Hidden in Shadow

Chapter 1

"Hey buddy!" One second he was on the ground and, in the other, 6 feet above it.

"Hi!" A smile beamed on his face. "How you doin' Uncle Xavier?"

My smile turned upside. "Uncle Xavier? C'mon man I'm not that old."

"Xavier." He corrected himself and rightfully so, the term Uncle manages to add a decade to how old you really are. "When can we go to get Ren?"

"Well," I started. "Firstly there is no we kay kid? You're staying right here as per Ryans orders. Secondly I'll go get her and she'll be here around...six."

"I wanna go!" Dawn grunted and folded his arms over his chest however seeing as that didn't work he widened those electric blue eyes of his. "Please."

I threw him on the sofa. "Knock it off, you can't blackmail me."

He curled up to a corner and started staring at me with those eyes again. I put my hands over my eyes but kept peaking out of them periodically. "Must...not...give...in. Must..resist!"

"Please?" He sang the word. I sighed and he knew he had won me over. "You know your dad is gonna kill me right?"

"Better you than me." He winked and I grabbed him letting my fingers find all the spots sensitive to a tickle.

Today was the day Serenity comes back to Kingsview. It had been a long 2 weeks after Mennigin died; she completely broke down. That's when Ryan sent her off to live with Ellis who seemed to have settled pretty well in Turkey.

Contact with her was scarce and in the times we did talk, conversations were kept short and brief. Ryan advised against prolonged talk, she needed space, and I respected that for the first month and a half.

However then it extended from one and a half to eight months. Grief was one thing but this was just a ticket to stay away and it irritated me that she had kept to herself all this time. There were times when I thought about visiting or telling her exactly how I felt but I kept myself from doing so. She had enough to deal with, she didn't need more.

It wasn't easy. I fell deep in to my work so my idle mind wouldn't find its way back to thinking about it. Kingsfort was weeks away from its grand opening and the amusement park had eyes on it from all across the country. Quite honestly it had turned out better than I ever thought it would . Ryan had a huge role to play with the project, company and unfortunately with the family.

Secretly I wondered how a family so plagued could ever enjoy their time comfortably. All these problems and deaths seemed all too, sudden. One could compare it to a horror film, you never know what's gonna happen next.

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Dawn raced in front of the crowd squeezing his way through people and was soon out if sight. It was harder for me to find a place outside the arrival hall where I could actually get to see the passengers come out.

The airport was a speck compared to the enormous land alloted to the runways. That added to crowding problems which normally, for a town like kingsview, shouldn't be an issue.

"Now boarding passengers of flight 412 Air Blue. Destination, Ireland."

The robotic voice added to the noise coming from the crowd that was confined to outside the arrival hall. If you moved even 10 steps away you could feel a drastic decrease in volume. Even with the noise it was better than waiting outside, it was warmer, and that was all you could ask for in the Kingsview winters.

I stood behind scanning my way through, over and between everyone to get a glimpse of Dawn but alas I couldn't get a lock on him. Waiting there was probably best, he'd come out sometime.

A warmth sprung in my heart when I caught sight of a girl with small brown eyes pushing a trolley towered with luggage and one very delighted young boy sitting on the very top. She saw me too, and momentarilly stopped. I couldn't control a big smile on my face when I saw her resisting the same.

She wore a blue V-neck blouse and white jeans. Her hair was tied in a  messy bun but her bangs fell on her face and every second she came closer was another second her hands tried and failed to pin them up too.

I came forward as soon as she was close enough and, without delay, twirled her in my arms. "Hey stranger." She teased softly.

"I think you're talking about yourself." I kissed her gently on the cheek and saw her face flush. She pursed her lips and turned away immediately in hopes of hiding it. I let go of my hold on her while she gathered herself and took a long hard look at me. "Is it that cold?" She questioned.

I was wearing an shirt, vest, jacket, muffler and hat. "No I just wanted to dress up real nice for you." I said sarcastically.

She laughed covering her mouth with her hand. "I'm serious!"

"Well," I took my wooly grey muffler off and set it on her. "Yes."

"Ren!" Dawn yelled.

"Yeah?" She turned to him.

"I'm glad you're back." There was a wide smile on his face that was not going to go away anytime soon.

As soon as we left the safe corners of the building a heavy wind pounded on us from the left side. It was almost as if we were being pushed to the right. Serenity was disoriented while trying to manage the trolley so I took it from her and gave her the crook of my arm to hold on to. I could feel the wind forming waves on my face and turning it numb.

I kept the car close to the premesis so Serenity and Dawn rushed in; after loading the in the suitcases I dashed in too. "That was so bad." Serenity whined holding her rosy cheeks. I eyed her, "I thought winters were your thing?"

"They are." She rolled her eyes. "I love the winters here, but I like to be properly equipped." She folded the muffler and set it on her lap. "Thanks." She threw a half smile my way.

Five icy fingers came on to either one of my cheeks. "Look I'm so cold."

I glared at Dawn from the rearview mirror. "I don't think you wanna feel my fingers." Those fingers retreated and I heard a click of the seatbelt. "No way."

"What was that?" Serenity was rather dumbfounded by my threat. "Mind your own business Ren." Dawn laughed.

An idea sparked in my mind. "Hey Dawn, is she-?" I hoped he understood.

"Oh yeah!" He grined.

I spread my fingers all over her waist and watched her squirm and giggle so hard. It was almost uncomprehendable the way she asked me to stop. I could hear Dawn laugh in the seat behind. She had sunk to the side of her seat trying to fight off my hands and so I leaned over her by placing my knee on the hand brake.

With a sudden jerk her seat fell back and I lost balance. My hands were at either side of her but embedded on to the leather seat trying to keep my body from falling on hers. When she opened her eyes I realized how close I was to her face. I could feel my tongue being pulled from behind my mouth.

She looked straight up and magically immobalized me. Her hands moved to my face and she leaned forward. She gasped before pressing her soft lips against mine. I pulled away slowly when I was given back my face only to see her head hanging down as if she had done something wrong. I needed to ask..

"Why now?"

She gazed in to my eyes and spoke. "It was long overdue."

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There you go! Chapter 1 to kick off the book. Tell me how it went, vote, comment and share the book!

Hope you all enjoyed :)