Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah... not mine. Didn't we already know that?




The Resurrection


Part 4



A niggling thought was demanding attention in the back of Jenny's mind. A thought that had been haunting her for some time now, and just how much of the last month had been consumed by it was mere testimony to the depth of her obsession. And she had no doubt now that Julian was an obsession, or how else could she account for her present circumstances?

What sane, reasonable person would willingly return to the Shadow Men after barely escaping their clutches, not once, but twice? Answer: none. Her fixation had robbed her of her reason, and next, the Shadow Men would rob her of her sanity.

She could see it in their eyes, in their toothy grins—when they had teeth at all to reveal—and taste it in the air she shared with them. They had plans for her.

Jenny barely suppressed a shudder, averting her gaze from theirs', and diverting her attention.

And then came that thought again.

'What if…' was how the treacherous notion always began. An insubstantial hypothetical that held far too much power for her own good. 'What if they can't do it? What if they won't?'

They could be toying with her already. Waiting for her request to be voiced, drawing out the process, raising her hopes, only to deny her at that very last instant when she thought she was home-free. Who said they needed the game for them to defeat her?

All it took was a word.

She supposed she could walk away then if they refused the terms of the game. They held no claim over her, and the pendant, it protected her. But could she really? And it wasn't just the physical possibility with which she was concerned—making the recently vanished door back to her world reappear—but could she walk away when she'd come so close? Or would she have to stay, in some desperate hope of changing their minds, of producing some stake they could not resist?

Her obsession was complete. As utter as the one that had plagued Julian, brought him after her all that time ago. And what had he gotten to show for all his efforts? What would she have to show for hers?

'Julian, how did you do this to me?' she questioned silently, knowing he was in no place or position to answer, or even hear.

All this went through her head in a matter of seconds, in the moment it took for the Shadow Men to consider her offer, and her reminisces were cut short by their response.

"The Stave of Life, restored." The tall one spoke, and there was something in the voice that belied acceptance of the terms.

And now she had to tack on the condition. Is there such a thing as asking too much of the Shadow Men? If there was, perhaps it was the very thing she was doing now.

She took a deep breath and replied, "Restored to bring him back, yes, but not what he once was. Not as a Shadow Man. I want him to be human… mortal. So the runestave had no power over him." It was a mouthful and she almost fumbled in the effort to get it all out and in the open.

All cards face up on the table. Because what good was bluffing going to do her now? They knew exactly where they had her, they knew what to hold over her head, and she was at their mercy—whatever that might mean to them. She may have been able to surprise the Shadow Men, but there was no use trying to fool them.

She sensed outrage as the cacophony of voices protested.

"A Shadow Man, mortal?" a cawing voice replied in a tone that could almost be described as incredulous.

"He would be beyond our laws." This one was thick and slow, like quicksand. "Untouchable."

"It is unacceptable," another declared, and it was a hissing sound, like a snake. "We cannot give him to her."

Others agreed, adding their own comments to the noise.

"Silence!" the crocodile-eyed Shadow Man suddenly roared, effectively smothering their objections. Calmly then, it turned its gaze back to Jenny. "We are giving her nothing." Before she could react it continued, addressing her now, "You asked for a game. And a game you shall have. Your offer is accepted."

The blood-eyed Shadow Man seemed to see where the other was going, and with a slow nod, it picked up the explanation. "But you shall have to win to get your prize. Lose, and we shall have ours."

This seemed to appease the others, and she could even hear laughter among some of the group now. "Only if she wins." Clearly, they did not believe that would happen.

"Then they will both be ours."

Jenny's head snapped toward the pair at the forefront of the group, crocodile eyes and the blood-eyed one. Her tone was guarded as she asked, "What do they mean 'both'? You've unmade Julian… you can't have him now."

The crocodile-eyed one stared back at her steadily. "You win, you leave with your life—and his. You lose, we keep them both."

"Your stakes," the tusked Shadow Man agreed. "You have brought him into the game. Now he too must play."

Jenny's horrified gaze flicked between the two, and then to the other members of the group as they watched the proceedings. There was such hunger in their eyes as they sized up their potential meal, such darkness in their smiles… and not only had she brought herself to them, but she had also dragged Julian into the whole mess.

If she lost, it wasn't just her life at stake. She would be bringing him back from peaceful oblivion, just to throw him to the Shadow Men. No doubt they would love to get their teeth into him. They had unmade him last time, but their prey—her grandfather and the two boys she had released—had not been replaced. No new toys to take their place.

And surely, they were not beyond holding grudges.

That's why they looked so very pleased now, knowing that she knew. That she may very well have damned him alongside herself.

"Do you agree to the conditions?"

That meant the deal was not final and there was still a chance to change her mind. To back out if she so chose.

