Shadeland (The Ethereal Crossings, 1)

by D.L. Miles

  Chapter 7

  “I can’t believe you agreed so easily to this,” Luke said, unaware of what I was actually thinking, “what’s the deal?”

  I shrugged and kept walking towards B Hall. We were early this time, and ever since the gunman had been in our bathroom I had been glued to Luke’s side. Partly because I didn’t want to be alone when my stalker showed up and partly because I didn’t want him to be alone should anything else happen. I had already spotted the Charger when I went in to take my final exam yesterday, and then again later that night when Luke and I were celebrating my graduation. I was finally free from high school but it wasn’t quite the glorious feeling I had imagined it would be.

  I stopped in the parking lot and stared forward. Turning my head slowly to the right, I looked at the car there, parked innocently in the corner spot. A black Dodge Charger, thankfully empty...well, maybe that wasn’t a good thing. Circling around, the lot was void of people, only Luke and I there.

  “What is it?” Luke asked.

  “Nothing,” I said, “let’s hurry up.” I pushed him towards the hall and we made it safely inside.

  I didn’t like this. I didn’t like how that man made me feel so uneasy, so out of control. One day I was going about my own way, enjoying a relatively normal life with Luke, the next I was stuck panicking over some stranger in an old car. It wasn’t like me to panic so easily. Was this how most humans felt after the revolution? And a better question, did Luke notice how I was feeling? He tended to pick up on those things quickly, whether he used his abilities or not.

  We sat down in the same two seats as before, the hall not as full. It was no coincidence that the gunman’s car was there, and I couldn’t imagine that there was an identical car rolling around town. He must be here to see me; after all, he did say he would be “in touch”. My fingers brushed against the phone in my pocket.

  He had programmed his number into it and how he had gotten it, I’ll never know. I must have dropped it while running to the police station. It was simple enough to find the new entry since I only had seven other contacts, none of them named Jared. I furrowed my brow, wondering if it was his real name. I found it unlikely, but stranger things have happened.

  “Who’s Jared?” Luke asked next to me. I shuffled my feet back as a person slid by and sat next to Luke.

  “Nobody,” I replied. Part of me felt bad for lying to him, but he wanted a normal life and this was the only way to do it. I wasn’t about to let some guy named Jared destroy all my hard work at giving Luke his normal life.

  Luke’s eyes bore down on me as I tried to ignore him. I tried thinking random thoughts to throw him off, to not let him see Jared or the fact that I had broken into a crime scene. Unfortunately, trying not to think of those things made me think of them. That had never happened to me before either; usually I was the master at manipulating Luke’s abilities.

  “He broke into our apartment?” His tone was soft but assertive. “And you broke into a crime scene? What part of ‘be careful’ do you not understand?”

  “It’s not that big a deal,” I said, attempting to save myself and pretend nothing had happened. I shrugged, trying to wave him off. “I just wanted to see everything for myself.”

  He stared at me and I allowed him to see everything I had seen. A shiver ran up and then down my spine with an uncomfortably familiar gnawing sensation at my temples. I rubbed at them, trying to make it go away.

  “Sorry,” he said, eyes finally looking away. “I know you don’t like when I…do that.”

  “It’s okay.” We had bigger things to think about now anyway; things like Jared. I rubbed my eyes, needing more sleep than I had gotten in the past two days. Every time I went to bed all I could think about was what if he was right around the corner? I couldn’t even count how many times I had walked into the bathroom just to make sure it was empty, or opened my closet door to remind myself he wasn’t there. This wasn’t fair, Jared was ruining my calm state of mind and he didn’t even have to lift a finger.

  When I opened my eyes Dr. Wineman had just walked into the room. He looked like a completely different person; he was no longer full of energy and his eyes didn’t seem to have the same brightness as before. He set his briefcase down on the table next to the projector and stood for one second too long. It was apparent something was on his mind.

  A few minutes later the room was once again filled with Eidolons. From the looks of it everyone had taken the same seat they had days earlier. The fact that they weren’t human didn’t make them any less predictable. Dr. Wineman let his eyes roll over the room, counting each student. Something flashed over his face when he came to me and Luke; for a moment, I thought it almost looked like relief. But there was no reason he should feel relieved after seeing us, right?

  My next thoughts questioned whether or not if the doctor knew about Luke’s arrest. There was nothing in the newspapers; I had made sure to check. It just said that there was suspect in custody and the next day it said that Charlie was dead and their “suspect” was released. As glad as I was that nobody was named in the article, it didn’t stop people from talking.

  The murders were just about what everyone was talking about. Most said that the unnamed suspect had committed the crimes, perhaps with a partner. I imagined even the cops were suspicious that Luke had a partner; that was why they told him not to leave town. I didn’t even seem to come up as a possible killer since nobody had bothered talking to me since the night Alice died.

