Shadow Touched (8 page)

Rage filled her, a tornado of it filling her mind. The painting. The beauty of forever. Pure seduction. Pure bliss. Freedom.

And this man was going to take it from her? He would die.

Ellie tried to pull the blade away, but it was her shadow that gripped it. Ellie’s flesh and blood hand came away clenched, but empty. Her shadow didn’t even signify her presence in the struggle. Ellie was nothing to her. Anger was paramount.

Ellie looked up at Laurence. If he was going to do something, he’d better get on with it.

Laurence’s hand was outstretched toward her, his lips moving as if casting a spell, concentration in the flex of his features.

A wave of warm air hit Ellie. Her vision blurred as the room warped. Her heart had been beating in fear, but the tempo doubled, layered with overwhelming emotion, a sea of it that drowned her mind. All she knew was the fury that ruled her shadow and a pricking of her flesh. The pricks became a fierce itch, the same intense tingling as sleeping limbs waking, then a burn sizzled her skin, blood, and bones. Something fusing within her.

The pain grew until Ellie screamed, contracting her limbs to curl into a fetal ball. No relief. She threw her head back, the force of it rolling her from the man’s body. The man scrambled back, wiping at his face and nose, cursing and spitting.

And that’s when Ellie knew that she and her shadow were one.

One.

She clambered up, dazed at what had occurred. The forever painting was safe,
thank God,
the horrible man alive. She shook with raging emotion—still raw, still powerful,
could kill him,
but it seemed she had mastered her shadow after all.

She was in charge.

With a huge sigh of relief, and an uncertain smile thrown toward Cam, Ellie relaxed.

Everything was going to be okay. Finally. And really, it hadn’t been so very hard.

Her shadow wrenched free of her, taking the blade, and launched itself into the air toward the man on the floor.

Ellie lunged after—
No!
—reaching to restrain her dark self, who halted in the middle of her strike.

A loud pop, gunshot, almost made Ellie lose her hold. She looked in the direction of the noise, at Cam, who held a smoking gun pointed at her.

Ellie held her shadow aloft as Laurence had earlier, her shadow clawing toward her target. Ellie dropped to her knees as her shadow dimmed.

At the edge of her vision, the blade clattered to the floor.

And the floor rushed up to smack her into oblivion.

“I
t’s a flesh wound, Cam,” Laurence said, kneeling at his side. I“She’ll be fine.”

“She’s bleeding, you son of a bitch,” Cam answered, his only dress shirt pressed to her shoulder. The rest of sweet Ellie was slack, her head turned to the side, lips parted as if asleep while warm blood flowed from her wound. The reality of what he had done made him sick. “Does that look like fine to you?”

Cam couldn’t believe he’d fired, but what else could he have done? She’d seemed to be okay, her shadow and body together as one, but then the shadow had leaped out of Ellie like a black jungle cat after its prey. And unlike that soldier yesterday, Cam knew that shooting the shadow would do nothing. To stop her, he had to fire on Ellie herself.

The angel had obviously failed.

“You weren’t even aiming to kill,” Laurence said.

Thank God for Segue training. The first couple weeks, he’d been a terrible shot. Only lately, with Jose’s insistent derision, had he gotten any better. But Cam had never expected to use the skill.
Never.
He was a scientist.

Segue sucked. Worst place to work. He quit.

Laurence chuckled. “I don’t think there’s any quitting for you, but I’ll allow that your job description just got a lot more difficult.”

No, Cam was pretty damn certain. He was taking Ellie and getting them both the hell away from here. He could handle her shadow. Of course, her shadow would probably be pissed as all get out at him. He didn’t care.

Footsteps had Cam raising his head to the door. Marshall pelted inside, his own piece in his hand. With all this angel business, no wonder Marshall hadn’t wanted to know anything.

“I shot Ellie,” Cam confessed, voice breaking. Fuck. Now he was going to cry like a girl.

“You shot her?” Marshall glanced at Shelstad, who’d backed up to the wall. He pulled out a cell phone and requested immediate medical aid. Then he got down on the floor on the other side of Ellie.

“It was warranted,” Laurence said when Marshall was finished examining her. “Cam did what he thought he had to do to stop the shadow from killing Lenny, who was attempting to steal the painting.”

Marshall observed the damage to the painting and whistled. “Thorne is going to be pissed. I’ll have to take Shelstad into custody”—he glanced over at the man still sniveling in fear—“Don’t try to run. There’s nowhere to hide.”

