Chasing Shadows (Shadows 2)

"So now what?"

Simon's eyebrows raised at my calm tone. "We wait until we can put you under hypnosis again."

I gave him a grim smile. "So you can figure out a way to become immortal? Not gonna happen."

"I wouldn't tempt the temper of your father's vardoger. He can be pretty belligerent, as you've already experienced. And vengeful."

The thought of Sarah being hurt made me consider my words more carefully. Simon seemed relaxed and conversational. Maybe I could garner some information from him that would help me to defeat them.

"So, how do you think you're going to be able to become immortal?" I shrugged when Simon just looked at me without answering. "It doesn't matter if you tell me. If you're trying to get the information from me under hypnosis, I'll see it before all of you anyway."

Simon seemed to consider my words before he spoke. "We think it's somehow tied to the palladium. Right now, all palladium does is make seers powerless and vulnerable. There has to be some way to use it so that we can overtake another body when our current one is about to expire. Being only able to overtake your own person is extremely limiting. When the body dies, so do we."

The thought of vardogers jumping from body to body was terrifying.

"What was so special about Claudia that she was able to sustain vardogers so that they didn't have to be connected to their person? How was she able to give them the power to enter me?" The thought of Claudia made another question spring to mind, but I waited until Simon answered my first one.

Simon shrugged. "We don't know. We didn't have time to study her vardoger in-depth. Claudia was overtaken right after you had the vision of it happening and, as you know, she died not too long after that. We don't know if there are more like her out there. I guess we'll find out soon enough."

"Why did you kill her? I mean, if she's so special I would think you would want to keep her around." I took a deep breath as I asked my real question. "Why did you save me?"

Simon's expression was enigmatic. "I didn't kill her to save you. I killed her to keep up the guise. I needed you to trust me because I needed to find out just how strong your powers were. It's so much easier when you're cooperating. Besides, you're no good to us dead. The type of power you wield is worth more than a hundred Claudias."

"How was I able to have a vision of you?"

Simon smiled grimly. "You'd be surprised at how powerful the mind is to suggestion. Lenore was able to plant it in your head. She can be amazing with the power of suggestion."

"How could she plant it in my head? I met her after my visions of you!"

Simon shook his head, obviously displeased by my lack of imagination. "Do you think you're safe just because you have four walls surrounding you? It takes more than that to stop us."

"But I saw your vardoger." I bit my lip as I thought it through. "I mean, I guess I saw you. You hadn't overtaken Simon's body yet when you attacked me. You were still a vardoger without a body. How is that possible if what you're telling me is true? That you overtook Simon before we even met?"

"Like I said, Lenore can be amazing with her powers of suggestion. She was able to make you see me instead of the actual vardoger who was unknown to you. It helped that your aunt told you that she saw me coming after you while she was under hypnosis." Simon laughed. "Little did she realize that I had already overtaken Simon's body."

"Has Lenore used her powers on me any other time? How the hell is she able to make me believe things that aren't true? To make me see things that aren't really there? To make me dream things?"

Simon's lips tightened. "Lenore's powers are unpredictable. Unfortunately, her ability to sway a person's

mind to her will hasn't been honed, although God knows she's been trying. She's failed so many times trying to control your mind." He shook his head disgustedly.

"Is my aunt really dead? Is my mother alive?"

Simon ran his hand through his hair and I felt a searing pain at the familiar gesture. He seemed so much like the man I had loved. The man that I had never really known.

"I didn't come here to answer all your questions. I'd recommend you stop talking now for your own good."

Simon's menacing tone made all thoughts of the man I had loved so desperately vanish. I was quiet for the rest of the morning and Simon made no overtures to speak. It was unnerving having him just sitting there watching me, but I coped by not looking at him. It was easier to think of a way out of this without being constantly reminded of everything I had lost.

I was startled when Simon stood up and my eyes shot to him. His movement made me nervous but he just walked past me into the kitchen. While he was gone, I tried to writhe my body to dislodge the palladium necklace from around my neck, but it was impossible while I was bound to the chair. I immediately stilled when I heard him walking back towards me.

Simon set a glass of water and a sandwich on the coffee table and sat next to it. When he put the glass to my lips, I turned away. It was one thing to accept food and water from Marie, or even from one of the sullen boys. It was another thing to accept it from someone...no, something that had played me for a fool this whole time.

"It's for your own good." Simon's voice was stern, as if he were lecturing a small child. "You're only hurting yourself if you don't eat and drink."

As much as I hated to accept it from him, I knew he was right. The minute the cold water hit my lips I gulped eagerly. I avoided Simon's eyes as he fed me the sandwich. He was close. So close that I could smell his cologne. I wanted to laugh hysterically, finding it perversely funny that a vardoger still did such mundane human things like putting on cologne.

I was relieved when I finished the sandwich, hoping that he would now move away. I tensed when I heard the front door open. My father walked in and dropped onto the couch.