Hunting Shadows (Shadows 3)

“Even I enjoyed it,” I said with a laugh. “And I didn’t even understand half the stuff he was talking about.”

“What’s next?” Ryan asked, checking his watch.

“I have a composition class next. It’s a lecture too, so you won’t have any problems blending in.”

I had even less idea about what the professor was talking about in Grant’s musical composition class, but it was still nice to be out and about. Afterwards, we went to the student center where we had already planned to meet Sarah and Simon for lunch. Sarah and Grant had texted throughout the morning, and everything seemed to be going fine on their end.

Sarah and Simon had already gotten their food and found a table, so we hurriedly went through the line and joined them. I felt a twinge of regret for my earlier attitude when I saw Simon at the table, his dark eyes studying me as he watched me approach. He was just concerned about my safety and I couldn’t begrudge him that. His expression seemed tense but he relaxed when I gave him a quick kiss after sitting down.

“How was your morning?” he asked.

“Good,” I replied. “I can now discuss, at length, how harmony, melody and chords come together to make music. How was your morning?”

Simon gave me a small smile. “I’m happy to hear that. My morning was

non-eventful, although I never thought I’d learn so much about Renaissance art.”

“Oh, you loved it!” Sarah exclaimed. She leaned towards me conspiratorially. “I think Simon is tempted to switch over to a fine arts major. I’ve never seen anyone listen to the professor with such rapt attention.”

Simon shrugged. “It was interesting, that’s all.”

Sarah’s joke lightened the mood, and the conversation remained light instead of being consumed by the darkness that had been surrounding us lately.

“Marcus called me earlier today,” Grant said during a lull in the conversation. “Joel has been after him about when the Henchmen are going to perform at the East End. I can’t use the excuse of being sick anymore since I told Marcus I was completely over the virus. I wasn’t sure what to tell him about playing at the East End so I told him I would talk to you first.”

His comment was directed at Simon, and he looked surprised at himself. It was as if he had forgotten that Simon really wasn’t his cousin, and he had slipped back into their past dynamics without thinking. Joel was the owner of the East End, the bar where the Henchmen usually played, and he was probably sick about the money he was losing by the band not playing there since they drew huge crowds.

“It’s probably not the best idea,” Simon answered, seemingly not finding it odd that Grant had reverted back to speaking to him normally. “Let’s see how the next few days go. I know everyone wants things to go back to normal, but we can’t just ignore everything that’s happened.”

Grant seemed to accept Simon’s answer and didn’t push the matter any further.

“That reminds me,” Sarah interrupted. “Jenny texted me. She wants to know when we can get together now that we’re virus-free.”

“Tell her and Marcus to come over tomorrow night. I can make dinner.” I glanced at Simon, expecting him to protest, but he just kept silent. I wondered if he was remembering my frustration with him this morning. Now that we knew my father wasn’t close by, I didn’t see any need to keep our distance from Marcus and Jenny. They were our best friends, after all, and Ryan would be able to sense if they were overtaken by their vardogers.

We went our separate ways again after lunch with the agreement to meet at the apartment in the late afternoon.

“What’s next?” I asked Grant.

“I have a group meeting for one of my class projects at the library.” I opened my mouth to speak, but before I could say anything Grant held up one hand. “You can’t join the group. There’s no way I can explain why I have two bodyguards trailing me around everywhere. Especially when one bodyguard is a small female.”

I rolled my eyes. “I was just going to say that we’ll sit at a table near you. Don’t worry, we’re not going to horn in on your group.”

When we got to the library, Ryan and I sat at a table positioned so that Grant was directly in our sights. The first floor of the library was abuzz with conversation from the tables that were filled with students. It was the one area of the library where you didn’t have to be quiet, and as a result it was a common place for students to gather to study together.

Despite all the noise, I was acutely aware that this was the first time I had been alone with Ryan. We didn’t speak for a while as we just sat there, listening to the conversations around us. Ryan was the one to break the silence.

“How are you coping with all of this?” His voice was quiet, sounding even more hushed in comparison to the loud voices around him.

“I don’t know,” I replied honestly. “I’m too busy worrying to think much about anything else.”

I glanced at him and saw that he was watching me. “What about you?”

“I’ve had a lot more preparation for this than you have. I’ve spent my entire life knowing what my destiny was. And I still struggle with it sometimes. So I can’t imagine what it’s like for you.”

Ryan’s honesty made it easy for me to open up to him. “It’s hard and I’m still coming to terms with everything, but so much has happened that I’ve barely had time to contemplate it all.” I paused before continuing, my voice dropping. “Are you happy with your life? With being a seer?”

“Yes. The majority of the time I know that I couldn’t lead any other life. I wouldn’t know how. This is my calling.” His lips thinned. “But there’s a tiny part of me that wonders what it would be like to lead a normal life. To spend my days going to work, worrying about paying my bills on time and spending time with friends.” He glanced at me before continuing. “I wonder what it would be like to have a real relationship where I can be honest with the other person. To tell them the truth about myself. Dating isn’t easy when you’re a seer.”