The Shadow Box: Paranormal Suspense and Dark Fantasy Thriller Novels

by Travis Luedke

  “Nothing,” Josh lied. “Just thought I saw a friend from the party last night.”

  “Really?” Travis followed Josh’s eye into the woods. The gold light flashed again and silent rage washed over Travis’ face. “Oh. A friend. Dad, we’ll be right back. I have to go say hello.”

  “For God’s sake, Travis, no fighting, okay?” Gene looked into the woods blankly. “Where is your friend? I can’t see anyone back there.”

  Josh looked over at his cousin. Without saying a word they silently agreed to do whatever it took to show this guy the downside of spying.

  Past the mowed and paved façade of the picnic area, the woods took on another life. All sounds of civilization faded away, leaving only the call of birds, the whispers of the wind through the trees, and the hushed steps of their feet in the underbrush.

  “Where did he go?” Travis whispered. The trees were far enough apart that they could see for quite a ways.

  Nothing moved.

  Josh put a finger to his lips, motioning for silence. Even at 16, when he decided to take control of a situation, his entire demeanor changed. His shoulders stiffened and he seemed to grow several inches taller. There was a gleam in his eyes like a wild panther. Now when he moved, his feet made no sound against the ground. Josh was barely conscious of the change. It was only when he saw Travis staring at him that he realized anything had changed at all.

  “How did you do that?”

  Josh looked confused. “Do what?”

  Travis stared for a second longer, then shook his head. “Never mind. Just for a second there, I thought….Must be the nerves.

  “Must be.” Josh turned away from his cousin, afraid his face would betray him.

  “Wait.” Travis mouthed the word. He put a hand on Josh’s shoulder and pointed at a spot several yards away. “Over there.”

  Josh looked where Travis pointed. He caught the blur of shadows and the glint of gold disappearing behind the trunk of a massive oak. He sprang. Behind him he heard the heavy thud of footsteps as Travis followed. His body seemed to take over his mind. Gone was the anxious depression that had weighed on him since Tommy had died. He wasn’t jumping at shadows; he was chasing one.

  “Wait!” Travis whispered behind him. Josh stopped sharply. He nearly caused a collision with Travis, who could not stop as quickly. Even stationary, he kept his eye on the shadow.

  “You’re moving too fast!” Travis said. “I can’t keep up.”

  “I’m not the one moving fast.” Josh watched the shadow spin quickly and disappear. “The thing we’re following? That’s moving fast. Too fast for...”

  “Thing? Too fast for what?”

  “Too fast to be human.”

  Travis stared at him.

  He stared right back.

  “I’m guessing you don’t mean it’s a deer.”

  Josh shook his head and looked back into the woods. “I think I know what this is. You should go back. It’s not safe.”

  “Not safe? And what are you? Wolverine? No offense, short stuff, but, well for one thing, you’re insane. We’re not chasing a Sasquatch here.”

  “I know. They don’t migrate this far south.”

  “For another thing…” Travis stopped and did a double take. “Wait. Did you just…? Come on. There’s no such things as Sasquatch, wastoid. And that thing we’re following is totally human. I saw it last night, remember?”

  Josh turned slowly back to Travis. “Did you? Really? And what did ‘he’ look like?”

  “Well he…” Travis chewed his lip. He looked around the woods as if searching for a way out of this ridiculous situation. “It was dark. I didn’t get a good look.”

  “You didn’t get a good look at it because it wouldn’t let you get a good look. Think I’m crazy all you like, but I’ve already lost one friend to these things. I’m not going to lose another.”

  Travis took a step back, then lowered his head. “Is this about that friend of yours? The one killed in the gang fight?”

  “The what?”

  “Look, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop or anything, but I overheard your mom a few nights ago. She was talking to my parents about how a friend of yours got stabbed during a gang fight a while back.”

  Josh rubbed the back of his neck. “Tommy didn’t die in a gang fight. And that thing we’re chasing is moving about 100 miles per hour without so much as snapping a twig. If we keep chasing it, you’re going to find out I’m right. So it would probably be best if you headed back.”

