Undetected

Chapter Fifteen

To be as undetectable as possible, I became the tiniest particle of vapor that I could by rolling up all of my car windows, with the hopes of finding the finest crack in at least one of them to escape from.

Luck. The passenger window allowed me to seep through a millimeter of air. I hovered 3 blocks from their house to see what I could see.

All the lights were out.

Elevated breathing from Katie, and snoring from Ace's bed.

Nothing from Shadow's room. "Hmmm, is she there or is she just a quiet sleeper?" I wondered.

My eyes closed again to see a body occupying Shadow's bed. Now I needed to wait for her slow-wave sleep sense to come to me before I entered the house.

Dry leaves began moving towards the grass and along the sidewalk. Before the wind moved the tiny particle of vapor that I was, I decided to move in the opposite direction. I couldn't trust it not to drag me off course.

I zipped around the neighborhood that was covered by ominous gray clouds.

I found a spot inside a pine tree that was close enough for me to see what I needed to. I figured this was a good time to test the power of the blocker1, so I took it out of my pocket, unscrewed the tiny cap and gulped it down in one swallow.

My eyes moved around, all looked quiet and sleepy inside the house, so I drifted towards it.

"The time is now," I convinced myself by saying it, while my heart felt like a racer running a marathon against my chest.

Because everyone was sleeping in the back of the house, I decided to try to enter the front door. I fit nicely underneath it, with the ease of a thin blade cutting through the air.

Moving towards Ace and Katie's room, a couple of suitcases sat near the closet, indicating that travel might be in the plans. Both of their heads stuck out from underneath the covers. Ace's snoring filled the room.

With my presence not detected, it felt safe to test Shadow's room.

Her door was closed, so I slid underneath the space between the floor and the door, and stood by it and waited and listened. Cupid and the rest of my devices were ready for action.

The quiet and the black and gray color choices of the room evoked a sense of death.

I didn't see Shadow's head sticking out from underneath the covers, but by the slight stirring of the bulge underneath the black comforter, someone or something was there.

Now. I heard Mari's voice say. I advanced towards her bed like a glider moving across land.

I prepared Cupid's bow with its one dangerous arrow and slightly pulled back Shadows covers from the back, revealing a long dark ponytail.

Her stillness was a good signal to continue.

I moved directly in front of her heart, and when I glanced up her long lashes extended from her closed eyes. As I drew the arrow back, the absence of her heartbeat made it easier to release the arrow, towards the bullseye.

Immediately, the sound of shattering glass filled the air and her tiny body started to break into little pieces.

It sounded like Katie screaming in the other bedroom.

I shifted my body towards her room.

Katie, screaming at the top of her lungs, stood next to the bed, with her hands on her mouth, as she watched Ace's body crumble into tiny pieces of ash and then disappear.

Wait...Was it Ace that I killed? Confused and my heart racing, I went back to Shadow's room.

The door was wide open, with the black comforter pulled back.

There were no traces of someone having been in Shadow's bed.

Then it dawned on me that Shadow set the whole thing up to have Ace killed instead of her.

She knew that someone was coming to kill her and set Ace up to take the fall. Apparently, she had no loyalty to Ace and wanted him dead. Why? Did she know it was me specifically coming to kill her?

A low heh-heh-heh laughter erupted, filling the room with a repeated unhinged coldness that made my skin crawl.

Get out now. Mari urged.

I quickly slid underneath the door and out the front.

"Shit." I exclaimed, as I decided to leave my car and just fly towards my house.

My angst kept me moving at an unsettling pace.

Her frantic bursts of laughter followed me, but by the time I made it to the front of my house, the laughing turned into a low graveling noise.

Once I made it inside the entrance door, Shadow and her noise disappeared.

Catching my breath, I realized, Ace was dead, which was ok but he wasn't the target, Shadow was.

Mission not completed.