Manipulation (Shadows)

by Jolene Perry

  I stop and stare at him through the fence. We made it. My mouth opens, but nothing comes out. It feels like we’ve been endlessly running for this moment and now I don’t know what to do.

  “I can help. Please don’t run.” His eyes don’t leave mine.

  I start to laugh, it sounds high-pitched, almost hysterical. “Yes. Help. That would be great.”

  He comes through the door of the fence quickly. “Do you want me to take her for a moment?”

  I hesitate. This is Addie. I clutch her more tightly and shake my head.

  “My boat’s right there. Do you see the light? Way on the end? Micah’s there. She was pretty sure we’d see you guys tonight so we have food and…”

  “I’m Dean. This is Addison. We’ve had a rough few days.”

  “Yeah, us too and then it all stopped.” He mouth pulls together, he’s probably unsure of what happened.

  “Well, it’s because of her dad, and I think it’s all going to start here real quick.” Only we don’t know anything, and if I’d known we were going to see Mr. Prince, I’d have had a list of questions waiting, instead I just sort of panicked and wondered how I’d protect Addie from her own dad.

  “Oh.” His face falls a little. “That’s alright. We’ll take off now, get a head start while it’s still dark.” He shrugs and a smile once again hits the edges of his mouth.

  “Do you have any idea what the hell is going on?” I walk carefully down the dock, Addie’s still passed out in my arms.

  “Only a little, you?” He chuckles.

  “Only a little.”

  “Well. Let’s hope our knowledge is a little different then, eh?” I’m amazed he sounds as relaxed as he does. Has it just been way easier for them?

  “Let’s hope.” Right now I just want Addie awake and talking.

  I pull the rolls of cash from her hoodie pocket, and start to stuff them in my pack, when I see that her dad has written on the outside of one of the rolls.

  I ache for Addie will feel when she reads this, but she’ll have to know. Our last thin branch of safety from New York is now shattered. We really are here and at the mercy of Landon and Micah.

  THIRTY-FIVE

  Addison

  I’m on something soft. I’m slowly coming out of some sort of a dream or nightmare where Dean and I were being chased, and my dad…

  I suck in a breath and sit up.

  “Whoa.” Dean’s hand comes to my head. “We’re fine. We made it.”

  “Made it where?”

  “We’re on a boat with Micah and Landon. They’re pushing off from the dock now, and we’ll be sailing south.” Dean glances around at our small quarters and takes a deep breath in. I’m well aware of how much he doesn’t love tight spaces.

  “Are they okay?”

  Dean’s face breaks out into a smile. “They’re good, Addie. We did good.”

  “My dad.” My chest aches.

  Dean’s arms pull on me and bring me to his chest. “I know. But he gave us twenty thousand dollars, Addie. To help. And he left you a note.”

  I take the dollar bill out of his hands and squint at the tiny script that is definitely my father’s. How long did he know? Did he plan, or did he just scribble this last minute?

  Addison. So sorry I didn’t tell you everything so much sooner. I’ve been looking for a way out of The Middle Men. Looks like I didn’t. Hopefully you’ll succeed where I failed. I love you. Don’t trust anyone. Not even your Uncle Mac. He’s not who he seems. There’s a reason he’s always kept close to you, and distancing myself from you didn’t help the way I hoped. Now I just hope I’ve done enough. Take care, Bunny.

  I feel so broken that Dad’s note is almost expected—aside from my Uncle Mac. Does everyone I trust turn out to be something different? As far as I know I have nothing left but a sister I’m afraid to try and talk to.

  Dean’s fingers slide along the edges of my face. “Are you okay?”

  “I will be. I think.” It’s too much to take in right now, but maybe that’s okay. Maybe now we can take some time and absorb all the pieces of what we’ve learned. Maybe Landon and Micah will know more. I want to cry for my dad, for Ellie, for my home, but I’m too exhausted.

  I sit against Dean and relax into the warmth of him, more grateful to him and my dad than I could say. I don’t even care where we are, where we’re going, or what’s happening. He’s here. He wants to be here and we’re together.

