Return to the Shadows Read online

  “The truth is, I had a hell of a time getting us here...”

  “You’ve been to Lerna, then,” she correctly assumed.

  “Yes. What’s happening here?”

  “I wish I knew,” she frowned, then shrugged. “We’re safe enough here. For now. So,” she commented after a moment of tense silence, “you’re back.”

  “Yes…I know this must come as a surprise,” I said, fighting through my fatigue to refocus on the conversation.

  “You can say that again. Who’s the kid? Is she yours?”

  “Yes, she’s mine. I adopted her this year. She’s a wonderful little girl.”

  “She’s a pretty little thing,” Marta conceded, softening a little.

  “I’m sorry I left so suddenly before,” I blurted, suddenly wanting to get everything out in the open, seeking to dispel the awkward tension in the room.

  “It’s not me who needs to hear that.”

  “I didn’t want to leave things the way that I did.” I struggled with the apology. “If there had been any other choice, any other options…that day...” I held my hands out, appealing to the stone-faced woman who sat before me.

  “The last time I saw you, we were standing in my kitchen and you grabbed a box down from a high shelf for me, read the address on the side of the carton, and tore off out of here saying you would be back by nightfall.”

  “And I never came back. I know. I’m sorry.”

  “What trouble did you manage to find in Keogh?”

  “You knew that’s where I had gone?”

  “What can I say? You’re not a good liar. I never did believe a word of that ‘I’m going to scout some leads’ business that you tried to hoist on me that afternoon.”

  “I was afraid if I told you I was going to an unprotected zone—to a guard base—that you would try and stop me, and I didn’t want you to worry.”

  “Worry? We thought you were dead. We searched for months, Claire. We organized search parties and came up empty every time. Mark tore up every inch of ground between here and Coztal looking for you. He was frantic.”

  “Where is Mark?” I leaned forward, glancing up the stairwell. “How is he?”

  “I don’t know,” she muttered. “I don’t even know if my boy is alive.”

  “What?” The word felt as though it were torn out of me.

  “When he couldn’t find you, he left. We haven’t seen him in nearly eight months.”

  “What are you talking about? He just up and left without saying where he was going? Why?” I demanded, firing the questions at her in rapid succession.

  “He told Bob and I that he couldn’t stay here anymore. He was devastated. We haven’t seen him since,” she answered, her voice catching before she appeared to rein the emotion in, her face once again becoming a stern mask of disapproval. It was clear to me that she held me personally liable for Mark’s absence. And hell, maybe, in a way, I was. It was a bitter pill to swallow, sitting across from Marta. For a moment, it was difficult to look her in the eye. While Marta may have begun as the housekeeper, once Bob’s first wife Pamela—Mark’s mom—had run off, Marta had become a mother to him, raising him in addition to her other household duties.

  I scrubbed my hands over eyes that felt gritty from lack of rest, and filled her in on the events that had transpired the day I had disappeared from Terlain and the subsequent year I had spent in my own world. I was careful to leave out the finer points of Ashley’s adoption, glossing over the details and making no mention that I had found the girl that day in the woods near Keogh. I wasn’t sure how that particular bit of news would be received by Marta, and I wasn’t on her top ten list of favorite people as it was. Plus, it really wasn’t anyone’s business but my own, I reasoned. I had rescued the girl, legally adopted her, and been a good mother to her for the past year. To my way of thinking, that was what really counted, but I wasn’t positive that Marta would see my not returning the child to her own land as such an acceptable act, and we had enough tension between us as it was.

  “You’ve had quite an ordeal yourself,” she sighed when I had finished my retelling of events.

  “I suppose.”

  “So your boss is trying to kill you again.” She shook her head. “Do you have to work to attract this much trouble, or does it come to you naturally?”

  “It would seem that I have a penchant for it,” I responded glumly.

  “You and your daughter are welcome to stay here with us for as long as you require. You should be safe enough here.”

