Forsaken (The Night Children, Volume 1)

Chapter 8

                                                                    Chapter 8

                                                                       Astra

“What do you mean, ‘you don’t know’,” I demanded. “You can’t just lose a person.” Imbeciles…

“You don’t know my wife,” my father muttered. “She’s a master at running away and hiding. If she doesn’t want to be found, then we won’t find her.”

“But dad, you said it yourself. It’s different this time,” Gaidrian insisted. “This time, there wasn’t anything to run away from. Every time that she disappeared, they all were directly related to your relationship. No offense.” His dad shrugged. “She’s never bailed on our family before, and everything that she’s ever done was to protect us.  So that must mean that she because there are things at work behind the scenes that we don’t know about.”

“Since she left, I’ve been keeping an ear to the shadows,” Cain admitted.

“Me too,” Gaidrian agreed. “But I’ve heard nothing of her whereabouts. Have you?”

“No,” he replied. “Not a thing. But I have noticed that they’ve been increasingly nervous. Like… like something is coming.”

“Yes!” Gaidrian exclaimed. “That’s exactly what I thought too. When we used them to travel to see Astra last night, they were reluctant to accommodate us. And I haven’t shadow travelled since my mom left, so I can only assume that it has to do with her disappearance.”

“Wait, hold up for a second,” I interrupted. “You lost me with all this shadow talk. Explain please?”

“I’ll give you the short version for now,” Gaidrian said. “Long story short, my mother was… is the first of our kind. She had a rare genetic gene that really wasn’t even detectable if it wasn’t for her eyes. The gene itself doesn’t really make us much different, except that our bodies can withstand more trauma than normal humans. When certain people discovered that she had it, they kidnapped her, and used her as an experiment. What I am now was the result.

“They made her one with the Night. Initially, we suspect that they only wanted to mutate her to be able to see people’s deepest fears… their Nightmares, and use them against them. Make them come to life. But what they didn’t realize that Nightmares are part of the Shadows, and the Shadows are part of the Darkness, and the Darkness is part of the Night. People aren’t afraid of the Dark for nothing. And nothing is more powerful than fear. We are able to control most aspects of the Night, and shadows go along with that. We can use them to travel, among other things.”

“This is like something out of a book,” I muttered. “Okay, so does that mean that I can do all that stuff too?”

“Yes, but that will come later. When she left you at the orphanage, mom needed to make sure that you knew as little as possible. Even though we were only newborns, she suspected that we’d inherited her gifts. Because of that, she placed a shadow in your mind, so that when you saw things of the shadow world, your brain wouldn’t register it. It’ll take time for your natural abilities to return, but we will train you so that when they do, you know how to control them.”’

“Ok, well what am I supposed to do while I wait for them to come back? Just sit here in this house? I need to go to school. And won’t it be weird when I never show up back at the orphanage?”

“We have it all under control,” Gaidrian assured me. “Sister Jane, the nun who acted as your care-taker?” I nodded. “She was… paid a visit just before we left.”