Shadow Walkers (12 page)

“Hey Isaac, now that training is over I can finally go see my mom again, right? That was the rule after all.”

Isaac bites his lip and looks down at the ground. “I don’t know Nick. I know that you can shadow jump, but still…”

Nick smiles. “I’ll be fine. Worst case scenario, I just freeze some Void. Right?”

Isaac closes his eyes and rubs the bridge of his nose. He sighs, obviously defeated. “All right, fine. The rules say that you’re allowed to go, so who am I to keep you here? Just don’t blame me if the Void tear you to shreds.”

Nick looks at Hector, who shrugs. Unsure of how to take his captain’s warning, he just responds with a simple thank you. Isaac and Hector leave and Nick is left in a room all by himself. He smiles as he walks towards a shadow on the ground.

With his mind full of nothing but rules and facts for the past four days, Nick can only think of relaxing at home once again as he jumps through the shadow, his old room pictured clearly in his mind.

Chapter Twelve

Nick

The young Walker begins to panic the moment he emerges from the shadows.

As he stares at the neat space around him, he was sure that he had somehow messed up while shadow jumping. The room around him didn’t look familiar at all. It wasn’t until he saw the picture of his family that he realized he made it to the right place. His mother must have cleaned the place up, because it was an entirely different habitat than the mess Nick had left behind. He walks over to study the picture sitting atop his dresser.

He inherited his dad’s green eyes and his mom’s black hair. The girls at school loved it, but Nick always wished that he had his father’s dirty blonde hair and his mother’s blue eyes. Though after his father died, he became grateful that he had inherited anything at all from the man. At least with his father’s eyes, whenever he looked in a mirror he could pretend that he was staring at his dad.

Nick takes the photo out of it’s frame and stuffs it into his pocket- he needed something to remind him of his parents while he was in the Pit. He takes a few more seconds to appreciate the room his mother cleaned up for him, then heads for the stairs. The house is dark save for some of the light that peeks through the curtains. He checks his mother’s room, only to find it vacant. He begins to worry that something might have happened. But then he hears her laugh. He heads towards the source of the laughter, eager to surprise his mother.

He round the corner to the kitchen, a smile on his face. “Mom I’m back! I wanted surprise… oh.” He stops once he notices the man at the far end of the table. With his suit on and his hair slicked with gel, Nick barely recognized Jeffrey- the owner of the Sweet Stop. His mother looks at him with shock, then confusion, followed by happiness, and then for some reason- anger.

“Nicholas!” She screams as she gets up from the table. Her high heels click across the ground as she makes her way towards Nick. He looks back and forth between the two adults, unsure of what’s going on. His mother stops and gives him the typical ‘I’m ashamed’ look. She turns to Jeffrey and sighs. “Hey Jeff… I’m so sorry, but can we pick up some other time? This boy here is in for the talk of his life.”

Jeffrey nods and steps away from the kitchen table. He coughs and looks at Nick with a passive expression. “Nick, shame on you for disobeying your mother. I’ll think twice before giving you free candy again. I’ll see you tomorrow Maria.”

“Ok.” Nick’s mother says with a slight smile plastered across her face. Jeffrey leaves the room, heading for the front door. The roar of an engine comes from outside after he exits the house, and Nick’s mother doesn’t speak until it fades away into the distance.

She looks at Nick with playful eyes and smiles. “Oh Nick, it’s good to see you again.”

Nick eyes his mother suspiciously before studying the scene before him. Roses in a vase, a candle lit dinner, the dress his mother was wearing- it all starts to click in Nick’s head. He thinks about Jeffrey, reminiscing all the times he teased Nick about getting his mother’s number, and shakes his head. “What were you doing with
him
?” Nick asks with spite.

His mother shrugs unapologetically. “I’ll tell you about it later. Anyways, shouldn’t you be at training? It’s a major offense to leave before your team is finished with awakening their Chains.”

“Yeah, we all finished today.” Nick says. He didn’t know how he expected his mother to react, but when she does, Nick feels a little taken aback at how calm she is.

“Good job honey.” She says as she pulls him in for a hug. She releases Nick and looks into her son’s eyes, eyes that probably remind her of her late husband. She grins. “Now let me make you your favorite snack and we can talk all about the past few days. Your side and mine.”

