“They’re some type of device to hold him captive, aren’t they?”
“That’s my guess.”
The growl erupting from Lydia’s chest reminded me of Phlox. “This is completely unacceptable. He’s a child, isn’t he?”
I nodded. “I believe so.” I wasn’t clear on his age. All I knew was he didn’t appear to be an adult.
“What kind of a monster would do such a thing?” Lydia’s compassion overrode any fear she might have had. Reaching forward, she pushed the brownie’s hair from his forehead, tucking it behind a pointed ear. “The poor thing.” She shifted closer, tugging the blanket over the boy’s body. He still didn’t wake.
“You should not touch his bindings.”
I jerked so fast I nearly fell on my ass. Scrambling, I moved closer to Lydia as the shadows coalesced, growing darker and more substantial until there was one being, its height nearly reaching the rafters.
My breathing quickened into short gasps and my heart sped. I reached for Lydia, but she moved to the side, standing andpointing an accusing finger toward the growing darkness. “This is beyond monstrous,” she said while pointing at the child at her feet. “He is only a child.”
A low, sonorous chuckle came from the darkness. “A very powerful child. We find that power very useful. It hides us from prying eyes.”
“We?” I scanned the room. Was it talking about the shadows in general or—
“We are one of the same whole,” it cryptically answered. “I am Shadow.”
Lydia gave me a confused look. I wished I could clarify, but I had no more idea than she did. “Huxley?” I asked.
“I am Shadow,” it repeated. “I am one with Huxley.”
One, but I got the feeling not the same. This part of Huxley identified as an individual. The same, but different. Unfortunately, my forced nap hadn’t equated to mental rejuvenation. My brain and body were still exhausted, and I felt like I was way behind the eight ball.
Scrubbing my tired eyes, I mumbled, “I’m too tired for this shit.”
Another rumbling chuckle consumed the darkness. “We are clever.”
A different type of unease slithered through me. “What does that mean?” I struggled to my feet, standing beside Lydia.
“It was amusing, playing with you, Detective O’Hare.” There was far too much malicious pleasure dripping through those words.
“What did you do?” I had an awful feeling I already knew.
“It was simple enough. We are everywhere and nowhere. We see the things others want to keep hidden. We are the darkness they hide within. They were easy to dispatch. They were even easier to move into place.”
“Franklin, what’s it talking about?” Lydia almost succeeded in keeping the fear from her voice.
I was afraid to answer. The guilt surrounding all those deaths threatening to swamp me. “You killed them. All of them. Just to get to me.” The horror nearly paralyzed me.
“What deaths?” Lydia asked, a frantic note now present.
I couldn’t answer her. All I could do was numbly stand there, attempting to use this new information as the glue to piece the puzzle together. “Twelve deaths. Twelve people murdered that should still be alive. And all for what? Just to keep me occupied. To…” Exhaust me. To keep me away from Boone. To keep my mind too busy to focus on what I should have concentrated on.
Lydia sucked in a harsh breath. “Twelve people?”
“Guilt is a strange emotion, one we do not understand. You did not kill those humans.”
“No. But all the same, they died because of me.”
“They would have perished anyway. The women at least. We simply killed them before their human murderers had a chance. They died with far less pain than they would have if their human assailants had been given more time. We knew their plans. We took great pleasure dispatching the others.” That pleasure resonated through their voice.
“And then you moved the bodies to Mississippi, practically to my back door.”
“We are shadow and darkness. It is nothing to move through that darkness.”
