Manipulation (Shadows)

by Jolene Perry

  “Yes.” I laugh. “We are.”

  Ellie giggles as she and Jeremy follow us inside.

  “Can I get a kiss?” I ask. “Just a small one?”

  “I don’t think I can manage a small one, unless you promise to keep your hands to yourself.”

  I let go of her hand and stuff mine in my pockets. She kisses my cheek.

  “Oh, come on!” I laugh and take her hand again.

  “Later.” She smirks.

  Our time at the museum passes too quickly. Ellie and Jeremy hit it off, even though they’re close to two years apart. Addie and Ellie bounce comments off each other and finish one another’s sentences just like I’d expect. Jeremy and I don’t have that, not yet. But we can get together now, and I plan on keeping it that way.

  When we step out, Jimmy and a car show up for Addie and Ellie and the Audi pulls up a few moments later.

  “I’m not ready for our day to be over yet.” Addie’s waiting for me to say something.

  “Well, your sister can go home. And you can stay with me.” I really want some time with her.

  “What will you do with me?” she teases.

  “Let’s wait until the kids are in the car.” I wink.

  “I’m not a kid.” Jeremy scowls.

  I laugh. “Thanks for coming up.” We shake this time. We’re good. Brothers. Jeremy jogs down the last few steps and climbs in the car.

  Addie’s talking to Ellie next to their car. The car drives away and it’s just the two of us. Addie pulls two little sticks out of her hair and it falls down around her. It doesn’t matter if she did it on purpose or not, it takes my breath away. I pull her into me as soon as we’re close enough. Our lips are together and we’re kissing like we did yesterday. Like we’ll never get enough of one another. Because what she feels mingles with what I feel and it’s amazing. More than I’ve ever felt touching a girl, ever.

  A breeze hits us.

  “Brr.” Addie tightens her arms around me.

  “Man, I have goose bumps, too. Guess it’s not as warm out as we thought.” I slide my arm slowly around her lower back and hold her waist. “Now what?”

  “Just walk?” She kisses my cheek.

  “Great.” Anything to spend time with her.

  * * *

  “We’re eating lunch on a small outdoor table in the sun. I have no idea where we are. Somewhere in New York I’ve never been. The city noise is present as always, the constant humming of cars and people, but in ways the crowd around us helps us feel alone. We don’t know any of these people, and they don’t know us. Addie sets down her drink and her face goes white.

  “Addie?” I lean forward. “What’s up?”

  “I… I know those people.” She points down the street as her voice shakes.

  “The blond guy and goldilocks? The ones who look lost?” His hand is shielding his face and the girl with him is doing the same, as if they’re looking for someone.

  “I saw them, on my dad’s computer, but I wasn’t supposed to. Dean. We have to go.”

  “Why?” They look harmless enough. Two people, about our age.

  The boy’s eyes hit mine and I swear my body reacts. Like a jolt into me or something.

  “Come on, Dean.” Addie stuffs money under a cup.

  I take her under my arm and we start walking quickly away. The way his eyes hit me and Addie’s desperation send my heart into a frantic rhythm. We’ll blend, right? Into the crowd?

  I glance behind me. The girl reaches her hand up and waves. At me. But there’s something off about her, different, and I can’t put my finger on it.

  Addie steals a glance back as well. “Dean we have to get out of here.”

  “Wait!” I hear the guy from behind us. I don’t look. I know it’s him.

  I take Addie’s hand and we start to run. She’s fast. We go around one corner and then another one. We’re fortunate to be in a part of town with one small shop after another. Doors everywhere. I drag Addie into an alleyway where we crouch behind a dumpster. There’s a way out behind us, it doesn’t look appealing, dirty, dark and cold, but better than no way out. The smell burns my nose as we wait.

  “I don’t get it, Landon.” I hear a girl’s voice.

  “Be patient.”

  “But I saw them. I mean, I know it was them. I don’t get why they ran.”

  “I know it too.” A short pause. “I’m sorry.”

  “What if they know more? What if they can help us? What if I’m not working right?” Her voice is tinged with worry.

