Uniquely Unwelcome (The Shadow World)

by Brandy Nacole

  I hold back the tears and put the journal away. I am not one for crying because crying accomplishes nothing. But that last entry almost made me crack. I loved my grandmother deeply and when she passed away, I felt like I had lost a part of myself.

  She always did call me Harmony, even though I begged her not to. I hated that name. Racquel was my middle name. I like it better than Harmony. That name fits someone like Addie, not me. I’m not friendly, joyous, or sweet. Harmony is something that brings peace all around it, and that’s not what happens when I’m around.

  I take a deep breath and put the box back into the closet. When I scoot the box back to the corner, it snags on a board. I pull the box back out and examine the floor. It seems as if one of the floor boards is loose. I lift the board and see a piece of paper underneath.

  I look over the paper but can’t make any sense of it. It’s just a bunch of formulas and foreign words. It looks as if the paper has fallen out of a spiral notebook. I’m sure it would make more sense with the rest of the notes but it’s nothing but a jumble.

  I wonder who it belonged to. Why did they hide it under a board in the closet? Instead of throwing away the paper I put in my backpack. I make a mental note to check out those formulas and foreign words later.

  I grab my bag and go upstairs to finish unpacking. After putting everything up and changing the laundry around again, I lay exhausted on the bed. Then a hum of energy passes through my body. I look toward my window and remember that the windows are still boarded up. I get up and walk over to the window. Opening the window, I shove a board out of my way to find darkness on the other side.

  I don’t know which part of me is coming to life. Considering it’s after dark it could be the vamp in me. But if the moon is almost full it could be the wolf. There’s that sneaky little Shape-shifter that screams to be let loose every once in a while. I use my Witch powers often enough that I’m used to that hum of power. I have four different personalities inside me, and when they start getting restless they start screaming for attention.

  Instead of finding out which inner demon is wanting out, I decide to take my extra energy out another way. I pick up my gloves off the floor, having knocked them off the bag earlier while I was cleaning, and slide them on. I walk over to my bag to get my iPod needing to let off some steam.

  I try turning it on but the battery’s dead. I dig around my bag for the cord but remember that I left it behind at the last hole-in-the-wall I stayed at.

  I walk over to my trusty bag to let out my frustrations. My bag has helped me through some of the hardest times in my life. The bag shows the time it has endured with me. Its surface is dented where my fists have pounded on its leathery surface. I take a ragged breath as I release my tension once again on the loyal bag.

  My knuckles become so raw from the sweat, they almost start bleeding. I stop and grab the bag, leaning my forehead on it to catch my breath. I turn and pick up a weapon, not fully satisfied yet, I choose the bo staff. I grab hold of the hard wood, gripping it tight. I start showing my ghosts who’s boss.

  While I’m slashing my staff through my spacious bedroom, I think about my sister and how much I miss her. I think about my grandmother and the heart felt note she left. I think about my grandfather and how pathetic he was to walk out on us when we were so young. I think about my parents and hate how I never got to know them.

  I think about all my searching over the past year, only to come back empty-handed. I think about all the disappearances that have happened. I think about Ethan and his stupid assumptions. That last part really ticked me off and I released all my energy, swinging the staff hard against the bag. I hit it so hard it cracks.

  I collapse on my bed. All the energy that I had felt earlier is now gone. I am completely drained. I slide off my jeans and turn off my lamp. As I lay in bed I think about those disappearances. It doesn’t make sense. It would be different if one race or maybe even two races had disappeared. Then it could be plausible to think that the person of that race had pissed off the wrong people. But this was different.

  I must have drifted off to sleep. Suddenly I’m roused by a banging noise coming from downstairs. I slowly get out of bed to make sure it was my door and not the neighbors. Sometimes when I let my control go and my body is left open I can hear things blocks away. So I rein in my hearing and listen again. Yep, that’s definitely my door.

  I grab the jeans I slid out of earlier and slide them back on. I hurry to answer the door not wanting anyone to think I’m cowering. A middle aged woman is standing on my porch with her hands on her hips. Her energy and essence scream Witch. And not just any Witch, but a concerned, pissed off Witch.

  I don’t know what I might have done to piss this woman off but I don’t want to get on the Witch’s bad side. That would make living here a lot harder. “May I help you?”

  “What the hell are your plans and why would you hurt your sister? She loves you.” The woman takes a step closer, but still keeps her distance.

  At the mention of Addie being involved, my heart beat picks up. “What are you talking about? Is Addie okay?”

  “Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about,” the woman snarls. Don’t act like you don’t know your own sister is missing along with the others. What happened? Finally get jealous enough to take her out too. All the others weren’t enough?”

  I really don’t care what this woman believes or what she thinks about me. Right now my focus is on Addie.

  I’m just about to ask if she was taken like the others, when I’m slammed up against the wall, a blue hue pinning me in place. The woman in front of me has her hands outstretched, eyes blazing.