* * *

“So that’s pretty much all that happened so far.” Nick says as he wraps up his tale of his stay in the Pit. His mother sat there smiling the whole time, nodding and shaking her head at certain parts. Of course, Nick started from the beginning, when Valus of the Void targeted him for no apparent reason. He told her about his teammates, and about how cool Isaac was. He elaborated over Hector and Allison as well, explaining how both of them cast a huge shadow over Nick.

His mother shakes her head. “An Invert, huh?” She says in disbelief. “I can’t believe he’d be on your team. I mean, what are the chances? And then there’s Marcus’ daughter as well. I guess the Council must have a lot of faith in Isaac to watch over you guys.”

Nick nods in agreement. “He says he’s a part of something called the Midnight Order, so I guess he’s one of the strongest captains in the Pit. And he’s pretty cool too. In a way, he’s kind of like… ugh, nevermind.”

Nick’s mom rolls her eyes and laughs lightly. “In a way he’s kind of like the older brother you wish you had, right?”

Nick pouts his lips, his mother’s candor surprising him yet again. But he smiles nonetheless at her openness. “Yeah. I don’t think he’s just helping me because it’s his job. I feel like I can trust him, kind of like family.”

“What about the other two?” His mom asks. “Allison and Hector, right?”

Nick cocks his head, his mind running all over the place to find the best way to describe his teammates. “Hector is lazy and rude, so he pretty much reminds me of my friends from school. He’s funny, but I kind of feel bad for him. He’s got a lot of personal demons to deal with.”

“What about the girl? Is she pretty?”

Nick almost blushes at his mom’s sudden change in topic. “I mean, uh… yeah she’s pretty. But she’s too upperclass for me, being the daughter of a Council man after all. Even if she was into me, her dad could tear me apart if I did anything to make her upset.”

His mother laughs as she picks up her cup of tea. “Well, in any case, I’m glad you like it so much. I’m so proud of you for showing up Marcus Marxon- that guy needs a serious attitude adjustment. And Nick, I’m truly sorry for hiding this from you for so long. I just-”

“It’s fine mom.” Nick says, cutting her off. “I’m just glad that I have the power to do something now- to fight back against the Void. Or
Creepers
.” Nick smiles at the old slang term used for the Void. It felt so silly now, looking back at all the myths about ghosts and other paranormal things people came up with to describe the phenomenon that was the Void.

His mother smiles as well. “Your father would be proud if he found out you mastered your powers so quickly.”

It’s an unexpected comment. Hearing his mother speak about his father so freely made the boy feel uncomfortable. It’s been eight years since he lost his father, but Nick still wasn’t ready to talk about everything.

“More importantly,” His mother says, distracting him from his dark memories, “I can’t believe that you inherited my powers. Now it makes sense why Valus would want to target you. I was the one Walker who Valus couldn’t defeat.”

“I can see why.” Nick says flatly. “You were a Council member after all, it makes sense that you were super strong.”

“It goes beyond that, Nick. The history between Valus and me is deep. I never told you how your father and I met, but I guess now would be the perfect time to shed some light on the Void and everything else surrounding us.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’ve been holding secrets in ever since I left the Pit, Nick. I was never able to return to the Pit after you were conceived, so I had no way of informing the Council of all the things I learned. Valus is not your average Void. There is an entire history that the Walkers and the Inverts are completely unaware of, but the Void have knowledge on. Lydia Walker, founder of the Guard, and the powerful Invert Serena both discovered this history as well. But they were unable to relay the information before they died in their battle against the Queen of the Void. It was thanks to your father, Nick, that my eyes were opened to this unknown world around us.”

Nick shakes his head, he wasn’t quite keeping up with what his mother was talking about. “What do you mean? Dad was just a normal human, how could he know about any of the stuff that the Void know?”

“I wanted to tell you this sooner, but I didn’t want to mention it with Isaac standing there. Your father’s blood was similar to a normal humans, but his true origin lies with the-”

The vase sitting on the table suddenly flies off and shatters against the wall. Nick jumps out of his chair, and his mother looks around with worry in her eyes. The random vases and cups in the room start crashing to the ground. Shattered glass sprays towards Nick’s mother, but she dodges it with apparent ease. Before either of them can say a word, a body suddenly appears on top of the table. Nick jumps back, muscles tense and his pulse rising.

