The Shadow Box: Paranormal Suspense and Dark Fantasy Thriller Novels

by Travis Luedke

The earthquake knocked Propates back several feet, which gave Echo just enough room and leverage to kick out at him. Her foot struck him in the lower ribs and he doubled over. She grabbed the quasi-solid shadow spear in her gut and yanked it out. It dissipated as soon as it was free. Moving as quickly as she dared with a stomach wound, Echo clasped her hands together and brought them down hard to the back of Propates’ head. He fell the rest of the way to the ground.

  ‘Time to leave,’ she thought. Wisdom was right about her being no match for Propates. Her long life had taught her sometimes it was better to jump into a fight and other times it was better to run from one. This was definitely a running situation. She opened a portal of light and ran toward it. She saw Todd rising to his feet, disoriented. She motioned for him to follow her and he started to move. Then, next to her portal of light, the air shimmered and rippled. A second portal of light appeared and Wisdom stepped through.

  “Echo!” Wisdom’s face glowed with a smile wider than she’d ever seen on his face. “I did it.”

  “Did what? Killed your father?”

  “Oh, well, that too. But I…Oh God, I’m just glad you’re alive.”

  Relief like nothing she had ever known rushed through her. Echo ran into his arms. They kissed. For a moment, she forgot all the centuries of violence. She pulled away and looked up into his eyes.

  Then Wisdom took a slow step back.

  “What’s wrong?”

  The color bled from his face. He grew paler with every moment.

  “What is it, Wisdom? You’re scaring me.”

  Wisdom stared at her, looked down at her chest. Tears fell down his face.

  “Too late,” he said.

  Echo followed his eyes down to her chest. She saw the spear of darkness that pierced her chest.

  “I don’t feel any pain,” she said, her voice weak. She looked back at Wisdom for answers.

  Then she died.

  Wisdom watched the body as it fell before him, grief and rage warring within him. Then rage won and he looked back at the man who, once again, had killed Echo.

  “He told me, you know.” Propates brushed dust off the edges of his colorful robe. “Your father. He told me you jumped back in time just to save her. What I don’t get is why? You never loved her like I did. She was just a toy to you. We all were.”

  “She was my salvation.” Wisdom took a half step forward then stopped. He could not trust the strength of his legs. “Do you know the myth of Andromeda? She was the daughter of vanity. Her mother, Cassiopeia, was full of pride. She believed she was more beautiful than the sea nymphs. So the gods demanded recompense. Poseidon forced her to give up her beautiful virgin daughter to a sea monster. Then along comes Perseus, her knight. He saved her from the beast. I guess I thought that if I could save her, maybe I could be her Perseus. Instead, I’m just the monster.”

  “You’re pathetic.” Propates shook his head and stared at Echo’s body. “She wasn’t a princess who needed saving. She was a person and you were never good enough for her. Maybe if…”

  “Die.”

  Wisdom focused his rage and all the futility. Propates’ body twisted and flopped until it seemed a two-dimensional image, bent paper in a three-dimensional world. Liquid shadow the consistency of oil bled wherever a bend appeared. Wherever the shadow-blood hit ground, it bubbled and ate through concrete and dirt like sugar under water. When Wisdom tired of the torture, he opened a portal and flung Propates through it.

  He fell to his knees and cried silently for a long time. Afraid to move, everyone simply watched him until he rose again to his feet.

  “Where did you send him?”

  Wisdom shrugged and stared down at Echo's body. “The center of the sun. It’s a faster death than he deserved but I want to make sure he’s dead.”

  Todd's eyes went wide. A rush of footsteps came from the stairs. He turned toward the sound, ready for a fight. He relaxed as Josh and Elaine entered the storage room. A moment later, Garnet appeared. She carried Jessica in her arms.

  “Is she....?” he asked, rushing toward them.

  “She's just tired.” Garnet lowered her to the ground. Then her eyes fell on Echo and she moaned. “Oh, my God. What happened?”

