Where Shadows Fall E-Book

Natalie J. Case

• Herausgeber: Next Chapter
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

As the world descends into ever darker chaos, Alaric Lambrecht seeks vengeance. No matter the cost.

In Washington, evil takes another step toward true power. In the west, the 8th Battalion advances a terrible plan. The Shades' refuge is in ashes.

Alaric's path takes him deep into 8th Battalion territory, and on a collision course with Raven Ivany and Zero, bringing Shadows and Shifters, Sages and Shades all together with a common enemy.

The question is, can they together take the fight to the mastermind who is tearing the country apart - and defeat him?

Leseprobe

Where Shadows Fall

Shades and Shadows Book 3

Natalie J. Case

Copyright (C) 2018 Natalie J. Case

Layout design and Copyright (C) 2019 by Next Chapter

Published 2019 by Next Chapter

Cover art by Cover Mint

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the author's permission.

For the resistance.

Chapter One

Zero's entire body reverberated with the message, “Salt in the water! Warn them!” and she sat up, knocking Alaric and Raven both away. Alaric's head snapped up and he was half way out the door before Zero had processed the input crashing into her and got her shields up.

Raven stopped at the door to the room, leaning out for a long moment into the hallway before she was throwing clothes at Zero.

The village was under attack, and the chaos swirling around her was almost too much and she had to double up her shields to function enough to struggle into the jeans. Maddie was there suddenly, her face worried. “We have to go.”

Somewhere in the distance an explosion sounded, and the building trembled around them. Zero shoved her feet into her broken-in tennis shoes and followed as Raven led them toward the back of the building.

Alaric hadn't finished the work to completely free her mind, but he'd broken down most of the walls and seemed pretty confident that there were no more traps waiting to spring on her. It had left her off kilter and reeling under the sudden expansion of the gifts her father had hidden away from her.

Everything seemed set to the highest volume and her shields were failing to keep the world at bay. She let Raven guide her out a back door, where they paused, listening to the chaos.

Zero knew it was 8th Battalion, not her father. While he had been a part of the inception of the military group, he'd lost control when he had underestimated the religious fervor he had unleashed. The air smelled of fire and gasoline. Alaric's voice filled her head, telling her to run.

Maddie appeared beside her, grabbed her hand and Zero nodded. Together, they took off running into the woods, Raven coming behind them. There was no pursuit that she could detect. Raven stopped them when they couldn't see the buildings of the town or hear the shouting.

“Catch your breath.” Raven said as she glanced around them.

“We need to keep going.” Maddie said, her voice filled with fear.

“We're safe enough for now.” Zero replied, her own voice sounding deeper than she was used to. “No one is coming this way. They're after Mason.”

Raven looked up at her, frowning. “Why Mason?”

Zero shrugged. “Not sure, but it's reverberating in the air, like all of them are thinking it at the same time.” She let go of Maddie's hand and moved to lean against a tree. After laying in a bed for several days, the running was exhausting.

She rubbed at her head, shoring up her shields. She had access now to most of her memories, and she wasn't sure anymore that was a good thing. Scenes from her father's experiments kept playing through her head, her voice screaming as they filled her body with his serums, cutting into her over and over again.

Zero pushed the latest of those memories away and tried to bring her focus back to the situation at hand. She stood away from the tree, her eyes wide. They weren't alone.

Zero crossed to Raven, and grabbed her arm, pushing the information across into Raven's head. They moved slowly and quietly, taking up positions to attempt to defend themselves.

A few seconds later, Zero relaxed. Two boys ran past them, fear streaming off them. Behind them a man followed, a Shade she vaguely remembered from the village.

“Connor.” Raven said, stopping all three of them in their tracks. The boys looked from Raven to Zero and then Maddie. “Are you okay?”

He nodded and held out a hand for the boys. They came without question. “I think so. We were starting breakfast.”

Raven nodded and looked around them. “We don't seem to have any one following.”

“Not yet, anyway.” Connor agreed. “Any idea who else got out?”