  “You’re working fine.” He chuckles. “Maybe you saw us all together further in the future. We’ll head to the Carolina islands like we planned and stick around there for a while, okay? Maybe they’ll show up then.”

  “But I saw them here,” she insists.

  “And we did see them here, just like you knew we would when we left Maine.”

  All I can think over and over is Insight, Insight, Insight… Are they like Addie and me? Are we throwing away an opportunity to learn more?

  “Are we really giving up, just like this?”

  Landon chuckles again. “If you think you’re being chased by us, you’re wrong!” he yells.

  “What are you doing?” Now the girl’s laughing next to him.

  “Not giving up.” He pauses again. “You’re being chased by someone else! We’re headed south! Sailing vessel Moonshadow! We’re talented too! Check the ports!”

  “Landon, everyone’s staring.”

  “Okay. We’re done.” His voice has quieted back to normal. “Ready to go?”

  “I guess.” Only she sounds so defeated I almost jump out to talk to them.

  I stare at Addie, who’s staring at the ground.

  “Addie?” I look at her.

  “What?” She faces me.

  “They don’t sound so bad.” They sound like us. Like we would in an odd situation. Not being chased by them. Does that mean we’re being chased by someone else? Who would be chasing us? I do know that if Addie wasn’t here, I’d have run after them. Or let them catch me. Even though there’s something different about them. Something I can’t quite place. But maybe it’s the same thing that pulled Addie and I together—gifts from some magic gone awry in The Bahamas, if I believe Ellie’s research.

  “I’m scared, Dean.” And she is, there’s no doubt. Her voice sounds thin, frail.

  “You’re going to have to explain yourself, Addie. I want to help here. Who are they? Do you know something you’re not telling me?” I run my hand up and down her arms hoping to calm her a little, but still not sure if touching her is the best way to do that.

  “I don’t know.” Addie starts telling me about her dad’s extra-businesses, code words like shadow people, the Middle Men, computer internet rooms and seeing their picture. “They’re somehow involved, Dean, and I don’t think it’s good.”

  “Or maybe they’re just like us?” As soon as the thought hits me, I can’t shake it. There’s something different about them, but there was nothing bad or suspicious.

  “What do you mean, like us?”

  “I… He said talents.” But I’m not sure what I mean. “We need to do some research.”

  * * *

  Addie offered me her iPhone, but I need a big screen. We’re at a small café with computers, and Addie’s washed her hands three times since we sat down. She’s on my right, staring out the window, “keeping watch.” I feel okay about the people we saw today. It wouldn’t hurt to talk with them. We’re fast. I’m sure we could outrun them a second time, if it came to that. But it’s not like I could have forced Addie to stick around in the brief moment they were in our sight.

  I search for shadow people and get nothing useful. I search Middle Men next. The results are mixed.

  “There’s some stuff to do with entertainment, you know, matching people up with studios and agents.” I know this isn’t what we need. If Addie’s dad was involved in something like that, it wouldn’t need to be secret.


  “I don’t think that’s going to help us, Dean.” Addie’s still staring out the window. She’s leaning against me, which I love and I really wish we were somewhere more private.

  “Okay, probably right.” But the idea of someone acting as an agent… that might be useful.

  “It might be,” she says.

  “What?”

  Addie chuckles. “Sorry. Your thoughts just filter in. Almost like you’re talking.”

  “Oh. Right.” Might need to keep that in check, but the moment I think about not letting her see what I think, I think about how earlier today she leaned over the railing and I got a glimpse of her bra—

  “Dean. Seriously.” She nudges me, but she’s smiling so I’m thinking I’m okay.

  “Right. Focusing.” Only I give her a quick kiss before going back to the screen.

  I see a band called the Middlemen and now I have to check them out. They’re a British group and the music is actually pretty good.

  “Hey, listen to this.” I offer an earphone. “They’re good.”

  “Focus Dean.” Addie frowns. “Don’t you need quiet to really think?”

