Shadows in Light

I got myself nearer to the city center before I stopped at a taco stand to buy something to eat. I was hungry. Strike that, I was starving. A coffee joined it a few minutes later, and I was sat down munching. I pulled out my phone, dialing up Bianca.

She surprised me by answering far quicker than I expected, and I had a mouth full of coffee when she spoke.

“Ryan! You’re okay!” Her voice carried a sense of relief, as I had to swallow some hot coffee before I managed to cough out my response.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Why would you think I’m not?”

“Oh please. You leave my house, then less than thirty minutes later there’s explosions all through Everett? I’m not an idiot you know.” Her voice was teasing while also giving a tone of scolding mother.

Oh right. I guess that did make sense.

“Yeah, sorry, kind of messed up night, I guess. So, I’m calling about my bike? Any chance I can get it delivered today?” I tried to sound like a sorry puppy in the hopes she’d feel sorry for me and make sure my bike was delivered.

She laughed “I said it would be, and so it will be. I’ve been dying to get some stuff from Seattle, so I’ll come in soon. I’ll bring it in shortly. How about we meet? Hrm. Where to meet?”

She thought about it for several moments thinking about what she had to do. I let her decide as she was the delivery woman, besides my coffee was getting lonely.

“I need to go to around Occidental Square if I’m truthful. I’ve got a few other things to pick up around the place, but there is my main stop. Do you mind meeting there?”

It wasn’t too bad to get to for me. From where I was, I might have time to stop at home too depending on when she planned to be there.

“What time?”

She thought about it, looking at the clock. I glanced at my phone. It was almost nine now “Eleven thirty?”

That was doable, even with a stop along the way at home. “I can do that easily Bianca. Thank you so much.”

“It’s no issue. I’ll give you a call when I’m there okay?”

“You’re an angel Bianca.”

That brought on a stunned silence for a moment before she gave an angry response “I’m not anything like that. Don’t you ever say that again.” then she hung up on me without warning.

I stared at my phone in confusion for several long moments, then I put it away confused.

I got on a bus back still finishing off my coffee. It wasn’t too busy on the streets when I got on, but within a few stops, it was clear today was going to pick up.

I could see people starting to swarm out of car parks and buildings, some with children in tow. Cars were coming out onto the roads, slowly filling up streets, but I managed to get home before it got too bad.

My home was as quiet as ever as I came inside. I didn’t want to, but I poured myself some of Bianca’s stuff into my coffee. After eating two burritos I was still hungry, despite the full stomach.

It was also looking like, once again, I had a day in front of me that I needed to get through. Her whatever-it-whatever-it-had fired me up and got me running, but the bottle was starting to look empty. I was going to need to be careful with this stuff or I’d run out. I also wasn’t quite feeling as fired up from it as before. Maybe it lost potency if used too much? Something to be careful about, I guess.

My phone buzzed after I’d managed to have quick and cold shower, announcing the arrival of an apologetic text from Bianca about her hang up, and confirmation she was still on the way. I hadn’t even thought about that for a moment though, she didn’t seem like the type to go back on her word.

I took out the newly gathered police report from my second police adventure in a week and pinned it to a pin board with a faint chuckle. I was going to get myself into a lot of trouble if anyone saw that.

But still, it was funny. Into my bag went my wallet with some spare cash and wrapped a towel around the blade and Vance’s police report.

I still felt like I had something else that could help me as I looked around the place thinking about everything that had gone on. Sally. Eli. Bianca. In between all of that were fights, meetings, and weird events. Eventually it hit me, and I grabbed my hospital report, tagging that into my pile of papers. There that would do it.

I got myself dressed in something smart and clean. With what my day held, I wanted to look good. I doubled up on my smart attire and wrapped up another shirt carefully into a bag before closing and putting the old-style mortise key into my bag. I’d replaced the lock early on when I moved in, so only I had a key for this lock. And they were damn hard to pick from what I read too. Coupled with the metal nature of my door, I felt secure about leaving my place alone. And I wanted that with Eli running around trying to kill me.

It also helped that and no one ever, normally, came down here.

Well except that guy who was sleeping under some boxes. He did that from time to time, and he was here again. As I wandered past I slipped a couple of bills to him without waking him and carried on. Good deeds and all.

I got to Occidental Square barely in time. One of the buses was late due to some stupid thing or another. There’s always something when you need to be somewhere at a certain time if you run by public transportation. But without any vehicle, and no bike I had absolutely no choice unless I wanted a long walk.

There was a mass of people out there, moving around the place. Children, old people, young couples all enjoying the day. It was sunny, even if it wasn’t exactly warm. But there was an element of cheerfulness in the air despite that cold. People were starting to get ready for the upcoming Thanksgiving and Christmas. Shops had decorations up, but that wasn’t saying anything. They seemed to start putting them up in August these days.