Raven shook her head and looked at Zero. Zero closed her eyes and dropped her shields a little, reaching out for Alaric. She got an impression of where he was and who he was with. “The Shadow got his people and maybe five Shades.” She spread her senses around the village. “Manny took a group south, through the woods.”

The strike force was moving through what was left of the town, searching through buildings before setting fire to them. Dead bodies of Shades lay in the street, salt burns covering their skin. There was a truck filled with Shades, maybe ten of them.

Zero reached for Raven's shoulder to steady herself. “They have prisoners. They're searching the town for more. We should keep moving.”

Raven nodded. “We're going to need a vehicle.”

“Where are we going to go?” Maddie asked. “They'll just find us again.”

“I know a place.” Raven said. “It's a long walk, but we have most of the night.” She pointed and started walking. There wasn't much they could do but follow.

Zero took up the rear, keeping her attention split between making her way and listening behind them for pursuit. She was tiring quickly. Maddie moved closer, sliding an arm around Zero's waist. Her strength was surprising. “Thanks.” Zero muttered.

Maddie didn't respond, just kept them both moving behind the boys' backs. As her body tired, her control on her thoughts frayed. She gave up listening for pursuit and fought the tide of memories. Alaric had been helping her build walls of her own, natural walls that kept information organized, not hidden, but Mason's distress had interrupted them.

She needed time and quiet and safety to get herself back to fully functional. She snorted at the thought. It wasn't likely to happen anytime soon.

* * *

The sun was starting to rise, Zero could sense it even though the trees still provided some shelter. They were going to need to find someplace to wait out the sun, and soon. The boys, Liam and Parker were dragging. Raven's worry that the sun would burn them dry was loud in her head. Connor's concern was strongly tied to the boys.

Zero needed time to adjust to all of the new noise in her head. She caught Raven watching her and nodded. Even with her limited perception of what the Shadow had done, Raven knew that this running was the last thing Zero needed right now.

They were close to reservation land, though Zero wasn't sure how she knew that. Reservation land meant dry, arid expanses that the sun baked hard. Not exactly terrain made for a Shade. Raven stopped them where there was still a little cover from the trees. She chewed on her lower lip, her thoughts skipping between some place on the reservation and the relative safety of the woods.

She turned to the others. “Okay, our options are to double back to that hollow tree and build a shelter, or we keep going about a mile west, where there is a shed, or what's left of one. It should be enough to keep us out of the sun for the day.”

Connor leaned out of the tree line and squinted up at the sky. “Sun's going to be up in less than a half hour.”

Raven nodded. “If we can get to the shed, come sundown I can get us to a friend's place. He'll have food and water. We can figure out where to go from there.”

“I say we keep moving.” Zero said. “Going backwards is dangerous without knowing where that strike force is.”

Raven nodded. “Okay, stick close. We're crossing onto Zuni lands.” She pointed to the west. “Our destination is just on the other side of that rise.”

The group set out at a fast pace, as fast as their exhaustion would allow. They'd still get a larger dose of sun exposure than was good, but once at the shed, Zero assumed the Shades would be safe enough.

Behind them, the sun kept creeping higher. Connor moved Liam and Parker in front of him, using his own body to shade them. Zero and Maddie moved in closer to Raven try to provide what shade they could with their shadows.

When they finally came in sight of the shed Raven had talked about, Zero wrinkled her nose. It was barely standing, one wall was all but collapsed, the roof leaning off to one side, pulling the opposite wall into a precarious looking angle. Zero jogged ahead of the others and ducked inside to see if it was safe.

Inside there was just enough room for the four Shades in the dark corner, if they didn't mind getting close together. There was a hole in the roof that would let the light shine in before too long, restricting the amount of space they would have.

Zero emerged and nodded, ushering the boys in first. She and Maddie waited until the others were inside before following.

Raven stood holding her phone, staring at it, her thoughts about whether it was safe to use or not filling Zero's head. She thumbed it on and shook her head. “No signal.” Of course, even if they'd had enough signal to call someone, Zero wasn't sure who. There was Darvin, of course, but there was no guarantee he could do anything if they managed to get him. Raven stuffed the phone back into her pocket.

