17) Shadow

An attack leaves the group shocked. The final journey begins.

17) Shadow

How is this possible? How did Blue get her hands on this? When did Blue get her hands on this? A million questions roll through my head. I stare at the ring. A simple gold ring, with a simple engraving. Could she have forged it? She must have. There’s no other way. But I know. I know this is the same ring. The same ring I had given Chloe a week before she died. The same ring that lay with her six feet under.
The
Same
God
Damn
Ring
It can’t be though. I had made sure it was on her when she was buried. I had made sure. I had watched as its glint disappeared. I climb onto the bed, I bring my knees to my chest, I hold the ring in my hand. I lie there. Curled up, confused, with tears streaming down my face.

"Why did you give Chloe the ring?" Desk-Head asks. Again. I had forgotten they were there.
"She gave me one so that she'd always be with me, 'So I’ll always be with you', is how she said it. I gave her a ring to say 'forever', she would be with me forever. No matter the distance, we would always have a part of one another." I look through the window. The clouds are over us. The rain has started. It lashes down. Biblical is the only word I can think to describe it.

A scream. I hear Blue yell. The door creaks open and I glimpse Blues' beanie poke around the door, I pretend to be asleep. She creeps in a sits on the end of the bed, "I'm sorry I woke you. I didn't mean to. It's just I can't help it, ya know. I'm sorry. She made me promise I’d give it to you." She pats my leg, "Also, you seemed all cosy and s**t so I put the duvet over you and put the necklace around your neck, cause that's where necklaces go, not in your hand." She gets up to go.
"How?" I rasp. She stops by the door.
"When I last saw her. Upstairs." She points up. Not up to another floor. But up up. "I'm sorry." She closes the door behind her.

The thought that Blue isn’t kidding about going to Heaven and meeting Chloe, is strange. How can a fourteen year old go to Heaven, meet a dead person and bring back a ring? I know she isn’t lying. It’s in her eyes, the sadness, the guilt. The truth is also in them, she really did go to Heaven. And that scares me. Heaven’s real, so Hell’s too. I’m going straight to Hell. I wouldn't even get a chance to beg Saint Peter, I’m going straight down.

I slip out of the bed; grab a jumper from the closet, pulling it over my head. I feel the chain around my neck; it digs into me. I look at the ring; it glints at me. I slip it under the jumper. I look in the mirror, the person who looks back at me, isn’t who I was three years ago. Hell, it isn’t who I was a month ago. Everything has changed. From hair, to my eyes, to my nose, to my smile, to my laugh, to the way I think. Everything. The person who stares back at me, is a murderer, has met gods, watched people die, watched as a thirteen year old murdered. Three years ago, I was laughing and joking with friends, I was f*****g normal. Three years later, the only people I have are a murderous thirteen year old, a sixteen year old who doesn’t seem pleased with being here, a person of unknown age; who acts as a mother to Blue. My world has become so twisted. I don’t even know what day it was. What month or what year. It’s all just a shadowy blur.

The sounds of an argument draws me out,
"Piss off Dawn. I can, and I f*****g will, do what I God damn want."
"Blue calm down. You cannot go off wondering. Our mission was to watch and report. You've already disobeyed the briefing, disobeyed me, and disobeyed Frank! And I swear to the lord, if you disobey me this time, I will make sure you are skinned alive." Dawn yells her voice calm, but loud and powerful. Silence follows, Blue says nothing, nothing moves. Dante slowly opens his door; he looks at me and mouths 'What's going on?' I simply shrug.
"I'm sorry." I hear Blue whisper, barely audible.
"It's okay." Dawn says, I imagine them hugging like mother and daughter. "You two can come out now." Dawn shouts up the stairs. I glance at Dante, who returns my confused look and shrugs.