I was looking over the place, and as my eyes swept over it, the door and the man appeared to me once again, ignored by everyone. It was open all day every day. Interesting. I could maybe get a beer later when I was done with everything. Very tempting right now, but I had business first. I kept looking things over before I finally spotted the bright little redheaded Irish woman waving at me from a sidewalk. I moved on over to see her, and she gave me a sunny expression of greeting, then a bone crushing hug. This woman was stronger than she looked for someone who was barely over 5 foot tall.

“You are okay! Well except for the scrapes and bruises.”

“Yes, I said I was.” I managed to wheeze out before she released me with an apologetic look.

“First things first. Your bike is in there.” She pointed to a little van that sat nearby “And there’s a bike repair shop just down there. We’ll take it down there and get it repaired. On me.” I opened my mouth to say something and she elbowed me hard taking the breath out of me. “Shut up. It was done on my property. Don’t argue.”

I shut my mouth for a moment then straightened up “Fine. Then I buy lunch.”

She looked up at me wrinkling her nose for a moment then nodded “Fine. But I pick the restaurant.” She smirked up at me. There were some expensive restaurants around here, and that could cost me a lot, but probably not far off the repair job. It was an equal exchange, so I nodded.

She helped me get the bike out and we walked it into the nearby bike repair shop. Bianca took over dealing with them as I walked around the shop, returning a while later with a smirk on her face. She’d done something but I had no clue what.

She passed over a card “They said give them an hour or so and it’ll be ready.”

I looked around for a moment about to open my mouth and she waved her hand “I did it, so they won’t forget. Don’t worry, you can leave. Trust me?”

I nodded at that, and she took my arm in a friendly manner, leading me out of the shop, and down the street until we got back to the man at the door. He looked to Bianca and me for a moment then stepped to one side.

Bianca glanced at me for a moment then smirked a little. “Been here already huh?” she asked me.

“Couple of days ago. They serve food here?”

She give a happy little purr. “Oh yes. Lovely food. Breakfast food, lunch. Dinner too up until a certain time. Not bad prices either.”

Helpful to know this, good cheap meals are always good to know about, especially when you spend hours working your ass off, and don’t fancy fighting with your minuscule kitchen, and don’t want microwaved food.

Downstairs the bar was lit up for the day, and soft music was playing. It was a lot quieter this time, only a few people around the place in booths. There was one guy at the bar who looked up as we entered, he glanced at me, then focused on Bianca as we came up to the bar.

“Should you be here love?” he asked her quietly. He looked a little nervously around the bar.

“No, it’s fine. We’ve sorted that issue” she said, opening her purse and taking out a scroll. She unrolled it and showed it to the bartender, who looked it over, before waving a hand over it.

He nodded after a moment “I’ll make sure this gets around quickly for you Bianca. Good to see you back again. It’s been quiet without you around.” He reached over the bar, and gave her a handshake then looked at me “Who’s this then?”

“This is my friend Ryan. Ryan, this is Bill.”

He held out a hand to me, and we shook. He had a firm perfect grip that some people seem to get without any practice.

“Nice to meet you Bill. Had a good time here last time I was here.”

“Not your first time then?”

“No, I was here” I paused to think about. It was Saturday morning, almost afternoon now. When was it? It took me a few moments to work it out with everything that happened, “Monday night?”

He chuckled at my pause “That good a night eh?”

“Been a bit hectic since then.”

“Well. Just to make sure you know the rules: No violence here ever. You got a problem; you take it away from here. I don’t much care where, so long as it’s AWAY. No magic on my staff or building, except for privacy reasons. If you’re happy to accept that, then you’re welcome to stay.”

“Not here to cause trouble. Apparently, you do food?”

I got a menu pushed in front of me “Order at the bar, pick it up when we call out your number.”

Bianca peered at the menu next to me as I looked it over before she settled on a French Dip, and I went with a Philly cheese steak. I paid up, and I was faintly surprised how inexpensive it was. Maybe I was getting the better end of this deal, so I bought us a couple of soft drinks to settle with and we moved over to a booth getting settled. I glanced to the corner where Caoimhe had been sat. I felt a little disappointed when I saw it was empty.

We got into our booth and within a few minutes the bartender whistled us over to pick up a tray, collecting the number off us and we settled to eat. Bianca pulled out something from her bag and put it on the table and my hearing went funny for a moment as a wave of hissing went through one ear, then the other before it disappeared. Bianca eyes sparkled at me, munching some fries as I looked at the thing on the table.

It was a little statue of a woman with butterfly wings behind her. She was stood on a mound of grass, with long hair running down her head and covering her breasts. Here and there in her hair where little flowers. It was only about 6 inches tall, but the carving work on it was stunning. Around the base was a ring of words in something other than English. I took a guess at Gaelic due to Bianca’s apparent Irish roots.