  “You need food, Addie. I’ve been smelling it since we got here.” He chuckles and wipes the hair from in front of my face. “I’m hungry.”

  “Okay.” I look around and realize we’re in a small room on a boat. The room is almost wall-to-wall bed. There’s a small standing area in front of the door, which is open to a tight hallway and two other small doors.

  “Closet and bathroom.” Dean follows my eyes. “This is going to be our home for a while, which means I’m going to have to get a lot better at tight spaces.”

  I nod. It’s a lot to take in. Dean takes my hand and leads me through the three steps of the small hallway and up four small, high stairs into a small area that’s set up like a miniature living room. A long curved bench wraps around a table and there’s a tiny kitchen in the corner. I realize we’re on one of those boats with a pontoon on each side and our room is almost below the water on our side.

  “How you feeling?” A girl, a couple inches shorter than me, but with actual curves and a huge mane of blond curly hair comes through the sliding glass door from the back of the boat. It’s dark out and I can feel us moving through the water. The slow rocking of the boat in the waves helps calm me. “I’m Micah. This is Landon’s boat.”

  Her blue eyes are mesmerizing.

  “Our boat.” Landon comes through the backdoor, smiles and wraps his arms around her waist from behind.

  “Sit, you can eat. We can talk.” Micah brings two pots to the table and drops my coconut hand sanitizer in front of me. “Is that right?”

  I stare at the bottle sort of in disbelief. “That’s exactly right.” I grab it and squirt my hands more for familiarity than anything else. I breathe in the scent as I rub my hands together. “Thank you.”

  “I gotta keep on eye on George.” Landon steps back out.

  Micah rolls her eyes. “George is the autopilot,” she explains. “But don’t worry, Landon can hear us from up there. You won’t have to repeat anything.”

  Dean sits and pulls me with him.

  Micah sits next to me. “You okay?”

  She looks so young. I guess like me. For some reason when I saw them in New York, they seemed older. Scarier. Or maybe that was just my perception because of the things Dad said about them as I looked at the grainy picture on his computer screen. As we thought about reaching Micah and Landon, the idea that we were looking for safety in people our own age, didn’t occur to me. And here we are and they’re giving us a place to stay and I feel safe. I don’t even know what to say so I throw my arms around her.

  “Oh!” She pats my back.

  When I pull away she’s blushing and staring at her lap.

  “I’m sorry, what?” I glance back at Dean and over at Micah again.

  “I meant to warn you. Don’t touch me unless I have a hold of Landon.” She looks almost…apologetic?

  “Why?” I don’t understand.

  “I see things? When I touch people… Something from you, your point of view, your emotion…” Her eyes glance to Dean, back to me and back to the table. “Here, eat.” She starts to dish rice onto two plates.

  “What did you see?” I’m fascinated. It sounds way cooler than what Dean and I do. Insight. She has Insight. Just like Ellie was talking about. It’s all real.

  “Ummm…” She very pointedly does not look at me. “How much chicken would you like?”

  “What?” I glance back to Dean.

  “I’m guessing she saw the same thing she did when she touched me.” He chuckles.

  “What?”

  M
icah sighs. “I don’t mind. Really. I’ve seen it all. I mean, really, seen it all. You two love each other very much.” Her cheeks flush again. “I’ll give you a minute.” She stands up and steps outside with a plate of food.

  I take a bite of rice and then realize how hungry I am.

  “She saw us together.” Dean whispers in my ear.

  “What?” I snap my head back.

  “Together.”

  I drop my fork. “Oh.”

  “Landon laughed when Micah’s face flushed as I took her hand to shake it. He reads her well.” Dean takes a heaping bite of food.

  “So, she doesn’t have any control over it?”

  “None.” He shakes his head. “Well, apparently she does if she’s touching Landon, but she’s hoping that’ll change. That she’ll get control over it on her own.”

  “Wow.” I glance out toward Landon. “What does he do?”