  “Welcome back to New History,” Dr. Wineman said with a feeble smile. “Today we are going to talk about the revolution. I was going to save this for a later class, but many of you have approached me asking about it.” He shuffled through his bag and pulled out a computer. Holding up one finger he asked for the class to wait while he set up the projector.

  “I wonder what he’ll tell us that we don’t already know,” Luke whispered to me. I raised one eyebrow, waiting for the doctor find the files he was looking for. I didn’t think Luke was going to talk to me for the rest of the lecture, not after using his…abilities on me. He was still afraid it would hurt me like before; he should’ve known better that it never hurt as much anymore, at least not as much as the first time.

  “Guess we’ll find out,” I said, a little curious too. Last year when the Eidolon’s came out of the closet a lot of people asked “why now” or “why not sooner”. The media answered the questions, but everyone was different. Some newspapers said that they chose now because they felt it would be simple with the popularity of fantasy stories, others said it was because it was a now or never sort of thing. The television told us that the Eidolon’s were accidentally exposed to the government and some said they were trying to eradicate the human race. Most people believed it was because the Eidolon’s were planning on enslaving humanity, which caused uproar. I had my own theories on the subject but neither I nor Luke knew the truth.

  “This area was not as affected as others,” Dr. Wineman said, pulling me back to reality, “that much you know. But the real reason was never reported as to why we chose now to reveal ourselves to the world. Many of us still believe it to be a mistake.”

  “So do the humans,” I mumbled accidentally, forgetting for a brief moment that the doctor had excellent hearing. It must’ve sounded bitter, as if I didn’t think it was a good idea, but the doctor didn’t react to it too much. He paused for a moment, eyes keeping to the floor, and continued.

  “Human’s call us monsters, like we’re not people, because they don’t understand us,” the he said, “but we have a word for ourselves; the Etheric Shade. The term comes from our origins in the Shadeland Islands, nestled deep within the Bermuda Triangle, hidden on another plane of existence; the latest generations abbreviating it to either Etheric’s or recently, the Eidolon’s. Please, use these terms rather than non-humans, or…monsters.” He made a face when he used the human phrase and I reali
sed that even he wasn’t above feeling insulted by the humans. Guess the doctor wasn’t as happy as he seemed.

  “What really caused us to reveal ourselves to the world is simply that our population was growing too large,” Dr. Wineman said, crossing his arms behind his back as he began to pace. “A hundred years ago only about fifteen per cent of the world was part of the Etheric’s, then there was a count ten years ago that raised that number the forty-five per cent, and now we’re almost at sixty-three per cent. Over half of the world is not fully human and this is what made them think we’re trying to enslave them.” He rolled his eyes and came to a stop. So that was it? The only reason we know about the Eidolon’s is because of a population spike? It seemed oddly simple. I peeked at Luke next to me, taking small notes on the topic.

  “Our population grew fast because we began to make families with humans,” the doctor said. He looked down at his left hand and played with what looked like a wedding ring. If he was thinking about his wife, shouldn’t he look happier? Instead he just looked…lost. “Hundreds of years ago it was tradition to marry into the same…species so to speak. But slowly we lost that tradition and began to love humans. Though some families”—he paused and twirled his ring again—“still feel being with a human is wrong.” Dr. Wineman stopped.

  “Is it just me or does he look kind of sad?” Luke whispered. It wasn’t just him, but I only shrugged in reply.

  “Last class I had mentioned the Shadeland council,” the doctor said, almost jolting out of his daze, “they are the leaders of the Etheric Shade. Last year they concluded that it was only a matter of time before the humans somehow discovered our existence, and they decided that if we were going to come out, it would be on our terms.” He began pacing again. “So the council went to the world leaders and told them everything. I’m sure you remember the announcements made by the countries; they were played on loop for days on end. But unfortunately shortly after that the riots started.”

  I flinched at the thought of the riots. Other places just had thefts and beatings, we had fires and lots of them. I glanced at Luke, hoping he didn’t see my movement but he had. He reached out to touch my hand but I tucked it safely in my pocket, out of his reach. I was careful not to look at him again.

  “Thankfully it was not long till they ended,” Dr. Wineman continued, “and though there is still much violence going on, it is no comparison to Revolution Week.” I wondered if it was going to get better, if the humans would ever stop their violence against the Eidolon’s and vice versa. It did occur to me though, that things could be a lot worse. My thoughts drifted to different “what ifs” as the doctor told the class about the revolution. Luke gave me a gentle tap to my arm with his elbow. He was awfully pushy about my paying attention to the lecture, which when considering what happened two nights ago was a little unfair.

  “Doctor,” a woman said from the back of the class, “can you tell us more about Shadeland? I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ve never heard much about it…” She slouched in her seat a bit, embarrassed by her lack of knowledge. Around us others nodded their heads, feeling the same. Dr. Wineman grimaced, maybe concerned with how he should answer.