Cam kept the pressure firm on Ellie’s wound, though the blood flow seemed to have diminished. He wasn’t taking any chances.

“Should I keep Ms. Russo unconscious until we decide what to do with her?” Marshall asked Laurence. “Her shadow is a menace. Does The Order have a facility that can deal with her problem?”

Poor Ellie. Cam shook his head, wishing he could stroke her hair, but too scared to let up on her shoulder.

“No,” said Laurence. “I think she’ll be all right on her own.”

Cam looked up in surprise. “But . . . how do we keep this from happening again? If you hadn’t stopped her shadow, Shelstad would be dead.”

There was no good way out of this. Drugs? Constant sedation?

“I didn’t stop her shadow,” Laurence said. “Ellie did.”

Cam shook his head, no. “I saw the shadow freeze midair, just like in Ellie’s room.”

“That was Ellie.”

“What happened?” Marshall asked.

Cam ignored the question. It seemed he’d gone stupid again. “Ellie stopped her shadow.”

“Yes,” Laurence said. “The merging was successful. I’d hoped they would be completely unified, but clearly that was not meant to be. Nevertheless, Ellie has proven that she can master her dark half.”

Lots of words were coming out of Laurence’s mouth—the angel sure loved to talk—but Cam only understood one thing. If his hands hadn’t been occupied, he’d have wrapped them around the angel’s throat.

“You mean I shot her for no good reason?”

 

Ellie was sleepy and comfortable, but the bed was softer than she was used to and the room smelled sharper than home, in a clean way, so she cracked her eyes to see where she was. Looked like some kind of a hospital room, not that she’d ever visited one in person.

A blur of movement—had to be her shadow—but no . . . suddenly Cam was leaning over her. He had such pretty green eyes, but just now they were bloodshot.

“How are you feeling?” he asked. His voice sounded gravelly.

“Fine.” She guessed. Her mouth was so dry. And well, actually, her shoulder kinda ached. And her other arm was cold. She lifted it to find what looked like an IV. “What happened?”

“He shot you,” her shadow said bitterly.

A flash of his distressed expression, the smoking gun, and Ellie’s mind cleared. She glanced at her shadow, who was darkening fast, a look of recrimination on her face.

No, it wasn’t like that.
Ellie pulled her shadow up short, and with a snap that stabbed at her shoulder, they were one again. It was a strange sensation, full of intensity.

Well, actually, it
was
like that.
Tears welled at the deep down hurt. He’d shot her down like a dog. Lifted a gun and put a bullet in her. She’d liked him, trusted him, and he
shot
her? Yeah, she was mad. She should be mad.

“I’m so sorry,” he said, clearly miserable. “I didn’t know you had your shadow under control. I was afraid that she’d—that you’d—kill him.”

That’s right. She’d controlled her shadow. Was controlling her even now.

Ellie grinned, suddenly breathless with excitement.
Look at me, Gran!

“I saw her leap, and I just—”

“It’s okay,” Ellie said. She would have laughed her happiness but her shoulder hurt too much. “I understand. I put you in an awful situation.”

“No, you didn’t.
Laurence
did. He warned me that I might have to . . .” Cam shook his head. “. . . but I didn’t actually think . . . Can you ever forgive me?”

Poor man was torturing himself. And on such a good day.

He’d thought her shadow was going to do the worst, and he’d stopped her. Way deep down in her gut, it still hurt that he’d pulled the trigger, but . . .

“I’m glad you did,” she said. And she was.

It meant she could trust him. It meant if her shadow ever got too strong for her, if her shadow ever got away, someone would do what had to be done. It was a safe feeling, and she hadn’t felt safe since Gran died.

Safe was good.

“You’re glad?” Cam held her cold hand. His warmth made the rest of her warm up too. It was kinda like magic.

“Yeah,” she said. “Makes me worry a little bit less, ya know?”

She could see from his eyes that he didn’t get it. Sometimes the brilliant scientist was a little slow. That was okay. She’d take him anyway. If he’d have her, that is.

Ellie looked over at the door as a man entered. Tall. Handsome features. Direct gaze. She knew him to be Adam Thorne, from her pretrip online research about Segue.

Cam squeezed her hand, his body tensing. “Don’t listen to a word he says.”

