that. No of us knows when it’s our time.” Maggie glanced to Cliff with a giggle. “Well, most of us any way.”

Cliff pushed his glasses up on his nose with a wink. “She’s right. Ain’t no tellin’ what might have happened to you or your Mom had things been different.” The old man looked to Test and brought things back into perspective. “So, regardless of whether or not you’re sure if this is real, there’s more that you need to know? You ready to hear what I got to say?”

Disgusted with her son’s disrespect, Maggie stepped away from Test. “Test Colby Davis! That’s enough; you hear me? Cliff is right. You don’t have a clue what is happening here. You
will
listen to him. Am I understood?”

Test had never felt intimidated by his mother until now. There she stood in front of him, her index finger poking him in the chest. He raised both hands towards her. “Okay, Mom. I’m sorry,” he replied.

“Don’t apologize to me. You owe it to him,” she said while pointing to Cliff.

Before Test could get the apology out, Cliff spoke. “No need for an apology. I can’t say as I blame you for wantin’ to stay here. But like I said, there’s too much that you don’t know. This place isn’t the safe haven that you think it is.”

“This is no joke, Test,” spat Cliff as he spun to meet Test. The tone of his words were filled with desperation. “You are not safe here, just as you ain’t safe on the other side. You will be hunted here just the same!”

“You, when you decide to believe it, will be able to walk on both sides. Believe it or not, you are nothing new. Shadows have been known for thousands of years. For the most part, they remain secretive, much like you have been the past year. They try their level best to live a normal life. Some are able and some ain’t. Just like with normal folks, there’s some good, and some bad. The bad have become beings of legend. They have been known by many names. Names like: Angeu, Ankou, Enma, Yamaraj, Yanluo, Azra’il, La Muerte…,” he paused. “The Reaper.”

Test glared down onto the old man in silence.

“For thousands of years, the Reapers have been known as takers of souls. The truth is that they are few in numbers, but some of them are very old and very powerful. Worst part is, they don’t much care about those they take, it’s the misery they leave behind that feeds them.”

“How old?” asked Maggie.

“Hundreds, some even thousands,” replied Cliff with his eyes still focused on Test’s face. “Your kind’s life expectancy is much longer than ours.”

Reeling from what he’d just learned, Test snapped. “What, I’m not even human anymore?”

Without a change in his demeanor, Cliff replied. “No… you’re not. You’re a Shadow.”

“So what, I’m going to
evolve
,” he spoke gesturing with his hands, “into one of these Reapers?”

Maggie gently wrapped her arms around him. “No, Test. Of course you’re not. Remember, Cliff said that just like with people, there are the good and the bad. Just because you are one of them, doesn’t mean that you have to be like them.”

“That’s right,” said Cliff. “They’re just the bad seeds. You remember when we met, back at the convenience store?”

Test nodded his head in agreement.

“Ain’t nothin’ changed since then. You still have the shine in you; it’s still there. You are a good kid…” Cliff paused. “Were a good kid. Now you’re a Shadow; a Shadow who can light the way for those who may follow.”

Test’s head hung low, the reality of the moment leaving him without words. With his eyes closed, he felt Cliff’s hand rest gently on his shoulder.

“You’re mother’s right. You have been given an amazing gift. You
could
say it is the gift of all gifts. You will have more power than you can imagine. Maybe you already have it and you just ain’t tapped into it yet.” He shook Test’s shoulder. “Listen to me, boy. The power to walk between worlds is an incredible thing!”

Test opened his eyes and could see the smile on Cliff’s face. He looked to his mother, and though a tear ran down her cheek, she carried the same reassuring smile. He inhaled deeply and blew the air slowly out of puckered lips.

“Yeah, I guess it’s not so bad. I can come see you guys whenever I want now, huh?” He spoke the words as much to convince himself as he did trying to convince them. “Whenever I need to get away, I can just disappear. Heck, I could just live here.”

Test glanced back and forth between the two of them. “Okay, I’m listening. Tell me.” There was a new confidence within him that had suddenly emerged.

“Being a Shadow doesn’t mean that you can live in a world outside of your own,” said Cliff.

“I don’t get it. You just said….”

“Listen to me,” interrupted Cliff. “I know what I said, but there are limitations to what you can do. The main limitation is how long you can
stay
on the other side. The reason that you don’t have powers here isn’t just because you don’t need them, it’s because the act of shifting between worlds temporarily zaps most all of your energy. It’s true that a Shadow has seemingly endless amounts, but it only seems that way. The reality of it is that you can only be here for about fifteen minutes before your energy runs out and you shift back to the world of the living, whether you are ready to or not.”

Test wrinkled his nose. “But we’ve been talking here for at least a half an hour.”

“Yes, but you haven’t
shifted
,” replied Cliff. “How can I put this so you’ll understand?” He paused for a moment as he pushed his glasses back up his nose. “Right now you’re just kind of sliding. It’s your mind, your spirit; that is the part of you that is with us now. When you realize the full potential of being a Shadow, your entire body will be able to exist here.” The old man stared at Test’s blank expression. “Do you understand what I’m sayin’?”

Test replied timidly, the confidence slowly beginning to fade. “I—I think so. Fifteen minutes? That’s not very long.”

“It is and it isn’t,” replied Cliff. “You’re thinking about the physical limitations of the living. On this side, I can be in New York five minutes from now if I wanted to.” The old man slapped Test on the chest with the back of his hand, and puffed his chest out with pride.

Test raised his eyebrows. “Seriously?” he asked.

“That’s right. The catch with you is, the more you do on this side, the shorter your time here can be. So instead of making it to New York, you’d have to stop in Chicago,” replied Cliff with his trademark wink. “Like I said, the act of shifting takes most of your power.”

Cliff peered around the frames of his glasses. “You can take people with you.” The old man paused. “You can take them with you to this side.”

With a burst of enthusiasm, Test replied. “What? That’s awesome!”

“Whoa, whoa there,” whipped Cliff, holding his hands up. “There is great danger for them to come with you. It ain’t like you can bring your girl and go frolickin’ through the spirit world holdin’ hands. For you, if you’re here too long, you just shift back to the other side. For regular folk, they…,” he removed his glasses as he spoke. “Well, there just ain’t no good way to say it, son. They’ll die.”

Test’s eyes grew wide.

“That’s how the Reapers kill their victims. They grab a hold of them, shift to the other side, and then leave them to die. Sometimes they take the body back, other times they don’t.”

“That makes no sense,” replied Test.

“Don’t have to make sense. It’s just the way they are. Like I said before, they don’t get the satisfaction out of the killing. They get it from the misery of the living. They’re heartless.”

Trying to overcome the weight of the moment with some levity, Test quipped. “Okay, that’s a pretty important safety tip. Thanks for sharing that one.”

Cliff glared at him without any emotion. “Test, I don’t want you to think that once you become a full Shadow, everything is going to be roses.” Once again, he nervously shifted his gaze to Maggie.