Return to the Shadows (Shadows #2) Page 16

  Chapter Six

  Broken

  We were on the forest floor. Much like the first time I had crossed the portal, I hadn’t a clue as to how much time had elapsed. And just like the time before, there was no way to know what waited to greet us in the woods. It was a disconcerting feeling to say the least.

  “Ashley?” I whispered, attempting to gently rouse the child. She lay next to me on a blanket of pine needles, her tiny hand still clutching mine. Thick, dark lashes were motionless against her baby soft cheek.

  “Ashley, you have to wake up now,” I continued to whisper, unwilling to disturb the relative silence of the forest that surrounded us. There was no breeze here. The tall trees with their golden leaves effectively blocked out both light and wind.

  “Mama?”

  “Yes, I’m here. Are you feeling okay?”

  “I feel strange.”

  “Strange how?” I asked, instantly alarmed.

  “I just feel funny.”

  “Do you feel sick? Are you in pain?”

  “Maybe a little sick.” She clutched her midsection.

  “Do you feel sick like you’re about to throw up, or sick like you’ve been riding an elevator?” I questioned.

  “Elevator,” she said, then nodded. “A giant elevator.”

  She was disoriented, I realized with some small degree of relief. The effects of crossing the portal were mostly the same for me both times. Still, I had been stressing over what the possible effects would be for Ashley. It was a relief to know she was largely unaffected.

  “Do you think you can walk a little bit?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good girl.” I smiled and set about thoroughly surveying our surroundings. There was no one in sight. I was surprised and elated all at once. Perhaps Kahn’s guards had tired of guarding these forests.

  Even better, maybe Kahn had been defeated and had taken his evil army with him. I doubted that very much, but it was still a comforting thought.

  I raised the gun from my pack, motioning for Ashley to stay close to my side as we made our way through the woods. The cold steel served as a harsh reminder of the very real danger we could face. I still hated having to bring a gun on our journey. Guns didn’t exist in Terlain. Swords, knives, bow and arrow, and spears were the preferred weapons of choice for the people here. One false move and my weapon could fall into the wrong hands. I held in my hand the potential to change the entire course of history in Terlain.

  I shuddered to think of any one of Kahn’s guards in possession of a firearm; the citizens of Terlain wouldn’t stand a chance. Kahn’s men were brutal enough without any outside help.

  “Are there bad men here?” Ashley’s voice was barely audible.

  “I don’t know, baby,” I answered in truth.

  She promptly hid behind my denim-clad legs, apparently not finding my answer to be even the least bit reassuring. I didn’t blame her; the truth was all too often a harsh reality, but I considered it a necessary evil. Besides, I rationalized, recalling my brother’s words, it was better for Ashley to learn how to deal with problems, and telling her that danger didn’t exist wouldn’t accomplish anything. I had to admit that Mike was right on that point. She would only end up disappointed and, worse, unprepared when life’s inevitable mishaps fell upon her. Although, really, our situation was beyond unusual. Most people did not have to face and defend against repeated attempts on their life. Normal people didn’t, as a general rule, find themselves in alternate…what? Dimensions? Realms?

  Twelve months later and I still didn’t quite know what to call Terlain. The “magic place” did have a nice ring to it, I decided, navigating through the gold-trimmed forest with ease now. I wondered if we would see Faith’s dog Wilson again. So far he hadn’t made himself known to Ashley and myself. He must have been in the yard, maybe even in the house, I realized. I hoped that he was still alive. Even though a year had passed, Wilson hadn’t looked to be all that old, so chances were good that he was still enjoying good health. The canine would forever hold a special place in my heart—he was the first friend I’d made in this strange new land.

  The trees were thinner here; soon we would hit the clearing, and Faith’s ranch-style house would be due north at the far edge. The town of Lerna would be just beyond the ridge behind the house. While it would probably never be called a bustling metropolitan hub, Lerna was not exactly tiny either. It was one of those family friendly places that had managed to find a happy medium between overcrowded and middle-of-nowhere. If Faith and her husband couldn’t be located at the house, for whatever reason, Ashley and I would be able to find food and lodging for the night in town. From there, we would move on, taking the safe-zone avenues to Grandview where, with any luck, we would find Bob and Marta…and Mark. We would be safe with them, I knew, shoving all thoughts of Mark aside for the moment. Screw John Hanlen and his band of merry, crooked cops, because for all intents and purposes, Ashley and I had just dropped off the face of the Earth.

  It was harder not to worry about Mike; maybe we had managed to evade danger back home, but my brother had remained in the thick of it. He had the dual task of not only sorting through the mess, but cleaning it up. I prayed that he would get through the experience in one piece. Logically, I knew enough about survival and teamwork to say my quick but heartfelt prayer and mentally move on, pushing all thoughts of the family who waited back home—and the trials they faced—from my mind. Worrying wouldn’t do them one bit of good, I knew from experience, and in fact, it would distract me at a time when I desperately needed to keep my wits about me. So I had to trust Mike to take care of himself and do the same for Ashley and myself.

