Overshadow

by Brea Essex

  Genevra studied me silently for a moment.

  “What?” I finally asked.

  “Nothing.” She shook her head, and then brightened. “I know! Why don’t we drag Tanis out of her room? She and I can get dressed up too, and then I’ll take both of you out. What do you say? Girls’ day out?”

  I thought about it. “Won’t Shane feel left out?”

  “He’s at work,” she informed me. “He’ll be there most of the day. Besides, I’m sure he wouldn’t begrudge the three of us a little girl time.”

  I sighed. Well, since my plans were canceled, I might as well spend some time with my family. I certainly didn’t relish the idea of hanging around the house all day, waiting by the phone to see if Logan called to say he could come over. “Sounds great! Let’s do it!”

  The two of us trooped upstairs, me walking quite a bit slower than Genevra because of my shoes, and banged on Tanis’s door.

  Tanis threw it open, an expression of pure annoyance on her face. “What’s going on?” she asked, confused at seeing the two of us standing in the hall.

  “What, did you go back to sleep?” I asked, laughing before Genevra could say anything.

  “No, of course not,” Tanis exclaimed indignantly. “I was studying.”

  Of course. “No bickering, you two,” Genevra pleaded. “Get dressed, Tanis. Dressed up, that is. I’m taking you two out.”

  Tanis stared at me questioningly. “I thought you had big plans with Logan today.”

  “He canceled,” I informed her bitterly.

  “His mother needed him,” Genevra corrected me.

  “Whatever. He still canceled.”

  “I know you’re upset, Rae, but hopefully this girls’ day can put both of you in a better mood.”

  “Mom, I have to study,” Tanis protested.

  Genevra eyed her. “You study too much sometimes. Now go change into something nice. I’ll meet you both downstairs in twenty minutes.”

  “Fine.” Tanis shut the door in our faces.

  Genevra faced me. “It’s going to be okay. Today will be fun, I promise.”

  Somehow I doubted it, but I would try to have a good time for Genevra’s sake. I was still mad about Logan flaking, but Genevra and Shane had done a lot for me. I knew they had been worried when I was missing. I owed it to them to at least pretend to have fun, no matter my mood.

  I forced a small smile. “I’ll be in my room. Let me know when you’re ready.”

  My phone started ringing as I opened my door. Must be Logan calling to apologize. I checked the caller ID. Great. It was Cady, one of my best friends.

  “Hey,” I said, trying to sound nonchalant as I answered the phone.

  “Hey!” Cady chirped. She never ceased to amaze me with her enthusiasm at everything. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing,” I lied.

  “Oh, come on! We’ve been friends long enough for me to know when you’re lying. Tell me!”

  “Well I sort of had plans with Logan today, but he had to cancel,” I told her.

  “Logan? You mean Logan Conner? Why would you have plans with him?” she wanted to know.

  “Umm… we’re sort of dating,” I admitted.

  “Ohhh… Emm… Gee!” Cady shrieked into the phone, dragging the syllables out. “You’re dating Logan? When did this happen? Why didn’t you tell me? Are you crazy? You two are, like, total opposites! Well, except for the sarcasm. Still, you could seriously do better than him.”

  “Wow, Cady! Enough with the questions. Don’t be rude. He’s our friend,” I reminded her.

  “Maybe he’s your friend, but not mine. I don’t remember him ever being nice to me.”

  “He’s always been nice to you,” I protested.

  “Whatever,” Cady mumbled. “Rae, why him? Wait a minute! What happened with that Andrei guy?”

  I sighed. “I told you Andrei turned psycho. Remember, he kidnapped me? What do you mean, ‘Why Logan’?”

  “If you don’t want Andrei, then you should keep looking,” Cady told me. “You don’t really want Logan, do you?”

  Cady’s voice had a taken on a peculiar wheedling quality. It suddenly dawned on me. “Of course! Why didn’t I see it before? You like Logan, don’t you?”

  “No! Absolutely not! Why would you think that?”

