Hunting Shadows (Shadows 3)

We said our goodbyes and made our way home, bracing against the cold December wind.

“I can’t believe it’ll be Christmas soon,” I said to no one in particular. Although I had never really been a fan of Christmas, it would be even more dismal this year now that I knew I no longer had a father.

Neither Simon nor Ryan commented and we walked the rest of the way home in silence, each of us lost in our thoughts. I had a feeling none of us were thinking warm, cheery thoughts about the upcoming holiday. I would have put money on the probability that we were all thinking about the losses we had experienced, and how we would cope with the incongruity of a festive holiday like Christmas under the circumstances. That is, if we survived to see it.

Chapter Eleven

The figure backed away as the opponent approached with aggression, wielding the saber with deadly accuracy. I forced myself to block out the vardoger, to focus on the victim. Tall and slim, the figure could be any of the three members of the fencing team that were viable candidates.

The vardoger lunged forward with the saber and its opponent scrambled back, realizing that this was no longer a normal fencing match. The vardoger chose that moment to raise its saber high and bring it down with bruising force, and I again witnessed the gruesome sight of the head being severed in one fell swoop.

I swallowed my revulsion as the bloodied head rolled towards my feet. I took a shaky breath as I realized what I had to do. I leaned forward, my arm outstretched, and with a trembling hand I touched the bloodied mask to pull it off.

“Shit!” The expletive exploded out of me as I sat up in bed abruptly. I had been so close to finding out the identity of the victim, only to be back to square one.

“What’s wrong?” Simon asked, sounding completely awake. I lay back down with a sigh.

“I was about to pull the mask off in my vision, but I woke up before I could do it.” I rubbed my eyes wearily. “How am I going to kill the vardoger if I don’t even know the identity of the person in my vision?”

Simon pulled me close and we were quiet as dawn approached, although my mind was whirring with ways to figure out who the victim in my vision was. I replayed the vision in my head and tried to at least determine whether the figure was male or female, but it was hard to tell in those unisex uniforms. The only thing I succeeded in doing was making myself frustrated and anxious so I got up to get ready for the day.

It was odd to have a semi-normal Monday morning as Sarah happily got ready for her morning classes and we all sat around the kitchen table drinking coffee. The addition of Ryan, who was clearly not part of our normal life, reminded me that we weren’t simply a group of college students hanging out before the start of the day. I wanted the rest of the group to get back to a life of normalcy, at least as much as possible. Life would, hopefully, go on after all of this was over and I didn’t want anyone jeopardizing their future. Destroying vardogers was my calling, not theirs.

“What are you going to do instead of going to class?” Sarah asked, looking concerned when I mentioned I wasn’t attending my classes today. “I thought you still hadn’t figured out the identity of the person in your vision.”

“I haven’t, but my visions have been pretty accurate about the location of where it happens. I’m almost positive that the vardoger will attack in the auditorium where they practice.”

“So you’re going to hang out at the auditorium all day?” Sarah asked. “You’re going to be bored to death!”

Sarah winced at her choice of words but I just shrugged. “I’ll be fine.” Unfortunately Britney had gotten upset with Ryan when she pushed for another date and he refused. I didn’t want to state the obvious that if he had continued a relationship with her, he could have found out the fencing team’s practice schedule from her, since it fluctuated so often. But despite everything, I thought it was best not to lead the poor girl on.

“I’ll keep her company,” Simon said with a smile and Sarah just blinked at him. I knew she was still having problems coming to terms with Simon being a vardoger. She had told me that she forgot about it most of the time, but was then jarred into reality when she remembered. I knew Simon had been trying to make an effort to be more relaxed around Sarah and Grant, more of the old Simon, but that seemed to make them even more tense. Like they thought he was putting on an act.

“Do you want me to come too?” I appreciated the fact that Ryan asked instead of telling me he was coming with me, but I also wondered if he was trying to point out how domineering Simon could be.

“I think that’s a good idea. I could use the perspective of another seer.”

Simon didn’t seem too happy about my acceptance of Ryan’s offer to come along but I didn’t have the energy to mollify him.

We made an odd threesome as we hung out at the auditorium. Fortunately we weren’t too conspicuous since the auditorium was busy with students using the basketball court during their free time between classes. The morning seemed to stretch out forever as we spent most of the time just sitting there, watching nothing in particular. Simon reluctantly volunteered to get some food for lunch, although I knew he didn’t want to leave Ryan and me alone.

“How are you holding up?” he asked after Simon had left.

“It’s just so frustrating,” I admitted with a sigh. “I’m supposed to be this powerful seer vanquishing vardogers and saving lives, yet I’m spending my day sitting on the bleachers watching students play basketball.”

“The glamorous life of a seer,” Ryan said with a sardonic smile. “It’s not all it’s cracked up to be.”

“Do you ever wish you were just a normal person? That you didn’t know about the existence of vardogers and were able to live your life without

worrying about shadows trying to destroy human souls?” We had touched on the subject before in the library, but the more time I spent with Ryan, the more I wondered about him.

He didn’t answer right away as he stared at the students laughing and enjoying themselves playing basketball. When he finally did answer, his voice was wistful. “Of course. I wonder what it would be like to have a normal life. I imagine a life where I wouldn’t constantly have to look over my shoulder and be on guard all the time. A life where shadows waiting to pounce was just the stuff of nightmares and horror movies.” He glanced at me before turning back to the students. “I wonder what it would be like to meet a girl, fall in love and get married. Have a family.”

“You can still do that,” I said softly, feeling a pang of pity for him. In some sort of twisted way, I was lucky that the person I had fallen in love with was someone of my world; a vardoger whose life would never be ordinary. I couldn’t imagine trying to live a life with someone who was part of the normal world.

Ryan turned to me with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Can I?”

“Of course,” I said jerkily, feeling discomfited by the way he was looking at me. “You just need to find someone who understands you.”