  Travis looked at his hands for a moment, then looked down into Josh’s eyes. “There's no way in hell I am heading back without you. When we catch this guy and you see he’s nothing but a perverted Peeping Tom, will you please do me a favor and start taking your meds?”

  Josh smiled. “Deal.”

  In the distance Josh saw the glint of gold again. For the first time he got the impression they weren’t really chasing the thing. Maybe it was luring them somewhere. Normally that would have been enough to make him change his tactics. But something about the light drove him onward. It compelled him.

  “I’ve never been this deep in the woods before.” Travis jogged easily behind him. Though both had been running for more than twenty minutes, neither was out of breath. “I had no idea it even went this far. We must be over the Salt Mine by now.”

  A few seconds later, Josh began to notice changes around him – subtle at first but increasingly hard to ignore. First he noticed a light mist hanging between trees and covering the underbrush. Then he heard strange bird calls, completely unlike anything he’d heard before. They sounded more like vulture-sized parrots than anything native to North America. Then he saw the trees and stopped in his tracks.

  “What is it?” Travis stopped beside him. “Did you lose him?”

  Josh shook his head and studied the trunks of trees ten feet in diameter. They rose 100 feet above him before the foliage began. The bark was ruddy, like redwood, but the leaves were long and flat stars like elongated maple leaves. Looking past the leaves he saw the sun. It took a moment for his brain to process what he was seeing. The sun had a light blue tinge to it. It was also twice as big in the sky as it had been when they'd entered the woods.

  “Where the hell are we?”

  Travis looked up at the sun. “This isn’t right.” Mouth gaping open, he spun around quickly. “This can’t be Windsor. We don’t have Redwoods or any type of tree this massive. What the hell is going on?”

  “I don’t know.” Josh suppressed a shiver. “But I’m guessing our friend does. Still want to put money on him being human?”

  Travis punched Josh in the chest.

  “I take that as a ‘no.’ Are you sure you don’t want to head back?”

  Travis his put hands in the back pockets of his shorts and looked around. “Sure. I’ll head back. When you can point out exactly where the way back is. I’m completely lost. Hell, I can’t even use the sun to find east or west.” He pointed to the sky and then looked into the woods. “Where the sun is now, if that way is east it would be about 9:00 in the morning. If that way is west it’s closer to 7:00 p.m. So unless we’ve pulled a Superman and ran back in time….”

  “Or we’ve been running for six hours. I get you. Neither one makes much sense. What time do you have? What does your watch say?”

  Travis looked at his watch, then brought his wrist up to his ear. “Broken. Yours, too, eh?”

  Josh nodded. “You wouldn’t happen to have a cell phone, would you?”

  “It’s back on the picnic table. But even if I did, I’m guessing it wouldn’t work, either. Maybe we should just find this guy and find out what’s happening.”

  They started walking after that. Josh saw no sense running when their quarry was obviously not trying to escape. The underbrush grew thicker the further they went, as did the mist. He only caught occasional glimpses of the thing they were following, but it was going in a straight line now. It seemed to be moving slower as well, although Josh could sti
ll not make out any features except for the fact it was in the shape of a man.

  “Do you hear that?”

  Josh stopped and held his breath so he could hear more clearly. He heard a hushed rumble that sounded somehow familiar and yet inexplicable. “What is that?”

  Travis went visibly pale. “It sounds like flippin’ Niagara Falls.”

  Josh listened again and nodded. “Yep. That’s definitely a waterfall. So I think we can safely say we’re no longer in Windsor. Come on. Let’s get this over with.”

  They walked through the strange woods for another ten minutes before they reached the banks of a river. It was easily as large as the Detroit River, several kilometers wide. Unlike the river that ran between Windsor and Detroit, this one glistened a translucent blue. It reminded him of the waters along the beachfront in Bermuda. It smelled salty, too.

  “Over there,” Travis said.

  Josh glanced at him and then turned toward the waterfall.

  “Whoa.”