Maddie and Zero watched as Connor got the boys settled in to try to sleep, then looked at Raven. “You should rest.” Zero said. Raven was feeling the expectations of leadership, and it was wearing on her. Zero crossed to put a hand on her shoulder. Thoughts spun out from her, fear, the lack of direction, the not knowing who else had survived, the idea that someone had told the 8th Battalion how to get to them.

Zero sent a wave of comfort, blanketing over the swirling chaos. After a moment Raven smiled and nodded her thanks. Raven turned to find Maddie stripping out of her clothes. “What are you doing?”

“I can handle the sun. I'll stand guard.”

Before Raven could respond, she dropped her shirt into Zero's hands and shifted. Raven heard the boys gasp and looked their way. When she looked back, a large black cat had taken Maddie's place, deep green eyes meeting hers.

Raven nodded her acceptance. “Wake me if anyone gets too close.” She ducked her head and crawled into the dark corner, laying down beside the boys and arranging her body to keep it away from the spot of sunlight that would move closer as the sun moved across the sky.

Maddie sat in the doorway of the shed, and after only a moment, Zero sat beside her, the pair of them staring out into the bright light of the day.

Behind them, Zero could feel Raven's thoughts winding down, and turned her mind to her own chaos. Memories churned in disconnected streams of agony, pulling her from one moment of terror to the next if she let them.

She needed to get some control. That's what Alaric had been helping her do before the town fell siege. Her shields were still ravaged and needed work as well.

With the solid mass of Maddie's cat beside her, Zero turned her attention inward.

Chapter Two

Zero woke from a light doze, startled by something she couldn't see or hear. Beside her, Maddie was at high alert, staring out into the setting sun. “You sense that too?” Zero asked, climbing to her feet.

The little bit of sleep she'd gotten had helped, but she was still on edge. Zero cast her senses out around her, trying to find whatever had awakened her. No one was nearby though. The nearest person she could sense was at least a mile away.

She stretched, moving slowly to warm up her body. She focused her attention back the way they came. There was no sign of the 8th Battalion. Reaching a little further, she found Alaric, but she recoiled quickly as pain lashed through the connection, seeming to hit her square at the base of her neck.

Zero grabbed her neck, half expecting to find blood. Her knees folded, and she grabbed the side of the shed as she went down. With the distance, she couldn't tell if it was Alaric himself who had been shot or someone close to him. She panted through the pain and pushed herself back up to her feet, struggling to close up her shields to block him out.

Maddie stood a few steps away, lifting her muzzle to sniff the air. A low growl escaped her, and she moved back toward the door of the shed. Inside, Raven was awake, Zero could hear her shifting around. That wasn't what had Maddie growling though.

Zero turned toward the feeling of someone approaching. Maddie's hackles were raised, and she was poised to jump at anyone who might attack them. Zero could sense no malice however, and her hand descended onto Maddie's head to calm her. In the distance, a dust cloud lifted, and a small, black dot was moving in their direction.

Raven joined them as that small dot became a truck coming toward them. There was only one person in the vehicle, a man. Zero couldn't tell much else about him without trying, and she was too tired to try too hard. The truck rumbled to a stop and the man emerged from the cab, taking a few steps before stopping, his eyes on Raven.

He was middle age, gray starting to stripe his long black hair. His skin was deeply tan, dry, like he'd spent most of his life in the desert sun. His eyes skipped to Maddie before returning to Raven.

“I heard there was a panther out here. I thought to myself that it was an odd place for a panther. Didn't expect to find a Raven too.”

“Hello, Lonan.” Raven said with a smile. “I find myself once more needing your help.”

“The winds say Shady Lake has been burned to the ground. I wondered if I would see you.”

“The winds say that?” Zero asked, her eyebrow lifting in disbelief.

“Sure they do. Smoke rides the wind, and the radio news tells of 8th Battalion raids.” He responded with a chuckle. “You must be dry. Climb in, I'll get you to some water.”

“I'm not alone.” Raven said, glancing over her shoulder.