  “Thank you. You don’t know how much it means to hear you say that. I’ll pull my own weight around here; you won’t have to do for us, I promise.”

  “Hmm. Well, it might be nice to have a child in the house again. I suppose she’s an early riser?”

  “A little. She’ll probably be up earlier than usual this morning since she slept the whole way here,” I answered, smothering a yawn.

  “You look like you could use more than a few hours of sleep. I’ll get up with the girl. Now, off to bed with you.”

  ***

  I slept for a full twelve hours before Ashley and Marta decided it was time to rouse me from my slumber.

  “There’s coffee in the dining room. And there’s someone here to see you,” Marta informed me, looking much less intimidating in the late afternoon sunlight that lit the pale yellow walls.

  “Mama, there’s a lady downstairs!”

  “There is?” I frowned. For the briefest of moments, my spirits had lifted in the hopes that Mark had returned.

  “She looks like a real fairy!”

  “A fairy? Well, my goodness. I had better go and meet her right away.” I smiled at Ashley before looking quizzically at Marta.

  “She says she knows you.” The older woman shrugged. “You want us to stall her while you take a shower?”

  “No, I’ll go down now—the bath can wait.” The familiar raven-haired beauty with the exotic pixie face was like a jolt to my system when I entered the dining room. “Aries! Is it really you?” I cried, launching myself at the taller woman without waiting for an answer. Of course it was her.

  “Claire,” she laughed, returning the embrace. “I can’t believe you’re really here. Where have you been? I’ve been looking everywhere for you. The pixies and the sprites formed a search party after a man came to see us about a missing woman with honey-colored hair called Claire who had come here in search of her brother. We knew it was you the man spoke of even before he said your name.”

  “Aries, I have so much to tell you. I was so worried about you after that day we’d been captured.”

  “You saved my life that night.”

  “So you did get away then.”

  “Yes. I went back to my people. We went back to find you only to learn you had been taken to auction. There were no leads after that. Not until the man came to us. Are you all right?” She held me at arm’s-length.

  “Perfectly fine,” I assured my old friend. “Did you say a man came to find me? When?”

  “He was tall with streaked hair. I think his eyes were green. He showed up about eight months ago.”

  “Mark,” I whispered.

  “I think that was his name, yes.” Aries cocked her head. “Is he important?”

  “Yes, but I’m afraid that we’ve got bigger problems at the moment.” I sighed, stepping closer. “The fences are failing, Aries. From Lerna to Oxbrough, and that’s just what I know about firsthand.”

  “I know. There’s a large group of us who’ve been trying to assess the damage across Terlain and bring any survivors to safety. I’m afraid we’re not much of a match for Kahn and his guards, and especially not for some of the creatures that have taken free rein across the land.” Her tone was laced with a bitterness that had grown roots that went deep.

  “So we’re all screwed.” Marta sauntered into the room.

  “We might be,” Aries acknowledged. “But there just may be hope yet.” Her silk-and-honey voice became low and d
ramatic. “There’s been talk of an army that’s forming, high in the mountains, not very far from here. People talk of a man without a name, the warrior of the ruins, who’s to lead a powerful army.”

  She turned to me. “They say he’s tall and strong, with jewel green eyes and light hair.”

  “Sun-streaked—” I broke off, my heart beginning a slow flutter.

  “They say his heart was broken and he took the mountains, some think to avenge his lover’s death.

  But he means to take out Kahn’s empire, and most people think he can do just that.”

  “When did this talk begin to circulate, Aries?” I asked, holding my breath.

  “About eight months ago, maybe less,” she confirmed.

  “Dear heaven, Marta, I think she’s talking about Mark. Do you suppose?”

  “The timing is right,” she nodded, tears forming in her blue eyes. “The description too. So that’s where he’s been all this time.”

  “It’s possible. Very possible.” I swallowed, excitement beginning to build. “We have to find him.

  Can we get there, to the mountains?”