  “Micah says he helps her and she says that a boat passed them the other night, looking for something, but went right by as if they weren’t here. She thinks it has to do with him. Landon… I don’t know, Addie. There’s something good different, like… Like he got what we do right away. I explained how I can make you do things and you can get into my head and… He gets it. Your dad’s right, he’s going to be the one to get us out of this.”

  “So, you’re saying we’re in the right place.” And even more weight slides off me.

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

  Landon steps back in the boat looking very—California boy or something, with his khaki shorts and boating shoes. Dean and I with our pale skin and dark hair are a stark contrast to him.

  “I found a good cove another hour or so south. I think we all need a good night’s sleep. We’ll drop anchor, but you guys can crash whenever you want. I just wanted to warn you because the anchor chain makes a lot of noise when it’s coming down.” He chuckles. “It’d scare the hell out of me if I didn’t know what it was.”

  “Thanks for all of this. I don’t completely understand what’s going on here.” I look to Landon.

  “We’re being collected, recruited by the Middle Men, only we don’t really want to go.” There’s still a smile on the edge of his mouth. Does everything roll off him so easily? I’m jealous.

  “Why not?” I feel it too. I don’t want to go. Dad made it sound like there was no choice. Maybe that’s how simple it is. We want a choice.

  “I don’t know yet.” Landon smiles a wide smile of white teeth and steps back onto the outside of his boat. Really. How is he so relaxed about all of this?

  Katy and Ellie and Jeremy feel like a lifetime away. Just like my clothes, my old home and our day at the museum. The day we ran together in the rain and first discovered what the other one can do. It hits me again—a lifetime away, a world away. It’s something I’ll probably never get to have again.

  “When you guys are done, come on out. We can talk around the outside table.” Landon’s voice carries inside from the back of the boat.

  Dean and I meet them outside at another small table. We can see where Landon sits up high, driving the boat. The back of the boat is wide and as I look to the front, the pontoons on either side extend out with a mesh trampoline spreading out between them. The setup is fabulous for hot weather.

  The wind through the sails is magical, forceful. Even in the dim light I can see all the way up the mast.

  “This is all we’ve put together so far.” Landon rests back in his chair. “The Middle Men want us, and the shadows are following us. Some people who work with The Middle Men are talented like you guys, and some are without abilities, like me.” Landon smirks.

  Micah shakes her head.

  Dean and I shake ours. I heard what my dad said. “My dad said you’re a rare talent,” I say.

  “Who’s your dad?” Landon asks.

  “Kent Prince.”

  Landon’s brows go up. “That name bounces around with my dad once in a while, which furthers the suspicion that my dad’s part of it, too. A big part.”

  “He’s in The Middle Men for sure,” I tell him. “My dad’s been on the phone with him a lot lately… Even before you left Seattle.”

  Landon frowns and a flash of pain crosses his face before he pulls in a deep breath and appears to have pushed the thought away.

  “The messages that The Middle Men tried to get through to us are that they’ll help us with the shadows, give us a place to live, work. And make a very nice living.” He stops for a moment. “The shadows. Do you know who I mean?”

  I start shaking at the thought of them. Dean rubs his hand carefully across my back to help me relax.

  “Don’t you think going where they want will just make things worse?” Dean asks.

  “I don’t know. My dad told me to wait around at a harbor in Maine to talk with some of his associates from The Middle Men, but Micah saw us being locked up and questioned in a house down south—Florida maybe, or maybe down in The Bahamas. Anyway, we decided to leave, and they’ve been stalking us, and hollering through megaphones when they don’t see us so well…”

  Micah shakes her head. “It was in broad daylight, and they weren’t that far away. Whatever Landon does, protects us.”

  So, we’ll still be chased. It’s an exhausting thought.

  “I know it might seem crazy to keep running, but Micah and I keep talking about it, and it keeps feeling like the right thing to do. So, we just keep moving south. We’ll be in the Bahamas in no time.”

