Seeker (Shadows) (22 page)

My heart leaps into my throat, and everything inside me screams.

I latch on to Ocean’s arm as he runs into me. “I didn’t even think to bring my taser. I didn’t think.” The words just spill out as I try to process the situation and how to get out of it.

“It’s okay.” He pulls me closer as I back up.

But just as I get near the top of the hill, the rest of the group is here.

Landon has a bag slung over his shoulder, and I’m getting a horrible feeling that
the decision was made long before we came here. Without giving anyone a chance to explain, I rip the tape off my watch, slide it open and hit my small panic button.

No one stops me
, but maybe we all know that it’ll take them too long, or that Landon will keep us hidden. Maybe no one will get my request for help.

Addison glances my way but follows Landon. I stand, weak, next to Ocean and watch them round the narrow strip of sand surrounding the black spot in the water, with edges that seriously look like they’re glowing in the dimming light.

Landon stops suddenly and stretches his arms out.

“Can anyone else feel it here?” He stops gesturing around where he stands in a spot near the short trees that line the beach.

“Whoa.” Micah stops next to him reaching out her hands. The move around like they’re trying to find invisible lines in the sand, and I’m still frozen to the spot feeling betrayed in almost every possible way.

Shadows are everywhere. And while Addison and Dean watch every movement the shadows make, Micah and Landon don’t seem to notice.

The shadows are keeping their distance, but that’s not nearly enough for me. Of course they are, they’re trying to be non-threatening. Using the last moments to continue the false sense of trust they’ve established.

“Let’s go,” Ocean whispers stepping toward the group.

“What is this?” I ask and my voice shakes a lot more than I want it to.

Ocean doesn’t speak, just keeps moving forward.

“Was… Was this
planned
? You guys all decided for sure to move forward? Dean and Addison and everyone? Are they going to try and do it now? How did everyone get convinced? I don’t understand?”

My watch vibrates a few times like someone’s trying to get in touch with me, but I ignore it. There’s really no point. Unless The Middle Men are already here, it’s too late.

I run to where Landon’s standing as Dean, Addison and Micah all stand close to him.

The moment I get near, I feel it, like a zap to my energy. “Holy, wow.” I jump back, not wanting to be in the middle of whatever that is.

Ocean stops, too. And takes my hand. His nervous energy pulses through me.

“Guess Tevin was right.” Landon drops his bag. “He said we’d know it, and it looks like they know it too.” He gestures to the trees where the shadows are waiting in the shadows. Where they
belong
. Where they need to stay.

Two shadows, hand in hand walk straight into the
quickly dimming sunlight and toward Landon—something I didn’t realize they could do. They pause just about twenty feet from him.

Landon cocks his head to the side. “That’s them. The two I was telling you about.”

I swallow hard and clutch Ocean more tightly. Everything in me quakes. Knows this isn’t the right thing to do. I scan the trees again—I’m not sure how many there are. Forty? But they need one of each talent, and Ocean’s with me.

Ocean’s arms come around me and I let them. I’m around people who would probably rather give me to the shadows than stop what they’re doing. I have none of my tools and only Ocean’s support.

Landon picks up a conch shell and starts outlining a circle in the sand around us.

I break away from Ocean and step far enough away that I know I won’t be in the circle.

Ocean looks torn. He shouldn’t be
torn
.

“You can’t do this!” I yell wishing I was brave enough to tear at Landon, but I’m smart enough to know that I’d just be taken down by the rest of them, and if the shadows do get free, I’ll need my strength. We all will.
Or maybe the shadows will attack me to protect him.

Landon stops and stands up. “I have to, Kara. I’m sorry. I have to know that I did the right thing, e
ven if the shadows don’t do the right thing with the gift of freedom.”

I’m scrambling for anything to convince him. I can’t overpower them. Not by myself.

“We’re not going into this blind,” Dean says. “We’ve all been thinking about it independent from the group. We’re not just following Landon, trust me.” He gives Landon a sideways glance before his eyes go back to Addison.

“You’re going to stand there and look at me and tell me that you’re willing to risk me for them?” I point to the shadows lining the trees.

“It’s not like that.” Landon frowns as he shakes his head.

Addison takes the shell from Landon. “I can feel the edges of the circle. It was her house. Do you see it?
This is…
amazing
.” Her eyes widen in excitement as dread sinks further into my gut.

Landon shakes his head.

“Ha! Finally I’m one up on the great Landon Michaels!” She laughs. “I can see the edges of her house. They feel like…ash.” Addison reaches out and touches the air, then rubs her fingertips together. “Crazy, weird.” She starts to gesture with her arms. “The corner of it is here, and there’s a small window here.”

Dean stares down in the sand. “The lines are already drawn. Do you see them?”

Just as the sun slips down again, the cabin comes into view, Landon and Micah in the middle of it, though I can see them. The house is made of cement, like most old homes here were—conch shells make an interesting cement. But like Dean said, it’s here but not here. I can see through the walls, there’s nothing inside, and then black lines form on the sand.

Something heavy’s eating at my insides and I just stand, knowing how wholly I’ve lost.

“Middle Men on the way, Landon.” Ocean looks up. “They’re still a ways out, but on the way and not far.”

I back away from Ocean, everything in me helpless and screaming and it just got so much worse. “You’re joining them.”

Ocean steps in front of me, his hands resting on either side of my face, and I want to tear him apart but I also want to be in his arms but the way I’m starting to splinter inside won’t let either happen.

I’m gasping for air as I watch them light candles in some ridiculous witch ceremony that I know isn’t so ridiculous.

A flash of this same scene hits me.

I’ve seen this before. When did I see this before?

