Shadow People

by Bevill, C. L.

Snack (slang, origin unknown, probably 1930s American) - an easy victim

  Penelope knew who it was the second she laid her gaze upon him. He was almost exactly the same as the other time she had seen him. He was even the same height as Will. His facial features were similar. However, his blue-black hair was longer than Will’s. Wearing a white dress shirt and gray slacks he almost could have been mistaken for Dr. William Jonathon Littlesoldier. The one who stood in front of her was a few years younger than Will. The crow’s feet around his eyes were minute in nature. But what was more telling was a certain look that was contained in his eyes. Wisdom?

  Not exactly wisdom, Penelope thought. More than wisdom. Knowledge. And it’s not the “good” kind of knowledge. The man she was staring at wasn’t exactly the same man who had been photographed in happier times. He had become something very different. Like Merri, he had changed for the worse. She took an abrupt step backwards and bumped into the base of a bronze statue of Stephen Fuller Austin, one of the founders of Texas. Stephen didn’t let her go any further backwards, and there she remained.

  “Penelope,” the man who looked like Will said. It was almost a jolly voice, one that said volumes about how much he cared if the sun were shining there or not. “Although I have supernatural means, there is also the practical, the logical, consequently I find you here. I don’t know where you disappeared to yesterday, but today, here you are. I felt him on Friday, and my darling Merri said that there was someone else there at your car park. And of course, someone called the police with a lengthy description of you, causing a mass of interference with our reacquisition of the stone. Seeking out the one person you think might be able to help you? Have you actually met him? Was this a plan? Didn’t he tell you what to expect?”

  Penelope couldn’t move away. She tried to understand what he was saying to her.

  The man stared. One side of his mouth quirked wryly at her lack of response. “Perhaps not, then. You are a counterpart of one Mr. Jobe Cooper. That I can safely guess. He gave you and your friend, the other thief, the combination to the safe in my basement. You assumed, falsely as it turned out, that getting into the safe would be a relatively easy process. After all, I have had no electrical security measures installed.” He chuckled to himself at the emphasis of the word “electrical.” “Was it pleasant to meet the seatco?”

  The familiar inflection in the man’s voice told Penelope something very important. “You’re related to each other.” It was uttered barely above a whisper. The resemblance was too strong to be anything else.

  “Ah,” he said. “William hasn’t told you everything then.” He took a slight bow, touching two fingers to his forehead. “My name is Anthony. I own the house you broke into. The items you stole were from my safe. Your clever evasion was from my people.”

  “People,” she said rapidly. “Now you’re using that term loosely.”

  Anthony shrugged. “It is a public place. Now as angry as I am with you, I find myself forced to deal with you instead. You’ve damaged my seatco and managed to frighten my witch. She’s so furious that it’s like standing next to a tornado.”

  “That was the security guard who tasered her,” Penelope interjected. “And since you’ve been trying to murder me from the moment I got the stuff in my hot little hands, why should I be interested in dealing with you?”

  “For one thing, you might actually live through the experience,” Anthony said with a sly smile on his face. It was a handsome face, just like Will’s, except there didn’t seem to be much humanity left in it. It was similar to Merri’s, but contrary to what Penelope had just thought, there was just enough humanity left in it to show that it was, in fact, still human.

  Penelope didn’t know how much to reveal. Here was the owner of the Durfrene Row house. Was he like Magic Elk in the story? Looking for some reason to open a door that was never meant to be opened? Through black and malevolent magicks? Through evils never imagined by the people who had taken over the North American continent? “I’m alive now,” she said firmly. “There’s a security guard with a .38 a hundred feet away, just waiting for some asshole to throw out of the museum. All I have to do is scream, buddy boy, and you’re off to jail to visit with Raoul and the boys about what soap goes best in the shower.”

  Anthony looked at her, his face expressionless for the moment. “Brainy and resourceful. An interesting combination.” There was a long pause as he mentally filed the information away. “All you have to do is return the diamond to me. You can keep the cash and the other jewels. By now, you’ve probably determined their value. And the value of the diamond. I’ll call off my dogs. Simply hand it to me.”

