Hunting Shadows (Shadow Series #3) (14 page)

Chapter Eleven

The figure backed away as the opponent approached with aggression
, wielding the saber with deadly accuracy. I forced myself to block out the vardoger,
to focus on the victim. Tall and slim, the figure could be any of the three members
of the fencing team that were viable candidates.

The vardoger lunged forward with the saber and its opponent scrambled back, realizing
that this was no longer a normal fencing match. The vardoger chose that moment to
raise its saber high and bring it down with bruising force, and I again witnessed
the gruesome sight of the head being severed in one fell swoop.

I swallowed my revulsion as the bloodied head rolled towards my feet. I took a shaky
breath as I realized what I had to do. I leaned forward, my arm outstretched, and
with a trembling hand I touched the bloodied mask to pull it off.

“Shit!” The expletive exploded out of me as I sat up in bed abruptly. I had been so
close to finding out the identity of the victim, only to be back to square one.

“What’s wrong?” Simon asked, sounding completely awake. I
lay
back down
with a sigh.

“I was about to pull the mask off in my vision, but I woke up before I could do it.”
I rubbed my eyes wearily. “How am I going to kill the vardoger if I don’t even know
the identity of the person in my vision?”

Simon pulled me close and we were quiet as dawn approached, although my mind was whirring
with w
ays to figure out who the victim
in my vision was.
I replayed the vision in my head and tried to at least determine w
hether the figure
was male or female, but it was hard to tell in those unisex uniforms. The only thing
I succeeded in
doing
was making myself frustrated and anxious so I got up to get ready for the day.

It was odd to have a semi-normal Monday morning as Sarah
happily
got ready for her morning classes and we all sat around the kitchen table drinking
coffee. The addition of Ryan, who was clearly not part of our normal life, reminded
me that we weren’t simply a group of college students hanging out before the start
of the day. I wanted the rest of the group to get back to
a life of
normalcy
, at least as much as possible
. Life would, hopefully, go on after all of this was over and I didn’t want anyone
jeopardizing their future. Destroying vardogers was my calling, not theirs.

“What are you going to do instead of going
to class?” Sarah asked, looking concerned when I mentioned I wasn’t attending my classes
today
. “I thought you still hadn’t figured out the identity of the person in your vision.”

“I haven’t, but
my visions have been pretty accurate about the location of where it happens. I’m
almost positive that the vardoger will attack in the auditorium where they practice.”

“So you’re going to hang out at the auditorium all day?” Sarah asked. “You’re going
to be bored to death!”

Sarah winced at her choice of words but I just shrugged. “I’ll be fine.”
Unfortunately Britney
had gotten upset with
Ryan when she pushed for another date and he refused. I didn’t want to state the
obvious that if he had continued a relationship with her, he could have found out
the fencing team’s practice sc
hedule from her
,
since it fluctuated so often. But despite everything, I thought it was best not to
lead the poor girl on.

“I’ll keep her company,” Simon said with a smile and Sarah just blinked at him. I
knew she was still having problems coming to terms with Simon being a vardoger. She
had told me that she forgot about it most of the time, but was then jarred into reality
when she remembered. I knew Simon had been trying to make an effort to be more relaxed
around Sarah and Grant, more of the old Simon, but that seemed to make them even more
tense. Like they thought he was putting on an act.

“Do you want me to come too?” I appreciated the fact that Ryan asked instead of telling
me he was coming with me, but I also wondered if he was trying to point out how domineering
Simon could be.

“I think that’s a good idea. I could use the perspective of another seer.”

Simon didn’t seem too happy about
my acceptance of Ryan’s offer to come along
but I didn’t have the energy to mollify him.

We made an odd threesome as we hung out at the auditorium. Fortunately we weren’t
too conspicuous since the auditorium
was busy with students using the basketball court
during their free time between classes.
The morning seemed to stretch out forever as we spent most of the time just sitting
there, watching
nothing in particular
. Simon reluctantly volunteered to get some food for lun
ch
,
although I kne
w he
didn’t
want
to leave Ryan and me alone.

“How are you holding up?” he asked after Simon had left.

“It’s just so frustrating,” I admitted with a sigh. “I’m supposed to be this powerful
seer vanquishing vardogers and saving lives, yet I’m spending my day sitting on the
bleachers watching students play basketball.”

“The glamorous life of a seer,” Ryan said with a sardonic smile. “It’s not all it’s
cracked up to be.”

“Do you ever wish you were just a normal person? That you didn’t know about the existence
of vardogers and were able to live your life without worrying about shadows trying
to destroy human souls?”
We had touched on the subject before in the library, but the more time I spent with
Ryan, the more I
wondered about him.

He
didn’t answer right away as he stared at the students laughing and enjoying themselves
playing basketball. When he finally did answer, his voice was wistful. “Of course.
I wonder what it would be like to have a normal
life
. I imagine a life
where I wouldn’t constantly have to look over my shoulder
and be on guard all the time. A life where shadows waiting to pounce was
just
the
stuff of nightmares and horror movies.”
He glanced at me before turning back to the students. “I wonder what it w
ould be like to meet a girl,
fall in love and get married. Have a family.”