“What is that?” I asked her without touching it.

“It’s Creide, amongst other things, Celtic Goddess of Secrets. She’ll keep anyone from listening in.”

“She will?”

“Well, the magic and what not in it will. She’s a vessel I made, then enchanted to do that. It’s what I do, I make items for people like this. Make a fortune doing it, although work tapered off recently. Thankfully, the work should start up again.”

That was faintly impressive and keyed me into the fact there are a lot of things out there that maybe I missed in passing. Bianca looked pleased as that ran across my face.

“What happened in Everett?” she asked me, picking up her soft drink to take a sip

“Do you know of Eli Grace?”

She dropped her glass in surprise, sloshing it on the table. It wasn’t a huge mess, but I grabbed a couple of napkins and threw them around her drink as she stared at me “Eli Grace was in Everett? And you won?”

I gave her the truthful story starting from where I met him just to reduce her concerns, ending on the bus into Seattle. She looked faintly surprised at it all but accepted everything I said.

“Guess that explains the explosions then. Everett Police are still out in force looking for the cause. Did you take Malcolm’s advice?” I nodded “Good, take it. Malcolm tries to do the good thing, but at the same time he doesn’t want to make life difficult for himself. He’ll help you if he can, so long as it doesn’t get him into trouble. But wow, you escaped Eli. I’m impressed by that for a newborn.”

She looked at me for a moment, then leaning closer a little peering into my eyes “Oh, well. Not for long then.”

“What?”

“Your eyes. You’re starting to See things. It’s all coming tumbling down.” She munched on some fries watching me.

“Still not gonna tell me anything.”

She shook her head. “I know you’re not ready for it, and even if you were it would undo everything I’ve been rebuilding recently. Someone will tell you what you need to know when you’re ready. Whether it’s Malcolm, Joseph or someone else matters not. It’s just, well, I’m sorry. I would if I could, but even for you, I’m not going to risk it right now.”

I shrugged, taking a big bite of my meal.

“One question for you though Ryan. How many shots of that stuff have you used?” She looked at me critically as I chewed my meal and swallowed to reply.

“I used one with you. One at the bus place after Eli. Then I kind of went to do something and ended up getting arrested,” Her eyebrows shot up in surprise but let me continue. “I got a few hours’ sleep there before I was woken up by this ... Thing that was going on there. I took another when I got home as I’ve got a lot to do today, and I can’t afford to sleep right now.”

She frowned for a moment “What Thing?”

“There was this young man in the holding cell. I’d seen him before at this club I went to. He went blue and collapsed. He wasn’t breathing. I went to give him CPR and I felt this kind of Thing in him. I can’t explain it by any logical method I know of. But I knew that I could pull it out of him by inhaling, so I did. Then it was in me. Fighting with me, trying to get back to the guy, or the other person with us. I managed to hold on to it long enough and it collapsed in me, and when I breathed out it was just this Light that just faded away.”

She swirled her coke with the straw, thinking about that one before she shook her head “I’ve got no clue about that one. It honestly doesn’t sound like anything I’ve heard of before. You’re kind of limited by who you can ask too with the whole newborn thing. Best thing I can suggest is hang on to that? Maybe ask Joseph?” She grimaced at that idea.

“Yeah, I don’t think he’ll react too well to the idea of me being arrested and put in a holding cell. I think I’ll keep quiet, at least for now. That was what I was going to do anyways, I won’t bring up speaking to you about it don’t worry”

She looked thankfully at me without saying it, picking at the straw in her drink before she seemed to remember what we were talking about “But my original point, I got distracted. You need to get some rest soon Ryan. You’ve used it more than you should have. It was kind of an emergency thing, and I’m in agreement with the reasons you’ve used it all things considered right now. But there’s going to be a price soon enough. PLEASE try to get some sleep soon?”

I nodded, and we finished up our delicious meals, with her telling me about the news reports on TV with sparkling eyes. They were blaming everyone from terrorists to disgruntled former hospital workers for the explosions. No one had died, and no injuries either so that was a true blessing to me. But many cars had gone, and the car park itself had suffered damage which was going to cause problems for all the hospital workers that used it. And some of the houses across the road had gotten some fire raining down on them, overall, she said I had nothing to make up for as I wasn’t the cause of it. It felt like a blessing to me, and I was happy to take the good news.

We headed back to the shop after the hour had passed and my bike was waiting, but it looked different. My tires had been completely replaced with new ones.

“What happened?” I asked the shop assistant who wheeled it out to me and Bianca. He looked between the two of us for a moment.

“We replaced the tire with airless ones like she ordered?” I glared at Bianca who looked at me a happy expression on her face.