“So I see. I don't have much room, but my wife is cooking dinner.”

“I appreciate it Lonan.” She turned to Maddie. “Why don't you go get dressed.”

Maddie looked Lonan over, like she didn't trust him, but went back into the shed as Connor and the boys emerged.

“Lonan, this is Connor, and his son Liam. I don't know if you remember Aliyah, but this is her son Parker. This is Zero, and the Shifter is Maddie.”

Lonan nodded his greetings and opened the passenger side door. “You boys hop on in here. I reckon the grownups can handle more sun than you.”

Maddie emerged as Raven and Connor climbed into the bed of the truck, her eyes skipping to Zero's. Together they climbed up to sit beside the two Shades, just as Lonan shook out a blanket for them to hide under. “I imagine this won't be the most pleasant ride for you, but this should help.”

Zero and Maddie helped them get the blanket tucked behind them and draped over their heads. The truck lurched as Lonan got behind the wheel and set them off back along the dusty trail.

Everyone was quiet, but she could feel the exhaustion pulling on Maddie. The Shifter hadn't slept in well over twenty-four hours. She was going to crash soon, now that the adrenaline that had fueled their escape was wearing off. Zero looked to Raven, who was as pulled into herself as Zero had ever seen. She too was exhausted, the few hours of sleep not enough to erase the sun exposure and apprehension caused by their current situation. Connor seemed better rested, or at least better adjusted, but he too was weary and feeling the effects of the sun setting somewhere ahead of them.

Only the boys seemed to be largely okay. The shock of their escaping the village had mostly worn off, and there was a sense of adventure coming from them. She sensed that Lonan was telling them some story.

Zero turned herself to the work that still needed to be done in her head. She had worked to shore up her defenses around the last of the damaged places and used the tricks Alaric had taught her to set up a sort of alarm system, so that she would know if someone else came snooping through some hidden back door they hadn't found. She was cautiously optimistic that she wasn't going to suddenly snap and become a puppet for her father's plans.

What was left behind was a terrifying mess of memory. She hadn't expected the memories to be so intense, but then, she hadn't remembered even half of what had been done to her in the time since her mother's death. She would be furious at how much of her life he took, once she got past the terror at what he had done to her.

She was pulled from her inner thoughts as the truck rolled to a stop outside a small clapboard house. The sun was brilliant on the horizon, and a woman emerged from the house, wiping her hands on a towel. She raised an eyebrow as Lonan helped the boys out of the cab but held the door open as he hurried them inside.

Raven and Connor kept the blanket over them as they climbed out of the bed and followed, with Maddie and Zero bringing up the rear.

They entered a small kitchen that smelled of spices and cooking meat. “I wasn't expecting so many.” The woman touched Lonan's arm. “But you are welcome.”

“Raven, and everyone, this is my wife, Tusa. Tusa, my childhood friend, Raven and those who escaped the burning of Shady Lake. They have need of shelter, and water.”

“And food no doubt.” Tusa replied, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. “Come, sit. Lonan will pour you water.”

Zero followed Raven as they were led into a slightly more spacious living room, dropping to sit on the floor near the chair Raven chose. Maddie circled the room, her eyes scanning the pictures on the walls before she came to sit beside Zero.

Tired pulled at her, but Zero pushed it away. They weren't safe yet. She didn't dare sleep until she'd managed to get some distance from the suddenly fresh and horrifying memories that filled her head.

“Do you have any news?” Raven asked as Lonan handed out glasses of water from a wooden tray.

“Not much. Many escaped on foot. The town is now ash.”

“What about the 8th Battalion?” Connor asked.

Lonan shrugged. “It is said they only pursued one group who escaped in vehicles.”

“Jerah.” Zero murmured softly. She felt eyes on her and looked up. “They were looking for him specifically. Someone…” She dug for the thought, something she heard or read from Alaric. “The 8th Battalion was looking for him. The raid was…not specifically for him, but once he was spotted it was like the thought swept through the strike team.” She reached for Alaric again, and recoiled as she encountered a wash of pain, fear, then came the sound of gunfire and a sharp crack of pain, like before, a replay of something he'd experienced. She grabbed at the back of her neck, fighting to disengage from him.

