Page 123 of Power of Shadow

Problems are my specialty. With a sigh, I ask, “What happened?”

“You have to see something. A body was found in one of our underground warehouses.”

Half an hour later, we’re on the outskirts of the city. Two of our men are standing by the warehouse, making sure that no one uninvited gets inside. They nod in respect as we enter. We descend a winding staircase.

“Go to the very end,” says another of our men who’s standing at the bottom.

The dark corridor is lit only by emergency lights. One of them flickers on and off. The annoying blinking reminds me of the horror movies I watched as a child. Back then, I was afraid that a monster would appear from around the corner and devour me. Now I’m the monster. What irony.

The old pipes resonate with a hiss. The rhythmic sound of dripping water grows louder with each step I take.

The brick walls of the corridor are dirty with age. Cobwebs hang from the sides. The concrete floor is crumbling in places.

A few steps ahead of me, a rat runs across the corridor and hides behind one of the pipes. Before I can blink, I see it on the pipe running just below the ceiling. It scurries away, wagging its tail. Judging from its barrel-shaped body, it seems to be doing well in life.

The smell of dampness and age mingle together. Something stinks as if it died here centuries ago. If I were a sensitive son of a bitch, it would make me sick. But I’m not. And I don’t have a gag reflex at all.

A few steps farther, at the end of the corridor, on my left, I find what we came here for.

The underground room is almost completely shrouded in darkness. The only light comes from behind me, from the hallway. However, it’s enough for me to see the corpse.

The basement floor is completely flooded with water. It’s not deep, maybe just a few inches. It forms a perfectly smooth mirror. Because of the lack of light, the water looks like tar; only closer to me, it has a navy blue tint. In the corner, one of the pipes must be leaking because that’s where the annoying dripping sound is coming from.

My gaze stops on the silhouette of a man lying motionless nearby. Part of his face is hidden under the water. One eye is visible, open but motionless, staring at me. His face is contorted in agony, as if he died suddenly during torture. There’s a visible cut on his cheek, but it’s no longer bleeding.

The man is flat on his stomach, his hands up to his elbows under the water. He’s completely naked from the waist up. There are dark stripes on his back, as if someone had been practicing whipping on him. They don’t look like old wounds, but they’re no longer bleeding either.

His gray skin tells me I’m too late to save his life. It wasn’t supposed to be this way, regardless of how this entire story began. And yet...

My gaze wanders across the surface of the water to the very beginning, right below my feet. In the still mirror, I see three silhouettes of men of similar height. Each of us stands with our legs slightly apart, our hands in our trouser pockets. We’re similar and yet so fucking different. My brothers focus on the dead man.

In our black suits, we look like emissaries from hell. Maybe that’s the truth. Each of us carries our own darkness, and each of us is cursed and fucked up in our own way.

“What now?” one of them asks.

I sigh, knowing that a completely different hell awaits me than the one we’ve recently gone through. Without a word, I turn and walk back the way we came. I don’t know the answer to his question. I wonder only if any of us will survive the consequences of the hell that Ash will bring down upon us.

Chapter 29

Ashley

Ispend less and less time alone with Zoe.

She has her computer world; I have my deadly one. Plus, the cunning Ryker constantly creeps into not only every single day of my life but also my thoughts. He’s also breaking down all the defensive walls of my heart.

I feel vulnerable, yet I know he’ll protect me. Isn’t that a paradox?

Being close to Ryker teaches me it’s worth taking off my mask.

But today, Zoe and I decide to spend the evening together. Alone.

I sent Ryker a text to let him know that men aren’t welcome in our apartment tonight. I guess he’s busy because I haven’t heard from him yet. How do I know? Because I keep checking my phone.

Dressed in pajamas, with glasses of red wine in our hands and a bowl of popcorn between us, we watch a romantic comedy. I keep getting lost in the plot and don’t know what’s going on. But I laugh when Zoe does, and nod when she sighs.

I’m hopeless at this.

There’s one more reason why we are here today. It’s about time I talked to her about Charles Baker. But first, I just want us to spend some time together. Just like normal sisters do.