Shadow People

by Bevill, C. L.

  An impromptu vacation. Anthony wasn’t shocked. He had simply played a bluff with the unknowing woman. Of course, he knew about Mrs. Quick’s absence, but the phone number he had wasn’t working. Of course, he didn’t expect the nurse to give out personal information but could he confirm the number with her as the one they had.

  Of course he could. Once the nurse realized that the “lawyer” she was speaking with had the incorrect phone number, she joyfully gave him the accurate one instead. She hadn’t even hesitated in her helpfulness. After all, lawyers weren’t like regular criminals. They were educated. Anthony had politely thanked her for her invaluable assistance and hung up.

  With the witch standing nearby, staring at him with icy eyes, Anthony had dialed the number he had been given. A man answered and was clearly not pleased to hear Anthony’s voice. Anthony gathered that the man was expecting to hear from someone else altogether, quite probably Penelope herself.

  However, Anthony informed the unknown man that he had a message from Penelope. He would not give it to the stubborn man who had answered the cell phone. He would only give it to Jessica Quick. So after several minutes of arguing, Anthony overheard Penelope’s mother in the background, speaking sternly to the man she addressed as “Freddy.” A moment after that, he was speaking directly to Jessica Quick.

  She was, as Anthony had previously guessed, a shrewd and capable woman. He hadn’t wasted any time or effort on trying to fool her. “Penelope,” he said quietly, “is in trouble. She needs you.”

  “Trouble,” Mrs. Quick repeated with apprehension. “What kind of trouble?”

  “The worst kind. The kind your husband used to have,” he replied. Mr. Jobe Cooper had effortlessly imparted that Penelope’s business was a family occupation that started with a grandfather, passed onto father, and then on to daughter. Jessica wasn’t involved in it, although Jeremy had implied to Jobe that she had been fully informed about Jacob’s livelihood. Jobe also mentioned that Jeremy had implied that Penelope kept her nefarious activities from Jessica because she knew that her mother wouldn’t approve.

  “Jacob,” she said softly. “Of course. Now who are you?”

  “My name is Anthony Littlesoldier,” he said. “I’ll give you my number, but I’d advise you not to use your cell phone any longer. The same people are looking for you as well.”

  “For me? Whatever for?”

  “As leverage against your daughter,” he said. “She took something they want back very badly, and they’ll do almost anything to get it back.”

  “I see,” Mrs. Quick said unhappily. “I’ve been trying her for days on her cell phone.”

  “Ah, and I as well.” Anthony took a moment and played the same game with Mrs. Quick that he had played with the nurse at the residential facility. Mrs. Quick gave him yet another number, and Anthony knew that he could get almost anything he wanted from her. “Penelope wants you to stay in place. Can you give me the regular number of the place you’re staying so that I can call you when I need to?”

  “Of course,” she said worriedly. “I never wanted that girl to do what her father did.”

  “There, there,” he soothed and copied the other number down. “As soon as I find her I’ll let you know.” Or more likely it will be the other way around, he thought frankly. As soon as I find you, I’ll let Penelope know.

  A few minutes later Anthony had hung up and was dialing a number with a New Jersey area code. He discovered that it was a hotel in Atlantic City. The staff there was more than pleased to give him their address so that he could easily find them. He glanced at Merri when he disconnected the phone again. “So much easier to simply lie, isn’t it?”

  Merri shrugged elegantly.

  “You’re going to fly to New Jersey,” he said. “You’ll get the mother by telling her that you’re taking her to her daughter. If necessary you’ll kill her companion.”

  “Fly. I’ve seen the planes. Interesting. I shall look forward to witnessing their magicks.” The witch nodded. “And you’ll call this thief when I do so, with a trade-off?”

  It was Anthony’s turn to shrug. “Not really but with whatever it takes to garner Penelope’s return. I have work to do here, and you’ll need a chartered plane. Less questions about security issues and the crying moans of an old woman.” He tilted his head and looked Merri squarely in her beautiful face. “Jessica Quick has to be alive. Do you understand?”