  It feels like the right thing for me, too. Like stashing money, knowing I needed to leave the house. Compulsive. Even though I really didn’t want to go. “Even though you saw yourself trapped in a house that direction?”

  “Yeah.” Micah chuckles a little. “I know it sounds crazy, but I know we’re headed in the right direction.”

  “The shadow people started when you hit eighteen. Probably just a bit after. Does that sound right?” Landon asks.

  I can tell already that he’s going to be the voice of reason.

  “Yeah.” Both Dean and I nod.

  “I’m not convinced the shadow people are bad. I don’t know who to trust, but I don’t think it can be ignored. I’m not saying they’re good either. I guess… I guess that we all want to learn a little more on our terms before we make any moves one way or another.”

  “You don’t think they’re bad?” How is that possible?

  “Have they ever hurt you?”

  “No.” But it doesn’t feel right coming out.

  “And uh… I should warn you. I think we have a resident one here.” He glances up at the mast.

  My heart jumps.

  “Don’t worry.” Landon shakes his head. “She’s never said or done anything. She’s just here. She hangs out by the mast more often than not because there’s always a shadow there, but she’s never bothered us.”

  “She?” Dean’s brows go up.

  He shrugs.

  “She.” Micah nods.

  “So, you two are in?” Landon’s smile is wide again. “You’re coming with us?”

  I want home. I don’t want to think about Middle Men, talents or shadow people. Especially when I know I’m going to be living with one.

  “We’ll stop in Florida, Addison.” Micah gives me a smile. “And if you’re not using what you can do, the shadow people will most likely leave you alone.”

  “Really?” For the first time I feel some relief. “Are you sure?”

  “I’m sure.” Micah nods. “And the one who’s here never comes close. I promise, okay? They used to freak me out, too.” A corner of her mouth pulls up. “Actually, they totally still do, but Landon doesn’t seem to mind them.”

  It actually makes sense, when we were at the hotels, working with the clerks, that’s when it was the worst. But when Dean and I were alone in our room, just together, we were left alone. How did we not see it? I just need to find ways for them to leave me alone. Never use what I can do.

  At least I feel
like we’re moving toward something and that it won’t be as frantic as our last journey. I can’t believe I left New York only a few days ago.

  * * *

  We’ve dropped anchor. Micah and Landon seem perfectly relaxed, so I’m trying to be, too.

  I take the first shower in the teeny bathroom. Dean takes the second.

  “Please say I can stay in here with you.” Dean stands at the door of the bathroom.

  “I wasn’t aware there was a choice,” I tease.

  “There’s another tiny room back there.” He gestures with his head.

  We’re in clean sheets, in clean pajamas and it feels wonderful. Micah said she’s getting good at acting on compulsion, and I have a few things to wear, thanks to her. So does Dean. Pajamas and shorts anyway.

  “Addie?”

  “Yeah. Of course.” Our night last night feels like an eternity ago. This is our redo. “Definitely here.”

  He lies down, and I let my head hit the pillow next to his.

  “Did you ever think you’d be in a place like this?” He smiles at me and brushes a few stray hairs from the side of my face.

  “On a boat sailing south, possibly to The Bahamas, without my family?” I ask.

  “Yeah. That.” He smirks.

  “No.”

  “Are you sorry?”

  “That I’m here with you?” I’m sorry that any of this is happening, but I’m definitely not sorry about Dean.

  “Yeah.”

  “No.” I stare into Dean’s deep eyes. “I’m not sorry I’m here with you.”

  “You know I’d do anything for you, Addison.”

  “I know.” I take his hand in mine and hold it between us. Both of us knowing that I could at least give it a good try to get him to do what I want. “I’ve got it.”

  “You’ve got me.”

  THIRTY-SIX

  Dean

  Two days in, and I hardly remember what it was like to not live on a boat.

  “Come on Addison!” Micah looks at her across the table. “This is the fun part of what we’re doing.”

  “I don’t have a suit.” Addie frowns.

  “You can borrow one of mine.”

  “You…uh…have boobs. And I don’t.” Addie laughs.