Page 68 of Possessed By Shadows

Chapter 22

The group was hesitant to talk, even after getting some protein bars from me. Two of their number had shadows looming around them, like a dark mass of writhing worms clinging to the mortal shell. Neither of them talked, and they kept a bit of distance from the group. Not empty like others I’d met in the past, more replaced with shadows? I didn’t even know where to begin with that.

When I tried to get closer to ask questions, Micah dragged me away.

“No,” he said firmly. Lips in a tight line, his face filled with tension.

“You feel something?” I wondered how what he felt translated to what I saw and wished there was an easier way to compare notes.

“Like the Lalaurie place. Fire under my skin. Extreme anxiety. Do not approach. Do not provoke yokai.”

Demons among us. I sighed.

No one would talk to us. The one who did, mentioned the bridge was haunted, but that was okay because they weren’t allowed to sleep there anymore anyway.

“Got real dark of late,” the man said. “Always does after a storm. Takes a few days to calm down.” He was too thin, ragged with beard and hair overgrowth, but his eyes were clear enough. I recognized his type, and knew he’d have been the kind to hide out in an abandoned building in the middle of nowhere just to get away from people. He was only in the group because they were recovering from the storm.

He pointed a finger at me. “Twin?”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “My brother Lukas. He was a cop. He’s missing.”

“Brought us food,” the man mumbled. “Cops turn on other cops who don’t follow the rules.”

“Yeah? Did you see another cop turn on Lukas?”

The man shrugged. “Couldn’t keep a partner. Never let them bully us. Gave us Po-boys sometimes.”

“Have you seen him recently?” Micah asked.

The man shook his head. “Nah.”

Another dead end. I sighed. “Thanks.” He accepted a protein bar and scurried back to the group. One of the ones encased in shadow took a step forward, and I dragged Micah away, directing us back toward the road. “The Latina girl who was murdered, do you know where she was?”

He said nothing for a few minutes as we headed into the bowels of downtown, needing to pass through it to get back to the Quarter anyway, or even out the other side to get to the school. I stopped and turned to look at him. Tears streaked his face and he looked away.

“Micah?” I cupped his face in my hands and kissed his lips and the tip of his nose. “Talk to me.”

“Don’t do this,” he begged. “The door is already open. Don’t let them in.”

I could have been angry, but I understood. He was terrified they’d take me, rip me away and use me again, maybe kill me. And who was to say they wouldn’t? I pulled him close and rested my forehead against his, feeling torn. The last thing I wanted was to hurt him. But I couldn’t abandon Lukas either. For all his frustrating silence, Lukas had been the one to get me out of the psych ward and convince me to try to have a normal life, even if I would never be normal. He hadn’t once turned his back on me. Not like my dad had, or the military. He also hadn’t doubted what I saw. Maybe because he had his own demons?

So how did I explain to the man I was madly in love with that I had to find Lukas, no matter the cost? Fear was a powerful emotion. Maybe even strong enough to charge these things. Would facing it, learning to not be afraid, help at all?

“What if we went for a walk in the woods, and Sky went missing?” I asked him. “What would you do?” His best friend and the little sister of his heart, I knew the answer, he’d do anything.

“That’s not fair.”

“None of this is fair. We both know better than most that life isn’t fucking fair. You said the door is already open. Okay. I can’t close it. I’ve tried drugs, meditation, even ignoring it. What’s next? I think I have to face it. Learn not to fear it. Maybe then I can gain some control? Like Dion suggests?”

He clung to me in a fierce hug for a few minutes, his face buried in the curve of my neck and shoulder.

“I need you to help ground me,” I told him. He was my reason to return, to face all of this madness. How long would we both live in fear of things we couldn’t explain? Things everyone told us weren’t real. But the shadows, they could have power, and I didn’t want them to have that constant power over me.

He pulled back and gazed up at me resignation plain on his face. “What can I do?”

“Call me back,” I said. “Be there. Remind me who I am. Maybe if you see me starting to lose it, act like it’s a PTSD episode?” He had brought me back from those a few times, maybe it would work for ghosts too. “I’m sorry to ask, and to need you to do that at all…”

“I hate you,” Micah said.