  “What have you done?”

  Chapter Four

  My rage flares and I push her force off me by throwing my power at her. She stumbles but doesn’t run away.

  “I haven’t done anything! And I want to know what’s going on right now!” I shout at her. But she isn’t listening to me. She throws another wave of power at me which I divert.

  “You know exactly what is going on here, don’t act like you don’t. All these disappearances started happening when you left town. Then a young boy vanished from here right before you show up. Is that coincidence? I don’t think so! Now you tell me what you have done to them or you will regret it.” The woman is clearly enraged and ready to attack me again.

  They’re the same accusations Ethan threw at me yesterday. I’m about to respond when the tree behind her rustles. I hear a thunk as someone lands right behind the woman. He moves out from behind her and I’m now staring at an angry Witch and Ethan. Great! These two are both accusing me of the same thing and I still have no idea what’s going on.

  “Jeez Ethan, stalk much?” I try making light of the situation even though him being in that tree just gives me the chills.

  “I told you I would be watching you. Good thing too. She would probably be next on the missing list.”

  “I don’t know what y’all are talking about! Seriously! I’m just as concerned as you! Please tell me what has happened with my sister!” I shout at them.

  I can see they still don’t believe me. I don’t know how to handle this situation. If I fight back wouldn’t that make me look guilty? If I don’t fight back won’t that make me look weak?

  The woman shakes her head and gives me a stern motherly look. “You have one more chance to tell us the truth, before we unleash all our powers on you. Now tell us, where are they?”

  I just shrug my shoulders, shake my head, and quietly whisper “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I try devising a plan in my head, try thinking of a way to convince them that I don’t know what they’re talking about. Ethan moves toward me ready to restrain me or kill me knowing him. I go on the defensive and take up a fighting stance.

  Then someone says, “That’s enough.”

  Everyone stops in their tracks and turns. An older woman is standing in the lawn, shaking her head. Her graying hair sweeps around
her disappointed face. “Leave the girl alone. She has done nothing wrong.”

  “But….but Aunt Dagna-” The other woman standing on my porch tries to protest but is cut off by Dagna.

  “I said to leave the girl alone, Dayana.” The older woman walks on up to the porch and lays a hand on her niece’s arm. “Does she not seem just as concerned about her sister as does everyone else, if not more?”

  Dayana looks at me and sighs, “But that could be an act. If she wants to hide something she could be-” Dayana never finishes. Her aunt gestures for her to be quiet and then moves closer. She pushes past Ethan and places her hands on my shoulders.

  I don’t know how to respond. No one has showed me compassion like this in years and even then it was my own family. A complete stranger has never made a kind gesture toward me.

  I just stand there as the older woman smiles at me. “Why don’t we go inside and have a chat. There have been a lot of rumors going around and I need to speak with you about some important matters.” She gives my shoulders a reassuring squeeze before walking past me into the house.

  I look back at Dayana and Ethan who seem to be just as stunned as I am. Then Dayana straightens her shoulders and walks right on past me. My gaze follows her until she reaches her aunt. Then I turn back to Ethan. He’s standing there like he doesn’t know what to make of the situation. Should he retreat and stay outside? Or go ahead into the house with everyone else?

  But I want him to know that I have nothing to hide. I want him to hear what the older woman has to say. So I step even further aside and motion him into the house. He takes a step back but then moves on ahead into the house.

  I make my way into the living room where everyone is sitting. I’m about to sit when the older woman asks for a glass of water. As I’m in the kitchen, I can hear the eager whispers going on in the living room between Dayana and Dagna. I know I can release some of my hold on my power and hear what they are saying but decide against it.

  I make my way back into the living room, hand Dagna her water, and decide to sit on the opposite side of the room in the floor. Ethan occupies the rocking chair, Dagna and Dayana occupy the couch, and the only other seat was right beside Ethan in a matching rocking chair.

  Dagna takes a drink of her water and then sighs. “I’m sorry my dear for the inferences that have been made toward you. As you know when people, even beings such as ourselves, don’t understand something they fear it. Of course many people fear you because they don’t understand you. Just like people fear these disappearances. They don’t understand how this could be happening or why.

  However, that is no reason for people to misjudge or make implications toward another that are false. But as you also know fear makes us do remarkably stupid things. I, for one, know that I am ashamed of how I treated your family over the years. I apologized to your grandmother before she passed but that still does not make up for any of the wrong that has been done.

  Your grandmother was a sweet lady and never held a grudge toward those that treated her wrong, including myself. I have come to learn over the years that in order to stop fearing something we must learn to understand it. I learned a lot from your grandmother in her last years, including a bit about you, my dear. Then after her passing I watched you from afar.

  I was always afraid to approach you not because of what you are but because I was ashamed of how I had treated your family in the past. I was afraid that you wouldn’t believe me or that you would fear that I was trying to mock you.” Dagna takes another sip of water and then continues. “However, that is all in the past now and we must deal with the present.