“You sure do like to run your mouth, Maria.” Valus of the Void says with spite evident in his voice. “This boy doesn’t need to hear any of the things you have to say. It wouldn’t be a very fun game for us to play if he found out all of the secrets to this world thanks to some woman who can’t keep her mouth shut.”

“You haven’t changed a bit.” Maria spits at the elite Void. “You still have that sadistic nature. This isn’t a game, Valus, this is something that Nick needs to know. You always complain about how the Walkers and Inverts don’t know everything about the Void, but you don’t actually want the truth to get out. Kind of a messy contradiction there, don’t you think?”

Nick’s instincts kick in, and a coating of frost appears on his hands as he begins to summon his energy forward. He launches an orb of energy at Valus, but the Void man effortlessly dodges it. Nick summons more orbs and launches them at Valus. He dodges each of them, and when one almost hits him in the face, he simply breaks it by touching it with his finger. The icy orb crumbles and falls apart into nothing.

“Your powers are still weak, but as I thought, you’ve inherited them from your mother.” Valus shakes his head, then disappears in a puff of purple smoke. Nick looks around, ready for the Void to try and sneak attack him.

“Nick!” His mother shouts out. He turns to see Valus holding his mother tightly by her arm. “Nick, Valus isn’t just the world’s strongest Void! His real strength is because of his-”

Her voice becomes muffled once Valus covers her mouth with his hand. “You just can’t keep any type of secret it seems. You’re going into timeout.” A sudden purple light appears in thin air and begins to spread wider and wider. Without warning, Valus pushes Nick’s mother into the light, and she disappears from sight. Nick shouts out and prepares to launch a volley of ice at Valus, but finds himself suddenly unable to focus. He looks into Valus’ green eyes and is suddenly instilled with an overwhelming sense of fear.

“Give her back!” He manages to say as his heartbeat rises. He didn’t know if it was from the anger he was feeling, or the panic that was washing over him. All he knew was that Valus had just taken his mother away.

“You’re lucky that I’m forbidden to kill you, or else your journey would end here. But I guess I can capture you and just hold you prisoner alongside your mother.”

Nick shivers as the man walks closer to him. He tries to summon some energy, but it’s a wasted effort. There was no way that he could control his ice, let alone fight off Valus of the Void. He was paralyzed and he could only watch as Valus approached him from across the room.

“Help!” He screams. There should be a Walker somewhere, guarding the house from the Void. Amanda had said that they would send one to guard his mother. But where were they when there was a Void standing in his kitchen?

“No one is going to help you, boy.” Valus says, seemingly reading his mind. “That advisor lied to you- she never requested that someone be sent here to guard your precious little mother. Your life as a Walker is about to end here.” Valus reaches his hand out, and Nick feels the blood rush to his brain as he tries to think of a way out of the situation. As Valus’ hand draws close to his shoulder, he notices the one and only thing that could save him.

He looks up at the elite Void and shakes his head. “In your dreams.”

With the Void’s hand just about to grasp onto Nick’s shoulder, the young Walker does the only thing possible for him to get away and live to see another day.

He slips into Valus’ shadow.

* * *

Hector noticed Nick only a few seconds after he appeared from the young boy’s shadow.

“Nick! You picked just the right moment to come back.” The boy screams as Nick tries to get his bearings. They were outside, standing at the bottom of a long flight of stairs. After a few seconds Nick recognizes the place as the Guards HQ- the same place Valus practically declared war on the Walkers. And just like before, the place was packed. Though this time it seemed that even more people were there. Nick figured that everyone in the Guard must have been there at once.

“Hector, my mom just got taken away!” Nick shouts. The tension that he felt before was fading away, and he was able to focus again. “Valus took her!”

“What?” Hector says in disbelief. “You can fill us in on what happened in a minute, something big is happening right now. Follow me!”

Nick didn’t want to take his mind off of his mother, but after surveying the chaos around him, it was obvious that something big had happened in the Pit. He reluctantly follows Hector, who leads them to Allison and their captain. The group was stuck together once again.