Shadow Play Shadow World Novella 2

CHAPTER ONE

Angie Parson grinned when the kids took off up the path to Cathedral Rock, disappearing around a switchback overgrown by catclaw and prickly pear cactus. At six years old, JT's stride might've been shorter than Carter's, but the kid pumped like a locomotive to keep up with his big brother. Carter would have a real contender in his brother within a year. He'd better start trying soon.

The sun was overhead, scorching, while the temp idled at a dry eighty degrees. The scent of earthy clay lingered on the trail to the vortex—the swirly icon on the Sedona visitor's map had interested JT—and the Technicolor contrast of towering red rock and brilliant blue sky dazzled Angie's eyes. It was a gorgeous day. One for sunscreen, extra water, and dashing up trails out of Mom's sight.

“Not too far!” she shouted, though her boys never listened to first warnings. Firsts were a formality. They knew she meant business around warning number three.

She heard the rushing sound of water. And there, with a deeper breath, she could smell it too—sweet moisture in the desert. She pulled the map from her back pocket and looked for Oak Creek. Nope, they were going in the other direction. Maybe the water ahead was a smaller creek, or more like a crick than a mapped tributary of the Verde River. But it deserved another yell.

“Stay away from the water!” Though her boys still weren't in sight, she wasn't worried. They knew not to go out of hollering range.

She folded the map and stuck it back in her pocket. Perfect timing. Lunch. Unload some of her backpack weight into their bellies. Play in the water, then back to the campsite.

And around the campfire tonight, broach the topic of the move. She would promise that they'd still see their dad and his new wife as much as they wanted. The reality was that she needed the pay raise badly. She had a life to begin again, and her debt anchored her in the past.

A fat line of water cut across her path, followed by a thicker spill that flowed freely across the packed red earth. The rushing sound got louder. The scent was fresh, but strange, making her heart beat with memories her mind couldn't call to the surface, like when she saw her ex now, so happy and handsome, but loving someone else.

She quickened her speed and used her hard voice. “Carter! JT!”

She rounded the corner and spotted her boys not four paces away. Good. Then she gawked at what had stopped them. In the middle of the path was a wide and tall sheet of water, a transparent blue waterfall. It flowed out of the sky and drenched the dry rocks and path with its clamoring spill. A juniper tree with a twisted trunk grew on one side. A few scattered manzanita trees, too. But visible through the waterfall was a nighttime forest, ancient trees thick, gorgeous, dangerous, and utterly incongruous with the desert during daytime. Shadows moved among the dark trunks.

Angie broke into a cold sweat. Okay, so maybe there was something to this vortex thing.

She could see JT reflected perfectly in the clear sheet of water, his eyes big and round and a little scared as he stared at the falls, his back to her. It took her a second to realize that Carter wasn't looking at the waterfall. He was facing her, his back to the falls, but staring at JT.

Her focus sharpened. This was danger, and her boys were too close.

She strode forward and grabbed JT around his middle and picked him up effortlessly, as she hadn't since he was four. She took a step back from the Otherworldly falls, saying, “Carter, get away—”

But the JT in the reflection wasn't lifted. He reached out his arms to her with a soundless, “Mom!”

Then who—?

She turned this other boy in her arms. And dropped him on the muddy path when she saw his face.

Everything about the child was JT—pool-bleached hair, the shade of his tan, the scab on his nose—everything except his eyes, which were large, tipped up at the outer corners, and all black, like those of a bug or an alien. The creature started crying when he hit the ground. She thought there were words in the sounds he made, but they were like nothing she'd ever heard before.

Carter kept back, near the climb of red rocks, his face ashen.

“Stay!” she yelled at him and darted toward the waterfall to grab JT, the real JT. But she passed right through the water—soaking her, blinding her eyes—only to arrive on the other side of the dirt path, shaking and bewildered.

“JT!” she screamed at the water and tried again. He was there, in that forest, where that other boy-thing surely belonged. “Come here right now!”

JT obeyed and stepped forward, almost ranging out of sight on the Other side, but not moving back into red rock country. Not nearly. He was so close, but deep down, she knew he was far away from her now. Unreachable.

“No!” she cried again. “Stay right there, baby.” Even though he hated being called baby. “Don't move. Stay tough, big guy. I'll get you out of there.”

What should she do? Oh, God, please what should she do? How could she get him out?

“What happened?” she demanded from Carter.

He shrugged and shook his head, helpless, tears shimmering in his eyes. “I don't know. We were running, and then the water came.”

“Did that other boy touch him or grab him?”

Carter shook his head no. Tears streaked down his cheeks. “He just came, too.”

“It's okay,” she told him. Which was a lie, but at eight years old, he still believed in her powers as a grown-up.

She needed to get help. Maybe one of those new-agey people knew about vortexes? Paranormal stuff was happening freaking everywhere these days. Why had she brought her boys to a place famous for supernatural energy? This was her fault.

She glanced at her phone. No signal.

But she wasn't leaving JT. Never. She wasn't sending Carter back the other way either. Who knew what might be on this path? And then there was that strange boy with JT's face, rolling in the wet dirt. She had to watch him, too. He was the key to getting JT back. She knew it.

Only one thing left. They'd passed other hikers. People were around, not far. She pulled up all her panic and mom strength into her chest and scoured her throat with a scream for help.