The Reverence of One: Book Three of the Shadow Series (32 page)

“You can go,”
she said
, exhausted and defeated.

Without a word Jenz dropped the car into gear and rolled forward.

“Wait!” shouted Nicole as she dug a piece of paper out of her back pocket. With paper in hand, she rolled down the window and held it out for Test to take. The instant it was out of her hand and into his, she looked forward and commanded Jenz to go.

***
*

Test watched the
burgundy
Lexus drive away with a note in one hand and Alyssa
’s
hand
in the other
.
As the
car
turned off down the road
, t
hough he hoped for the best, he feared the worst.

Releasing Alyssa’s hand, he slowly opened the note. On it was two lines written in red ink and with very shaky hand writing.

There are days that my insides feel turned out, and the outside is pushed away. Its days like these I wish the darkness of tomorrow would just go ahead and end today.

The words read to Test as though it were a suicide note.
Suddenly, involuntary i
mages of Nicole hanging from a ceiling by
a bed sheet flashed in his mind
; the look of Nicole’s bulging, lifeless eyes
was too much for him to bear.
His heart began to beat faster and faster
,
until
the world suddenly came to a crawl. For a moment there was nothing but darkness, and then he felt Alyssa tugging frantically at his arm.

“Test!” she shouted.

He looked at her
, and though he
heard her voice, it was as if she were far away. His ears were filled with a white hiss that had slowly begun to fade.

“What happened?” he asked, his own voice echoing in his head.

He turned to see that everyone was
staring at
him. Thad, Cliff, and
Alyssa
stood around him, all of them
looking at him
with
a mixture of
concern
and horror.
He then saw Prim and Lauren run around the corner of the house from the back.
He looked back to Alyssa again. “What happened?
” he asked.
“
What’s the matter? Why’s everyone looking at me funny?” It was then that he looked down to his fingers, to what moments ago was the note that Nicole had handed him. It was now a charred piece of ash that blew from his fingertips piece by piece. “Shit,” he blurted out, still confused. “I didn’t mean for that to happen.”

Alyssa continued to stare at him with her mouth agape.

“What?” asked Test. “I’m sorry, I didn’t…
.
”

“It happened again,” she interrupted.

Test scanned
his surroundings,
overwhelmed by how close everyone stood.
Turning back once again to Alyssa, he replied. “What happened again? I haven’t had this happen since I was in
Lincoln
.”

“Your eyes, Test,” answered Alyssa. “They were the same as the other night; glowing red with the white bubbles inside.”

“Not only that,” Cliff butted in. “Somethin’ happened, somethin’ other than just your eyes.”

Test spun to see the old man standing behind him with a stern look on his face. He’d seen that look before and it was never followed by good news.

“Did anyone else see it?” asked
Cliff
as he
studied
faces, but everyone shook their head
, all except Alyssa who stared stone faced at Test
. He turned back to Test. “You w
ere
different, your body I mean. You were kind of…
.
”
H
e paused looking for the right word
.
“
D
istorted? No
,
that ain’t it.” He paused again, clearly frustrated with himself. “Oh hell, what am I tryin’ to say?” he asked while clenching his cigar tightly between his teeth. “I don’t know what the word is so I’ll just describe it.

“I was lookin’ at you against that tree back there and the outline of your body looked fuzzy, almost like there was two of you, one overlapping the other, but not quite exactly.”

Still trying to ground himself, Test replied with a wrinkled expression. “Your eyes must be playing tricks on you.”

“No,” said Alyssa
flatly
. “I saw it, too. He’s right—it was like you had a shadow, but it was clearly you, but fuzzy.” She placed an open palm to her forehead, struggling to describe what she saw as much as Cliff had.

Standing behind Alyssa with Lauren by his side, Prim
wiped the beading sweat from his forehead and spoke while slightly out of breath.
“Something definitely happened. The amount of energy that you released was v
ery strong and focused.
”
He paused with a foreboding look. “
Very
strong,” he said emphatically.

Knowing exactly wh
at
he meant, Test’s eyes grew wide with fear. “What do we do?” he asked Prim.

“There’s no more time. Training starts now,” Prim replied.

“But Jenz isn’t
…
,
”
began
Test with a panicked voice
, stopping as he recognized the blank stare on Thad’s face
.
“Cliff,” said Test as he pointed to Thad.

The old man recognized the look as well. Thad was having a vision. Within moments
,
his grandson blinked and looked to him.

“What is it, boy?” asked Cliff.

Breathing heavily, Thad replied with a wavering voice. “I saw the man in the suit again.”

“Who is he talking about?” asked Prim.

Without responding to Prim’s question, Cliff asked another of Thad. “Where?”

Swallowing hard, he replied. “In
Kansas City
.
I
t looked like
he was standing in the middle of
Union Station
.” He looked to Test. “He had the girl with him.”

“No,”
Test seethed
through clenched teeth.

He felt the energy within
him
swell, and the black began once again, only this time he could hear Cliff shouting from his side.