Mr. Thorne’s mouth twitched into a half smile. “Ms. Russo,” he said, “it’s so good to see you awake. Are you in any discomfort?”

Ellie was a little, but because of Cam’s warning, she shook her head no.

“Good,” Mr. Thorne said. “My employees get the best care always.”

“She doesn’t work for you,” Cam grumbled. “And neither do I.”

“Employee?” she asked. Didn’t she have to work for Thorne to be considered one of those?

“Don’t go there, Ellie,” Cam said. “You don’t want to know. I’ve already submitted my resignation.”

Thorne made a face of mock consternation. “I didn’t receive any resignation.” When Cam huffed, Thorne continued speaking, his words directed at Ellie. “You, and Dr. Kalamos for that matter, have had a glowing recommendation from a very trusted source. I don’t think you can do much better than The Order.”

That had to be Laurence, who’d put her together. He must have thought she could handle her shadow just fine now. With a little work, maybe she could.

“She doesn’t want a job,” Cam said. “We’re leaving Segue.”

Thorne gave Cam a full grin before turning back to her. Thorne was enjoying himself as much as Cam was protesting.

“You have a unique gift in your shadow,” Thorne said, “and I can’t think of a better place than Segue to explore your ability and put it to use.”

“This place is a nightmare,” Cam ground out.

Thorne looked at Cam. “Actually, I was thinking of an alternate location. Cam can head up the facility. I’ll see that he gets excellent access to Shadow for his own studies, and you for yours.”

Ellie glanced over at Cam. That didn’t sound too bad.

“And you can be together,” Adam finished.

“We’d be together anyway,” Cam shot back. He gripped her hand. “Don’t listen to him.”

Together. She liked the sound of that.

A sensation grew inside Ellie, like a balloon of happiness expanding in her chest and threatening to burst. She’d never felt like this. So good she just might cry. Must be joy, so her shadow was happy too.

She licked her lips again, wishing for a drink. She smiled back at Thorne—she couldn’t help it—though she made Cam’s scowl deepen.

“Could you give us a minute to talk it over?”

A
ngie Parson grinned when the kids took off up the path to Cathedral Rock, disappearing around a switchback overgrown by catclaw and prickly pear cactus. At six years old, JT’s stride might’ve been shorter than Carter’s, but the kid pumped like a locomotive to keep up with his big brother. Carter was looking at a real contender in a year. He’d better start trying soon.

The sun was overhead, skin scorching, while the temp idled at a dry eighty degrees. The rainy scent of creosote and earthy clay lingered on the trail to the vortex—the swirly icon on the Sedona visitor’s map had interested JT—and the Technicolor contrast of towering red rock and brilliant blue sky dazzled Angie’s eyes. It was a gorgeous day. One for sunscreen, extra water, and dashing up trails out of mom’s sight.

“Not too far!” she shouted, though her boys never listened to first warnings. Firsts were a formality. They knew she meant business around warning number three.

She heard the rushing sound of water. And there, with a deeper breath, she could smell it too—sweet moisture in the desert. She pulled the map from her back pocket and looked for Oak Creek. Nope, they were going in the other direction. Maybe the water ahead was a smaller creek, more like a crick than a mapped tributary of the Verde River. But it deserved another yell.

“Stay away from the water!” Though her boys still weren’t in sight, she wasn’t worried; they knew not to go out of hollering range.

She folded the map and stuck it back in her pocket. Perfect timing. Lunch. Unload some of her backpack weight into their bellies. Play in the water, then back to the campsite.

And around the campfire tonight, broach the topic of the move. Promise that they’d still see their dad and his new wife as much as they wanted. Fact of the matter was, Angie needed the pay raise badly. She had a life to begin again, and her debt anchored her in the past.

A fat line of water cut across her path, followed by a thicker spill that flowed freely across the packed red earth. The rushing sound got louder. The scent was fresh, but strange, making her heart beat with memories her mind couldn’t call to the surface, like when she saw her ex now, so happy and handsome, but loving someone else.

She quickened her speed and used her hard voice. “Carter! JT!”

She rounded the corner and spotted her boys not four paces away. Good. Then she gawked at what had stopped them. In the middle of the path was a wide and tall sheet of water, a transparent blue waterfall. It flowed out of the sky and drenched the dry rocks and path with its clamoring spill. A juniper tree with a twisted trunk grew on one side. A few scattered manzanita trees, too. But visible through the waterfall was a nighttime forest, ancient trees thick, gorgeous, dangerous, and utterly incongruous with the desert during daytime. Shadows moved in the forest of darkness.