  “I’m sorry,” he replied, “but Shadeland is a place that only the purebloods and elders may go. I can’t tell you anything about it that you don’t already know.” Interesting. So if Shadeland was in the Bermuda Triangle, and Amelia Earhart disappeared there, then does that mean she went to Shadeland because she was a pureblood? I contemplated that thought; but why would the doctor lie about it? I couldn’t think of a real reason.

  “What exactly is a pureblood?” Luke asked, raising his hand halfway. I was surprised he asked, but after seeing the look on his face he clearly hadn’t meant to ask it out loud. Nobody shot him any accusing looks, most people seemed to nod their head in agreement. Dr. Wineman gave him a quizzical look. I was about ready to give him the same look; “pureblood” sounded a little self-explanatory.

  “A pureblood is an Eidolon that has no human blood within them,” the doctor explained slowly, “they’re very rare these days, almost all of the Etheric Shade’s are mixed with humans.” He touched his chin lightly before moving on with his lecture.

  Two and a half hours later the class finished early. Like the previous lecture, Luke and I stood to let people pass by before walking down ourselves. Once we got to the bottom the doctor asked to talk to us again, this time he was watching Luke rather than me.

  “Yes?” Luke asked, sounding more worried than anything. After the week he had had, I didn’t blame him.

  “I would just like to talk to you about your earlier question,” Dr. Wineman said, “alone if you don’t mind.” Luke looked at me and shrugged his shoulders, giving me the okay to leave. I waved at the doctor and stepped outside, shutting the door behind me.

  I checked the time, wondering how long Luke was going to be with the doctor. A noise caught my attention and I turned just in time to see the blonde receptionist with the mismatched roots and eyebrows walking down a hall towards the washroom…her name had been Heather? Dismissing her I pulled out my phone and began playing solitaire.

  Moments later Luke stepped out of the classroom with a hardened look on his face.

  “You okay?” I asked, only ever seeing that look on his face twice before.

  “Yeah,” he said with a wave of his hand, as if to wave away the problem, “I just need to use the washroom.” I nodded and he walked down the same hall the mismatched blonde had gone down.

  It was only a few minutes before I could see my breath. Slowly, I let out a puff of crisp, white air to be sure I wasn’t seeing things. I looked around me, but I was alone. I let out another breath and my mind went immediately to Charlie’s apartment.

  The temperature dropped and my phone fell to the floor. Everything was moving in slow-motion now as I rushed to the bathroom door. My legs couldn’t move fast enough, as if I was in a nightmare that I couldn’t control. I had no idea why I went there, but something was wrong. There was something dangerous just around the corner, that was the only thing I was sure of as I rushed into the women’s washroom.

  I threw the door open, the first thing I saw was the mismatched blonde lying on the floor, skin a frozen blue; above her stood the smoke, wavering in the air. It almost looked as if it was struggling to stay still, like it couldn’t focus on being in the room.

  When it noticed me it appeared to shift in my direction, I couldn’t tell what it was trying to do as it stayed floating above the woman. I opened my mouth to say something, to scream, to make any noise possible but nothing came out. The edges of the smoke began to move faster then, and when I blinked it was gone, dissipated into the air.

  I took a shaky step forward, the door swinging shut behind me. A few more steps in and I was at the foot of the woman on the floor. I waved my hands where the smoke had been and decided that it was safe…ish. There was nothing there, at least nothing I could see or feel. I noticed that I could no longer see my breath either. From the open window I could hear a strange clicking close by, as if someone was just outside tapping on the wall.

  Kneeling down I touched the woman’s neck to feel for a pulse; nothing. Her skin was cold, just like Charlie’s had been, her eyes glazed over with a white film as she stared at the ceiling, or more likely at her attacker.

  Air brushed across my face, shifting my hair in front of my eyes. I didn’t care; I just stared down at the blonde woman’s eyes. After a while I finally looked up at the open window, is that how it had gotten in? Was there an open window at Charlie’s or Alex’s? I didn’t know.

  On unsteady legs I lifted myself. Moving as quickly as I could I walked out of the bathroom and picked up my phone and dialled for help. Regret filled my heart knowing Luke was in the other room.

  “911, what is your emergency?” the operator said calmly. Luke stepped out of the hallway and walked up next to me.


  “Was it just me or did it get really cold for a minute there?” he asked, pointing his thumb towards the bathroom. I just looked into his eyes, seeing nothing but innocence. He did not need this again. Luke held up his hands to apologize once he saw the phone in my hand.

  “Yes,” I said into the phone, “I need to report a…murder, I think.” Luke’s eyes widened.

  “What?” he said and looked around as if he would see a body. I gave the operator the address and was told to wait. It took only five minutes for the first siren to be heard and six minutes till there were flashing lights outside of B Hall.