  Merri’s face twisted delicately in her reluctant acquiescence. “Where’s the fun in that?”

  *

  Penelope had been led outside by Will and was standing in a small clearing with her arms wrapped around her body. The memory of a mountain-fed breeze from her dream was echoed in reality. A shiver of reaction crossed her body. Nearby Joseph John Dick was removing something from a ramshackle Jeep.

  “So now what?” she said curiously. The oddest part of all was that she didn’t feel threatened, not even the least bit apprehensive. “You’ll show me something that’s supposed to convince me to fight for good and against the dark side of the force?”

  Will laughed. “This isn’t a movie.”

  Penelope turned to watch Joseph John. He was removing various items from a worn canvas bag. He carefully lined them up on emerald green grass as if they were made from glass and most precious to him. There was a smudge pot. A carved stick with long, regal feathers attached joined the pot. And finally he removed a beaded shirt that he lovingly unfolded with gentle fingers. Joseph John ignored both of them for the moment.

  “So show me,” she said uncertainly. The preciseness of Joseph John’s actions made her think about ceremony and beliefs, both of which she knew she sadly lacked.

  “Feel all right?” Will asked instead. “Your stomach full enough? Had enough to drink?”

  Penelope transferred her gaze to him. His handsome face was full of concern. “Why do you ask? Am I going to go on a trip? Do I need to use the little girl’s room first?”

  Will stared back. Concern faded to impassivity. Penelope Quick didn’t look like a master thief now. She looked like she was barely out of high school and certainly not in her middle twenties and an expert criminal. Her shoulder-length hair had dried to a golden brown in the full sunlight of the clearing in front of the cabin. It was a simple cut that allowed her to comb her fingers through it and took advantage of natural curls and waves. Her eyes were no longer concealed by shadows and were a similar color to her hair - a brown that refracted the golden rays of the large star above them. She could have been anything but what she actually was at that moment.

  Joseph John draped the elaborately beaded shirt around his shoulders, fastening a clip at the neck. He took the smudge pot and stepped up to Penelope. One hand dipped inside, and a finger came out black combined with tiny clumps of unknown materials.

  Penelope looked at him with some astonishment. “And what the hell do you think you’re going to do with that?”

  “Joseph John is what you call a medicine man,” Will said easily. “But a wise man would be more accurate. Perhaps a spiritualist. Some of each, all combined together.”

  “And exactly what does he want to do with the mucky looking stuff on his hands?” she said, keeping an eye on the increasingly irritated Joseph John.

  “He wants to purify you,” Joseph John answered for himself. Annoyance rippled visibly down his frame. A light wind caught his white braid and twisted it gently away from his neck. “It won’t hurt you, and it certainly won’t take away from your charming female personality.” The smudged finger lightly touched each of Penelope’s cheeks, leaving streaks of color.

  “It’s sage and cedar, burned and cleansed, combined with oils,” Will told her. “The two have great powers to purify.”

  The smudge pot was returned to the ground, and Joseph John retrieved the long stick with the feathers on it.

  “An eagle-feather wand,” Will explained. “Also used in a purification ceremony.”

  “I already bathed this morning,” Penelo
pe grated.

  “Purification rites are intended to cleanse one’s body, mind, and spirit of tainting factors. These tainting factors might be troublesome to the achievement of power or even damaging to a person who might come in contact with such a power. The rites prepare an individual for an encounter with medicine power. It should remove worldly thoughts and concerns.” Will’s voice had become soothingly regular, just as when he had told the story about Magic Elk and his acquisition of the magical Tears of the Spirit. Every inch of her body starting to relax, Penelope listened as she watched Joseph John work with the feather-covered wand. “If you’ll try to concentrate…”

  Why should I concentrate? Penelope thought. Why should I do anything for a man who kidnapped me and took me so far away that I…

  Will’s voice trailed away and Joseph John’s came into play with a song-like chant. The language was not English, nor was it one Penelope had ever heard before. He circled her with the feather wand and only touched bits of air and wind.