  “I don’t have it with me,” Penelope said slowly. “No reason to carry a rock around that’s probably worth millions of dollars.”

  “White woman,” Anthony said scornfully, “the value isn’t in the amount of dollars you can receive for it. It’s much more than that.”

  “You count it in the amount of blood you’ve spilled, then? The lives of Sammy, Jobe, and Jeremy? Was it really worth all of that?”

  Anthony stared at her. Unlike many people she met, it was difficult to see how his mind processed. “Was it really worth it? Oh, yes. I recall now. Mr. Cooper I met personally. I read about Samuel, your landlord, I believe. That was his Thunderbird that you used to damage my seatco. It’s a maneuver that I wouldn’t have thought to use. But a four thousand-pound vehicle can and will do a certain amount of injury to that which is constructed of what is basically human parts.” He clucked at her sudden expression of abhorrence. “Don’t worry, the beast will return. I think he’s got a taste for you now and is eager for more.”

  “Unless, of course, I give you the diamond,” she said. “Then you’ll ‘call off your dogs.’” Her voice clearly reflected her serious doubts of his offer.

  Anthony ignored what Penelope had said. He asked, “And Jeremy? I don’t know him. Am I supposed to? Have we killed someone you know, and I haven’t made the connection?”

  “The other thief you spoke of,” she said tightly. “His name was Jeremy.”

  “Ah, the other thief,” Anthony said with understanding. “Now I comprehend.” A knowing grin passed over his features. “But you don’t.” He stepped closer to her, and Penelope felt the sharp edge of the statue’s base cutting into her kidneys. There was a certain expression on his face that said that it wasn’t good news he was about to impart. His eyes were suddenly dancing with secretive trickery. “Jeremy’s not dead. He’s not dead at all.”

  “Not dead?” she repeated. Don’t trust him, said her inner voice. For once, Penelope was glad to hear that sarcastic internal self speak up. Her instincts were screaming at her, but what they were screaming was uncertain.

  Anthony smiled tightly, a cutting smile that held no humor. “Where is the diamond?”

  Penelope clamped her mouth shut. He was five inches taller than she was and sixty pounds heavier. Most of that weight looked to be in the firm muscles of his broad shoulders, and he appeared to be someone who didn’t mind getting his hands dirty. Or getting them bloody, added the inner voice. I so didn’t need to know that, Penelope added.

  Anthony’s head lowered so that it was close to her ear. The heavy weight of the statue bit into Penelope’s back and prevented movement to the rear. His arms came out and rested on the statue’s base on either side of her body and prevented movement to right or left. “Would you like to know what happened to your friend, Jeremy?” he drawled. “A young black man who thought he could talk himself out of any situation. I imagine you’re a little like him. But where Jeremy failed, you’ve succeeded. Does that please you to know that you’re the better thief?”

  She gasped at the thought. Penelope wasn’t like that. Creeping was a thrill. It had been a thrill up until Friday night. But she would have rather cut one of her hands off than to encounter a homeowner, much less to cause pain to some innocent. She needed that money for her mother. Jessica was happy at Cedars on the Ridge. There was
even continued therapy and treatment for her damaged retinas and a possible hope for the partial return of some of her sight.

  But was the risk of her life worth eternal happiness for Jessica? Her mother would have been horrified at the direction that Penelope was taking on this complete and utter screwed-up mess. And Jeremy? Well, Penelope couldn’t do anything about him now, and no, she didn’t want to know the “dirty details” about what had happened to him.

  Anthony’s breath was heavy in her ear and she let her eyelids slide shut for a horrified moment. Too damn close. He smelled of spearmint gum and Dial soap. He seemed to be the antithesis of a terrifying monster in a midnight nightmare.

  Penelope’s eyes suddenly opened up like a set of runaway blinds. “Get away from me,” she whispered harshly. “You don’t have your things here to do your bidding, and you don’t dare touch me.”