“It’s all paid for, and I’ve already lost the receipt. You can’t return it. So there. It got damaged on my property.” Her face darkened a little at that “And trust me, that pissed me off. This is my way of making that up to you.”

I glared at her some more, but she just flat ignored me, giving me a little chuckle to show my glare wasn’t scaring her so I ended up giving up.

“Well, I’m sorry to say this, but I do have to go. I need to get some books I’ve wanted to get for ages, and a load of other stuff from Seattle but been unable to.” She attacked me with another violent hug “Stay in touch!” she said, before she was bouncing off down the road.

I took a bus part of the way to Malcolm’s then cycled the remainder of the way. I had no senses anyone was hunting me this time, which meant no Eli thankfully. The grumpy looking man opened the door, looking out for a moment and let me in. I took my bike inside putting it against the wall and followed him down into his room.

Malcolm looked tired and very much annoyed as he took a seat, staring at me

“What the hell have you been up to? There’s an incident in Everett, reports of something down in Lynnwood. Then there’s your stabbing a couple of days ago too?” Guess Malcolm kept up with everything around the city and surrounding area.

“I have been apparently busy the last few days I guess?” I had nothing to say to it all, so it came across rather lamely.

He eyed me for a long moment “Yes I can tell. Was the stabbing related to Eli then?”

I nodded, pulling out the knife and police report which Malcolm looked over. “Wow. You got the knife?” He put on some gloves and pulled it out looking it over “Oh yes. This is Eli’s stuff. The scripture written on it gives it away” he carefully stuffed it back in the bag “Handing that over will definitely help you out.”

He moved over to one of his screens and turned it to face me and started playing a camera footage of me at the hospital, which kept going for a few moments with Eli appearing in the corner of the screen. It then flipped over to me exiting the hospital and running over into the car park. Another shot to show Eli coming in. Then explosion on the screen. They looked pretty, but without any microphones they certainly lacked something.

“Very busy time eh?” Malcolm said to me, pulling out a USB drive and tossing it over to me “Everything has been copied onto that. You’ve come down and asked me to find these things for you. And I’ve now gotten them for you. Understand?”

I nodded “I completely understand.” I said, totally not lying to him. I had no clue what the issue was here. But I could at least understand his concern, and desire for a promise.

“Good. You owe me a favor, so try not to get yourself killed before I can call that in.”

“I’ll certainly do my best to accommodate you on that matter, don’t worry. Anything I can do for you now?”

He paused and considered that one, looking at various things on his desk before he shook his head “Nothing now. You got that mailbox yet?”

Damn. Knew I forgot something in amongst everything “No. Sorry. Spent a couple of days in the hospital.”

“Yes, I know. Who do you think made sure your bag got in your room? That your computer records disappeared? We’ve got people all over the place in Seattle. Some idiot has to run them.”

Huh. I hadn’t thought about that one.

“Thank you?”

Malcolm stopped moving paperwork for a moment and looked at me “You’re welcome.” he said, looking faintly surprised by my appreciation. He settled back in his chair, with this faint aura like he was waiting for something from me. I tried to think then it came to me.

“Is there anything else I should know about Malcolm? Regarding this whole procedure?”

He gave me an approving look, “Good. First thing keep copies of everything. If someone ever brings it up later, you’ve got records. Next up, don’t be scared. You’ve done nothing wrong, you were fighting for survival, and there’s nothing anywhere that’s making people wonder too much. They’re still ignorant overall so you’re good there. Finally, no one was hurt. Mr. Ortiz has you on nothing at all. Keep that in mind when you’re dealing with him later. That’s my free advice.”

I looked at the USB for a moment then at him “Any chance I can get a copy of this then? I don’t have my own computer.”

He chuckled, opening a drawer, and pulled out a different colored one, passing it over. I pulled out a couple of ten-dollar notes and put them down “Payment for the drives.”

He took the money and slipped it into a pocket “Everyone always forgets that”

I everything away and got up with Malcolm. As he led me out of his building giving me a final piece of advice, “Get this out of the way now. Joseph will take you today if you’re sure. And you have enough by my judgment Ryan.” He paused with his hand on the door thinking things through before he looked at me again.

“Ryan, whatever you’re doing, you should stop. You’re obviously getting into something bigger than you are here. In a week you’ve caused more trouble than anyone has in a few years. But give it up and go home once you’re done with Joseph. Stop putting your nose where it doesn’t need to go. ”

I blinked at that advice. I can’t lie and say I hadn’t been thinking the same thing. That would be wrong to deny that part of myself. I wanted to go home, rest up. Forget about Eli, and all this stuff I’d be dragged into in one week.

I couldn’t though, and I wouldn’t.

I couldn’t bring myself to say anything to him either way, and just got my bike, exiting his place and started the cycle back to the bus stop.

Damn why did a dead man’s life have to get even more complex?