  Elaine knelt beside Echo. After a moment she stood and shook her head. “You could try again, Wisdom.”

  Josh looked back and forth between Elaine and Wisdom. “What do you mean, you can try again?”

  Surprisingly, Wisdom smiled. “That's just the thing, Elaine. I have tried again. I've tried over and over. This was the fifteenth time I travelled back through time to save her. She dies a little different every time. But she always ends up dead.”

  Josh rubbed the back of his neck. “You traveled through time? Then, couldn't you have stopped this? If you went back to the beginning, you could have saved Brian. You could have stopped me from ever going to Quebec. You could have...”

  “Josh…” Garnet put a warning hand on his arm but Josh shook her away.

  “This is the first time you've been a part of this, Josh,” Wisdom answered. “Maybe if I tried again I could do those things. Maybe not. That's beside the point. I'm finished.”

  “Wisdom....” Elaine said.

  “I've made up my mind. You're right about one thing, Josh. You can change things when you travel through time. The first time I made the trip, it was mostly out of pride. Propates won, killed Echo, and turned you all into killing machines. It was insulting. I went back several months, had Ms. Ryerson increase the training on the Anomalies. I saved them all from being killed by the Edimmu and killed Propates in his sleep. My father came by and killed Echo while we celebrated. Each time after that I did things a little different. Each time I lost Echo I realized a little more how much she meant to me. It became the only important thing. I found my odds were better if I weakened my father instead of saving the Anomalies from the Edimmu. With all my power I can’t be in two places at once. No matter what choices I make, all paths end the same. Echo dies.”

  “What if you, I mean, couldn’t you just kill Propates and your father at the same time?”

  Wisdom rolled his eyes. “Gee, why didn’t I think of that? Why does everyone think I’m stupid? Of course I thought about killing them both at the same time.”

  Josh gulped. “I just mean… if you can travel back through time, isn’t anything pretty much possible?”

  “Apparently not. Because, like I said, I can’t be in two places at the same time. I can’t even be in two times at once, which I guess is actually the same thing. There can only be one of any given thing in at a certain time. I don’t claim to know everything about time travel, but I know the way those portals work. When you step through, it destroys your original body. All that transfers through the circle of light is your consciousness and a stream of energy that reconstitutes into a new version of your body. It’s the consciousness that’s the key. Your consciousness exists outside of time and space. I can’t create another one. That’s why I can’t be in two places at once. It’s why I can’t kill Propates and my father at the same time.”

  Now Garnet knelt beside Echo. “Did she know?”

  “No.” Wisdom's voice cracked. “Not this time. Things were harder on her the times I told her. No matter what I said, she wouldn't run away. Once I even forced her. Kidnapped her. I wiped her memory and moved to New Zealand. My father found us eventually. That's why this has to be the last time. I hoped finding Josh would change things. But in the end....” Wisdom shook his head, smirking at a private joke. “It looks like even Wisdom can't change destiny.”

  For what seemed an eternity, no one said anything. Then Wisdom opened a portal directly under Echo and her body disappeared. Only then did he turn back to the Anomalies. “Did you destroy the processing room?”

  Josh looked back at Elaine and then spoke. “No. We couldn’t get to it. Too many Edimmu. After your signal, Jessica felt out where you were. Josh collapsed the ceiling of the tunnel but the Edimmu will be here soon. We cam
e to regroup.”

  Wisdom nodded slowly. “That was smart. We should move quickly. While we’re regrouping, so are they. I know you’re all wounded but we have to keep going. I found out what the Council has planned. It’s worse than I could have ever expected. We have to put them down once and for all. Not to be melodramatic and all, but the fate of the world may be in our hands. Let’s try not to screw it up.”

