See Me

#14 Somewhere in the Desert

     For whatever reason, it seems that Vampirelox really dislikes Jerome. He had never acted like this before, but being in the confined space with "non lox'es" must really be grating on his nerves. Vampire has to sit in the cab to avoid some wicked sunburns.

     I'm currently in the back with most of my other Shadows. Seto has to drive, and I didn't even try making Blaze leave the other front seat. Jerome is against the opposite door from where Vampire is, with Beatlox between them. Squid and Doll are in the cup holders. I even made a rule about seatbelts just a few days ago.....

Mitch convinced himself to ride in the back for some kind of 'atonement'. With Jerome still having his goggles, all this means is that Demonlox keeps poking him every few minutes. At least it's something entertaining to watch. He's trying to be tolerant, but the former hunter can only have so much patience.

I'm not so nervous to see this 'safe spot', even though I should be. Seto still has a lot of questions to answer. I feel like he's focussed on the now. In the end, the bouncing of the truck bead wasn't enough to keep me from dozing off. I haven't slept since I was knocked out in the lab.

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I sit in the corner of the stark white room, my knees pulled up to my chest. My hands are clenched so right that my nails draw blood. It's been so long since I've seen anyone. They have to be near, but I can't hear or see them. How long has it been since they put me in here by myself?
I scream, bolting to my feet. There's nowhere to run to. No escape. I hit the wall full force without even registering the pain. It makes me fall back the ground and my vision goes out for a moment. I get up and run at the wall, ramming it with my shoulder and elbow this time. Something in my arm cracks under the pressure.
It doesn't stop me from trying to tear at the walls with my nails. At some point, I'm holding a knife I stab it widely into the walls in a haze of insanity. They're telling me to keep going now. The voices urge me to stab deep into the wall on my right. It busts a whole right through the inch thick wall. I can now hear Squilox's yelp from the other side.
I keep tearing through the wall without pause.

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     I'm nudge awake, a little disoriented with the bright sunlight. The air is dry and makes my skin a little itchy. Insanelox is looking down at me with his knife sheathed in his belt loops. His eyes are a bit more focused than usual.

"Seto says we're here, but I don't see anything", he huffs. With that, he crawls back and climbs down from the truck. I quickly follow him with a quick look around. I hadn't been paying attention to where we were headed, but the scenery is a big shock. It honestly looks like a slightly greener version of a desert. Cliffs start rising up not 20 feet from the car. This is nowhere near hone.

"Where the hell are we?", I ask Seto, finding him talking to Mitch and Jerome. My Shadows all hover around me.

"Arizona. It's just a state over from California on the west coast", he only looks up for a second before speaking with the two humans again.

"You two will be distrusted a bit from the beginning, but there are lots of humans who live here. It will help that I've know you for a while". Arizona? That's  nearly halfway across the country from where I was kidnapped from. No wonder I passed out. I've never been so far West.

"I don't like it", Vampirelox mumbles, sulking underneath his cape. Its hours after noon, and he still can't take the sunlight. He quickly morphs into a bat and dives at my pants pocket. A small trail of steam goes after him.

"Vampire's got the right idea", Dolllox cocks his head. He's in his human form, shorter then me with all of his doll features intact. He usually prefers to stay as a pice of plastic. Apparently, it's more comfortable. It's not surprising when he transforms back and I put him in my other pocket. There's a small makeup mirror under him that I'm sure Shadox is already inhabiting. For my Shadows that have smaller forms, it's normal to hitch a ride on me. It's so normal that I can almost forget the fact that I'm standing in a desert. My other Shadows mill around me in a group.

     "So..... where's this top secret base you were going on about?", Siren ask irritably. He and Squidlox are both bothered by the heat more than I.

"It wouldn't be so secret if you could easily see it", Seto snarks back, "Just follow me. Someone else will come to hide the car later". He grabs a duffle bag out of the truck that Blaze has been sitting next to the entire ride.

"Best vacation I've had in a while, Ty. You don't get out much when you live off of video games", Jerome laughs. He's never gotten the chance to road trip like this. Jerome once said, during a video we did together, that he wanted to see the world's 'forgotten places' one day. The middle of a desert probably counts somewhere on that list.

Seto leads us towards the nearby cliffs. I follow with all of my Shadows in the back while the two humans walk between. Wow. When did I stop counting myself as human? Maybe when Seto gave a name for it: Shadow Casters. The rock formations twist and bend just enough to hide a small hole in the rock surface. You could only see it if you know exactly where to look. Seto finds it without too much trouble. Blaze takes an unlit torch from him and uses his nails to scratch a symbol lightly into the wood. He takes a deep breath, and breaths fire out of his mouth and lights the torch. I shouldn't be surprised at this anymore. He is a Phoenix, after all.

"Ooh, can you teach me how to do that?", Demon watches the flame in awe. Fire is just as destructive as his nature. Blaze gives him a mock bow and enters the cave. Not wanting to be left behind, I grab onto my nearest Shadow and squeeze in after Mitch. Beatlox squeaks and almost drops his phone. Brine grabs onto his other arm and soon, there's a whole line of us going through the tight passage. It only stays that way for about 10 feet before opening up again. Beat's glow sticks send blue and pink light all around the cave. I'm still amazed that they haven't run out of juice.

"Wow.......", I trail off. In the two light sources, I can see all the paintings on the walls. None of them are human. I can tell instinctively that they're all Shadows. They cover the walls with all kinds of different features.

"This base has been here for hundreds of years. It's tradition to paint our Shadows on the walls as a kind of proof of their existence", Seto's smiling when he answers. He looking at a newer painting of a Shadow with golden wings.

"There's so many", Mitch looks around in wonder. Shadow Casters are suppose to be super rare. He's never know that there could be this many in one place. I keep scanning the walls as we continue. It's at least twenty minutes of an art walk before I can see the end of the cave. Seto stops us at a small panel that is definitely not hundreds of years old.

"This is just to register how many people are in the base at once. It's to tell how many supplies we need to operate. Shadows touch their Casters, and humans just touch it themselves", he explains. Seto lays his hand flat on the panel while Blaze rets his hand on Seto's shoulder. The panel turns green, and then flashes once. They move and motion me to do it.

I step up and hesitantly put my hand flat. The panel lights up green, flashing three times for the Shadows in my pockets. The rest crowd around and touch me and each other. There's a total of 13 flashes. I guess we're all registered now. It's weird to see machines that react to Shadows. I've never seen anything like it. I'll have to ask Seto about it later.

Mitch goes after me. When he touches the panel, it lights up yellow with no flashes. Seto nods like he expected it. What seems to catch him off guard is when Jerome touches the screen. It lights up with a green color. Jerome seems just as confused to not get the same color as Mitch.

"........ Jerome's a Shadow Caster?".