  For a moment, he found it hard to breathe. It was one thing to come to grips with his situation mentally. Actually seeing the waterfall and everything around it was an altogether different matter. It was easily one of the most imposing physical landmarks he’d ever seen. Before him, an escarpment covered with foliage shot up over five hundred feet. A section of the greenery gave way to rocks and grassland, as if the forest there had burned to the ground years ago and was only slowly coming back to life. Above the escarpment, birds with large, green beaks and leathery wings circled above the trees. The fact he could make out their wings and beaks from such a distance suggested they were as big as elephants.

  The waterfall ran like a slash of blue and white down the face of the cliff. It slammed into the river below, hiding the base of the escarpment behind a roar of mist and noise. The only thing he could compare it to was Niagara Falls, but he’d never stood in the shadow of anything like this.

  “Dude, where the hell are we? Is this Africa?”

  Josh blinked. “Africa? Are you on drugs? Does this look like Africa?”

  “Well, kinda.”

  “No! This is not Africa. This isn’t anywhere on Earth.”

  Travis punched Josh in the chest again. “Now who’s the one on drugs? If we’re not on Earth, where are we?”

  “Maghe Sihre.”

  The cousins turned as one at the voice, their hands clenched into identical fists. At the edge of the woods stood a strange-looking figure. He was a tall man with braided gray hair that hung down to the middle of his back. He was pale, with a complexion that could pass for Caucasian until you noticed the green tinge to his flesh. Ridges along his neck reminded Josh of vestigial gills, like he’d seen on aliens in Star Wars. His fingers also seemed unnaturally long and slender, but these things were only noticeable if you were watching closely. At first glance, he was just a man standing at the edge of the woods, dressed in green leather and a thick black traveler’s robe.

  “Is that the guy you saw?” He asked Travis the question over his shoulder; he kept his eyes on the stranger.

  “How should I know? It was dark, remember?”

  The stranger took a step forward. Travis flinched. Josh did not. “I’m afraid there won’t be time for introductions. Not today. You are here because I made a promise, Joshua. Your father is a very powerful creature and he’s worried about you. He’s concerned about the way you slaughtered his employees.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Now it was Josh’s turn to step forward. “My father isn’t a powerful man and he definitely doesn’t have Edimmu as bodyguards.”

  “Who exactly do you think your father is?”

  The stranger was smiling now. He crossed his arms over his chest, giving Josh the first clear sight of the source of light they’d been following. A simple gold ring on the man’s left hand shone brightly even in plain daylight.

  “I know exactly who my father is. You have one minute to explain who you are and why you’ve brought us here.”

  “And how,” Travis added abruptly. “Tell us how you’ve brought us here.”

  “Or what?” The man laughed with what sounded like genuine humor. “Oh my, Joshua. You are so much like your father. Always throwing around meaningless threats. Tell me, do you actually believe I’d let you get close enough to lay a finger on me?”

  Thorny vines shot out from the darkness of the woods and wrapped around Josh’s and Travis’ wrists. Before either of them could react, the vines lifted them off the ground. Pain seared through Josh’s confidence. He couldn’t see Travis but he could hear him screaming. Blood dripped down his forearms. He felt completely helpless.

  “Ah, silence.” The stranger walked away from the edge of the woods and stood below them. Only then did he realize how far up in the air he was. His knees were level with the stranger’s head. “Not even a whimper from the demon son. So tell me, Josh, what do you know about your father? What do you remember?”

  Josh tried to answer but the pain from his wrists made it hard to concentrate. He saw a flash of light from the gold ring and his mind went blank.

  The stranger smiled. “Just as I thought. You know nothing. We have big plans for you but you’re a little too, shall we say, unpredictable. That nonsense you pulled killing all those Edimmu, well, we just can’t have that. The alliance is far too new for in-killing. Unfortunately, we need you. Killing you isn’t an option. For either side. Fortunately, I have an alternative. With this ring I slip into that pretty little brain of yours. I can repress all memories related to the Edimmu, your powers, and who your real father is. As an extra bonus, I’m going to make you forget about me, too. When the time is right, and only when the time is right, I’ll make you remember. By then, it will be too late for you to stop what’s coming.”