  “Their training camp is in the ruins near the ranges. It won’t be easy, but we can get there. He might be our only hope.”

  “We have to make the journey,” I decided. “Marta, can you watch Ashley for a few days?”

  “Yes,” she nodded. “Don’t you worry about your little girl. She’ll be safe here. You go find my boy. Bring him home.”

  ***

  We had been climbing for days and I was beginning to have serious doubts about the wisdom of our latest task. Okay, so maybe “doubt” was not technically an accurate description of my feelings. In fact, several more accurate and colorfully descriptive words came to mind. Stupid. Foolish. Dumb-assed—

  “Do you need to break?”

  “Break what?” I tried not to look as hopeful as I felt.

  “No, I meant do you need a break?”

  “As in rest?”

  “Yes, as in rest, Claire.” Aries was looking down, a wry smile touching her lips.

  “You’re trying not to laugh at me, aren’t you?” I pointed an accusing finger at her.

  “Who, me? Nope, I wouldn’t dream of laughing at you.”

  “Liar.”

  “Here, let’s sit for a while.”

  “Are we safe here?”

  She scanned our surroundings with a watchful eye before dropping down to a ledge that jutted from the side of the mountain. “We should be safe enough. But we need to get moving again soon.”

  “Great,” I muttered, taking a seat beside her. The rock was cold and sharp, even through the thick denim I was wearing. The heavy cloth had been a major hindrance during the first day of our travels. The temperature below the mountain was a balmy seventy-three degrees and the thick material had slowed us down. At least it had slowed me down. Aries appeared to have been largely unaffected by the heat and exertion.

  “How are you doing that?”

  “How am I doing what?”

  “This.” I waved my arms in front of us. “All of this. You never sit. You don’t get cold or tired.

  What’s your secret?”

  “I get tired,” she protested.

  “Well, you can’t prove it by me.” I thought of how she had lit up the trees in her forest and how one touch, one breath from her and the other nymphs had given me strength, and figured her super human stamina must have had something to do with it. I couldn’t begin to break that down into scientific terms so I didn’t even try. People were just different here, I acknowledged.

  “Drink this.” Aries waved a silver flask in front of my face and flashed an indulgent smile.

  “Is it a magic potion?”

  “No, it’s just plain water.”

  “Then I don’t want it.”

  “Claire—”

  “Oh fine, you’re right,” I sighed as I took the drink she offered and gulped it down. It was good and cold, if nothing else.

  “You’re nervous about seeing Mark again, aren’t you?”

  I thought about the question for several moments, unsure how I felt about seeing him again. And it was not for lack of trying. The best way that I could hope to explain it was confusion, which was a word that I loathed, by the way. It was so indecisive; it told you nothing. But every time I had pictured seeing Mark again, I felt something different. In the days immediately following my return home, I felt like I was still with him. Like he had gone to the store and would return at any moment, almost as if I were in denial about leaving him in Terlain. As crazy as that sounded, I felt as though my return home was little more than a weekend trip, that I would be back soon. When had I begun thinking of Grandview as home? I couldn’t say, yet there it was. It felt good to be back, if not a tad unsettling. Life had a way of going on whether you’re there or not, and a lot had changed in Terlain. I had my work cut out for me. I was determined to find out why the fences were failing, and also to try to get a search and rescue started for the missing townspeople that encompassed an area the size of the Western hemisphere. I had to find the Warrior of the Ruins, who, in all likelihood, was Mark. I had to accomplish all of this while taking care of Ashley. Most important of all, I had to ensure the child’s safety…meaning I had to go about all of the above and stay alive while doing it. A pretty tall order when one thought about all the ways to get killed in Terlain, which I personally did not care to ponder. Suffice it to say, I had to stay alert at all times. Alert and armed.