Blue’s sat on a couch watching the News, Dawn stands in the kitchen making something.
"You know the problem about living with a fourteen year old?" Dawn asks as me and Dante walk into the kitchen, "She can't bloody cook. So I do all the cooking and the laundry. One of these days, I’m going to teach her to do both. So she can do it for me."
"Yeah bloody right." Blue shots at Dawn, "We've both had my cooking before, and hated It."
"Only thing she' good for is being a spy." Dawn says shaking her head, "Making pancakes, assume you two want some?" 
"Yeah." Dante and I say in unison.
"Got some jelly in the fridge. Blue what flavours the jelly?"
"Lime," She pauses, "Orange," she says in a s****y French accent, "An, those red things with a green top."
"Strawberries, Blue, strawberries."
"Yeah those s***s."
"Girls a maniac." Dawn shrugs at us, "Go sit down, I’ll be fine. Make sure Blue doesn't break anything."

We step into the lounge; Blue is curled up in a blanket on the couch, her electric blue hood up. 
"We're on the News." She beams pointing to the TV. We’re on the TV, the News shows Shellie’s house, still smouldering,
"Three of the teens have now been identified as, Artemis Kaliaski, Dante Smith, Benjamin Cevolt, the fourth, and most dangerous, is still unknown." A picture of Blue appears on screen, "She is said to be the ring leader, and the most dangerous of them all. If seen, avoid at all costs, and dial the number on screen." A number pops up.
"What's on TV?" Dawn shouts from the kitchen.
"The News about us."
"I meant film wise."
"Oh. I don't know."
"Find out. I'm not going to sit there watching the News about you three."
"Fine." Blue flips to the TV, "Fast 8?"
"No. Think good films."
"28 Days later?"
"That's more like it." Dawn says appearing with four plates of pancakes, "They're still hot so be careful."
"Yes mother." Blue replies sarcastically eagerly taking a plate, "The plate’s hot too."
"Did tell you."
"Thanks." I say as a take a plate.
"Look at that Blue. Maybe you could learn some manors off these two."
"Shut up. The films starting."

I stretch out across the couch, my feet resting in Dante's lap, Blue stretches out as well, resting her head on my ribs. Her feet don't even reach Dante. If anyone is to walk in, who didn't know us, they could mistake us for a family. Dawn on one couch. Blue and me stretched out on the other, with Dante squished in the corner.

Just as the characters in the film enter a supermarket, a knock on the door rips us all from the film. Blue looks over at Dawn. Dawn looks at Blue.
"Who else knows we're here?"
"I mean it is a housing estate, so someone could have seen us move in. Or saw me and Artemis arrive." Blue shrugs, "Go answer It."
"Good idea Blue." Dawn says sarcastically, reaching under the couch and pulling out a pistol, she pulls the slide back; a satisfying click fills the room. Dawn walks to the front door with the pistol behind her. When Dawn reaches the door, Blue reaches under our couch and pulls out a bag of jewellery,
"Put one of these on." Blue says taking a ring for herself, I take a necklace, Dante takes a watch.
"Why?" Dante says frowning at the watch.
"Hurry up." Dawn hisses from the door. As soon as she see's all three of us have started to put the jewellery on, she opens the door slightly. She shares a couple of words with the person. She gestures with her hand, I realise she's asking if they want to come in. "We just made pancakes, and there's some left." Dawn steps back from the door and throws the pistol at Blue.
"Tosser." Blue hisses as she slides the gun under the couch. A man and a woman follow Dawn through the door.
"Kids, these are our new neighbours, Frank and Jess." She gestures to us, "Frank and Jess, the kids, Alex" She points at me, "Ryan," She points at Dante, "And Jasmine." She points at Blue who tenses up and mutters something. The couple stare at us, and for a dreaded second I worry they recognise us. Blue nudges me,
"Disguises." She mouths, she repeats the same with Dante who clearly doesn't understand, but nods in agreement. I do understand, just like the monsters of Santa Monica, we're hiding in plain sight. Dawn leads the couple into the kitchen and starts chatting. Blue unpauses the movie.