  Penelope wasn’t sure why, but she didn’t feel threatened. However, Will and his counterparts had a chance to kill her on more than one occasion and had passed. As a matter of fact, Will had probably saved her bacon as well. His call to the police had caused their interference and given her enough time to get away from the seatco, the witch, and the shadow people. He had warned her in the parking garage. And he had pulled Anthony away from her in the museum. They already had the stone that he had wanted so desperately, so why bother keeping her around?

  “Focus,” came a harsh whisper. It was Joseph John’s voice, and it was interlaced with rhythmic chanting. “Focus on the inner workings of your mind.”

  Penelope’s eyes began to dip. She could have sworn that she wasn’t tired. Especially after waking up from such a long sleep, but her eyelids felt as though they were weighed down with a ton of bricks. Inside her head, it was Jessica Quick’s safety that was vital. Penelope needed to call her mother and ensure her continued wellbeing. After all of this pagan nonsense was completed, she would find that cell phone or hike down to the nearest pay phone and make damn sure that Jessica was making her arm very sore at the slot machines in Atlantic City.

  Then when Penelope was satisfied with that, she could see what these people really wanted her to do and whether or not she was willing to have any part of it.

  The regular chanting seemed to get louder in her head until she couldn’t sense anything else. Penelope tried to open her eyes but found them impossible to budge. Concern speared through her, but she dismissed it just as quickly. It seemed to be so clear in her mind. There was something very important to do.

  The shadows came then and coiled tightly around Penelope’s body.

  *

  Joseph John removed the beaded shirt and folded it neatly, returning it to the canvas bag. “Women,” he said derisively. “A woman warrior. Not even of the tribe. Pshaw. What next?”

  Will looked into the sinister darkness of the pine forest. Even with the sun straight above them, the ancient growth seemed like an impenetrable mass, curling trunks with thick branches making for nearly impassible undergrowth. “She’s not like other women,” he said, meaning Penelope and not looking away from the depths.

  Joseph John stopped abruptly. “Well, duh.”

  “You know what I mean, elderly one.”

  There was a certain note in Will’s voice that caused Joseph John to look sharply at the younger man. “Do you not recall the legend of Teeth in the Wrong Place?”

  Will sighed. There wasn’t any point in interrupting Joseph John when he got to speaking about moralistic myths.

  Joseph John didn’t even pause. He relentlessly went on with the story. “Coyote once went to an old woman with two beautiful daughters so that he could sleep with the young women. However, the younger daughter was taken with Coyote and warned him that the old woman was a witch from the fourth world and that she had put teeth into the vaginas of the two women. If a man stuck his penis into the vagina of the young women it would be chewed up by the vicious teeth, and he would bleed to death. So when the older daughter entreated Coyote, he stuck a piece of wood into her vagina instead and when that was completely shredded, he stuck an arrow from his quiver there and reached the black heart of the older daughter. Then he took his knife and slit the throat of the witch, ending her evilness on this realm. Finally he took the younger daughter as his wife but not before knocking the teeth out of her vagina.”

  Will nodded grimly. It was one of Joseph John’s favorite myths about women. It said volumes about his relationship with his wife, who ruled their roost. “A Plains legend,” he agreed. “But you’re forgetting that the younger daughter had teeth too, but she chose not to use them. And you tote out that story every time you’re pissed at your wife.”

  Joseph John grumbled under his breath. “You’re too educated, little soldier. Other men would merely cross their legs and count themselves lucky they hadn’t found a woman with sharp teeth in her vagina. But you, you’re worse than any of them.”

  Will looked out at the black forest again. Penelope was gone from his sight. She would likely be gone for some time. “You don’t believe in the stories. The pale girl with the magic stone and nimble fingers will save the people from undying hell in the fourth world?”

  The older man turned to look at the forest as well. After a long pause he said, “She’s a woman, Will. An outsider. She doesn’t believe, and no matter what happens, how can we possibly know that she will fight for what is truly right?”