“Kara?” Ocean whispers.

I pull my hands to my face, pushing his away, and hold my head as tightly as I can trying to block everything else out. All I can do is shake my head.

Then it all hits me. This was done before. They didn’t have all the talents. I was on the helicopter flight with my parents. We landed with a group of Middle Men. We had planned. We were prepared. I shivered near the helicopter as Mom and Dad ran ahead. There were shots fired. I heard the noise of the tasers. I wasn’t in front of the hospital when I was burned.

I was here.

“No!” I scream as I lunge toward the group, but Ocean catches me first. I’m thrashing against him with no purpose but to get free. To get away. All of my training in how to escape holds is gone. Everything but the fact that I have to stop them is gone.

“Please! You will die! I’ve seen it before! I was here last time!” I scream, which has no effect on the four people preparing. In fact, I swear they all knew how I was going to react and they’re very purposefully not looking at me.

Micah freezes and wipes a few tears before continuing on. Right. She saw this. How can she go on? Or maybe that’s why they’re going on. Don’t they realize the shadows could be messing with whatever she sees?

The two shadows that stopped near Landon are now walking toward me. I can just make out their forms backlit by candles and the glowing water. I scramble behind Ocean to watch them.

This can’t be real. Can’t be real. Can’t be real.

My legs give out, and Ocean holds me tight. “Don’t worry, Kara. Don’t be scared. We got this.”

“You don’t understand! I was here last time they tried!” I just can’t remember enough to tell them what happened. I was young and it was dark, darker than it is now, and it was all so fast. “It won’t work!”

Ocean’s eyes go from me to them, and I know he’s still conflicted. Maybe he can make them stop.

“Ocean. Please,” I whisper as I grasp him more tightly. “Please make them stop. Please make them believe me. I don’t want to die here.”

Our breath mixes between us as our faces get closer together. I stare into his clear blue eyes wishing so hard that he could know how I’m feeling. That he’ll choose me instead of them.

His face is contorted in agony, and the idea that he might still be considering joining in with the group hits me again and steals my breath.

“Kara. You have to know I’ve wrestled with this. I have.”

“We’re ready, I think.” Addison stands near the center of the circle and then walks through the cabin to the backside where the shadows are slowly emerging at the edges of the trees.

The sun is nearly gone, and the eerie light reflects off the water and the sand, but not the shadows. They’re greedy and take the light.

Dean comes up behind Addison, resting his hands on her shoulders. My body’s coughing in sobs as the reality of how truly helpless I am hits me. “Please…”

“We’re trusting you,” Addison says to the shadows. “We’re trusting you to take this gift and move on, not back.”

“They know,” Landon says.

Ocean’s hands meet mine as desperation makes me weak. His face is filled with sadness and regret and I don’t know if it’s for me or for them, but my heart starts hammering in fear and the need to be set free.

“I’m so sorry.” His lips graze my cheek and I know in that moment, he’s going to join them. He’s going to do it.

I turn away from him and stare at the ground. His betrayal pierces through every piece of me and I stop pushing against him and when my knees give out, I don’t even try to stay standing and end up in the sand.
There’s no point in fighting anymore.

“Kara, please understand.” He tries to take my face in his hands but I jerk away again completely unable to stop the tears from streaming down my face. “I’ve been completely tortured by this decision, but I believe we’re doing the right thing.”

It’s done. I’ve lost. And he put in the last hit.

“We’ve got to make sure she doesn’t interrupt,” Landon says. “I’m sorry, Kara. I know you think I’ve been completely deceived here, but you have to accept the idea that you might have been equally deceived.”

I stare at Micah hoping that my very real fear has sunk in enough to make her walk away. Our eyes meet and she steps closer to Landon, showing her allegiance to him. Her face is apologetic, but that won’ t save any of us. When will that little voice that compels us all to do things kick in and save us? Why aren’t they feeling the fear and acting on it? Have the shadows become that powerful?

Right. I know how to be the one on the outside. But this time it counts for everything.
Everything
. Everything I am. Everything I’ve spent my life working for. Everything I want in the future. Even if the shadows do go away, I’m pretty certain we’ll lose our talents. I can’t… I can’t be that kind of nothing and survive—assuming the shadows let me live.

“Ocean,” I whisper, salty tears filling my mouth and spilling down my neck. “Please don’t do this. You have the power to stop it. I came to this place. My parents were at this place. This is where I got burned.
I’m sure of it. What if they burn us all? What if it doesn’t stop with a leg?”

He has to see reason. Why aren’t they listening? Are the shadows powerful enough to put everyone under some kind of spell? Am I the only one who isn’t affected because of who I am? Where I came from? The training I’ve had?

“I’m so sorry.” He uses the thin line from the boat to tie my hands and I don’t move or protest, just sit as he ties me up. It’s over. I just lost both things I’ve been trying to fix. I lost my fight to keep this from happening and I lost Ocean.

I try a new tack. If the shadows won’t scare them into stopping, maybe people will. “What if The Middle Men come, and—”

“But they’re not bad, Kara. Remember?” His tone is hard, sharp. “They’d never hurt their own, would they?”

I stare at the sand because I know we have, but only when there’s no other choice. Ocean might not ever think there was no other choice. And why were shots fired when I was here last? Who fired them?

And I’m going to die some kind of horrible death as I’m tied up. After losing my first almost real group of friends and Ocean. Maybe it was stupid for me to ever stop fighting them or letting down my guard. Maybe if I hadn’t been so afraid of failure even after a desperate attempt, we wouldn’t be here now.

Dean jogs up but stops a few feet away. “I’ll do it, Ocean. You don’t have to tie—”