The Lord of Shadows

by E E Ewer

  Nire brushed and straightened her long hair, and put on a bit of mascara. Throwing on her scarf and jacket, she patted Gibson on the head before she walked out the door and towards the parking lot. It only took her about 10 minutes to get to Café Luna from where she lived. It might take a little longer in the snow, but still worth the drive.

  Shaking off the snow as she walked into the café, she wiped her feet and stood in line at the counter. After ordering a cappuccino and a poppy seed muffin, she went to claim a small table that sat nestled inside a bay window. Her coffee in hand, she drank a sip and stared out into the falling snow.

  Winter was not her favorite season; she didn’t like the cold. However, she greatly preferred the dark, cloudy weather to the sun in the dry summer. Snow was almost as comforting to her as rain, and sitting

  comfortably in the warm café, the soft puffy flakes mesmerized her as they danced downward. They reminded her of something specific…

  “The Sound of Silence” began playing on the speakers as she fiddled with the wrapper on her muffin. Had any of it been real? Or was her psychiatrist right?

  As much as she told herself that logically speaking it was practically impossible, there was an ache in her chest that wanted her to believe it, no matter how crazy it seemed.

  Nire put her elbow on the table and rested her cheek in her palm. Staring out the window at the falling snow, she tried to remember him. Pulling out her sketchbook from her bag, she began to draw an image of his face the best she could remember it. His eyes… She paused, brought the cup to her lips, and frowned.

  Her coffee had gone cold. Packing her things back in her bag she checked the time on her phone. Ough, I’ve just been staring into space for the last 30 minutes, she grumped to herself. Nire headed home as the sun began to hang low in the gray sky. A cold wind chilled her when she stepped out of her car and her shoulders tensed as she shivered.

  Once back inside her warm apartment, she flipped on her stereo and sat down at her drafting table. A few hours passed before she finally put down her pencils and wandered into the kitchen. Heating up a hot pocket, she ate while sulking on the couch and watching the nightly news.

  Gibson found his way onto her lap and looked up at her with green eyes.

  “Merrow,” he purred as she ate her dinner.

  “Hungry, Gibson?” Nire asked the gray cat as she ruffled his fur with her free hand. “All right, gimme a minute,” she said, stuffing the remaining corner of the hot pocket into her mouth. Glancing at the clock as she passed his dish, she realized it was already 9:30. “Sorry Gibby, I didn’t realize it was so late,” the brown haired girl said to the cat as she scooped some dry food into his dish.

  Gibson hurried to the bowl and began to purr as he ate. Nire smiled at her cat. Suddenly she felt rather tired and yawned. “I guess that’s what happens when you wake up at four in the morning, huh Gibby?”

  Hitting the light in the living room she headed to the bathroom and brushed her teeth before crashing in her bed. The darkness wrapped around her and she let out a sigh. Thoughts filled her mind as she closed her eyes and hugged the covers. It had been years, and she felt silly doing it… but part of her still hoped that if it had been real, he could hear her somehow.

  “I love you,” she whispered into the darkness.

  Nire opened her eyes and looked around. The clock read 12:00, and then suddenly the numbers began speeding forward until it read 3:00. Nire gasped and stood from her bed, but quickly realized the floor was missing, and as she turned she saw that her bed was also gone.

  “What?! What’s going on?” she called into the darkness. She spun in circles for a moment, and then she heard it.

  “Come to me…”

  Nire’s heart stopped in her chest. It was him… Suddenly she realized the voice from her dreams was him…

  “Lucian?!” she cried out.

  “Come to me…” the voice said again.

  “Lucian! I’m coming!” she cried as she started running. Tears filled her eyes as she ran through the darkness.

  “Come…” The voice began to fade.

  “No, wait!” Nire screamed through her tears as she pushed herself as hard as she could.

  “Come…” It was almost gone now.

  “Lucian! WAIT!” she screamed into the darkness of her room as she sat straight up in bed. She was breathing heavily, and her cheeks were wet with tears. Frantically she looked around the room, her eyes falling on her alarm clock, which read 3:00.

  Picking up her clock she threw it at the wall.