Angie broke into a cold sweat. Okay, so maybe there was something to this vortex thing.

She could see JT reflected perfectly in the clear sheet of water, his eyes big and round and a little scared as he stared at the falls, his back to her. Took her a second to realize that Carter wasn’t looking at the waterfall. He was facing her, his back to the falls, but staring at JT.

Inside, she felt herself growing stronger, her focus sharpening. This was danger, and her boys were too close.

She strode forward and grabbed JT around his middle. Picked him up effortlessly, as she hadn’t since he was four. Took a step back from the Otherworldly falls, saying, “Carter, get away—”

But the JT in the reflection wasn’t lifted. He reached out his arms to her with a soundless, “Mom!”

Then who—?

She turned this other boy in her arms. And dropped him on the muddy path when she saw his face. Everything was JT—pool-bleached hair, the shade of his tan, the scab on his nose—everything except its eyes, which were large, tipped up at the outer corners, and all black, like those of a bug or an alien. The creature started crying when it hit the ground. She thought there were words in the sounds it made, but they were like nothing she’d ever heard before.

Carter kept back, near the climb of red rocks, his face ashen.

“Stay!” she yelled at him and darted toward the waterfall to grab JT, the real JT. But she passed right through the water—soaking her, blinding her eyes—only to arrive on the other side of the dirt path, shaking and bewildered.

“JT!” she screamed at the water, and tried again. He was there, in that forest, where that other boy-thing surely belonged. “Come here right now!”

JT obeyed and stepped forward, almost ranging out of sight on the Other side, but not moving back into red rock country. Not nearly. He was so close, but deep down, she knew he was far away from her now. Unreachable.

“No!” she cried again. “Stay right there, baby.” Even though he hated being called baby. “Don’t move. Stay tough, big guy. I’ll get you out of there.”

What to do? Oh, God, please what should she do? What would happen if the waterfall disappeared and took JT with it? How to get him out?

“What happened?” she demanded from Carter.

He shrugged and shook his head, helpless, his eyes going red. “I don’t know. We were running, and then the water came.”

“Did that other boy touch him or grab him?”

Carter shook his head no. Tears streaked down his cheeks. “He just came, too.”

“It’s okay,” she told him. Which was a lie, but at eight years old, he still believed in her powers as a grown-up.

She needed to get help. One of those new-agey people who knew about vortexes? Paranormal stuff was happening freaking everywhere these days. Why had she brought her boys to a place famous for supernatural energy? This was her fault.

No signal on her mobile phone.

But she wasn’t leaving JT. Never. She wasn’t sending Carter back the other way either. Who knew what might be on this path? And then there was that strange boy with JT’s face, rolling in the wet dirt. She had to watch him, too. He was the key to getting JT back. She knew it.

Only one thing left. They’d passed other hikers. People were around, not far. She pulled up all her panic and mom strength into her chest and scoured her throat with a scream for help.

Eleanor Russo looked out of her helicopter window to view the red rock terrain below. It was a short ride from the Sedona airport, but one that awed her. The sudden appearance of a waterfall had swelled Oak Creek to flooding, and roads around the new falls were surging with red clay, bracken, and debris carried along by the current. Cars huddled, skewed, as if gossiping, in a nearby parking lot, having shifted position with the influx of water. Sedona had been spared, as the waterfall site was southwest of the town, but streets in Cornville and Page Springs were impassable. Oak Creek flowed into the Verde River, which had risen, but as of yet was in no danger of cresting its banks. Other environmental impact was yet to be determined. The water was from Twilight, after all.

“There it is,” Cam said when the mobile research station came into view.

From the air the station resembled a giant, segmented insect, with interconnecting sections spreading out from a central command center. Separate military trailers had been parked in a wide perimeter around the waterfall. Each trailer had side wings expanded to allow for maximum internal space, and was raised off the ground to accommodate the rugged terrain.

“You’re going to be fine,” Cam said. “I won’t leave your side. Deep breaths.”

Ellie glanced over with a tight smile. Cam hadn’t had time to get a haircut, so his sandy brown hair looked a little grown-out, like when she’d first met him. His green eyes, as always, made her heart flutter.