  If I needed quiet to focus, I’d have failed out of school. “Okay, focusing. If Owen Wilson hadn’t been in a stupid movie called Middlemen, this would be a lot easier.” I sigh. Almost all the hits are on iMDB and a movie that came out in 2009.

  Middlemen – from the place in the Bahamas where the legend of the people who turned to shadows began.

  That’s ambiguous. Probably some scholar trying to come up with the next DaVinci code or something. But wait… This sort of goes with the research that Ellie did. Now I wish I would’ve listened to her more closely.

  I click just to check. Maybe I’ll get some more ideas.

  The Middle Men are a group who are chosen to collect people with unique gifts.

  “Addie?”

  Her head whips around. Both of us shiver involuntarily.

  This is not good. Not good at all. Her dad’s involved. Was Addie already collected?

  She gasps next to me and jumps away.

  Shit. She can hear me. Why do I forget this? “You look like your dad, Addie. Don’t worry.”

  “But Ellie doesn’t.”

  “What does that have to do with anything?” Now she’s just grabbing at things.

  “I… I don’t know.”

  “She doesn’t do what you do.”

  Addie’s eyes are wide as she shakes her head.

  “Yeah. Jeremy either. At least not when I was around him.”

  “But he knows?” Addie asks.

  I nod, but even as I do I wonder if Jeremy’s forgotten.

  “Relax.” I lean away from the computer and rub my hands up and down her arms a few times.

  “I’m not sure how. It’s too much to think about.” She turns her eyes from the computer screen and focuses on the window again.

  As I go through more of the site, most of it’s completely non-helpful. Some are links to places who treat the Middle Men like some kind of gods or something. Other places talk about them being aids to those with gifts. Nothing tells me if I should seek them out or run away.

  When I was a kid in elementary school, I was taught about right and wrong and it all seemed black and white. Then I went home and dealt with Mom, and stole food from the cafeteria. Was it wrong to steal? Or was I doing a good thing because I was feeding my brother and I? I still don’t know. And once again, nothing here is black and white.

  “I know…” Addie sighs. Right, she’s listening.

  “I’m sorry.” I lean over and kiss her cheek before slowly pulling away. Now is not a time for me to let myself get out of control with her. Even though that kind of sounds like the best way to distraction.

  “It’s late.”

  She’s right. It’s getting dark. We’ve been out all day.

  “Want me to take you home?”

  “I’m not ready yet.” Her voice sounds so sad and quiet.

  “Should we get out of here?” The mood is still heavy.

  “Yeah.”

  Addie and I walk. It feels like hours, but also minutes. We don’t speak. She still looks over her shoulder, and I still wish I had more power to calm her. It’s just two people our age. This shouldn’t be feeling so weird.

  She pulls her phone out of her bag. “It’s almost eleven. I need to go home.”

  “We’re almost there.” I point ahead.

  A true smile breaks out onto her face then. “Thanks, Dean. You take good care of me.”

  I pull her into my arms before we hit the covered awning that stretches to the road. There’s light underneath and a doorman, but I want to feel alone with her for just a few more moments.

  “You’re intense. You know that, right?” Her cheek is pressed against mine.

  “Is that good, or bad?”

  “Better than the opposite problem.” She pulls just far enough away from me to see my face. “And I’m getting used to it.”

  “Well, I don’t mean to be.”

  “Do I get to see you tomorrow?”

  “Whenever you want.”

  “Goodnight, Dean.”

  “Night.” I pull my arms from around her and take her face in my hands. I feel her lips against mine before she steps away to walk inside, and I stand outside her building wishing our night wasn’t over.

  TWENTY-FIVE

  Addison

  I’m restless when I get home. My day with Dean is still floating around in my head—both the good and bad. I keep my room dark and let just the lights from the city come in the windows. My brain needs distraction. Because as much as I want to think about the good things—Dean letting me in his head, his hands on mine, and his lips on mine. I don’t want to think about the bad stuff like seeing the people from Dad’s computer and the research and the idea that people like Dean and I could be collected. Would we even be worth collecting? I’m not sure. What would they do with us? Who would they be?

