Shadow Flight (Shadow Riders 5)

Severino raised an eyebrow at Stefano. Stefano kept his gaze fixed on his mother’s face. She was always such an enigma to him. A complete mystery. She seemed an utter contradiction, as if she were two people at constant war with herself. She hated her children and yet loved them.

“The headaches started years ago. I don’t remember how far back they go,” Eloisa said.

“The first time I found her in the garage, she was in tears, rocking back and forth, holding her head. I thought she had a migraine,” Henry said. “It was just after Emmanuelle was born. Days after.”

“My parents had quit riding after you were born, Stefano. My mother didn’t want to ride, so my father retired and insisted I take over for both of them because Phillip wouldn’t take a shift. He said riding made him sick and he never trained properly. His family hadn’t provided that information to my parents when they looked for a husband for me,” Eloisa said. “In any case, I was expected to resume taking my rotations immediately after giving birth. My mother told my father I really didn’t need any time off.”

Stefano leaned forward in his chair. “You’re telling me after giving birth to your children, you were immediately sent out to work?”

“Yes. There was no one else. There weren’t many riders, Stefano. That’s why they were always pushing for children.”

“And when you had Ettore?”

“I was sent all over the country. Even to Europe.” She looked down at her hands. “I didn’t ever go against my parents the way you did against Phillip and me.” She rubbed her head again as if it really hurt. “It wasn’t done. I think I’m going to be sick. If you’ll excuse me.” She got up and hurried out of the room.

Stefano turned his attention to Henry. “How much of this did you know?”

“I’ve worked for this family for years, Stefano. I’ve been in love with Eloisa since she was a teenager. Your grandparents were madly in love, but they had no time for her or any of their children. Life was very different when she was growing up. I didn’t have a clue about shadow riding then, but as I worked over the years, I began to get a sense of things and guessed more and more of what was happening. Especially after Eloisa married Phillip and he had affairs. He wasn’t exactly discreet with his comings and goings. I watched him, more than once, disappear into a shadow.”

“Good old Phillip,” Stefano said.

“He made it worse for your mother. Her headaches seemed like they were all the time. She would have to lie down, and I would see she would get nosebleeds, and sometimes she would bleed from her ears. Phillip knew, but he didn’t care. I wanted her to tell you. I threatened to tell you, but she said if I did, she would never forgive me, and she’d never speak to me again. You know Eloisa. Even if it was for her own good, she would carry out that threat. I couldn’t risk for her to be completely alone, without anyone to look after her.”

“Has she been to a neurologist?”

Henry shook his head. “After seeing Sandlin, I think it scared her.”

“It isn’t the same thing.”

“Head trauma is head trauma. Even at a facility where your family contributes millions of dollars, someone still leaked Sandlin’s personal information, and the media was a circus there for a while. Can you imagine if Eloisa’s information was leaked? Because she can.”

“We can get ahead of that, Henry,” Stefano said. “Every second she waits, more damage can be done. And she’s still using the shadows. If every time she goes in, just to visit, just to speed up going from one place to another, she’s damaging her brain more, then we have to know. We have to know how much is too much. We have to know if we all should be getting scans and comparing them year to year. Henry, this is huge.”

“It also explains a lot,” Severino said. “People with brain trauma can have unexpected outbursts of rage. If she goes into the shadows and it triggers that reaction in her, it’s possible Aunt Eloisa has been having brain damage occurring for a while and no one has suspected.”

Stefano steepled his fingers again. “All of us have bad tempers, Severino, including you. It’s an unfortunate Ferraro trait.”

“Great, we’re going to have to have scans every other week.”

“That’s about the truth of it.” The smile faded from Stefano’s face. “I think we’ll have to be stricter on the rotations and send out a caution to the board. Let them know that there might be a problem and the families should be careful about how much time is spent in the shadows overall. The only time I’ve ever had headaches or bleeds was at first, when my body was getting used to it. I’m trying to adapt Crispino slowly by letting him play in and out of the shadows without him getting sucked in. I never let a shadow touch him without his clothes on, and I’ve cautioned Francesca.”