She was panting as she broke free. It took her a second to open her eyes, surprised to find everyone staring at her. She licked her lips and blinked, parsing through the input. “I think Riley is dead.”

Zero had never really interacted with him much, but she'd liked him well enough. Alaric, on the other hand, had loved him like a brother. The pain of the impact had reverberated through him as though it was Alaric himself who had been shot.

She could still feel an echo of the pain in her neck. “He's with Jerah. They were attacked.” Most of what she'd gotten was disjointed images and a whole lot of fear and pain. “I think…” She shook her head, trying to understand the images. “I think they got away, but Riley was shot in the back of the head.”

Zero could feel Connor watching her, his suspicion bleeding out around him. She blinked and looked up at him. To his credit, he didn't say anything, only looked away. “We should try to round up the other survivors.” Connor said. “Figure out what to do next.”

“First, we get some rest, and make sure there aren't any watchers lingering. We don't need to present them with another target.” Raven said.

“And before that, you eat and hydrate yourselves.” Tusa said as she came into the room with two plates. “Let Lonan and his friends seek out the others for you.”

Zero took her plate and disconnected from the room. She needed time to sort through the input of the last forty-eight hours and figure out how to function with all of the new memories and the sudden influx of power.

* * *

Ice raced through her veins from the place where the needle entered her arm, forcing the serum into her, disconnecting her from her own abilities and preparing her for another assault. She tried to summon fire to thaw the chill, but nothing would come. Fingers held her eyelids open and a light shined into them. “I think we're ready.”

Screams echoed around her, screams that sounded strange and familiar at the same time. Disjointed thoughts darted through her as she was cut open and sewn together, as He forced his way into her brain and broke down the door to her inner self.

She couldn't stop him, but she felt every touch of his blade on her skin, every stab of the needle, everything he did in her head, until her body began to shake from the cacophony of it all. “Control her.”

“It's too much, you need to let me give her something for the pain.”

“No. Pain is part of the process. I'm nearly done. Hold her down.”

Some part of her recognized the screams now as her own. They filled the space and bled out until the darkness came. Even then there was no escape from the agony in her body. It pulled her through the dark and wound around her tight, dragging her from the dark danger of her memory into an even darker room.

Color began to swirl around her, loosening the grip of fear as the room solidified and she knew she had left her own mind and was now in someone else's, dropping from her nightmare into his, into the boiling cauldron of his grief.

Mason Jerah was dead.

Mason Jerah was dead. The thought echoed through her as she woke, her clothes soaked through with sweat and her head pounding. Zero sat up, looking around the small loft she had been sharing with Maddie. The cat was gone, and she was alone.

Her throat was dry and sore, making her think the screams hadn't been kept to her dreams. She pushed the blanket off and put her feet on the floor. Zero pulled a hand over her bald head and took a deep breath.

The “treatment” in her dream had only been one in a long line of agonizing experiments. One of the earliest. It was meant to provide her with more Shadow abilities than she'd already had as her birthright.

She pulled on her jeans and her shoes. It had been nearly a week of waiting. The Shades gathered, they talked, they looked at her like she was an alien. She couldn't blame them. It wasn't their fault she was a freak.

Alaric's grief was still spilling through her, making it harder for her to sort out her own emotions. Taking a deep breath, she pushed everything down and back behind a wall. She couldn't function with it all sloshing around inside her.

Zero stood, crossing to the ladder down into the barn. It was nearly morning. Somewhere to the east of them, Alaric was wallowing in his grief. Somewhere to the west, the 8th Battalion was planning its next move.

It felt an awful lot like she was stuck there in the middle, with no way out. She didn't like the feeling.

Chapter Three

Mason Jerah was dead.

Those four words echoed around his head, long after he had ripped the knowledge from Bryan's mind. It was the only thing he could think, the only coherent thought in his head. Everything else was noise, static.