  “Why else would you be trying so hard to convince me to not go out with him?” I wanted to know.

  “Because I don’t want my best friend to get hurt again!”

  I felt stupid. She sounded sincere. Maybe she was only trying to look out for me. “Hey, I have plans with Genevra and Tanis right now, but do you want to come over later?”

  “Sure!” Cady was already back to normal. “Can Tristan come too?”

  “Of course! I mean, I still need to check with Genevra, but I don’t think she’ll mind if you guys come over. Pizza and a movie?”

  “Sounds good! I’ll call Tristan and tell him. What time?”

  “I don’t know. A couple of hours? I don’t know what time we’ll be done. Actually, I don’t even know what we’re doing. Can I call you later and let you know?” I asked.

  “Sure! I’ll call Tristan and have him come over, so we’ll both be here. We’ll see you in a couple of hours!”

  We were just hanging up when Tanis knocked on my door. She had already changed into a pale blue, cotton dress, but her hair remained in the same messy bun she had pinned it up in earlier.

  “You’re ready already?” I asked incredulously.

  “What? It’s just you and Mom. Mom said get dressed up, I got dressed up. This is all you’re getting out of me,” she said.

  “Wow, I thought I was supposed to be the one in the bad mood today.”

  She rolled her eyes and came over to sit next to me on my bed. “Look, Raena, I don’t know what happened to you when you were… gone… but I’m sure it was traumatic. You came back skinny and bruised and with your ankle hurt.” She held up a hand to ward off my protests that I didn’t want to talk about it. “I know you probably don’t want to relive it or whatever, but if you want to talk, I’m here.”

  Reaching over, I hugged her. I don’t know if I surprised her more or myself. “I appreciate it, Tanis. And if I do ever want to talk about it, I promise you’ll be the first one I come to. Now can we go see what it is Genevra has planned for us today?”

  We walked down the hall to Genevra and Shane’s room. When Genevra answered the door, she was still in her jeans and blouse from earlier. “You sure got ready fast,” she told Tanis.

  “This is as dressed up as I’m going to get,” Tanis said.

  “Well at least we got you in a dress.” Genevra motioned for us to come in. We sat on her bed while she headed into the connecting bathroom to finish getting ready. “I thought we’d head into the city and have lunch at North Beach, and then go shopping and maybe catch a show? Sound good to you two?”

  “We’re going all the way to San Francisco?” Tanis protested.

  Genevra poked her head around the corner. “Yes, and I don’t want to hear any complaints. This is supposed to be fun. You know, sometimes I wish you two would just let Shane and me do something nice for you without protesting.”

  Tanis and I were sufficiently chastised. My phone rang as we sat there waiting. I pulled it out of my clutch and checked the caller ID. It was Logan. He was probably calling to apologize, but I didn’t want to hear it. I ignored it and stuck it back in my purse.

  “Who was it?” Tanis asked.

  “Logan.”

  “Didn’t want to talk to him?”

  “Not really,” I replied.

  “Why not?”

  “I don’t believe him for one minute that his mom called him to come home suddenly, especially after being with her all morning.”

  “So what do you think happened?” she asked.

  I hesitated. “I have no idea,” I admitted. “But I still don’t believe him.”

  “Maybe you should give him the benefit of the do
ubt, so to speak,” Genevra said as she came back into the bedroom. She came over and sat on the other side of me. “Do you think you might be overreacting, just a little?”

  I wanted to lash out at her, to yell that of course I wasn’t overreacting. Wow, she’s right. My temper is a little volatile. I took a deep breath, letting it out as slowly as humanly possible. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I’m overreacting. I have been kind of touchy lately,” I admitted.

  Genevra let out a sharp breath, like she had been afraid of how I was going to react. “Do you want to call him back?”

  “No, I don’t.”

  She stared at me for a moment. “Then, why don’t we go?”

  I glanced down at my feet. If we were going to be walking around San Francisco, I should probably change my shoes. “Hold on a second.”