“Control it, son! Control it!”

Test turned to him with a menacing scowl and fought to harness the overwhelming power
that fought to be released
. Leaning back with arms outstretched, he released a guttural scream, feeling something inside shift as though a gate had been opened.
Never before had he felt so powerful, so strong. He lowered his arms and looked at those around him wh
o stood wide eyed in amazement.

The world surrounding them looked different. The sky had become dark while everything on the ground remained light. Every one of the living appeared to have a faint glow and those who had passed appeared faded
, as if they’d been partially erased
.

As was everyone else, Lauren gazed upon Test with amazement. She could now see what Alyssa and Cliff had seen moments before. With his eyes blazing, it almost looked as though there were two people
occupying the same space,
one overlapping the other with the edges slightly blurred. With hesitation, she stepped forward and reached out to touch him. Though he looked as real and present as the rest of them, she watched as her hand passed through his bicep. She immediately felt her hand go numb and, unable to move her fingers, quickly pulled back, regaining the use of her hand the moment it cleared Test’s flesh.

“Holy shit,” she whispered
as she stared at the tiny points of white light bubbling in
his
red eyes
.

Test lifted his hand to his face, and could see the doubling effect that the others could see. Strangely, the sight caused him no anxiety; a deep sense of fulfillment filled his heart. He looked to Cliff and spoke in jest, but with a stern look remaining on his face.
“Happy Birthday to me?”

The old man nodded, his brow sweating profusely
, and replied in a near breathless manner
. “I reckon so
.
You’d better shut it down. If Isaac didn’t feel the first one, I’m sure he felt this
.
”

“He
won’t
,” spoke Prim in a somber voice.

Cliff turned his head and replied with a confused look. “How could he not?”

“Because,” answered Prim as he focused on Test. “I c
an’t
feel you.”

“He’s right,” said Lauren
as she
latched on to Prim’s arm
. “I c
an
’t feel him either.”

Test looked at Prim and saw Lauren gripping his left arm tightly, and
even
with all that was going on, it still brought a smile to his face. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, visualizing the gate within closing. He felt the energy fade, and as he opened his eyes, the world suddenly appeared as it always had. Feeling
a little
light headed,
he
struggled slightly to control his equilibrium
,
and was grateful
when
Alyssa wrapped her arms around him
.

As the rest of them
watched ne
arly holding their breath, Lauren
reached her hand out to touch Test
, dumbfounded by what she’d seen.
Her fingertips touched his sweaty flesh as she spoke.
“How is that possible?
Why couldn’t we feel him?
” she asked of
Prim.

“I’m not sure,”
he replied
with a childlike expression of amazement. “It’s almost as if he was
—on
yet another plane of existence maybe?”
He watched Test swallow heavily and wipe the sweat from his face. “
I don’t know how to explain the possibility of you being
here
,” he continued through squinted eyes, trying to grasp the concept himself, “but
not
here.
Maybe....
”

“What are you talking about? I was here the
whole time.
”
Interrupted Test defensively
.
“Jenz was right, you do watch too much Science Fiction.”

“Were you?” asked Prim. “Or did it just appear that you were walking among us? How do you explain Lauren’s hand passing through you?”

Test thought for a moment before replying. “I can’t.”

“It was paralyzed,” interjected Lauren. “My hand, when it was—inside you—I couldn’t move my fingers
,
they just went numb.”

“Can you do it again?” asked Prim. “Are you in control?”

Test looked down to Alyssa who nestled her cheek tightly against his chest. With his index finger, he lifted her chin so their eyes would meet and
then
bent down to kiss her lips. As they parted, he gently pushed her away and with a devilish grin, glared at Prim and Lauren. He spread his legs and held his arms slightly away from his sides, palms up. Closing his eyes, he allowed the gate to open.

Thad and Cliff stood side by side watching as the edges of his body began to vibrate and slowly morph into the double outline. Behind his eyelids, they could see the light begin to glow. They watched as Test’s grin turned into a full-fledged smile, the
sight of which caused the
hairs on the back of Thad’s neck
to
stand on end.

Test’s eyes burst open and, with the fire raging, glared at each of them. Nodding his head to Prim, he spoke confidently. “I’d call that a
definitive
yes
,
wouldn’t you?”

Prim nodded his head as Test backed down and returned to his typical form. Slapping Test’s shoulder, he replied with an urgent tone. “Let’s get to work.”

Anxious to discover Test’s new capabilities, Prim, Lauren
,
and Test walked around to the back of the house where there was a fair sized open space. The three of them stood in a semi-circle while Thad, Cliff, and Alyssa lined up as if on the sideline of a football game.

Prim’s mind couldn’t stop pondering the implications of Test’s new found gift. As he stood five feet away, he could feel the push of a typical Shadow when only moments before, while Test was visibly exploding with energy, he couldn’t feel anything at all. He considered the effect that
Test’s state
had on Lauren’s hand when it penetrated his space, but couldn’t come up with a rational explanation for it.