  As you have heard there have been some disappearances over the last year involving each of the Shadow races. At first there were only four: a Lycan, a Shape-shifter, a Witch, and a Vampire. Then the next time it happened the same pattern persisted as the first. But then at the end of last year a fairy was added to the mix. The total for last year was thirteen.

  We were all hoping that it was just a fluke incident because there was no activity for a while. But then in March of this year it happened again but six were taken in total this time: a Lycan, a Witch, a Shape-shifter, a Vampire, a Fae, Leprechaun. How someone managed to get their hands on a fairy or a Leprechaun is beyond me but the fact is that they did.”

  Dagna takes a deep breath and looks at me. Her look is full of compassion but there is a struggle going on inside her. She has something to tell me but doesn’t want to. But I know exactly what she is about to say.

  “Well, the disappearances have started again. First it was a Lycan and then a Vampire last week. Then our dear Evan was taken as well. Last night a Witch was taken. Not just any Witch my dear, it was Addie.”

  I let go of the breath that I didn’t realize I was holding until she said Addie’s name. Then that fear she was speaking of before clenched my chest and I felt as if I couldn’t breathe.

  I finally shake my head and manage to speak. “But she was safe with the Coven. There are tons of Witches in that colony. How could they take her? That place is like the hardest place in the world to enter.” I can hear the panic rising in my voice.

  Dagna sighs again. She goes to speak but then stops herself. It’s as if the information she bares is too painful for me to hear. But I have to know.

  “Please, tell me.” I beg the older woman.

  Dagna nods, “She left the colony a couple months ago.” I go to ask why but Dagna holds up her hand and continues. “She left to come looking for you, my dear. She was so worried about you that she couldn’t concentrate on her studies properly. Before your sister left to join the Covenant, she came to speak with me. She expressed her concern over you and the mission you had in mind. She didn’t tell me what mission that was but I had my suspicions. She was debating even then to go with you rather than to learn more about herself.

  She felt selfish for going off and learning more about her heritage and her potential when you did not have the same opportunities. I told her that this was a journey that you would have to complete on your own in order to find the answers you seek, the true answers. Nothing makes you see life and reality more than when you’re alone.” Dagna pauses for a moment, staring off as if lost in another time or place.

  “Later when she decided to go ahead and join the Covenant, she came back to me. She brought me a bunch of money for the utilities and some extra in case you were to return. Then she asked me if I could have someone board up the house to keep those that were curious out. I did everything that she asked.”

  Dagna gives me a minute to process all this information. I feel every emotion that a person could possibly feel course through my body. Sadness at making my sister feel like she was being selfish. Fear of not knowing what happened to her. Happiness that she cared enough about me to come looking for me. Then guilt for being happy about that last one and the fact that it’s my fault she’s missing.

  “How does anyone know that she is truly missing then?”

  That’s the only hope I can cling to. If she had left the Coven to come looking for me, how do they know she is truly missing? Maybe she’s on a plane headed overseas. Maybe she’s headed home.

  “The Coven was worried about your sister going out on her own. They gave her a cell phone and some items they had charmed. Your sister made a call yesterday morning to check in with the Elders, telling them that she didn’t even know if she was in the right area let alone the right continent. She asked them if she could come back and maybe they could help track you down.

  The Elders agreed to help her and she told them that she would arrive that night. When the Elders hadn’t heard from her by midnight they decided to check on her. First, they called her phone but did not get an answer. Then they checked the charmed crystal they gave her and found that it was in the same spot that she had been at earlier.

  So the Elders sent a local Witch from that area over to the where the crystal was. She found your sisters’ belongings. The Witch that went to check on her went straig
ht to the Coven and gave them all your sisters’ things. The Elders were able to feel all the emotions that your sister felt before her belongings were lost to her.”

  “Well, what did they find out?” I can barely contain myself from going over to the old woman and shaking the information out of her.

  “It’s actually rather odd. At first she felt relief and happiness. But then she felt sadness and fear. Then she was absolutely terrified. That’s when everything goes black. Like maybe she was knocked out or rushed away from her belongings. It certainly was not death, as you might fear, for the Elders would have felt that.”

  Relief washes over me knowing that she may still be alive. I’m baffled at her emotions though. “Why would she feel relief and then be scared? Do you think she knew her attacker?”

  “That is what I suspect.” Dagna takes another sip of water and clears her throat as if to continue but is interrupted.

  “This is insane. How does any of this clear her from being the one behind any of it? If Addie felt relief and happiness at first, wouldn’t it make sense that she was relieved and happy that she had finally found her sister? That’s when her sister turned on her and she became scared?”

  I give Dayana the stink eye. How could I have possible done any of that? I was here the whole time. Dagna quickly voices my thoughts.