They’d been a couple for four months now, not a day of it easy. The fact that they worked together for the Segue Institute helped some, but this assignment would be decidedly worse than her usual work there. Soon they would attempt to put her training to use. And she was nowhere near ready.

She wouldn’t think about that now.

Even from this height, she could make out soldiers surrounding the waterfall and research center. Cam squeezed her hand in comfort. She didn’t like to be around other people. She’d lived as a shut-in most of her life, her only companion her shadow, her dark self, who at the moment was straining to be free of Ellie’s iron grip. Her shadow was the embodiment of her id, her most primal urges, and if she released it, who knows what mayhem she would create.

Fear. Panic. Fight or flight was charging her shadow now, and battering Ellie inside as she attempted to control the feelings. Why did she always have to fight herself?

No,
Ellie told herself.
Not now.

A barrier had been set up around the falls to block the view of news helicopters and photographers dug into the surrounding wilderness. Poles driven deep into the earth held a screen, while allowing the water to pass below. Of course, images of the waterfall had already appeared on the Web, some even capturing the young boy who’d crossed before he’d disappeared from sight entirely. That had been two days ago.

The helicopter lowered onto a flat segment of red ground, to the side of which Ellie spotted two figures awaiting their arrival.

Her chest tightened, the feeling made worse by the loud beating of the helicopter’s rotors. The impulse to let loose her shadow grew stronger. Her shadow could protect her.

But she held it back. As always, lashing her shadow to her flesh in the face of a new situation felt like walking into fire. Her nerves burned at the thought of her impending exposure to the eyes and consideration of strangers. How did normal people stand this day in, day out?

No one except Cam knew her for the freak she was, but her panic always remained, just under her skin.

Cam climbed out behind her, and together they jogged through the whipping air toward their welcoming party, except the expressions on the two men weren’t so welcoming.

Her shadow bucked within her.

“Dr. Cameron Kalamos,” Cam shouted, holding out his hand. His hair whipped in the wind. “And this is my associate, Specialist Eleanor Russo.”

Specialist meant any number of things at Segue.

They both got their hands shaken as they were introduced to Dr. Desmond Grant, short, bald, paunchy, and Colonel Mike Langer, a tall, fit man with a round face and short forehead.

“This way,” the colonel beckoned, and they started down a path toward the mobile offices.

Flecks of dirt stung Ellie’s eyes. On the gusts of battered air, she could smell the falls now, fresh with a sensuous under scent that reminded her of sex, which made obvious what she’d had on her mind for the past four months with Cam. She’d been warned that Twilight tempted and tormented each person differently. This was going to be a problem. Her shadow’s struggles morphed into a dark writhe of desire.

Her shadow strained with impatience.

This mission was as good as doomed.

Ellie skidded on loose ground, and Cam caught her by the elbow. “Easy.” She knew he also referred to her internal struggle.

She’d only had a short time to practice controlling her shadow, with varied success. She could hold it, except when stressed by strong emotion. When her shadow was allowed to roam, Ellie could give it simple commands, but they were often overridden by the shadow’s curiosity about something else. And in the bedroom, at night with Cam, her control over her shadow was nonexistent. Hence, the damning scent of the waterfall.

“Give it time,” he always said.

Time. Right. But really, her hopes had narrowed to one: She didn’t want to mess up their first field assignment, not with a child’s life in the balance. It was time to get her shadow under control.

They were led to the screen concealing the falls, which was guarded by soldiers. A door in the curtain was opened so they could enter the immediate area of the waterfall. Whereas the mobile research structure outside had a sense of movement and determined industry, the screened area inside was empty of personnel and almost peaceful with the constant rush of water. Cameras had been positioned to monitor the falls from all sides.

Ellie, Cam, and their hosts stood behind the sheet of crystalline water, the ground damp with spray. A workstation with a strange apparatus had been erected on a dry patch. Beyond, the flow had washed out the trail and deluged the red earth. A few trees hung on, their branches wavering.

Col. Langer gestured toward the water. “We’ve had samples sent out, but so far the results come back H
₂
O.”

Twilight, the Otherworld, wavered beyond the surface. The realm was rich in deep color, the shadows patterned with movement. Raw magic seeped into every branch and turn of leaf. She longed for this place, her dark self reaching, though passing
between
typically meant death. There was conflicting information as to exactly where the vortex was located, but it was safe to say, probably around about . . . here.