  Epilogue

  Josh looked across the coffee table at his mother and watched her sense of reality steadily crack. She wore a flowery summer dress that seemed both whimsical and formal. It was totally inappropriate for this conversation. She had just come back from church when he'd arrived with Wisdom and the others. Two hours later, he finished bringing her up to speed. She took it all very well. In fact, Josh was surprised at how easy it was for her to believe even the strangest parts of the story.

  “I should have known,” she said. “Not all of it, because how could anyone know? But there were signs. I knew your father kept things from me. I just convinced myself it was because of his job. The job with the government. Still, when you disappeared like that and he didn’t make a big deal out of it, I knew something was wrong.” She looked past Josh out the front window. “Do you think your father is dead?”

  Josh shook his head, tears welling in his eyes. For a moment he was too choked up to speak. Then he cleared his throat. “No. I don’t think he’s dead. When we went back to destroy the processing room, we saw a lot of Edimmu. But most of the Council got away. We think they felt Propates die. Wisdom says even the first stage of Eyeness makes you sensitive to things like that. By the time we got to the processing room, there was no one left. We smashed the equipment. Wisdom transported a bunch of files and computers back to his offices. He’s having people look them over for clues now. By the time we made it out of the underground tunnels and into the apartment complex, everything else had been cleared out. We don’t know where the Council went but we’ll find them. They took the other Anomalies with them, too. I’m pretty sure Dad is still alive. I think I might feel it if he was dead.”

  His mother nodded. “Me, too. God forgive me, but I think it might be better if he was dead.”

  Josh took a sip of tea and tried to think of something to say. Nothing he could think of seemed appropriate. The silence dragged on for minutes. Finally, his mother spoke.

  “Have you seen Jan?”

  Josh paled and set his tea down. “I don't think that’s a good idea. I love her, but she deserves a normal life. That’s something I’m never going to have. Like I told you, I have to go back with them, Mom.”

  “Is this Wisdom forcing you?” She looked at the ceiling. Wisdom and the Anomalies were searching the house to see if Richard had left clues around that might lead to other Council headquarters.

  “Nobody's forcing me to do anything. I just made a decision, that's all. Since Echo died, Wisdom has been different. He’s not keeping anything secret from us anymore. I know what’s coming. And once again, no, I’m not going to tell you what it is. The less you know about that the better. Dad may try to contact you.”

  Mrs. Wilkinson nodded, a faraway look in her eyes.

  There was another long period of silence.

  “Do you think it was all a lie?”

  Josh looked up at his mother. “All of what?”

  “Do you think your father ever loved us? Loved me? Was it all a lie to cover up what he really was?”

  Josh thought of a dozen different comforting phrases but said none of them.

  “I guess that's just one of the questions I'll have to ask him when I find him.” He looked up to see Wisdom coming downstairs with a stack of file folders in hand. “Guess it’s time to go. Wisdom, can you give us a moment?”

  Wisdom nodded and went back upstairs.

  Josh went to his mother and kissed her on the cheek and embraced her for a long time. Then he walked upstairs to his old room. The others were there, still covered in blood and soot. The same blank expression played out on all their faces.

  “I wish I could tell you the worst was over,” Wisdom said. “But if we don’t find the Council and stop them, it is all going to get a whole lot harder. We have to find out more about Defksquar and his terra-forming device. We have to track down the Council of Peacocks and stop the Orpheans from coming back to Earth. All in all, I’d say we have a pretty full schedule.”

  Wisdom opened a portal and the Anomalies walked through it. As Josh looked at the portal, he wondered what he would do if he could step back in time. Would he try and save Brian’s life? Maybe it would be safer to ruin the friendship before it began. Would he stop Jan from being tortured or break up with her years before so she would never be in that position?

  The one thing he was sure of, the one thing he knew absolutely, was that if he could travel back through time, he would have told his father to stand in front of that window back in Lebanon. He knew he could never kill his father the way Wisdom had apparently killed his own. He also knew if Richard had died that day Josh would never have found out what a monster the man really was. And maybe, sometimes, not knowing is the greatest gift in the world.

