The Silhouette (Alan Quinn and the Second Lifes)

by Thomas William Shaw

Lathon flicked his wrists, closing and locking the door behind me. He moved his hands like he was directing traffic. My body moved without my control and took me to my bed. I had never been so angry to see someone or something in my life.

  Jessica slammed her fists against the door, shouting, “Hey, Alan? Are you ok?”

  Lathon snapped his fingers. Her protests turned to silence. All I could hear was a slight ringing in my ear. I just knew I was going to die. I closed my eyes so I didn’t have to watch it play out.

  “So, someone has been spreading some nasty rumors and someone has been believing them,” Lathon said, “Which category do you think you fall in to?”

  I peaked with my right eye, “I am not sure what to believe anymore. I can’t trust anyone anymore.”

  Lathon chuckled, “Except Jessica and Gerry, of course. They are good kids. Question?”

  I said, “Why have you destroyed the house? You left Peaches out in the cold.” I opened my other eye when I began to feel slightly safer. I wasn’t going to die just yet. “Jerk.”

  He said, “I guess it was because I was angry the lot of you would believe such terrible things about me after all that I have done for you. After all, it was I who fixed your father. Just to think, things were going so well.”

  “You fixed him? YOU FIXED HIM? The man doesn’t know who he is and he is dangerous. If anything, you turned him into a freaking vegetable.”

  Lathon crossed his arms, “He remembered your mother last time I saw him. Or, at least, he remembered what she is.”

  I said, “What about me?”

  Changing the subject, Lathon began muttering something under his breath. He moved his hands in circles around each other like he was a party hopper at a rave dance. The black shadows that made up his complexion began to glow a tint of red.

  I said again, “What about me?”

  The air around me began to get tighter. Gradually, breathing became difficult. Lathon was completely relaxed, “There now. That is better. Next question.”

  I wiggled in place in hopes of getting out of the trap I had been placed in. I said, “You didn’t answer my last question.”

  Lathon guffawed, “Do you think you are in any sort of position to make demands at this point? Ask me some important questions.”

  I decided to humor him, “Ok. What do you want with Adolphus Fletch?”

  “Now, whoever told you about that?” He shook his head, “Adolphus created quite the ruckus up above. Most people feared him. I, however, found myself admiring your father. How could I not? He was the only human that had more power than the Silhouettes. Take his abilities and combine them with mine? We would be invincible, but I would never do that to him. Only wackos would try something like that.”

  I responded, “Then why does my dad think that is his name, again?”

  He laughed at me again, “I said wackos—”

  If I were able to move, I would have tackled him right then and there. I contemplated all of the different ways I could crush him if I had the capabilities of my dad. Instead, I was forced to my bed.

  “Next question.”

  “Why are you here? I thought you were in London, recruiting.”

  “Your parents are not in London, so I remain here. Recruiting? Why did I not think of that?” he scratched his invisible head. “Contrary to what you believe, my plans are not that opaque. But, I would be lying if I said I didn’t appreciate you trying to figure them out. I digress, I am here because something somewhere created me and gave me a mind of my own to make my own choices and decisions. I eventually hope to learn who that something was. Why do you think you are here?”

  “You’re dancing around my questions.”

  Lathon cracked his knuckles, “How would you like to see something extraordinary?”

  I spat at him, “I don’t want to see anything you want to show me.”

  He responded, “No, you will like this one. Everyone likes to see themselves in the early days. There are few things as delicious as nostalgia.”

  Lathon walked up to me and placed his right hand over my forehead. Instantly, the room began to spin and my head tilted down beyond my control. I began to dream:

  When the world ceased to spin, I found myself standing in a field. My vision was filled as far as I could see with fresh vegetation. I breathed in the air, which smelt crisp and clean. I also appreciated the sky for shining a bright blue. Adding to the peace, there was no one there to bother me except for a young girl about ten years older than me running as fast as she possible could through the fields. I tried to look beyond her to see what she was running from, but all I could make out was tiny brown specks.

  A wooden cabin appeared a few feet from where I stood. I pointed at the cabin, saying, “In here. In here now.”

  The woman thanked me when she caught up to my position and ran into the cabin. Something about her golden locks made her so familiar, but I could not put my finger on it.

  The brown specks were coming into focus. They were miles away from me, but the size of their vicious incisors was unmistakable. The creatures were wolfhounds and they were hunting to kill. As they got closer, I took the hint and followed the girl into the cabin.

  The cabin was completely empty. The ground was made completely of dirt. A deep, commanding voice startled me, “What brings you here, Maggie?”

  My heart stopped. I was watching my mother when she still lived on Draio. The voice, however, was hard to identify. I tried to look around Mom but she was standing directly in front of the man confronting her.