  Once again, I second-guessed my decision to bring my daughter with me to Terlain. If I had taken her with me out of some selfish need to keep her with me.... No, I decided, my actions were strictly focused on what was best for Ashley. Nothing more. Except that I loved her. She loved me too, and I was all that she had. Okay, so maybe that wasn’t technically true anymore. She had my parents, her uncle Mike, and her aunt Megan. She had her new uncle, and soon she would have a brand new baby cousin. But I was her mother now. The only mother she could remember, I silently amended. The child’s memory loss still bothered me, but that was another matter.

  “Claire?”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I was thinking about…a lot actually.” I laughed nervously.

  “I noticed.”

  “I might be a bit unsettled about seeing Mark again. We have a history. A very short one, but a history nonetheless.”

  “I assumed as much from your conversation with Bob and Marta. And from Marta’s general disposition.”

  “She certainly knows how to grumble, doesn’t she?”

  “Right up there with the best of them,” Aries heartily agreed. “So am I to assume that things ended badly with Mark?”

  “You could say that. But if you asked Mark, he would likely say that things never ended at all. And, no, that does not mean there is anything between us now. He has probably forgotten all about me by now.”

  “Do you really believe that?”

  “No. At least, I hope not.” I wiped damp hands over my jeans and stood up to pace. “You know, I must have gone over that day a hundred times. At first I told myself that I did what I had to do. I didn’t have a choice. I had to save Mike and Ashley. Especially Ashley,” I added gently.

  “What happened that day? The day you left Terlain.”

  “It was early in the day. I had spent the night with Mark and, well, I won’t go into detail about that, but—”

  “Oh, don’t leave anything out on my account. Self-expression, you know.” She winked and studied her nails.

  “Aries!”

  “Sorry,” she grinned, looking anything but. “Go on with your story.”

  “As. I. Was. Saying. The next morning, we had planned to divide our time. Mark was going out to see what he could find about Kahn and about my brother’s disappearance. I was going to finish going over the books in the library. The plan was to meet up at home later that evening. Bob and Marta’s house. We were going to compare notes and decide what to do. We knew we had to move qui
ck and…”

  “And?” my companion prompted.

  “I was going to wait for him. I really was, Aries. Marta called me into the kitchen sometime after he had gone. She needed help getting a heavy box down from a shelf in the pantry. When I set the box onto the table, I noticed the information printed on the box flaps. It was a company called Triniti Supply, and it gave an address.”

  “Triniti Supply? Never heard of it.”

  “Not many people have. The company used to be a big deal. It was located in a small village called Keogh. What’s left of it anyway. The place became a ghost town years ago, from what I could tell. Marta told me some of the town’s history on my way out the door.”

  “You went to Keogh alone?”

  “Yes. You know the town?”

  “I know of the town. It’s one of the main guard stations now.”

  “Yes,” I confirmed.

  “But why did you want to go there?”

  “I had a hunch that I would find Kahn there.” I bit my lip and considered how much to tell her. Even though Aries was my friend, I hesitated to tell her about the vision in the Bellevue library, and the shadow man that led me to Triniti Supply, and Keogh, in the first place. For some reason, I thought it sounded crazy.

  “Anyway, I figured that where I found Kahn, I would find my brother. Before I saw that box, all I had to go on was the name of the company—Triniti Supply. So you can imagine how excited I was to find an address.”

  “I’m still not sure I follow, but go on.”

  “I was going to wait for Mark. I wanted to wait for him before I checked out my new lead, but I only had so many hours of daylight left and, at that point, I was too excited to sit and read in the library. My plan was to go to Keogh and simply take a look around, from the safety of Haelport’s fences.”

  “But that’s not what happened?”

  “No,” I sighed. “It didn’t work out quite like that. I found Ashley that day.”

  “Wait, I thought you said you adopted her.”

  “I did adopt her. But first I found her. She was wandering the streets at the edge of the fence.”

  “At the Haelport/Keogh border?”

  “Yes. But then she left the fence and went into the woods, into unprotected territory. I called to her, told her to stop and come back. But she didn’t hear me, so I followed her down this path.” I still shuddered at the memory.