“You can still do that,” I said softly, feeling a pang of pity for him. In some sort
of twisted way, I was lucky that the person I had fallen in love with
was someone of my world; a vardoger whose life would never be ordinary. I couldn’t
imagine trying to live a life with someone who was
part
of the normal world.

Ryan turned to me with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Can I?”

“Of course,” I said jerkily, feeling discomfited by the way he was looking at me.
“You just need to find someone who understands you.”

Ryan’s voice was low and raspy when he spoke. “Do you understand me?”

My pulse quickened as his gaze pierced into me. I heard a warning bell go off in my
head as he
slowly
leaned in closer and I jerked back. I turned just in time to see Simon opening the
door of the auditorium carrying a brown paper bag. I watched as he walked towards
us, his eyes only for me.

“I hope you’re in the mood for burgers and fries,” he said as he set the bag
down
on the bleachers.

“Sounds perfect,” I said with a smile
,
although my appetite had vanished.
I was just relieved that Simon hadn’t seen anything.
I forced m
yself to unwrap a burger and take a bite
, studiously avoiding Ryan’s gaze. I was confused about what had just happened. Was
Ryan going to kiss me? Maybe I
had
just misinterpreted his actions.
The most confusing part was
that
even though I had pulled back, a part of me had wanted to lean in, to feel his lips
against mine and find out if there was actually anything between us.

The thought
made me guilty and I felt like I was betraying Simon. I didn’t doubt my love for
him, but then why was I being tempted by someone else?

I tried to clear my head as the day wore on. The last thing I needed was to be distracted
by
my confusing
emotion
s
when I needed to concentrate on training and getting stronger for the day when I
would face my father.
I told myself I was being weak and soft by getting pulled in different directions
by my emotions and I resolved to be stronger.

“We can’t stay here all night,” Simon said as he checked his watch. Not only had we
eaten lunch in the auditorium, we had eaten dinner there as well. “It’s almost ten
o’clock.”

“But what if something happens overnight?” I protested. “We don’t know when it’s going
to happen.”

“Sim
on’s right,” Ryan agreed, surprising
both Simon and I.
“There’s no point in facing the
vardoger if you’re weak. I know you want to save the person from your vision, and
you will, but this is also to make you stronger. Don’t wear yourself out for the battle
so that
you end up losing
the war.”

I opened my mouth to respond but Ryan continued to speak. “Plus
,
you might have the vision again tonight while you sleep that’ll clue you in to the
identity.” He looked around the auditorium dismissively. “I doubt you’ll get a good
night’s sleep here.”

I sighed, unable to refute
the logic of
his words, although a part of me
desperately wanted to stay
. I was afraid of missing the attack, but Ryan was right and I agreed to go home.

“You must be exhausted,” Sarah said sympathetically when we got home. I had kept in
touch with her throughout the day through text messages
,
but I was still relieved to see her safe and sound on the living room couch along
with Grant.

“We didn’t really do much besides watch students play basketball.” I rubbed my bottom
ruefully. “Next time I think I’m going to take some cushions. Those bleachers are
hard.”

“Joel called me tonight,” Grant said to Simon. “Marcus already told him that we were
playing at the East End on Saturday and he was calling me to confirm it.
I told him we would since we already told Marcus that it was okay.”

Simon nodded although he didn’t look enthused by the prospect. “It’s probably best
to get some things back to normal.”

“Good. Marcus wanted to know if we can practice tomorrow afternoon.” Grant’s tone
wasn’t overly enthusiastic. He still watched Simon with a calculated eye, as if he
expected him to attack at any moment.

Simon turned to me before responding to Grant. “I assume you’re planning on spending
all day at the auditorium again tomorrow.”

“Yes, unless I have a vision tonight where I find out more.”

Simon turned back to Grant. “Sorry, not tomorrow.”

Grant seemed to accept Simon’s response but I spoke up. “Simon, you can go practice
with the band tomorrow. You said it was best to get things back to normal. You practicing
with Grant and Marcus is normal.”

Simon lifted a challenging brow. “I was talking about other people, not me. I’ll always
be far from normal.”

I sighed but didn’t argue any further. I knew Simon had a si
milar feeling as I did in that h
e wanted the others
to
go back to living
their lives normall
y. The fact that we couldn’t mad
e the desire for the people
we cared about
to do so
e
ven stronger.
He would never be normal and neither would I. It was
an odd thought to be comforting
, but it was. I never had to worry about being alone.

I reminded myself that
it probably wasn’t a good idea to be alone with Ryan
, so it was another reason not to argue with Simon
. After what had happened today at the auditorium, whether it was real or imagined,
I had to be more
on guard around him, especially when it came to my emotions
. That would be easier with Simon around.

It was a relief to fall into bed, but I was frustrated the next morning when I woke
up vision-free.
Ryan, Simon and I trudged back to the auditorium to spend another day
there
and I prayed that today wouldn’t be
another
fruitless
endeavor
.

We were rewarded when the fencing team strolled in at around
eleven in the morning.
Britney
scowled when she saw us but Amanda smiled and walked over.