Chasing Shadows (Shadows 2)

The boy whom I had kicked earlier walked towards me eagerly. Eating became a painful process as he shoved the entire sandwich in my mouth until I almost choked. He pressed his hand against my mouth so hard that I felt my front teeth cutting into the inside of my mouth.

"Chew, bitch," he muttered. "Otherwise I'm going to suffocate you and say it was an accident."

My cheeks were stretched out painfully with the amount of food in my mouth but I forced myself to start chewing and swallowed the sandwich as quickly as I could. What I really wanted was another sip of water but he stalked back to his seat after I was done, and I was afraid to ask for more. I was convinced that he'd find some torturous way to give it to me.

As night fell, I waited for someone to show up. Either the police or Simon's family. Surely they would be worried by our absence, and it would be logical for them to check my aunt's house because his mother knew how I was drawn to it. Simon's car was sitting outside of the house, as plain as day. Wouldn't the neighbors notice it? That is, unless they had moved it.

But no one ever showed up. Despite my fear, exhaustion weighed heavily on me. My father and the women never came back downstairs and the boys kept their watch over me, never looking the least bit tired.

I was left with my own thoughts. I kept running through the dream about my mother. I was sure she was warning me about my father, or really my father's vardoger in his body, when she asked whether blood was thicker than water. My father had given me life but the bond between us no longer existed because my father didn't exist anymore. It twisted my gut to think I had thought of my father as selfish and cold all these years, when there was a good chance that he hadn't been my father at all. It was sickening to think of the possibility that maybe I had never known my father. I had no idea when he had been overtaken by his vardoger.

My head continuously fell forward as I dozed off, and I tried to stay awake. But soon the blackness of sleep overtook me, momentarily granting me reprieve from this waking nightmare.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

I was awoken by a hand slapping my face. Light was streaming in from the windows as my eyes squinted open. Rough hands were on me and I felt the rope around my ankles dropping away. My father was standing by the couch talking to Lenore as one of the boys released a wrist from the handcuff. He immediately imprisoned my wrist again after the handcuffs were disengaged from the chair.

"Hurry up with her," my father said to Lenore. "We need to put her under hypnosis again."

Lenore grabbed my arm and hauled me towards the bathroom. My joints screamed from disuse, pain shooting through my limbs from having been shackled in one position all night. Lenore helped me to relieve myself again and I wondered at her consideration when she was throwing me to the wolves. I tried pleading with her again but this time she just ignored me, not saying a word.

I was unceremoniously shoved back into the chair and restrained again. Marie and Cecelia walked into the living room and, without a word, they joined Lenore and linked hands around me. My grogginess disappeared as Lenore ordered me to close my eyes and chant.

I followed her direction but I didn't feel the sensation of sinking this time. I desperately tried to make myself slip under but the more I strained to make it happen, the more elusive it felt. I tried to pretend I was unconscious by making my body slack and evening out my breathing.

After what seemed like an eternity, I felt someone pick up my hand and hold their fingers to my wrist. I forced myself to not react when I felt a hot breath against my face.

"She's not under." Lenore's voice made me want to jerk back, but I forced myself not to react. Her voice sounded bored when she spoke again. "Stop faking it or I'll let one of the boys wake you up. The only thing they know how to use is their fists."

My eyes snapped open but it was my father I saw standing before me, not Lenore. He looked enraged.

"Do you think I'm not being serious when I say you'll suffer serious repercussions if you don't comply?" he shouted, looking furious.

"I'm trying!" I cried out desperately. "I'm trying to slip under but it just won't happen!"

My father turned to Lenore. "Is she telling the truth?"

Lenore shrugged. "I think so. There's nothing really in it for her to be pretending. Putting a seer under hypnosis is a serious strain on their body. It's unheard of to do it two days in a row. She may be too weak right

now for her to go under again so soon."

My father was clearly not pleased with Lenore's explanation. His face darkened dangerously. "You said yesterday that she would be fine today!"

Lenore's exasperation was evident in her voice. "This isn't an exact science! I can't be positive about anything!"

"I'm done playing games. I need to find out how to become immortal and it needs to happen now. This charade is over."

My father stalked into the kitchen and I heard the back door slam. His words reverberated in my head. Was that their end goal? To become immortal? It was a terrifying thought.

Lenore didn't say anything after my father left. She just sat down on the couch opposite me. I could hear my father talking to someone in the backyard, but I could barely make out their voices, let alone understand what they were saying.

A few minutes later the back door slammed again and I heard footsteps walking towards me. My father looked smug when he came into my line of vision. I craned my neck to see who he had been talking to, and I froze. My body started trembling and my mind raced as it tried to come to grips with what I saw.

Simon walked up to me, his face cold and expressionless.

"Simon?" My voice was shaking as I looked up at him.

Simon shook his head. "There's no Simon here."