  There was a flash of light and a sensation of falling backwards. Then Josh woke up in darkness. It took his eyes some time to adjust. He realized he was in a forest lit by moonlight. His shoulders ached as if they’d nearly been pulled out their sockets. His wrists were mangled and bruised, covered in still-wet blood. He stood and looked around. His cousin Travis lay crumpled in a fetal position nearby. Nothing else looked familiar.

  “What the hell happened?”

  ***

  Josh woke up in his room. Garnet stood beside his bed.

  “What the hell happened?” She asked as she chewed the fingernail on her right baby finger. “Did all the stress finally catch up with you?”

  Josh sat up quickly and grunted as hot searing pain shot through his head. He fell back to the bed and looked at his wrists to confirm that they were still in perfect shape. Then he sat up again, slowly this time. “There was a man. I have to speak to Wisdom. There was a man in the building. He has to know.”

  Garnet stared down at him, her face slowly fading from condescension to fear. “You’re telling the truth. I can feel it. How did he get past security?”

  “Forget that.” Josh gripped her by the wrists. “What I want to know is how he got past Wisdom.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Wisdom stared out the window and watched the light from the sunset bounce and beam off the pillars of glass and steel. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he should be doing something. Since heading back in time, these were the hardest times. Nothing he did now mattered. Going through these days the first time, he’d believed, like most, that our every action is vital, that every choice could fundamentally alter our reality.

  Now he knew better.

  Nothing he did in the next two days would have any bearing on whether or not Propates won. Nothing he could do would help keep Echo alive or reduce the chance that the Council of Peacocks would subvert his students. He knew this based on the evidence he’d collected. Hard facts. But he still didn’t like it.

  The intercom buzzed.

  “Yes, Shirley. What is it?”

  “Sorry, sir, but you have some messages. Is it safe to come in?”

  Wisdom groaned. “Yes, yes. I’m not go
ing to hit you. That was one time, like five years ago. Let it go.”

  The intercom clicked off and Shirley opened the door to his office. “One time, you say. But you hit bloody hard. I lost two teeth!”

  “Which I grew back for you. This may surprise you, Shirley, but I’m not always in control of my temper.”

  “You don’t say. You received twenty messages this morning. Shall I go through them alphabetically or by phone number?”

  “Neither. Just tell me the important ones.”

  “Very well.” Shirley sat down in one of the chairs facing Wisdom’s desk. “That reporter, the one from People, called again for the tenth time. Her deadline has been moved up and she wants to reschedule. What should I tell her?”

  “Tell her too bad. I’m a busy man and she either makes the appointment or not. Next.”

  “Your broker called. He’s got those stocks you were asking about. Are you sure about Livedore, sir? Last night I saw this documentary on them and…”

  “I’m sure. I’m going to make a mint. Trust me. Any word on that other matter? The three men I asked you about?”

  Shirley shook her head. “Not yet, but you did get a fruit basket from David Cameron. Shall I send it in?”

  Wisdom rolled his eyes. “No. I don’t want a bloody fruit basket from the bloody Prime Minister. And who sends fruit baskets anyway? Why not send me a car or a watch? No, I get a fruit basket. Maybe I should kill him. That could possibly alter the fabric of time enough.”

  “I’m sorry, sir,” Shirley said. “But you’re raving again. Should I get you some Turtles?”

  “No. Wait! Yes. Get me a platter of several types of chocolates, but mostly Turtles. And you may as well send in the chocolate oranges from the bloody fruit basket.”

  “How did you know?”

  Wisdom smirked. “Come on, Shirley. How long have you worked for me? I know things. It's the reason David bloody Cameron tries to be nice to me. He should try a little harder, if you ask me. And get me that detective from New York on the phone. I need to track down those men.”

  Shirley nodded and left. When the door opened seconds later, he expected to see his chocolate. Instead, he was surprised to see Garnet and a rather pale-looking Josh.