Twenty-minutes later the characters arrive at some military base, but none of us are really paying attention, we're engrossed in the conversation, Dawn, Frank and Jess are talking about the supposed terrorist attack just a couple miles away. Clearly, referring to Blue's show of C4. Frank and Jess are clearly conspiracy nuts, they talk about how it's all part of a bigger plan, and soon there won’t be a United States of America as the terrorists will either have claimed it, or blown it up. Frank blames the Muslims, while Jess blames the Chinese. In reality, it’s closer to home, it had been a fourteen year old girl, who lives in America. Dawn pretends to be the elder sister of us, called Samantha, our parents are supposedly at work. I have suddenly become sixteen, Dante becomes my twin, and Blue becomes twelve, Dawn is now nineteen. Frank and Jess don’t inquire further about our 'parents' but do wonder if we came from money, saying,
"This area is super expensive, most the time it's famous people, or people who came from money, who buy houses here."
Dawn just smiles and pretends to not know.

They chat for a couple more minutes before Dawn shouts at us to come say hi,
"Sorry they're kinda shy." Dawn says as we sheepishly stand at the door, "Well come on, they don't bite."
I act first; I stretch my hand out and shake Frank's hand, "Alex, glad to meet you." Jess refuses and handshake and instead hugs me. Dante follows my lead, shaking Frank's hand, and hugging Jess. Blue’s a lot less comfortable. I stand behind her, placing my hands on her shoulder, "Sorry about my little sister, she's very shy." I say ruffling her hair. I hope her disguise isn't wearing a hat. We stand awkwardly at the door until Dawn shoos us away.

We crash back onto the couch. Blue punches me, "I'm not a child you know."
"Yes you are. You're twelve." A say ruffling her hair again.
"Stop it." She punches my arm again, "Not funny." The look on her face tells me not to push it any further, unless I feel like being electrocuted.

Another knock at the door shakes me to my core. Dawn looks through the door, joining the kitchen and the lounge, at us, her face whitens, and she looks at Blue.
"Jas. Answer that will you?"
"Fine." Blue huffs. She steps out into the corridor and looks through the peephole, her shoulders tense up and she bends her knees. "Arty. Gun. Now." She says sternly, not taking her eye from the peephole. I sense the dread in her voice. I reach down and pick up the gun, Blue clicks her fingers at me, "Throw it." I toss it towards her; she manages to catch it without looking away. She thumbs the safety; she opens the door a crack. "Yes officer?" She puts on a little girl voice.
"Where your mummy and daddy?" The man says crouching down.
"At work."
"Who's looking after you?"
"My brother Ryan, Alex, and my sister Sam." She says weakly, Dawn appears beside Blue,
"What's the problem?" Dawn asks.
"We're checking all the houses after the explosions."
"But that was miles away." Dawn says.
"Safety. Will still haven't caught the suspects."
"Are you saying they could have come this far up?"
"It's a possibility we aren't ruling out. Mind if we come in"
"No, of course not, please come in." Dawn swings the door open. Blue shields the gun with the door. The man enters, followed by three others; I glimpse other soldiers knocking at the surrounding houses.
"Shouldn't be long ma'am." The last soldier says. The first soldier reaches the kitchen,
"Who are you?"
"Frank and Jess West, we live next door. Is everything okay?"
"Better go home, just for now." The man says. The second soldier pokes his head through into the longue,
"Found the other kids." He says.
"Is it just you four at home?" The last soldier asks.
"Yes." Dawn answers.

The men sweep downstairs, checking in closets and behind chairs. When the reach the stairs I see Dawn nervously talking to the first soldier,
"Yes ma'am it is necessary, and we'll be as quick as we can." He and the other two start up the stairs, followed by Dawn and then Blue, still holding the pistol. They reach the first floor. I hear doors open and close. Another door opens, then footsteps, then the sound of another door, followed by a loud thump, then a gunshot, followed up rapidly by another two.
"Blue!"
"They'd found the guns!"
"Could have at least zapped them! Everyone heard those gunshots."
"What they gonna do?"
"The mission was to watch and report. Now look at what you've gone and done!" Dawn yells, "Artemis, Dante, stairs, now."
Dante and I leap from the sofa and rush to the stairs.
"Here." Dawn says, throwing a compact sub-machine gun at me, and a shotgun at Dante. "Be careful, those are loaded." She returns to the room, "Blue put that down. It's unnecessary."
"Fine. But I’m bringing it with."
"If you can carry it."
Dawn appears by the kitchen door. A knock at the door.
"Blue hurry up." She yells up the stairs, the sound of something thumping down the stairs. Then the sound of something big hitting the door. Blue appears in the kitchen holding the RPG, she grins at me,
"This is gonna be fun." She points it at the door.