  I kicked off my heels and ran into my room. Tossing them on the floor, I shoved my feet into the flats that I had intended on taking with me when I left with Logan. I rushed back into the hall just as they were emerging from Genevra and Shane’s room. “Ready!” I announced.

  All three of us trooped downstairs and out to their black Chevy Tahoe. We sat in the driveway while Genevra called Shane to let him know that we’d probably be gone when he got home.

  The drive to San Francisco was uneventful. I got a little sad when we drove through San Jose. There were too many negative memories that I now associated with the city, including shopping there with my mother before she had gotten sick, and Andrei abducting me. I sighed, wondering if I would ever be able to erase the bad memories.

  The trip to San Francisco ended up being more fun than I had expected. We did some shopping at the mall — hel-lo four-floor department stores! Then we had lunch at North Beach, which is practically a Little Italy. Afterward, we took the trolley to Pier 39 for some coffee and fudge.

  I was actually a little disappointed when it was time to leave. Silence filled the backseat on the drive home while Genevra and Tanis talked up front. When we got home, I thanked Genevra and headed straight to my room. I tried to ignore the worried looks they exchanged as I passed.

  My phone rang again as I was changing out of my dress. It was Logan again. “Should I answer it?” I asked Nuada, who was curled up on my bed. She blinked at me and went back to sleep. “No help,” I muttered.

  I finally answered the phone. “Yes?” I said shortly.

  “Rae! You answered.” Logan’s voice came over the line.

  “Well, you’ve been calling incessantly.” I had turned my phone on silent while we were in San Francisco, but I still noticed all of his missed calls.

  “Yeah, I’ve been trying to get you all day since I left. I am so sorry! I was going to come back after I helped my mom, but you weren’t answering your phone. I came by, but no one answered the door.”

  “Genevra took Tanis and me to the city for the day.”

  Logan got quiet. “That’s where I was going to take you.”

  I didn’t feel bad. It wasn’t my fault he flaked. Still, I was disappointed and a little hurt. “Guess we’ll have to do it another time.”

  “No, I’ll find someplace better to take you,” he promised. “Tomorrow?”

  “I guess…”

  “Nothing like this will happen again, I swear. I’ll talk to my mom tonight. She feels bad. She didn’t realize I left already.”

  I sighed. How could I be angry that his mother had needed his help? “All right.”

  “I’ll come over in the morning, and we’ll spend the whole day together, okay?”

  “I have to work, but you can come over afterward.”

  “Okay. And Raena?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I love you.”

  I hadn’t heard those words from him since the first time he said them, when we had gone to the Beach Boardwalk to try and hide from Andrei. That was when he told me that he was falling in love with me.

  I smiled. “I love you too, Logan.”

  Chapter Four

  Andrei

  We met in secret.

  “You summoned me?”she asked.

  “Yes,” I told her. “I need you to do something for me.”

  She gave me a curious look. “Of course. You know I am here for whatever you need.” She offered me a wicked smile.

  I shot her a withering look. “No need to be so… eager. Now do you want to know what you need to do or not?”

  “Definitely.”

  Glancing around to be sure no one could hear, I began to whisper my plan to her. “Do you understand?”

  She laughed, her voice ringing in the shrouded corridors and forcing me to tell her to be quiet.

  “No one can know of this!” I ordered.

  “Of course, Lord Andrei. It will be as you have said.”

  As she left, disappearing around a bend in the corridor, I wondered if she could accomplish the task I had set for her. I didn’t like my mother’s orders, but they had to be followed, otherwise my life — and possibly others’ lives — would be forfeited.

  ****

  Raena

  “You know, Rae, you’ve been acting weird ever since you got back from — where the heck were you, anyway?”

  I was at work. It was my first day back at the bakery since returning from the Shadow Imperium. Unfortunately I was working with Cady. I wasn’t ready to face her and her questions.

  There was no way I could tell her the truth. She would think I was crazy. Or she might be so intrigued by the whole thing she’d try to find Andrei. She might even renew her interest in Logan. I was convinced she had a crush on him. She’d been super mean to me ever since she had found out Logan and I were together.