  Someone knocks on my door, but I know it isn’t Ellie because she just walks in and has probably been asleep for a while. The footsteps go back up the hallway. Now I feel bad, but not bad enough to see who it is or what they want. I stand up and stretch, still in my clothes from earlier in the day. I zip off my skirt and put on my favorite yoga pants. Then I switch my shirt for a long-sleeve tee. Much better. My stomach growls as I give my hands a good scrub, and I remember that Dean and I never ate after our lunch this afternoon.

  I walk out of my room and into the kitchen. The house is dark, and I hear Dad’s voice. The knocking on my door must have been him checking to see if I was home yet. Now that he’s back to business, I’m glad I didn’t answer him. I hate it when he checks in just cause he feels the need to and then goes straight back to work.

  I step next to the sink with my glass in hand. Now I wait. Curious as to who he’s talking to in the middle of the night and wondering if Mom’s home.

  “I’m well aware of her age, but it’s not that simple.”

  Is he talking to Mom? Are they discussing Ellie?

  “She’s my daughter, dammit!” He growls. I don’t hear Mom’s voice. Who is he talking to? And which one of us is he talking about?

  Another pause. I can’t breathe.

  “Well, eighteen doesn’t seem as old as it used to,” he snaps.

  A wave of something cold and dread passes through me. He’s talking about me.

  “Look, I can keep an eye on her here. She shouldn’t be forced into this now.”

  I’ve never heard my dad sound like anything but the boss while he’s on the phone. He doesn’t now. He sounds like he has no control. My heart’s frantic, banging against the inside of my ribs. Why am I reacting like this? It’s Dad.

  “Fine.” Dad sounds tired. “She’s out with friends. I’ll bring her in when she gets home.”

  I’m shaking, unsure if I’ll be able to move. Bring her in? That adds weight to the theory that people like Dean and me are being collected. Is that what’s
happening to the people we saw earlier? The ones who were chasing us? I’m angry with myself for not talking to them. It would have been so easy. Now I’m afraid I’m being paranoid.

  “No, the boy won’t be a problem. Not if we have her already.” His voice is resigned. I can’t breathe. Dad’s one of them. The collectors… Is that it? He is part of The Middle Men, that I’m sure of. But how much a part of it is he? Enough to turn in his daughter?

  I almost drop the glass in the sink. Then I realize it’ll make noise. I set down my glass with shaking hands. How long do I have? What am I going to do? I run to my room. Have her already…take her in…the boy won’t be a problem…

  A chill runs through me like a wall of something frozen. It only urges me faster. I take my cash stash and stuff it in the pocket of a hoodie. I grab a black jacket, even though it’s still warm out. I grab my backpack from school and stuff it with another change of clothes, pajamas and a few pairs of panties. There’s no way for me to bring everything I want to. All I can think is get out, get out, GET OUT!

  Something passes just out of my line of sight, and I jump letting out a whimper. I know nothing’s there so why do I keep seeing things?

  My hands shake, my insides shake, and the room is blurry like I’m running through a badly directed film.

  Where am I going? How long will I be gone? The thoughts don’t pause in my head long enough for me to register them. I slide my jacket on over my hoodie, pick up my backpack and head for the door. I grab my Adidas under an arm and quietly close the door behind me as I start up the hallway.

  Ellie.

  I cover my mouth with my hand to stifle a sob. My cheeks are wet. Have I been crying? I step into her room. It’s black, and she’s fast asleep.

  “I love you, Ellie. I have to go,” I whisper.

  “What?”

  “Shhh…” There’s nothing I can tell her that won’t be terrifying.

  “I’m in some kind of trouble, Ellie. You’re safe. Call Uncle Mac if you need to. I have to go. Don’t tell Dad you saw me.” My voice shakes. My chest shakes. I can’t believe this is real.

  “Addie?” she whispers, but her voice is full of the desperation I feel.

  “I’m so sorry…” I clutch her to me tightly. When will I see her again? I can’t think it. It hurts too bad. I stand up to walk out. “I need your silence, that’s all.”