  “Ahhhgh!” she screamed. “Why now?!” she yelled into the darkness. “Why after seven goddamn years of NOTHING am I dreaming about this NOW?!”

  Collapsing on the bed she sobbed into her pillow. “Why now?” she mumbled into the covers desperately, wishing the darkness would answer her. Gibson jumped onto her bed and curled up next to the sobbing girl. This can’t be happening all over again… she told herself.

  The phone ringing woke Nire from her troubled sleep, and she grumbled in frustration as she grabbed if off the nightstand.

  “Hello?” she asked tiredly.

  “Mouse!” said a familiar voice from the other end.

  “Hi Jen,” Nire stated flatly.

  “Did you just wake up? You sound tired.”

  “Yeah… bad night… what time is it?”

  “It’s noon sleepy head. Remember we were going to grab lunch today?” her friend reminded her cheerfully.

  “Oh… right. Let me get dressed and I will meet you down there,” Nire said, pulling herself out of bed. “I need to get a new alarm clock while we’re out too… if you don’t mind.”

  “Don’t worry about it, you get ready and I’ll come pick you up.”

  “Are you sure? It’s kinda outta the way…”

  “Yeah, it’s no problem, see you soon!”

  “Ok, yeah. Bye Jen.” Nire heard the phone click on the other end and sighed, putting her face in her hands. Maybe it would be good for her to go out with Jen. She always knew how to cheer her up.

  Throwing on a pair of jeans and her usual black tank top, she quickly brushed her hair and threw on some makeup. Ough, I look horrible, she thought to her reflection. Just then she realized it was a good thing Jen was coming to pick her up, because she’d completely forgotten where they were going to have lunch.

  Grabbing her bag and checking its contents to make sure she had everything, she put on her jacket and scarf just as Jen pulled up to the front of the building in her red Honda. She tapped the horn, prompting Nire to come outside.

  It was cold, but sunny today. How irritating, Nire thought. She preferred cloudy weather; the sun bugged her. Shielding her eyes from the bright light of the low winter sun she hurried to the passenger side of her friend’s car.

  “Hey Mousy,” Jen smiled at her.

  “Hey… where were we going again?” Nire asked.

  “To that new place down town, the one that’s supposed to have that really great clam chowder,” Jen replied.

  “Oh, right. You read about it in the paper or something right?” Nire tried to recall what Jen had told her when she’d called her last week inviting her to lunch.

  “Yeah, it got a 3 star rating from some guy who like, NEVER gives 3 stars,” the blond girl said as she pulled out into the street. Looking at her friend briefly, she caught the sour expression on Nire’s face. “Something wrong, hun?” Jen asked.

  “Huh? Oh, I don’t know. I just… I had one of those dreams again last night. The ones where I’m running in the darkness trying to find the voice that’s calling me.”

  “Really? You haven’t talked about those in years,” Jen said.

  “I know. That’s because I haven’t had one in years,” Nire explained as the car slowed to a stop at a red light. “But there was something different about this one,” she said. “Or, it wasn’t different, but I noticed something.”

  “Oh really?” Jen asked curiously as the light turned green, and
she hit the accelerator.

  “I noticed that the voice calling me… it was his voice,” Nire said, staring at her lap.

  “You mean the demon guy?”

  “Yeah. I recognized his voice, and realized that all the other dreams I’d had… they were his voice too.”

  “Well, that’s a bit odd,” Jen agreed. “Have you been thinking about it a lot lately?”

  “Well… yeah,” Nire admitted.

  “That’s probably it then. You’re just thinking about it too much,” Jen reasoned.

  Nire nodded. “You’re probably right.” The green eyed girl stared sadly out the window, watching the street signs pass. 52nd… she said in her head as they passed through an intersection. Suddenly a glimmer in the window of a store caught her attention, and she gasped suddenly. “Jen! Stop!” Nire shouted.

  Jen slammed on the breaks and car horns blared. “WHAT? Holy crap, Nire!”

  “What street are we on?!” Nire shouted at her friend.

  “Alpine! What the hell?”

