Evernight Publishing
www.evernightpublishing.com
Copyright© 2013 Michelle Clay
ISBN: 978-1-77130-365-1
Cover Artist: Sour Cherry Designs
Editor: Karyn White
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.
This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
DEDICATION
With gratitude to my editor, Karyn, and the folks at Evernight Publishing. Thank you for believing in me.
This book is dedicated to my mother and my grandmother. For mom, who instilled in me a lifelong love of reading. I will always cherish the time we spent at the bookstore. And to my granny who told me I could do and be anything I wanted. When I penned (literally) my first book, she was very first beta reader and biggest fan. Without these two influences in my life, these books and the exploration of my vivid imaginings would never have been realized. For that, I am forever grateful and wish they were here to share these joys with me.
~ Michelle
LIGHT THE SHADOWS
A Grimm Novel, 1
Michelle Clay
Copyright © 2013
Chapter One
Frantic faces hovered around the woman lying on the operating table. A doctor in bloodstained scrubs barked orders, and the nursing staff scrambled to carry each one out. They moved in a choreographed manner, each knowing knew exactly what to do.
The sorrowful wail of machinery filled the room, and someone yelled, “She’s coding!”
A nurse lifted the woman’s eye lid with her thumb and forefinger. “No sign of life.”
The doctor snatched the paddles from the defibrillator and held them at the ready. The machine’s eerie whine filled the room. “Clear!”
Electricity coursed through her body, and it flopped like a discarded ragdoll. Unsatisfied, the doctor yelled, “Again!”
The woman tried to speak, but no one noticed as her body jerked again and again. Why wouldn’t they stop? Her mind fogged, approaching the inevitability of forever sleep. She welcomed it, urged it to hurry.
After what seemed like an eternity, the doctor cursed then dropped the paddles. His shoulders bunched, and he sighed. The woman’s death seemed to weigh heavily on him. “I couldn’t save her.”
A sympathetic nurse rested a hand on his shoulder. “You did everything you could.”
The doctor said, “Time of death—three eighteen a.m.”
It all sounded so morose and final. Oddly enough, she felt better. Pain no longer owned her. Exhaustion was all that remained.
She scooted to the edge of the deathbed. Unsure whether her legs would hold her or not, she stood slowly. She had so many questions, but didn’t know where to begin. “Excuse me? Hello?”
No one paid her any attention. In fact, they all continued what they were doing as if she wasn’t even there.
Kicking at the linens and gauze that littered the floor, she was startled to see her foot pass through them. Nothing moved, not even in the wake of her bare foot kicking at it. She turned to glance at the operating table and the various tools lying around it. How strange. That body kind of looked like… No! No, it couldn’t be!
She took a step closer, inspecting the arm that hung from the operating table. A peacock feather tattoo decorated the wrist, just above the thumb. The woman glanced down at her own hand and was dismayed to see the same ink on her skin.
Just then, a nurse passed through her, right through her like she wasn’t even standing there. The woman in bright colored scrubs shivered as though she’d passed through a cold spot, then moved on.
"Hey!" She reached for the nurse’s sleeve and watched in awed horror as her fingers passed through the Hello Kitty fabric. Not yet putting it all together, she looked at her hand in confusion. What a bizarre night this had turned out to be. “Am I … Dead?”
The nurse covered the body with a sheet. Somehow, it made everything seem so complete.
A beautifully ornate door appeared in the far corner of the room. Where had it come from?
“That’s weird.” She edged a bit closer, vaguely aware of the magnetic pull it seemed to have over her.
The polished wood was dark with intricate floral designs carved into the grain. She had seen this door before, but couldn’t recall where.
The door creaked open with just a twist of her trembling fingers. Warmth and light flooded over her and filled her with something akin to inner peace. If she stepped inside everything would be righted. She could leave this cold, cruel world behind and begin a new afterlife somewhere new, somewhere wonderful and serene.
She turned to cast one last glance at the body on the table. One slender hand still hung past the sheet that served as a shroud. The fingers were curled in what must have been a final death spasm. The nails were short, unpolished, and looked like they'd been bitten past the quick. Angry red marks ran the length of the inner arm. Track marks?
Only a couple steps inside and the door clicked shut, closed by some unseen force. At this point, if she had a heartbeat, it would have been in her throat. Unease chipped away at any residual feelings of tranquility she may have had. What if this was some kind of trick? What if something terrible awaited her?
The hallway was unremarkable, so utterly stark, clean, and white. It was so bright here, the décor and furnishings merely blurred into the light. She squinted, even lifted a hand to her eyes as soft footfalls quickly approached.
A girl in a simple dress, the red and white kind candy stripers wore in the sixties, approached. The name tag clipped to her collar revealed the name Anna.
“Where am I?”
Anna’s brows lifted in surprise. "Oh, I wasn't expecting anyone."
Sudden tears sprang to her eyes. “I don’t want to be dead.”