  Mom said, “Master, I beg you.”

  The voice laughed at her misery, “Now, what would drive Actoria to charge after you in the fields? Did you steal their favorite bone?”

  Mom started to cry, which broke my heart. She said, “I do not know, Master. Please protect me. I will do anything.”

  She got on her knees and begged. I recognized his distinct face at once. Darius was skinnier than when I saw him in the bookstore. He resembled the pictures from the 1800s in his book.

  Darius hummed a happy-sounding tune and winked at my mother. He reached out his hand and placed it firmly on her stomach.

  He said, “Maggie, there comes a time in our lives when we have to choose which side we are really playing on. There are always two sides: lambs and wolves. Now would be the perfect time to decide.” Darius pulled a knife from his pocket and held it against my mother’s stomach. He said, “Are you a lamb or are you a wolf?”

  He stared deeply into her hysterical eyes, “I bet you know exactly why they are chasing you.”

 

  I shook myself out of my trance. The ramifications of Darius being so close to my family since then was terrifying. The worst was the realization that the baby inside her had to be me. Then I—

  I snapped out of my thoughts, “None of that was real. You are trying to turn me on to my friends.”

  Lathon talked on like he had not heard me, “Darius was a hybrid much like your father even if he tried his best to keep it under wraps. He was actually the fastest human to learn the arts of the Silhouettes. Your father was a fast learner, too. For Darius, It was only fitting that, like most humans, he would eventually abuse his power and expose his bigotry that he brought trailing with him like a flag in to Draio.”

 

  I attempted once again to break from my bindings, but it only got tighter with each struggle. My heart was pounding one hundred miles an hour and it was becoming nearly impossible to breathe. I said, “Why are you lying to me?”

  Lathon continued, “He was the first to learn that Maggie and Reese were having a child. They did not tell him, of course. They knew not to tell anyone in those horrible times. Cross-house dating was already forbidden, which is why I told him.”

  I said, “Why did you—why—is—that—a—problem?”

  “Just imagine if you throw a child into the mix. One word: dangerous. If you mix the gene pools of magical b
eings, the next thing is only—” he said as he mimed a small explosion with his hands. “Your mother was a special one. She was human—”

  “Just—like—my—father.”

  Lathon chuckled like he couldn’t be less bothered with how much pain I was in. He said, “With a few upgrades, I dare say. Oh, what am I kidding? You do not wish to see me babbel on. You would like to see it first hand, would you not?”

  “Please—do—not—”

  Before I could get the words out, he had already placed his hand on my forehead and I was transported back to Draio.

  This time I was back in the cross roads where the forest, parks, and Ocean intersected. The sky was again blue and free from the fiery Hell that I had become accustomed to in my nightmares.

 

  I was sitting down but I did not feel like I was sitting on the grass. I looked down, finding I was comfortable on a red, white, and black tablecloth. An intricately woven basket joined me to my right and on my left was a gorgeous blonde haired girl I knew without question was Mom. She was a little younger and she wore a white blouse along with a red skirt and a nice big pare of sunglasses that would have been ridiculous on anyone else but worked for her perfectly. I watched quietly as she let her uncovered toes dance against the warm grass, peacefully.

  An object floated over my head. It glowed red, blue, and green but it moved too fast for me to be able to identify it as more than Frisbee-like. Before it could land about ten feet away from us, a blur of a man sped past us and caught it. When he stopped moving, I could tell it was a younger version of my father.

  His hair was long, which must of have been par for the course for the men that lived on Draio. He had a small beard and had a regular old t-shirt and jeans on. It was different for me because I was only used to him wearing suits all of the time.

  “Mag, are we going to play catch or are you going to sit there and be a bore all day?”

  Mom smiled at him. She said, “I wouldn’t want to wear you out!”

  Dad’s face cringed, “Your use of contractions is dreadful.”

  Mom took off her sunglasses, “And you sound like you hang out with the Silhouettes too much. You—are—on. Now, is that better?”

  He said, “Perfect,” and threw the object as hard as he could towards the ocean. They exchanged looks; Dad’s was more like he was waiting for her to go get it, Mom’s was to let it get as far as possible.

  A couple of seconds later, Mom leapt up on all fours. Little white hairs popped out on different parts of her body in patches, slowly covering every inch. Her nose stretched out to be about a foot long, which would have made me leap in fear if only I could have moved. Mom was none too bothered. She had the care of someone who had been through this transformation many times before.

  Eventually her nose rounded out, which was followed by her eyes growing into big white orbs. Her ears stretched upwards into the triangular shape of a canine’s ears. The last things to go were her hands and feet. They grew to be five times their usual size and a tail popped out from her backside.