  But Anthony did exactly that. One of his hands came up and gently stroked the curve of her cheek, brushing a lock of hair away from her face. “I dare a great deal. Where is the diamond?” he murmured in her ear. “I can be a friend to you. You can have the Earth and the moon if you so desire. But you will return the gemstone.”

  In an abrupt severe movement, Anthony was jerked back from Penelope and thrust several feet away. Will Littlesoldier stood there, his face filled with furious rage, glaring at the other man. He insinuated himself in-between Penelope and Anthony. Anthony stared back, his mostly expressionless face overflowing with anger at the interruption. But after a tense second, the anger swept away and left a serene visage. “William,” he said. “You haven’t changed in five years. Still interested in the white man’s cultural sociology and still so predictable. Your little thief didn’t quite do the job you wanted, did she?”

  “My little thief,” Will repeated coldly. “Are you all right, Penelope?”

  Penelope looked from one man to the other. The few revealing words on the back of the photograph in Will’s wallet hadn’t exposed the extent of the two men’s relationship. But it had disclosed the relationship between Merri and Will. Will was closely connected to both the woman that wasn’t human anymore and the man who had so calmly threatened Penelope with only a few sparse words of menace and the intimidating touch of his tender fingers. “I’m all right,” she said, but she wasn’t sure if it were an answer or a question to herself. Am I all right?

  “Dr. Littlesoldier,” said another voice. Penelope’s eyes cast right and saw the security guard she had pointed out earlier. A burly man in his fifties, he was standing nearby with one hand on the butt of his sidearm and turned slightly to one side so that he could quickly pull and fire if he so desired. “Doctor? Is there a problem here?”

  “This man is leaving the museum,” Will said icily. His eyes stayed fixed on Anthony. “He won’t be coming back here. Not today. Not ever.”

  Anthony shrugged carelessly. “You were always the scientist, William. I was…something else.”

  “Sir,” the guard said to Anthony. “This way.” He indicated the direction of the front door with his free hand.

  Not paying attention to the brawny man, Anthony continued to stare at Will, and then he rearranged his gaze onto Penelope. She looked back at him, trying to maintain her composure. She had felt safe in this place. Perhaps not altogether secure, but it had felt as though nothing evil could touch her in a location where children were giggling in the bright light of afternoon. But it had touched her. It had touched her on her cheek. It had come so close that he could have broken her silly little neck with a quick twist.

  With a little nonchalant movement of his shoulders, Anthony suddenly acquiesced and waved both of his hands in the air as if he were surrendering. He said to the guard, “Of course, I was just going, like my brother said.” Then he stopped due to Penelope’s sudden rapid intake of air. “William didn’t tell you that part, did he? He is my older brother, the doctor. A Ph.D., to be more precise. But a doctor all the same. He’s the pride of the tribe. A tenured professor and at such a young age. Did he tell you about his wife?”

  Penelope felt rather than saw Will straighten up unhurriedly. The muscles under his button-down shirt flexed as if he would launch himself at the other man. She should have known they were brothers. Certainly they had to be some sort of close relation with their similar likenesses. And the words on the back of the photograph had disclosed Will’s affection for the once human, Merri. He had loved her. And now Penelope had the answer to two unspoken questions. Merri had been Will’s wife. And the man, Anthony, was Will’s younger brother. Once they had all been devoted to each other. Now they were bitter enemies. And some of them were worse than that. Much, much worse.

  Was it all because of the incarnate evil contained in a black diamond that had come from a meteorite? Was it because of avariciousness? It wasn’t the kind of greed that comes from money but the kind that comes from power over other human beings, the power that corrupts the most innocent of souls.

  Without doubt, there was more to the story than a simple folklore tale with an innate moral to keep the peasants in line. Anthony correctly perceived the look of uncertainty on her face and was instantly rewarded. He grinned broadly and immediately turned on his heel. Words floated back to her, and Penelope felt certain they were meant only for her. “Be seeing you soon. Very soon.”