“I know, but people die every day. Even children.” Anna’s smile was one of practiced patience. “Death doesn’t discriminate. Come, let’s find your destination.”
“What happened to me?”
“It doesn’t matter now. I'll take you to a much better place.” Though her voice was soft and placating, it did nothing to soothe the dead woman’s nerves.
When she refused to move, Anna sighed in concession. “Overdose. You died of an overdose.”
The truth didn’t make her feel any better. She squinted at the teenager. “Are you an angel? Where are your wings?”
Surprise widened Anna’s hazel eyes before she allowed her gaze to slant toward the closed door. “No, not an angel exactly. But I am here to guide you.”
Suspicion darkened her features when Anna reached for her hand again. She jerked it away and took a step back. “Where are you taking me?”
“To the other side." Anna's smile didn't waver, and her gaze appeared sincere. "The hereafter, Shangri-la or whatever your paradise might be.”
Another step backward. “You don’t know where we’re going?”
Frightened and suddenly angry, she turned back the way she’d come. She was surprised to find they’d gone down a corridor, and she hadn’t even noticed the rows and rows of doors that lined the hallway. “There has to be some kind of mistake. I’m not dead. I’m not!”
“Think of it as a train station. You stop here to catch a ride to the next adventure.”
“This is purgatory?”
Anna nodded. “Yes, your version of it.”<
br />
“It reminds me of an institution.” The woman shuddered, though it wasn’t cold in the white hallway.
“It’s something you’re familiar with.” Anna edged closer. “It’s all here to help ease you into the transition between life and death.”
“No.” She looked around once more, wary of this place and its harsh sterility.
“Fine. I can’t force you to come with me, but you have to understand that you can’t return to your body,” Anna said with a grimace.
“I’m not staying here!” She turned in a tight circle, searching for the doorway she'd come through. They all looked the same now. They’d gone far enough down the corridor that she had no way of knowing which one was the right one.
A man strode past them. His spirit guide gripped his shoulder and guided him toward the closest door on the right. The man didn’t even hesitate, just turned the knob and stepped through. The guide turned to glance over a shoulder before moving farther down the hallway. Before long, he blended into the stark brightness and seemed to no longer exist.
“Even if you could go back, you would be disembodied. Most likely, it would drive you mad. Trust me, you don’t want that. Just come with me, and everything will be okay,” Anna said as she grappled at the woman’s hand. "I promise."
She darted just out of reach. “This is a big mistake. I must be dreaming.”
“You’ll be frightened and alone.” Anna’s features pinched into a scowl. “Forever."
"You aren't real," the woman shrieked over her shoulder as she ran away.
"You'll become a shadow, an angry spirit,” Anna yelled after her. “You’ll be hunted and destroyed!”
The woman’s bare feet were silent on the tile floor as she fled back the way they’d come.
“It’s a one way door.” Anna didn’t bother to pursue the woman more than a couple steps. “You can’t go back.”
The door that loomed ahead was unlike the one she passed through before. This one was painted entirely white like all the others along the hallway. There was no knob or pretty carvings, and no sense of well-being. She didn’t care. She had to get out of there before they found a way to keep her in this freaky limbo. This had to be some kind of joke, a sick joke that had gone on far too long.
With a mighty shove, she burst through to the other side.
As soon as she crossed that threshold, her life—what would become her second life—was changed forever.
Chapter Two
“Nancy, she’s waking up,” an unfamiliar male voice whispered urgently.
Someone jostled the bed when they sat next to her. Gentle fingertips smoothed the hair off her forehead then placed a kiss there. A woman’s voice was watery and full of emotion as she spoke. “Oh Micah, I thought I lost you.”
She opened her eyes, expecting to find—well, she wasn’t sure what she had expected. Certainly not the two sad-eyed strangers huddled at her bedside. The breath she took hitched in her chest, and the words that tore her throat like shards of glass were barely audible. “Who are you?”
The woman, Nancy, drew back as if she’d been slapped. Fresh tears swam in her eyes, and she covered her mouth with a trembling hand. The man wrapped an arm around Nancy’s shoulders in an attempt to console her.
The guy couldn’t look her in the eyes. He fought a fresh wave of tears when he spoke. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart. This is my fault. I should have been there on time.”
Just then, a doctor with salt and pepper hair strolled in with her chart in his hand. Her heart leapt into her chest because she vaguely remembered him from before, when she’d died. Or had that been a dream? She struggled to sit up and allowed the strangers to help. They seemed so relieved to do something useful.
After Doctor Egan introduced himself to her, he informed the man and woman that he planned to run more tests. The way he spoke to them made it seem like they were responsible for her, like they were her parents. That couldn’t be right though. Her parents had given her up for adoption when she was three. She’d been passed from one foster home to another until she was finally adopted on her seventh birthday. Only, she couldn’t remember a single thing about her adoptive parents.
“I want to talk to Anna.” Her voice belonged to a stranger, more feminine and breathy than she remembered. Hands trembling, she reached up to remove the oxygen tubing from her nose.