  Words formed at Will’s mouth, but he had a hard time moving his lips. Finally he said, “She will.”

  Joseph John shrugged. “If she even walks out of the forest again…”

  *

  The world had become chilly, and things crawled across her skin. Penelope opened her eyes and found herself in the forest. Dark and dense, it surrounded her like a tale straight from Brothers Grimm. The formerly tall and straight pines were gnarled and knotted like an old man’s arthritic fingers. The growth encompassed her body and threaded through her arms as if it were a gentleman waiting to escort her to a fancy ball. Ivy tickled her face and moved soundlessly around her, twisting across her body and seeking out the warmth of her flesh.

  It’s alive, she thought. It’s alive. Oh, Jesus God Christ, it’s fucking alive. And Penelope leapt to her feet, yanking ivy and branches away from her body. She frantically climbed away from where she had been laying and dropped into a small sun-dappled clearing. For the moment she was safe, and she controlled her shaking limbs and frantically looked around her, expecting some scene from a wretched sci-fi movie to come crashing down upon her.

  Then as she calmed down, Penelope wondered if she were confusing reality with a passing nightmare. She looked down at herself and saw the same clothing she had put on after her shower at Will’s cabin. Baseball jersey. Cheap jeans. Economical shoes. Nothing was in disarray. Nothing was really out of place, except, of course, herself.

  Will. What did they do this time? Penelope’s thoughts were angry now. Purification rites my ass. What the hell is going on around here? Slowly she forced her breathing to adjust, and she carefully looked around her. As far as she could tell, she was in the middle of the woods. She could have been a mile from the nearest fragment of civilization or a thousand for all she knew. There was no cabin within sight, and there was no way to figure out the way that she had come to be in the forest.

  They drugged me again and then dropped me off here. It was all Penelope could think of, it was the only thing that made the slightest bit of sense. Why not just slice my throat and get it over with?

  They don’t want you to die, silly, came that nauseating inner voice. This is a test. A test to see if you’re worthy. That’s why they purify you. Didn’t you listen to what Will said?

  “‘The rites prepare an individual for an encounter with medicine power,’” Penelope said aloud, her voice numb. Medicine power, she inferred, meant some kind of potent experience with super
natural forces. She hadn’t listened before. She hadn’t wanted to listen before. She was too wrapped up in being kidnapped, in figuring out how to find out if Jessica was still okay and holding in Atlantic City, and in general saving her own hiney.

  Bingo, said her inner voice with alacrity.

  Penelope glanced around her again. “So what kind of encounter am I going to have? And what would one of Jacob’s sayings have been about it?”

  But her inner voice had suddenly silenced. The formerly soundless woods were no longer quiet. Something’s harsh footsteps crackled along the decaying pine needles on the forest floor and announced to one and all that it was coming.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Wednesday, July 9th - ?

  Mad Tom (slang, origin unknown, probably 1880s English) - beggar or a thief who feigns madness

  In an instant the sun was directly above Penelope’s head. If she had lifted her face upward, she would have felt its luminous rays warming her flesh. In the next instant, the sun was gone and it was only the silvery face of the moon dominating an ebony sky with a thousand glittering stars. The sudden change made her blink with confusion.

  The forest was now as solidly black as a painted wall. But the heavy sounds of footfalls came like pounding blocks of cement. Dropping to the earth, she froze, and forced her gaze to look downward, mindlessly fearing what she could hear as it echoed the sound of her thundering heart. The footsteps hesitated and then passed her by, proceeding into the heaviest shadows. Penelope’s head came up, and she saw the shape as it went through a patch of open moonlight.

  It was the seatco, the very same one that had terrorized her for days and had filled her nightmares with visions of its shocking form. Fully seven feet tall, with its colorful yet grim mask restored, it lurched through the forest, needing little light and not taking notice of her as she cowered.

  This is a dream, Penelope decided. I parked a Thunderbird on its big wide ass and I don’t think it would be hauling butt through a forest right now, no matter what kind of witchdoctor it had casting spells over its head.