  A break in the trees up ahead signaled the end of the forest and I exhaled silently, remembering that we were, quite literally, not out of the woods yet. A large tree that looked to be a maple on steroids provided adequate cover, and I tucked Ashley between the base of the tree and my own body, quietly instructing her to stay low and stay silent while I carefully perused our surroundings. Nothing could be heard throughout the forest. No leaves crunching underfoot, no swish of blades hacking through foliage, nothing. It looked as though we were alone. The guards had evidently decided to move on. Not surprising, I reasoned. After all, it had been a year. They probably figured we wouldn’t be bold—or foolhardy—enough to return to Terlain, but if Kahn found out we were here… I squelched the terrifying thought before it could be fully formed. Kahn wasn’t going to find out. He would never know we had dared return to Terlain, I vowed, pressing closer to Ashley and easing out of the forest, away from the cover of the towering, gilded vegetation, taking the first step into the open meadow.

  “Ashley,” I whispered. “Do you see the house on the hill? The blue house with the yellow flowers lining the walkway?”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s where we’re going, but we have to be quick about it. When I say, we run for it and we don’t stop until we’re at the front door.”

  “No, please, I don’t want to go back to that house again.”

  “It’s perfectly fine, I promise—” I halted in mid-sentence, mid-step as the impact of her tearful whisper hit home. “What do you mean ‘again’? You’ve been to that house before?”

  “The bad men took me here, to the man and the mean lady…the ones who were supposed to take care of me. I slept downstairs a lot. I didn’t like it there. It was dark.” Her lip quivered.

  Downstairs. My blood began to boil as I regarded Faith’s single-story home through narrowed eyes.

  Unless homes were built drastically different in Terlain, I could only assume that “downstairs” was synonymous with “basement,” or even “crawlspace” or “cellar.” No matter what one chose to call it, it was in no way a suitable place for any sane person with a shred of humanity within them to put a child.

  Faith…I thought, glaring at the deceptively tranquil homestead across the meadow. I had rescued my daughter from a woman I had con
fided in, trusted, and considered a friend. No wonder Kahn had found it so pitifully easy to track my whereabouts last year. He’d had inside information, I now realized bitterly.

  Anger burned bright and hot within me, and I wondered briefly what price had made it worthwhile for the blonde devil to betray a confidant, and worse, an innocent child?

  “Mama, I don’t want to go to that house. Please don’t leave me with them.”

  “Leave you?” I shook away my rage and knelt down to take hold of her thin, trembling shoulders. “I am never going to leave you. Ever. I didn’t know Faith and her husband were the ones helping the bad men, the ones who took you from the orphanage. But now I do know and you’ll never have to see those people ever again. Come on, let’s get away from here, Ash. I know another way to the city. Back into the forest we go.”

  “Okay,” she nodded, relief evident in her tiny form.

  We skirted a wide path around the meadow, walking the forest’s edge, staying within sight of the open meadow but still well within the cover of tall trees that edged the woods. The detour cost us nearly an extra half hour of walking on feet that were already aching, but I considered the added time and effort well worth it. It wouldn’t do at all for me to run into Faith and claw her eyes out in her own front yard, in plain view of my daughter, no less. I was still seething inside over what she had done to Ashley. It was inconceivable to me how anyone could bring such harm to a child, and the slight was not one I was inclined to let go of anytime in the near future. No, what Faith and her husband had done was simply unforgivable.

  We walked on in silence for another half mile or so, each absorbed in our own thoughts and focused on putting one foot in front of the other in order to reach our destination. Finally, we came upon Lerna’s edge, cresting the hill and pausing to look down at the town not far below. It took all of two minutes to realize something was off with the scene that greeted us.

  “Is that it?” Ashley spoke up from beside me, pointing to the deserted streets of the town.

  “Yes, this is it, but…” I trailed off, taking in the eerie silence and lackluster appearance of what I remembered to be a brilliant city.

  “It doesn’t look like much of a town. Where are all the people?”

  “I don’t know.” I frowned.

  I noticed the fence almost immediately. The low countryside-style fencing that had once glowed with magic was dim, plain, and ordinary in the harsh light of day. The spell cast so many years ago by the Matrons was supposed to be infinite and very strong. During the war of years past, the surviving townspeople had erected the rudimentary fences to surround their towns and many of their roadways.

  Blessed by the Matrons, the fences shimmered and glowed with a life of their own, forming an impenetrable barrier against Kahn and his beasts and the wild things that lived deep in the woods. None of the evil the people of Terlain had fought so valiantly could touch them after that, so long as they stayed within the boundaries of those fences, or protected zones, as they were commonly called. How had the spell cast by the powerful elder Matrons been broken? Had they removed the protective barrier themselves and, if so, why? More important, what had become of the city?

  My head spun as Ashley’s question and observation hit home. She was right, there were no people milling about the streets below.

  “Come on, we’ve got to get a closer look.” I pulled her along beside me, stopping to trace the carvings in the fence, becoming all the more alarmed when I felt no tingling sensation along my fingertips.

  Something was very wrong in Lerna.