Alaric knew he'd blasted his grief out to his people, knew Bryan had been forced to knock him out to keep him from hurting anyone. His touch had not been gentle, and Alaric's head still resonated with the residual effects.

It was Mason's death that saved them, kept the strike team from coming after them.

Alaric sat up slowly in the gloom of the borrowed bedroom, blinking as he looked around the room. His hand still held the pendants and he lifted them, letting the sensation of Mason fill his senses. He could almost believe Mason was alive, but he knew, he'd seen the memory of Bryan's escape, he knew what Mason had showed him.

There was no way he had survived.

He could sense Bryan and Sahara, the old man and his daughter. They weren't far. He wasn't sure how much time had passed as he had lain in his grief, submitting to it as if it were a physical thing, put under by Bryan, but kept from surfacing by his own pain.

Alaric stretched and stood slowly, feeling through the soreness and working out the kinks. Bryan was instantly aware he was awake, a product of their connection, and as he turned to the door, Alaric realized that Bryan had also planted a line, through which he'd been monitoring Alaric.

He snipped the line and the door opened. Bryan looked him over, nodding a little. Alaric wasn't in the mood to be coddled. He pushed past Bryan and into the hall. Bryan followed, stopping before he would have followed him into the bathroom. Alaric relieved himself and considered his options.

Mason would have wanted him to get back to his people. He could already tell his mother wanted the same thing. Bryan hadn't completely relinquished the wall he'd put up to keep Alaric from broadcasting his anguish, but his mother had found a way through.

He washed his hands and splashed water over his face. What he wanted was to find the men who had killed Mason, and make them pay for it. In fact, he had already decided that he would. Alaric looked at his reflection and carefully secreted that thought away, building a secure wall to protect it from those who might stop him.

He opened the door to find Bryan had been joined by Sahara. He didn't look at them, just nodded. “I need to get to the globe. There's work to do.”

“Just waiting on you.” Bryan said.

“And stop babying me. I'm fine.” Alaric pushed through them and headed out to the kitchen.

Barbara nodded to him, holding out a bag. “Should be enough food to get you through to Virginia, if you manage to get past the road blocks.”

“It won't be a problem.” Alaric said, nodding his thanks.

“Dad filled your gas tank. You're good to go.”

Alaric nodded. “Let's get moving then.”

“Don't you think you should maybe take a minute? Eat?” Bryan said beside him. “You've been down for three days.”

“No, I'm fine.”

Bryan dropped the wall suddenly and all of the unfiltered input slammed into him, like it would drive Bryan's point home. Alaric grabbed the table as he adjusted, breathing through the onslaught. There was a lot of chaos, his clan was scattered.

All the more reason to leave.

“I'm going. You can stay if you want.” Alaric said, holding out his hands for the keys. Bryan stared at him, clearly disagreeing with him and not afraid to tell him so. Sahara cleared her throat, putting one hand on Bryan's shoulder.

Bryan shook his head. “I'll drive. You just woke up.”

He led the way out to the truck. Alaric settled into the passenger seat, while Sahara climbed into the back seat, behind Bryan. Once they were moving, Alaric turned his attention to the chaos in his head, acknowledging concerns and letting his presence be known. Once he'd weeded through most of it, he reached out for his mother, letting her presence fill his mind, her touch comforting. She soothed him, wordlessly salving over his pain in the way only a mother could.

Bryan angled them north and east, skirting around Dallas to avoid any road blocks that would close the city off. They found back roads to take them from Texas into Arkansas. It was Memphis where they found their first barricade, manned by state troopers. Bryan smiled at the woman who approached them, and Alaric could feel his push that she let them through. It was a strong compulsion.

Bryan drove them through and stopped them at the first gas station. “We need to fill up.”

They had no money to pay for gas, but Alaric nodded and climbed out of the truck to head inside.

Once upon a time, using his gifts the way he was about to would have been a step over the line, an act he wouldn't condone. He told Bryan to get ready to pump and went into the small station store. There was no one around but the cashier, a young kid of maybe twenty.