  Her clothes were in torn up scraps off to the side from the switch. She was the most gorgeous wolf I had ever seen and she was huge, almost beastlike. I could feel the hairs on my back rising as I watched her shoot off towards the floating object, which she caught in no time at all just a few inches before it was going to crash into the water.

  Dad applauded and jumped around like a happy kid. Mom galloped back to him and dropped it at his feet. She instantly switched back to human form, but I had to close my eyes. Everything went dark and the area was quiet around me—

  I hardly had the energy to worry about anything any more. I wished Lathon would just finish me off. Death would be so much easier.

  I used my final bit of energy to shout, “Why are you showing me all of this?”

  Lathon mused, “I believe we are a lot a like. We both were part of painful beginnings. I was human once or at least they told me that I was. They could have told me anything and I would have believed them because as far as I can remember, this is all I have known. I opened my eyes and was held witness to a world that suddenly belonged to me. My people supposedly built it, but I never got the feeling that the Silhouettes truly were my people. Once I learned the truth, my revenge scheme has been on slow burn.”

  “We—are—nothing—alike.”

  He laughed, “Soon we will have more in common than you might suggest.”

  Lathon flicked his hand at me. I winced as I anticipated a blow. Instead, we were suddenly not alone in the room. Next to my bed stood LeCarre who was unharmed with the exception of the shadowy noose that Lathon had placed around his neck.

  Lathon said, “This is where we learn if you are truly as powerful as your namesake would suggest, Alan. This will also test whether or not you care about this Silhouette. I want you to break from your binds and strike me down.”

  All of the air had been let out of the room. I had no idea how he expected me to make it out of his binds or survive for that matter.

  I struggled some more, but I was on my final puffs of air. I said, “I c-c-an’t.”

  Lathon shook his head, “You disappoint me. Let us raise the stakes.”

  The door opened. Jessica and Gerry entered who also had shadowy nooses around their necks. Their skin had paled over.

  Lathon said, “Now, I am going to snap the youngling’s necks if you do not break from my grip and strike me down. When I am done grinding their bones into fine powder, I am going to give LeCarre the permadeath he deserves. Sounds like fun? Let us make a game of it.”

  I closed my eyes, allowing myself to breathe in through my nose. I considered what Dad would have done in this situation—the Dad I knew. He would have used his imagination. It was crazy, but I was not going to let my friends die.

  I said out loud, “These binds are not holding me. We are not in my room.”

  Lathon said, “What are you going on about?”

  I opened my eyes, “These binds are not holding me. We are not in my room. You are not real. None of this real and I am not afraid of you.”

  Lathon jumped up, “I am as real as this world allows me to be.” His confidence was beginning to whither.

  I spoke again, louder, “THESE BINDS ARE NOT HOLDING ME. YOU CAN NOT HOLD ME.”

  I jutted my arms from their bindings. They stretched out. I was free. I stood up and looked Lathon directly in the spot where his eyes would be if he were still human. I was not sure how this was actually working but I was relishing every moment.

  Lathon said, “I dare say this is one of the most preposterous ideas you have ever come up with.”

  I smiled, “I am free, aren’t I?”

  My body was acting under its own control. It was like someone else was moving my hands as I reached into Lathon’s chest and pulled out the memory stone. It glowed a brighter red than before.

  I held the stone in my hand and said, “This stone is empty,” but my words were not my own. My lips moved on their own efforts, “You must realize Lathon that you could never hope to erase my memories.”

  The voice was my father’s.

  He continued, “Adolphus Fletch died with the revolution. He is a menace, and he is never coming back.”

  Lathon raised his hands to ready for an attack. He said, “Where are you, Reese? Come out and fight or are you just a coward?”

  I could feel my mouth stretching into a grin, “And lose my advantage?”

  Lathon’s body violently began to shake, “WHERE ARE YOU?”

  My right hand reached out and inserted itself back into Lathon’s chest. A light appeared on my shoulder and slithered its way down until my entire right arm was shining with a golden glow.

  The words came out in a whisper, but the sound encapsulated the room as I said, “Draio.”

 

  Cracks began to appear with tiny blue lights all over Lathon’s body as the golden light on my arm surged forward. A
t the same time, the chokeholds he had on the LeCarres loosened up. They joined my side and shoved their own arms into Lathon’s body to add to Dad’s power.

  LeCarre yelled, “It did not have to be this way, Andrew.”

  Lathon screamed, “IT ALWAYS HAD TO BE THIS WAY,” and dissolved into a pile of dust on the floor.

 

  I looked down at his remains. Just like Darius, he was gone—forever.