  Nire’s eyes got wide and she leaped out the car door. Jen suddenly realized the correlation and rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on! Not this again!” she shouted after Nire as she began to circle the block looking for a parking space.

  Nire ran back to the window. It was an antiques shop. Staring through the glass she could see it. She stood silently for a moment in utter disbelief. No way… it… it can’t be…. she thought. As the shock ran over her she walked through the shop door and up to the silver necklace hanging in the window.

  Picking it up from where it hung, she thought she could feel something in it. Staring at it in her hands she struggled with the idea that this was actually the necklace she’d lost seven years ago.

  “Can I help you?” an old woman asked from behind her.

  Nire turned to look at the woman, and held up the necklace for her to see. “Where… Where did you get this?” Nire asked in disbelief.

  “A young man brought it in years ago,” the woman replied. He said he’d picked it up off the sidewalk and since he couldn’t find the owner he asked me if I would take it. I wasn’t really sure if it was antique or not, but the craftsmanship suggested it was at least handmade, so I decided I might as well take it.

  “It’s been sitting in the shop gathering dust ever since,” she said. I decided to move it to the window last week to see if it might catch some more attention,”

  “Seven… years ago?” Nire asked curiously.

  “Hmm,” the old woman thought. “Yes, that sounds about right.”

  Nire’s jaw dropped as she stared at the moth pendant resting in her hand. “I lost this necklace seven years ago,” she said. “Someone pushed me out of the street and I fell. I didn’t even realize it was gone until after I was home.” She glanced at the old woman, who seemed to be thinking.

  “Well…,” the old woman began.

  “It was a gift, from someone I lost,” Nire continued. The price tag on the necklace read $120, and Nire couldn’t afford that until payday. No way was she walking out of this shop without it. The old woman tilted her head. “Please, I’ll pay you for it but I can’t afford the price on it,” Nire begged.

  The old woman heard the desperation in her voice and decided to believe her. “Well, it has been sitting here for seven years. No one else seems to have been interested in it,” the woman said.

  Nire bit her lip as the woman stared at the necklace.

  “I’ll tell you what,” the shop keeper said. “I believe you’re telling the truth so I will give it to you for the price I paid the young man who brought it here.”

  “What’s that?” Nire inquired.

  “Twenty dollars,” the old woman said, crossing her arms.

  Nire’s face lit up and she smiled widely. “Oh THANK YOU!” she cried just as Jen walked in the door.

  “Nire?” Jen called into the shop. “What the hell are you doing? I’ve been looking for you for the last 10 minutes.”

  “Jen, look!” Nire shouted, holding up the necklace.

  Jen stared for a moment. “No way,” was all she managed to say. “Is that it, Nire?”

  “Yes! It’s been here the entire time!”

  “No shit,” Jen said in disbelief, cocking her head to one side.

  “Here!” Nire exclaimed, pulling a $20 out of her wallet and handing it to the old woman. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” she cried giddily, practically jumping up and down. Turning to Jen she threw her arms around her friend, squealing with excitement.

  “Okay Mouse, take a chill pill,” Jen laughed, hugging her friend back. “Let’s go get that lunch okay? Then you can go freaky school girl happy on me.”

  Nire pulled away from her friend and nodded with a huge grin on her face. Leaving the antique shop they took a short walk to the restaurant which was just a block away from where Jen had finally managed to park her car.

  After a very bouncy lunch, Jen pulled out her phone and called Nikki.

  “Hey Nikki, remember that necklace Mouse said she lost?” Jen asked the redhead as she walked out of the restaurant with Nire. “Yeah. Well guess what we found today?”

  Nire could hear Nikki yelling on the other end, and Jen held the phone away from her year. “Yeah, thanks for that Nikki. Anyway, you want to come meet us over at Nire’s parent’s house?” The blond paused as she listened to the other rant. “Okay, see you there,” Jen smiled widely. “She’s coming.”

  After gripping the necklace for dear life Nire finally hung it around her neck once again. “Oh, hold on Jen. I need to stop by my apartment and get Gibson,” she said.

  “What do you need your cat for?” asked Nikki.

  “Well, just in case it works. I don’t want him just left there,” Nire explained.