Alaric approached the counter, reaching out for the unguarded mind. It wouldn't take much to deceive the young man, who was already distracted by his phone. He lifted his hand, a smile on his face. “Hi, I'm going to fill it on pump two.” He made contact with the kid's hand and his mind used the connection to convince him that the piece of paper in his hand was a fifty-dollar bill.

“Pump's on. Come in for your change when you're done.”

“Thanks.”

Alaric let Bryan know to start pumping and stayed a moment longer to be sure that the trick held. When Bryan signaled they were done, Alaric left and got behind the wheel to take over the driving.

They didn't have time to obey all of the rules. He half expected Bryan to give him a hard time, but he said nothing as they headed east.

It was after midnight when they reached the next blockade, at the crossing into Virginia. Once it had been a simple checkpoint between states, but with the current tensions between the southern states and the federal government, it had grown to nearly mirror a border checkpoint. It wouldn't be long before it was a border, if the news he was hearing rang true. The southern states were ready to declare their independence from the federal government once more.

They approached the only lane open at that hour and a tired looking man leaned out of the booth. Alaric wasted little time getting a hold of him. He pressed the lie into the man's head, that he had checked their papers, that they were free to cross.

“Have a good night.”

He held his breath as the gate opened and they eased through it. About a hundred feet away was another crossing gate. He prepared himself to repeat the performance as the border agent stepped out of her booth. “Where are you coming from tonight?” she asked, leaning into the open window slightly.

Alaric reached for her mind, but was surprised to find that she was a Shadow, her mind strong, with shields and walls and she raised an eyebrow at his touch. “Can you identify yourself?”

He inclined his head, and opened his shields enough that she could confirm his words. “Alaric Lambrecht. My Keepers, Bryan and Sahara.”

She nodded knowingly. “I've been wondering when we'd finally see you. We've been keeping someone on duty here who would recognize you.” She stepped away, reaching in to the booth and coming back with a map in her hands. “You'll find a couple of routes marked out. We have some interesting militia folk thinking they can block off roads. Follow one of these and you should avoid them.”

He smiled. “Thank you.”

“Drive safe now.”

Alaric handed the map to Bryan. Alaric glanced over at it as Bryan opened it, his fingers tracing the yellow highlighting some of the roads.

He could tell that his mother had taken the globe to an old clan homestead not far from the line between Virginia and West Virginia. They'd spent time there in the summers when he was a kid. It had been in her family nearly as long as her family had been on American soil.

They'd be there in a few hours. Then he could connect with the globe, bolster his strength so that he could begin looking for the men who had killed Mason. Not that he had a plan, exactly, for how to go about doing that, but he'd find a way.

He couldn't be the leader his people needed until that was done.

* * *

Alaric pushed all of his thoughts of vengeance behind a wall as he greeted his mother and submitted to her embrace, followed by more food than they could eat and a thousand reassurances that he was in one piece.

She had kept the others away, knowing him well enough to know that he would want solitude until he'd spent time alone with the globe.

“It's been charging in the sun the last two days.” Emily said as Alaric pushed back from the table. “It's in the old chapel.”

“Good.” He looked at Bryan and nodded. “Be sure I'm not disturbed.

“Don't you think you should sleep first?” Emily asked as he stood.

“I've slept long enough.” He kissed her forehead. “Besides, an hour with the globe is better than a whole night sleeping.”

“Any idea how long you'll be?” Bryan asked, looking up at him. Alaric could tell he still wasn't happy.

“As long as it takes,” he answered. His voice softened, and he let some of his pain spill over his otherwise impervious shields. “Just, give me a little time.”

Bryan didn't answer, just stood up to pour another cup of coffee. Alaric took it as acceptance and let himself out onto the porch.

The sun was high, and the land was a familiar place, a welcome that almost made him smile. He shaded his eyes against the sun, turning his gaze out past the old tire swing and the vegetable garden that had gone to seed over the winter. There was a path that cut through the middle of that garden, out past the run-down barn and into the woods.

Alaric stepped off the porch and set foot to that trail. He could feel the pull of the globe, even as the wards and guards that had long been a part of this land opened for him. This was sacred ground.