Confusion pulled Nancy’s sculpted brows downward. “Who’s Anna, honey?”
“She tried to take me through a doorway. To the other side?” She slanted her eyes toward the doctor then pressed her lips together. Had that sounded as crazy to him as it had to her?
Doctor Egan removed a penlight from his pocket and shone it in each eye. “Miss Munroe, you died a week ago. You’ve been on life support due to coma.”
She stared up at him, mouth slightly agape as she tried to make sense of his words. “No.”
“Life support was discontinued less than an hour ago.” Finally he put the miniature torture device away. “It was the only thing that was keeping your body alive, or so we thought.”
Her head whipped around to glare at Roger and Nancy. “You pulled the plug on me?”
Fat tears rolled down Nancy's cheeks. Roger placed a hand on her sheet-covered leg and gave it a gentle pat. “I’m sorry. We thought you were gone. It seemed like the most humane thing to do.”
Dr. Egan continued as if they weren’t having a mini meltdown in front of him. “It’s conceivable that while you were in the coma, you were in a dream-like state or…”
"It wasn't a dream." A chill traced cold fingers down her spine. “What happened to me?”
Nancy gripped the hand closest to her and gently squeezed her fingers. “You don’t remember? Roger was supposed to meet you at the house you were showing, but he was running late.” Her mouth turned down when she cast a glance at him. Did Nancy blame him for whatever happened?
Then it dawned on her. If Nancy was calling him Roger, he was probably a step-dad and not biological. Interesting.
Roger’s eyes were red and watery. He still couldn’t meet her gaze. “You must have slipped on the tile by the pool. You hit your head and fell into the water. You—you drowned, Micah.”
“My name isn’t Micah. It’s…” Oh shit, she couldn’t remember her real name! “And I didn’t drown.”
Nancy covered her mouth as a new wave of sobs shook her.
Roger put his arm around her again then asked, “Will she regain her memory, Doctor?”
She didn’t wait around for an answer. Instead, she threw the sheet off her legs and pulled the wires and tubes from her body. The IV needle made her wince as it yanked out, but the pain only served to remind her that she was truly alive.
A single word stood out on the paperwork clipped to the folder Doctor Egan held. Donor. Had they only kept the body alive so they could harvest the organs when they were ready? She swung her legs off the bed.
Doctor Egan made a move to grab her arm. "Please wait for a nurse to help you, Miss Munroe."
Ignoring him, she jerked her arm away then stood on quivering legs. Everyone gasped when she took the first step toward the restroom. Her legs were leaden and heavy as they moved forward. When she didn’t immediately fall on her face, she took another step, then one more until she was securely locked inside the restroom. The doctor and pseudo-family’s voices filled the room behind her. Dr. Egan said something about the possibility of brain damage, but she ignored the rest of his words.
Trembling like a frightened child, she gaped at the unfamiliar face looking back at her in the mirror. No, this couldn’t be right. One eye was the familiar color of warm molasses while the other was a brilliant blue. How freakish! She held a hand over each in turn and was relieved to learn she had vision in both.
Trembling fingers ran through long strands of mousy brown hair that hung around her face and fell past her shoulders. Where was her short blonde coif? And how could she remember bottle blonde hair and brown eyes, but be unable to recall
her real name?
The shower curtain fluttered behind her, and she bit off a scream when Anna stepped out from behind the ghastly green plastic. She’d pulled her hair into a low ponytail, but otherwise looked the same as before.
Hand on her hip, she said, “You shouldn’t have gone through that doorway. You had no way of knowing who or what was on the other side. Weren’t you scared?”
“Of course I was.” She glared at the teenager’s reflection. There is not a ghost in this bathroom. “What am I gonna do?”
Anna’s freckled face scrunched with irritation. “It's a little too late to worry about that, don’t you think?”
Pressing cool fingertips to her temples, she tried to calm herself. “This is crazy. I wasn’t supposed to die.”
“No, you weren’t supposed to come back,” Anna corrected. “No one ever comes back. No one ever wants to. Don’t you even wonder what your paradise was?”
“No, not really.”
“Good because you screwed that all to hell. And I’ll be lucky if no one finds out. I could get into a lot of trouble.” Anna’s features softened slightly, and she gestured toward the reflection in the mirror. “On the bright side, you’re getting a chance to start over. You get to skip the diapers and begin here.”
She scowled at the girl. This body in the sickly green hospital gown was not hers. She had hijacked it without asking. “What about my real body? Why can’t I just go back to it? I might have liked that body.”
Anna looked at her reflection and smoothed a few wayward wisps of hair atop her head. “Your old body is gone, probably in the ground by now. Or cremated. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, so make it count.”
"But…"
“You are Micah Munroe now.” Anna’s cotton candy pink fingertip pointed at the plastic identification bracelet around her wrist. “Embrace this life.”
Light the Shadows (A Grimm Novel) Page 1
