Burning in a Memory (12 page)

             
“I can’t believe they showed up in your neighborhood. Adam was lucky. I know he’s strong but it’s always dangerous to encounter shade covens. I watch the news partly to see signs of any new ones moving into Denver. It seems like they all want to move into Denver.”

             
“Why?” Adelaide asked.

             
“They move in closer to find mages in the city. They need time and the ability to hunt them.” Angie’s face reddened and the woman looked at her lap. “Mages have been falling all over the place. The shades are getting hungrier... Are you okay?”

             
Adelaide stilled at the question.

             
“I’m fine. Why?” she asked and immediately worried something had shown on her face.

             
“It’s tough to realize that monsters are out there for the first time.”

             
Adelaide didn’t answer at first. She always knew that monsters existed. She probably knew it better than anyone else in the Colton coven. It occurred to her then that Angie noticeably didn’t have any close family. A pang of sadness came and went. At least Angie still had the other four in the house. Adelaide would never have anyone again and she would not apologize for that. Before her face could show her thoughts, she hurried to look back at the television.

             
“How can you tell shades moved into the city? Bad things happen on the news all day long,” Adelaide asked.

             
“We’re looking for big things. Remember the incident in Denver that leveled a building? It was called a gas explosion?”

             
“I don’t. Guess I didn’t pay attention…”

             
She hadn’t been in Denver long enough to even care. The break in conversation earned Adelaide’s full attention, but she never got a follow up. A door slammed on the second floor followed by the distinctive sound of footsteps descending the stairs.

             
“Mages won’t go down without a fight. That was one of them.”

             
“Did you know the people?”

             
Angie suddenly hesitated.

             
“I don’t understand. Who was involved?” Adelaide prompted a second time.

              “Angie, what are you saying?” Tony barked from the foot of the stairs. Both of them jumped at the abrupt sound of his voice. He came down the stairs quickly and she whirled to look at him. His wife trailed him down the stairs and the two shared the same frown.

             
“Tony, nothing bad will come of it,” Angie snorted.

             
“I don’t know why she’s so interested in shades,” Tony answered as if Adelaide wasn’t even in the room.

             
“I’m not,” Adelaide piped in but gained no response. Tony walked out of the room as quickly as he’d come with Priya on his tail. Adelaide sunk back into the couch in his absence. All things considered, it wasn’t the worst encounter possible.

             
The news was back on and Angie’s attention was back into the television.  A few minutes later, the sound of a clicking door made Adelaide stir. A door opened on the attached hallway and a faint cloud of steam rolled out of it. Adam was quick to follow. His hair was wet and slicked back, his clothes new, and the scent of aftershave clearly on him. She stood when he crossed into the living room.

             
“Good morning, Angie. Adelaide,” he greeted them both. Angie waved blindly from the couch. “Did you get something to eat? I thought you were going to sleep in or I would have cooked something.”

             
“I already helped her out, Adam. I wouldn’t let her starve,” Angie pointed out, seeming more than a little insulted.

             
“And she was very nice about it,” Adelaide seconded to make peace with both of them at once.

             
“It wouldn’t matter anyway. He can’t cook. He was just hoping you wouldn’t call his bluff.”

             
Adam grunted. Adelaide had no standing to say anything after three years of Hot Pockets and Ramen as her main meals.

             
“Anything interesting on the news?” he asked.

             
Angie shook her head, appearing surprisingly downtrodden over it.

             
“I haven’t seen anything yet but that could be good news for us…. Anyway, you haven’t dealt with Tony yet have you?” Angie called him out.

             
Angie finally turned off the television and tossed the remote onto the couch. She looked to Adam for an answer.

             
“I’ll deal with it,” he said.

             
Angie shook her head as if she didn’t believe him. “Whatever. I’ll leave you guys to it then.”

             
“Thank you, Angie,” Adam said overly sweetly. The woman grunted before disappearing up the stairs.

             
In her absence, Adelaide crept closer to Adam.

             
“Where is everyone else?” she asked. Tony had come and gone, but now she suspected he might be closer than she thought.

             
Adam rolled his head back as if he listened for them.

             
“Did you know you can sense a mage’s aura?” he asked. He wasn’t listening for them, she realized. He was feeling for them.

             
“What?”

             
“All mages have auras. It’s where our magic comes from—it’s the same thing I used to save you with on the mountain. You can feel them.”

             
She humored him by closing her eyes and concentrating. She was never good at this anyway.

             
“I barely feel anything,” she whispered and opened her eyes.

             
Adam whispered too.

             
“Well, it’s more apparent when they are conjuring magic. When they aren’t using magic, its very tame but its still there. Plus the strength of an aura depends on the strength of the mage. Stronger mages—even stronger shades—have bigger auras.”

             
“Does Tony know you are telling me this?”