The door explodes inwards, Blue fires. The missile whizzes past the soldier, knocking him off his feet, and connects with a car. An explosion rocks the house, car alarms fill the night. Dawn fires a spray of bullets into the door.
"Come on. That's our queue to go." Dawn rushes to the backdoor.

We reach the back gate before the first soldier shoots. The bullet smashes the ground barely a meter from my foot. A hailstorm of bullets follow. All missing us by centimetres. Then the bullets stop. I glance behind me. All of the soldiers have vanished. Gone like a puff of smoke. I run into something. Something hard, and solid. I look at what I hit, nothing. I reach a hand out and it connects with an invisible barrier. I touch to my left, wall, to my right, wall, behind me, wall. I look at Dante and Blue. We're all trapped. I look around for Dawn, there's no sign of her.
"Artemis Kaliaski." A voice booms, I recognise it instantly. The same voice I heard in Missouri, on the bus, but now I recognise it some more. I had heard it in Parlor. Yelling at me to check on Chloe. "Look what you've got yourself into. My oh my. Masquerading as human with these two? Pathetic." A Shadow steps forward into the light. Not one of my normal shadows, but something a whole lot eviler. It looks at me, "What a shame. You could've been so strong. But you chose to run around playing spies with these humans. What a waste."
"You s**t!" Blue yells shooting electricity from her fingers at the invisible wall, “Ima kill you so badly!” She yells.
"My, my. What do we have hear." The Shadow floats over to Blue, "What are you?" It asks.
"Your worst nightma-" She stops. The Shadow reaches its hand through the wall and grasps her neck.
"Go on? You were saying?" It squeezes. The colour drains from Blue's face, her lips move, she squeaks, "Can't quite hear you." The Shadow says pressing its head to the wall; Blue's face goes blue. The sound of an engine roaring makes The Shadow look away. A four wheeled drive leaps out of the night.
"Humans. So silly." It says. It looks at me. "Watch, Artemis, as I crush your friend’s throat." The sound of bone breaking punctures the night. It sounds like a... I don't know what it sounds like, other than a bone breaking. Then Shadow lets go of Blue and her body crumples to the floor.
"Get your hands off her!” Dawn yells from the driver’s seat. The car hits The Shadow, and passes through it. Shadow just laughs. It looks at me.
"That's more like it." It smiles. A giant white shadow leaps towards Shadow. A White Devil. Clear as day, horns, wings, the whole lot. It rams into Shadow sending it flying. The walls surrounding us shatter like glass.

We sit in silence. The car glides across the motorway. No one speaks, no one has the energy, and no one knows what to say. Dawn drives in silence, Dante sits next to her, in silence. I sit in the back, in silence. Blue lies in the boot, in silence. I watch as lights flicker past. We sit in silence. The Shadow People watch in silence. Silence is all there is.

The little girl, the fourteen year old, known simply as, Blue. Is dead. Her neck snapped. You'd think Dawn, who had acted as, mother, sister and friend, for Blue, would be the worst off. She seems fine, despite the tears running down her face. Dante is shocked; there are no tears. I lay in the back, no tears, no emotion, nothing. Just emptiness. She had died. Cause of me.

I imagine it now, Blue sitting up in the boot, asking why we're all so quiet, confused at the tears. Dawn would swear at her, then we'd all laugh at the s**t joke Blue had played on us.

It never happened of course.