  Will kept his avid gaze on Anthony as he sturdily marched across the marbled floor of the big room. Silently berating himself, Will had expected to see Penelope appear at the museum. She had his wallet and the temporary ID for the facility. She would know exactly where to find him if she so desired. He had felt the itching sensation of being watched in the center of his shoulder blades and known it was her. It was none other than the shrewd woman who reminded him of the spirit, Coyote.

  However, Will didn’t know that Anthony and the things he controlled had been made aware of his arrival in the “Big D.” It could have been the result of many different occurrences. The loss of the fetishes, perhaps? Or that Anthony had been expecting to feel the weight of his brother’s gaze for years, ready to wreak vengeance on his younger brother for the loss of his wife? Or that Anthony’s malevolent tactics had grown in strength, and he was able to ferret out Will’s presence?

  Ultimately it didn’t matter how he had been found out. Will had seen the results with his own eyes. There had been the witch, the seatco, and the shadow people, all working together in twisted harmony, intent on bringing about the end of the third world. Blackness rewarded blackness with more blackness. If Anthony couldn’t find the girl, then he would find his brother and coincidently someone else who had been waiting for his brother. After all, it would be only a phone call made to the University of Oregon to discover where Dr. Littlesoldier was presently a guest lecturer. Then it was a mere ten minute drive away from the house on Durfrene Row. It was all too convenient.

  Shaking his head to himself, Will knew that there had been no other way to proceed. He had run out of ways to locate the thief. She had to come to him. And she had.

  When Anthony left the building, Will watched for a long minute more, ensuring that he did not return. Then he turned to Penelope, but she had taken advantage of the opportunity. She was gone, and nowhere in sight.

  *

  The museum had grown more crowded in the time since Penelope had first entered the grand art deco doors. Grandparents brought their grandchildren for something educational to do. Groups of tourists peered at exhibits and prodded each other while speaking in exotic tongues. Bored souls yawned while they followed animated spouses and significant others around what they considered to be one of the top ten most boring locales on the face of the planet.

  None of them paid any attention to Penelope. She lost herself in the depths of the museum. There were a multitude of wings and additions to the building, transforming its once rectangular shape into the sprawling form of a sedate octopus. Each part of the structure was filled with exhibits and laboratories and displays that could hide a thousand individuals. Sh
e took full advantage of that fact.

  There was no point in going out the front door. God and Anthony alone knew what was waiting out there for her. Penelope glanced around her. A place like this was bound to have a dozen or more exits. Most were fire exits, only to be used in the event of an emergency. It is an emergency, she reasoned lucidly. Not much more emergency can it get than this. But try explaining that to the Dallas Fire Department.

  Abruptly she found herself alone. There was a display celebrating Texas quilting and no one was about. Next to the moderate exhibit was a plain door set back into the wing. A small sign announced that it was for “Employees Only.” Penelope tried the handle and found it locked. The sign seemed like overkill. If only employees had a key to open the door, then why would there need to be a sign?

  With a plaintive sigh, Penelope set about her task. It was a simple door mechanism. It took her twenty seconds and the use of Will’s Platinum MasterCard to get it open. With a last backwards look, she ascertained that she didn’t have more company than she needed, and she disappeared inside the blackness of the hallway that didn’t seem to lead to anywhere at all.

  However, the hallway behind the “Employees Only” door did lead somewhere. Penelope found herself in another room, one that stretched out into forever, a seeming anomaly in a building that simply didn’t appear like it could it be that large. It was like stepping into the wardrobe of a certain C.S. Lewis book and finding that it didn’t end at the back like a normal wardrobe.

  But the most disturbing part was there were monsters there. All around her, and she couldn’t find a single light.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Monday, July 7th

  To run as sandy on (slang, origin unknown, probably 1940s American) - to trick someone

  The darkness surrounded Penelope like bandages around an Egyptian mummy. It covered her face and filled her nostrils with the overwhelming scent of staleness. In addition, the faint scent of decay pervaded the air, prompting her levels of adrenaline to begin their endless rush through her bloodstream in preparation for the escape attempt to come. Her hands began to flail helplessly, even while her eyes began to adjust to the dimness.