             
“Tony is too far away to overhear us. If you feel the location of his aura, you could tell,” Adam said with a laugh.

             
“I’m impressed. You made it sound like you could never get privacy here,” she said.

             
If Adam blushed, he moved too quickly for her to see it. Stepping back into the living room, he held out a hand.

             
“I never finished giving you the tour,” he said.

             
She accepted his hand and he led them onto the patio outside. Comparable to the massive size of the house, the patio extended a long way with only a puny looking patio set. A breeze balanced the warmth of the sun and it was nice.

“It’s downstairs,” he pointed out when she
slowed. Tugging at her hand, he led her to a wrap-around staircase. The patio was built into the first floor, but stood on stilts. The basement floor waited for them on the bottom landing. Dust made up the floor, and little light escaped in under the patio. There was no apparent entrance into the house from here.

             
“What grand part of the tour is this?” she asked in a light voice. The longer she looked around, the more disconcerting it seemed.

             
“Come here.” He encouraged her to follow him to one of the walls.  She moved slowly until her eyes adjusted and then she took a second look. Now with his direction, she saw a detailed deformation in the rock. He touched it until the rock gave. She was suddenly intrigued.

             
“What is this?” Kneeling down into the dirt, she roamed her hand over the rock. She saw just the hint of green light illuminating the floor, but couldn’t see more.

             
“There’s a ladder but let me go first. It’s tricky with an angle,” he said.

             
He moved in front of her and climbed down with practiced ease. She hesitated in his wake.

             
“Come down,” he said.

             
“What is it?”

             
“Come down,” he parroted.

             
She struggled to steel her nerves. If Adam had ever intended to kill her, he wouldn’t need to drag her underground to do it. After a minute, he lit up his phone and shined the bright florescent light against the ladder. She followed slowly.

             
By the time her feet touched the ground, she considered it a miracle. The apparent tunnel was huge. Standing tall, it extended at least a foot and a half above her head. Adam killed his phone light and the darkness was only momentary. The green glow she’d seen earlier shined again. The green strips made a pattern along the ground and twisted around corners.

             
“This is your basement?” she asked after she calmed down.

             
“It’s not. It’s built under the house and part of the mountain. It’s a secret passage the old coven used for escape.”

             
“Secret passage?” she gasped. They couldn’t make this stuff up if they tried. He laughed.

             
“As cool as it is, it’s really not used as an escape route anymore. It shoots up half a mile north, but lets out in the middle of nowhere. Plus runoff water and bad terrain has deformed it so it opens up earlier in a spot or two. It’s not worth walking all of the way through.”

             
“If you haven’t walked through it all, where are we going?” she asked. He seemed focused on leading them blindly ahead.

             
He never answered but offered her a hand when she stumbled and she happily clutched it. The passage grew small at times and tight at others. It finally opened up and with it came beaming sunlight. Adelaide blinked madly until her vision adjusted. The passage opened up, just like Adam promised. There was open sky above them beyond the rock. On the ground, blue water sparkled.

             
“It’s safe, don’t worry. This is the first spot where the mountain ends. Water pooling here has broken open the ceiling. Below is a spring.”

She knew why he brought her here now. It was beautiful and a phenomenon like she’d never seen in the southeast. She walked carefully around the brim of the water. The space it carved out was massive, and based on the dark hue, it went fairly deep. Brushing her fingers over the water, she found it warm and inviting.

              “Very cool. Can you swim in here?” she asked.

             
“I’m sure you could, but something tells me you don’t have a swimsuit.”

             
She never considered exploring the wilderness fun, but more of this and she might change her mind. Adam gestured her to shift again so she did. Ten feet down the tunnel and she found another phenomenon. The green service light glowed again and reflected off of the top of the cavern here; it sparkled.

             
“This is where I come to get away from my family. Distance makes the heart grow fonder.”

             
“I understand that. I just wish they would all like me.”

             
Adam nodded slowly.

             
“I think they will, but I meant to talk to you about that.”

             
His voice sounded nervous so she gave him her full attention.

             
“I think it’ll help them accept you that much more if they don’t think anything is going on between us. I mean, so far as they’re concerned we are just friends.”

             
“Oh,” she quipped. She took another step forward until they were only an inch away. In the dim glow it was difficult to read his face but she could hear the waver in his voice.

             
“That’s fine. But are we just friends?” she asked.

             
Adam looked rigid and his posture uncomfortable. Her quiet words gained a tremendous reaction and it was easy. She plastered a sweet smile on her face, completely cognizant about how every inch of her body looked and moved in that moment.

             
“It depends. Do you want to be just friends?” he asked.

             
She was surprised he spoke at all and fought to keep the grin off of her face.

             
“No. Not really.”

             
He kissed her first, softly. She pressed closer until they stood pinned in the spot. The kiss was innocent. It was simple and easy. Much like Adam.