The grove of oak trees had come from acorns brought from the old country. They had stood as far back as the very first of his people who had come across the oceans in search of freedom. In the center of that grove was the place they called the chapel.

It was no building of wood or stone, but it was a vessel of energy, the site of weddings and birthings, the place of rituals and devotions. Until his family had moved west, it had been the place where the orb lived.

He paused as he reached the barrier. Energy sentinels stood at the four corners and between them the power of the globe cast itself, a glamor of sorts to protect it from those not of the clans. Anyone without the blood would walk past, never knowing it was there.

Alaric raised a hand to the barrier, exhaling slowly and bringing the skin of his palm to press into it. The skin tingled slightly, and the barrier opened to allow him inside. In the center of the clearing the globe pulsed, a welcome from an old friend.

He circled it several times, coming closer with each pass until he was but a breath away. Closing his eyes, he centered himself, cleared the rage and pain and slowly leaned into the energy of the globe.

It enveloped him, buoying him up and cradling him. He was filled with the sensations of hundreds of kin offering him comfort, and he let them for a time.

Eventually though, he separated himself from them and settled in, connecting with the energy of the globe itself. He opened up to it, letting it fill him, clear the cobwebs, approach the problem of finding the men who had hunted them in Arizona. He didn't have much to go on. He had the idea that they were betrayed and that the strike force had been after a particular Shade, not just looking to destroy the village. He had the few voices he'd heard as they'd raced to get to Mason and get them out of the village and his own suspicions, the glimpses any of them had gotten of the men attacking them.

He sent it all out into the globe and let it filter through his input and begin collating corresponding information from the scattered clan. He sat still within the energy and images, voices, places started to pop into his attention. Slowly at first, but gradually growing in number and speed, hints and threads came to him, creating a timeline of sorts and a map of faces.

Building from every mind the globe could connect with, anyone who came from his clan or those like his, minds that could be gleaned, the globe helped him place people in the chain, following it back to the very place he'd first met Mason.

Shallon. The colonel who had tortured Mason was the man behind the strike force.

Alaric inhaled and filed all of the information into neat drawers that would be easily accessible to him later. He slowly withdrew from the globe, letting his energy separate and integrate back into an individual.

The world tilted a little and he nearly passed out. A few seconds later, he felt Bryan and Sahara. “Easy.” Bryan said.

Alaric opened his eyes and squinted at Bryan. He looked older than Alaric remembered, the gray that painted his hair thicker now, his face gaunt and haunted. He felt a pang of guilt, knowing that some of that was his fault. His stomach rumbled loudly, and Bryan helped him stand.

“Your mother is going crazy.” Bryan said as Sahara supported him on the other side and they got him moving back toward the house.

“How long?” Alaric asked, his voice dry.

“Almost two days.” Sahara said.

“I hope you found what you were looking for.”

Alaric nodded. “Yeah, I think I did.”

His mother had food on the table as they came into the kitchen and he could tell without a word that she was worried about him. “I'm okay.” He thanked his Keepers with a touch and they left him with his mother.

“You are going to sit there and eat until I'm satisfied you've had enough, and then you are going to bed. And you're going to deal with the things that need to be dealt with and you are going to give me a few days of not worrying about you. Do you hear me?”

He smiled and nodded. “Yes ma'am.”

“Good.” She put a plate of old fashioned chicken casserole in front of him with a glass of milk before she took a seat beside him. He could feel her trying to decide how worried to be, her thoughts rubbing along his as he picked up a fork to eat. “I really am fine.” Alaric offered after he'd eaten a few forkfuls.

She looked at him, her eyes sad. She knew he was lying, but she took his hand and nodded anyway. “Eat.”

* * *

He let her mother him for several days while he spent time contemplating his course of action. By day he would spend time with his mother and his Keepers, and spend several hours attending the basic business of being the leader of his people in a time of turmoil. His people were scared, and uncertain where to go. It was work to calm them and set up plans to keep them safe.

By night, he would drop into meditation to play through everything he knew, and when he would finally fall asleep, he would dream.