  Jen smiled and laughed. “All right, I will humor you and we will get Gibson.”

  Nire gave a soft smile. Jen had always understood how she felt in this matter, and she felt a pang of sadness creep into her chest knowing this might be the last time she ever saw her.

  As they pulled into the driveway Jane poked her nose out the door. “So what is this emergency visit all about?” she called to the girls as they got out of the car. Nire rushed up to her mother

  “Look!” she called, pointing to the pendant hanging around her neck.

  Jane’s mouth dropped. “Nire Alder! Where on Earth did you get that?”

  “You’ll never believe it!” Nire cried excitedly. “I saw it in the window of an antiques shop on Alpine street right after 52nd when Jen and I went out to lunch!”

  “Yeah, she nearly scared the hell outta me too,” Jen added from behind her.

  “The woman in the store said a young man brought it in seven years ago! Can you believe it? It was there the entire time!” Nire said.

  Jane did not appear quite as excited as Nire was. “Dear, I thought we had put all this behind us” She sounded concerned. “And… is that Gibson?” she asked, looking behind Nire at the carrier in Jens hand.

  Nire put her hand behind her head and wore a guilty smile. “Yeah,” she admitted.

  “Nire,” Jane said just as Nikki pulled into the drive. Letting out a sigh she waved to the red haired girl as she stepped from her car.

  “Nire, I swear to god I’m going to kill you if this isn’t worth it. I had to cancel my date with …” Her sentence stopped short as she saw the necklace Nire was wearing. “Holy crap,” she stated.

  Nire dug into her bag and pulled out her old black sketchbook. On the very last page she had made a drawing of the necklace she had lost, so her friends would know what to look for on the many occasions they walked with her trying to find it. Opening to the last page, it was plain to see the resemblance was uncanny.

  “It’s not perfectly the same as the drawing,” Nire said, “but I’d only seen it once before I lost it. I couldn’t have had it on for more than 10 minutes.”

  Nikki reached for the book and took it from Nire’s hands. Looking between the pendant and
the drawing there were certain aspects that were exactly the same.

  “The guy who knocked me out of the street must have picked it up,” Nire added. Jane was not appreciating the rehashing of the event. Richard stood behind her with his arms folded across his chest.

  “All right,” Jane said, “why don’t you all come inside, we can talk about this more after dinner.”

  Reaching over Nikki’s shoulder, Jen snatched the sketchbook and took a closer look for herself as the group of girls headed through the door. Jane and Richard talked quietly in the kitchen while the girls talked in the living room.

  Neither Nikki nor Jen had ever actually believed her story, but they had tried to be supportive. Nikki often took Jane’s stance on the matter, and occasionally got irritated that Jen acted as if she believed it. However, even Nikki was not so sure at this point, and Jen couldn’t get over the fact that it also been found on the same street Nire claimed to have lost it.

  Dinner was quiet. Jane tried not to discourage Nire, but she didn’t want her to be disappointed again when it just turned out to be a coincidence. The journey it took to bring Nire back to reality had been a long and difficult one, and she hated to see her teetering back on the edge.

  “Nire,” Jane said after the meal was over, “what makes you think this will work?”

  “Well, I found the necklace didn’t I?” Nire responded.

  “Yes, but nothing has happened so far,” her mother pointed out.

  “I know. It only works between midnight and three,” Nire said.

  Nikki blinked. “You mean I have to stay up until midnight for this?”

  “Well, no, I guess,” Nire said. “But I’d like it if you did.”

  Nikki frowned and shrugged. “Oh, all right,” she said reluctantly.

  “He said between midnight and three, to bid it to take me home, and it would lead me there,” Nire said.

  “You really think this will work, Mouse?” Jen asked hesitantly.

  Nire’s smile dropped. “I… I don’t know,” she admitted. “But I have to at least try.” Looking at her hands she paused. “On the off chance that I’m not actually crazy… and if it was only one night here, and almost three months there… who knows how long it’s been…” her voice trailed off as she thought about how long Lucian must have waited for her to keep her promise. Tears welled in her eyes and she quickly wiped them away. “So, I have to at least try…”