  Could she feel my panic? I didn’t know why I felt so weird around her now. There was something off about our friendship. “Umm… I’d rather not talk about it,” I hedged.

  She threw down the towel she was wiping the counter with. It missed the edge of the counter and fell to the floor. “Fine. I thought we were friends, but obviously you don’t trust me enough to share your problems.”

  Without even meaning to, she had hit the nail on the head, so to speak. I didn’t trust her. I couldn’t tell her that, though. She would be furious, way more furious than she was now.

  “It’s not that I don’t trust you. I’m just not ready to talk about it.”

  The glare she gave me was enough to make me shrink back from her. I tripped over a mat on the floor and cursed myself for wearing heels to work again. Luckily I didn’t fall.

  “Why aren’t you ready to talk about it?” she whined. Apparently she was going to try that tactic since her anger hadn’t seemed to work against me. It was then I realized Cady was one of the most manipulative people I knew. With everything that had been going on, I didn’t need false friends, but would getting Cady out of my life even help? Or would it make things worse?

  “I just don’t want to right now. You have to understand it was kind of traumatic.” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I realized I shouldn’t have said them.

  “Traumatic how?” She stepped closer. Great. Now she was even more intrigued.

  “Look, I said I don’t want to talk about it! If and when I’m ever ready to tell you what happened to me, I’ll let you know. For now, will you please just drop it?”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Fine, Raena. I can tell when I’m not wanted.” She disappeared into the back stockroom, leaving the towel exactly where she had left it on the floor.

  Just then the door chimed, signaling a customer’s entrance. I sighed deeply, not wanting to have to deal with anyone. Maybe I should ask to go home early.

  I turned toward the door, my mouth opening to ask what I could get for them. To my surprise, Logan stood on the other side of the counter.

  “Are you okay?” he asked worriedly.

  “Yeah.” I walked over to the counter and leaned close to him. “I just had a fight with Cady, is all.”

  “What about?”

  “She wants me to tell her wha
t happened to me.”

  “You know you can’t tell her. She’s not trustworthy.”

  I shot a look over my shoulder to make sure she hadn’t appeared behind me as Logan and I were talking. “Yeah, I know. Don’t worry, I didn’t tell her anything, and I’m not going to. That’s why she’s mad at me.”

  He visibly relaxed. “Okay, good. You know no human would understand.”

  “I understand, unfortunately.”

  “You’re not completely human.”

  “Thanks for the reminder.” I was still trying to adjust to the revelation that I was a Nephilim, a half-human and half-angel creature. None of this had been easy to get used to. I was beginning to wonder if I would ever be able to wrap my mind around the craziness that had been my life the past few weeks. Maybe I should tell someone, someone who wasn’t involved in this whole thing. Cady was definitely not an option. She was a huge gossip. There had to be someone I could trust.

  “Ready to go?” Logan’s voice broke into my thoughts.

  I glanced at my watch. The time had gone by fast. I hadn’t even noticed it was time to go. “I guess. What are you doing here anyway?”

  He looked at me intently. “I had to make sure you were okay.”

  “You don’t have to follow me around. I’m fine.”

  “You underestimate me, Raena. I know I don’t need to follow you around. I just want to be sure you’re safe. I’m stronger now, and as far as we know, I’m the only one who can protect you from Andrei. Now why don’t you clock out so we can go and have this discussion in my car where no one can hear?”

  Glancing around, I realized there were customers within earshot. I hoped we had kept our voices low enough to where they couldn’t hear. They would think Logan was a stalker or something. I shrugged, giving in. When I went to the back to clock out, I didn’t see Cady anywhere. Strange, I knew I saw her go back there. I hadn’t passed her on my way to the back. I wondered where she had disappeared to. I would have to try and make amends with her later.

  I clocked out and called to the manager that I was leaving. When I went up front, Logan was still waiting. Cady was standing behind the counter again. I went up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to get her attention.