  Josh stepped through the portal of light and left his home behind.

  ***

  “I so hate my job”,” Amelia Ryerson, former instructor of the Anomalies, said for the fifteenth time in as many minutes. She felt vulnerable, even though she used her abilities to become invisible, cloaked from the perception of the people around her. It was the middle of the business day. Well-dressed people filled the lobby of the Manhattan building. Most were so busy with their own lives that they would not have paid attention to her anyway. Still, Wisdom had been explicit about her mission: no one could see her, not even civilians.

  Finally, she saw her target: a man with dark, short-cropped hair that was just beginning to grey. She watched as he walked out of the elevator and headed out the front door surrounded by bodyguards. His name was Lucius Vitalli and, aside from being a successful entrepreneur, he was also a member of the Council of Peacocks. When Wisdom had removed the Anomalies to Hong Kong, he'd given her a different mission: follow Lucius and report on his doings.

  Lucius looked shaken. Though more than one hundred feet away, with her enhanced vision she saw every detail of his suit. She had watched him long enough to know the way he moved, the way he breathed. Today, he walked with a limp. He was badly injured.

  ‘What the hell is he doing in public?’ she thought. Normally, Lucius stayed away from the crowds. He was a rich and reclusive man with a reason to be wary of paparazzi. Only something important would put him near possible cameras. Weeks ago, Lucius had had a very public meeting here in New York with Otto Siegmar and Paavo Rothschild, a move that was also out of character. Wisdom knew nothing about what they were planning. Ms. Ryerson was there to find out.

  Running faster than the human eye could follow, Ms. Ryerson followed him outside to his limo. She assumed he was heading back to his penthouse apartment, but she followed him closely, anyway. Whatever he was up to, she would find out sooner or later.

  ***

  It was dark in Windsor as Travis Froese took out the garbage. Despite the heat, he shivered as he looked around him. For days now, he could not shake the feeling that he was being watched. A survey of the shadows convinced him he was alone; no one was outside at this time of night.

  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something. For just a moment, he could have sworn he saw a glint of gold coming from the garage across the street. Something about the brief glimpse seemed familiar but he could not link it to a specific memory. He stared at the spot for a moment, but the gleam did not reappear. He rubbed the goosebumps from his arms and headed back past the car parked in his driveway and went inside.

  From under his car, two sets of voices began to laugh quietly.

  “I told you he would come here,” the first voice said. It was raspy and weak but held a fierce masculinity. “The alien is so predictable.”

&nb
sp; “I don’t know about that, Sanchez,” the second voice said. It was also raspy and weak but sensual and feminine. “I don’t know if anyone saw this coming.”

  “Get serious, Carla. It’s not like you have to be an evil genius to have a backup plan. He’s obviously been planning this for a while. Josh might have been his first choice, but the young Mr. Wilkinson is so firmly in Wisdom’s camp now that he’s far from useable. Makes sense he would start focusing on Plan B.”

  “Thanks for proving my point, Sanchez. I don’t think this is his Plan B. I think the whole thing with Josh was just misdirection. We’ve all been so focused on Josh that no one has been paying attention to his cousin, Mr. Froese. If you want my opinion, I think using Travis was his plan all along.”

  From the shadows, Sanchez gasped. Then he laughed. “You know what, Carla? I think you might be right.”

  “And the Council has no idea.”

  More laughter.

  “Well isn’t this just rich. I can’t wait to see what happens next.”

  ###

  More from M. Joseph Murphy:

  http://www.mjosephmurphy.info/

  http://councilofpeacocks.blogspot.ca

  A DEATH DISPLACED

  LANSIN ISLAND SERIES

  By Andrew Butcher

  A Death Displaced, Second Edition 2014

  Copyright © by Andrew Butcher 2014

  http://www.andrew-butcher.com

  All characters and events in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance whatsoever to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is for the use of brief quotations in a book review.