Jenny took a deep, shuddering breath as she closed her eyes. If she didn't agree, they wouldn't offer her any alternatives, this she knew for certain. And who was to say she would lose? After all, she had beaten Julian in three of his games. 'Two,' a tiny voice in the back of her head corrected. 'You cheated in the first one, and only had partial victories in the others.'

That was right. By all rights, she had lost the first one, and if Julian had so chosen, he could have taken her back with him after he escaped from the closet of the paper house. She had promised herself to him when she spoke the words: "All I refuse and thee I choose."

But he hadn't. He had let her play another game, given her another chance to save herself, along with her friends. And she had almost made it too, only to lose Tom and her cousin Zach at the end. Which, of course, had led to the third game.

The nature of the partial victory of the third one was rather obvious, being as it was the reason why she was here. She did win, only her success had come at a steep price.

She opened her eyes to meet her fate. "I agree."

The crocodile-eyed one merely nodded, and it was the tusked Shadow Man that spoke. "The bargain is complete. Now the rules will hold you."

"And the game?" she inquired. She was surprised at how calm she sounded. Not at all like she had just signed over her life.

"Yes, what sort of game shall we play?" a voice like arctic wind agreed.

There was a contemplative pause and blood-eyed one replied, "She has run the Race. Survived the Hunt. Completed the Quest."

"The maze," the crocodile-eyed Shadow Man finally suggested. But it didn't really sound like a suggestion, for Jenny knew enough of them now to know that this one's words was law.

A maze. Well, that certainly didn't sound any worse than the others. "What sort of maze?" The tusked one grinned in response, a hideous sight. 'A photographer's worst nightmare on picture day.'

"That is part of the puzzle. A test of sorts. To deem worthiness."

She frowned, considering the answer. They had to tell her what game she was playing… Julian had always told her the goal, and what she had to do to get there. "Then, what about the rules? Where do I begin… where's the end?"

"The beginning is the end. And the end the beginning," a voice like champagne glasses tinkling corrected.

"You begin where you stand."

"A riddle to send you on your way," crocodile eyes spoke. "Solve it and you know where you are. Know where you are and you know where to go:


"Where the journey ends and forever is in sight
Good finds its reward and Death its King;
Light casts no shadows, but shadows follow light,
Abandoning all memories to which they cling."


There was a pause as Jenny considered the words. "This is where we are." She felt her brow knotting in response, no answers coming to mind.

The blood-eyed one replied, "The maze holds no clock. Time is available as required."

"But lose and you are ours. No one to take your place this time."

"We shall have you both."

The crocodile-eyed Shadow Man moved abruptly, plucking a familiar object out of the air. A runestave.

But it was not quite as she remembered it; that one had been alive and pulsating, more real than almost anything she had ever seen. More alive than anything she had seen on earth. It was the very essence that was Julian, and its existence had allowed him to live. Then, it had been a changing force, the markings etched across its surface, the delicate little runes on the branch-like shape of its body, moving and altering continuously. The thing had breathed with life.

And now it looked dead. Not completely so, but faded and frozen almost, as if someone had bled the very spirit from it. But then, Jenny remembered seeing the way the liquid diamond had spilt like blood when the knife had slashed across its surface, and she supposed that the assessment was probably not far from the truth.

The Stave of Life looked damaged beyond repair and she felt her heart wrench in her chest. They had agreed, hadn't they, to the conditions? They must be able to fix it.

Before her eyes, the blood-eyed Shadow Man pulled out another runestave, just as ancient looking as the long, flat piece of wood in the other's hand, but this one was utterly blank. As dull and devoid of life as the other, though its surface yet remained unmarked.

A thin glinting shard appeared in the Shadow Man's other hand, its sharp edges gleaming menacingly in the dimly lit cavern. Jenny watched intently as the Shadow Man began to transcribe the runes from the damaged Stave to the new one, its hand moving at a speed beyond her comprehension. The tiny figures were being carved in with stunning accuracy, and each added rune brought it that much closer to life.

Halfway through and already the sluggish signs of movement were visible on the completed parts, as if it were awaking from a deep rest. By the time they had finished, it was a creature in full state of awareness, so intricate and involving that she couldn't keep looking at it for fear of losing herself in her examinations.

They appeared to be finished and just as they should have stopped, the knife came up for a few final movements, cutting into the surface additional shapes. And the light of the Stave dimmed ever so slightly, an amount hardly negligible but for the fact that it had occurred at all.

"What did you do? At the end there?" Jenny asked, quenching the fear that arose inside her for questioning their actions.

"Adjustments," came the reply. "We have taken his gifts."

"You mean, his Shadow Man powers?" There was no other way she could term it, but she knew that Julian had had in his possession abilities beyond her scope of understanding. He had appeared and disappeared at whim, pulled objects out of thin air, and has strength enough to toss Dee across the room with a mere flick of the wrist. She assumed all were common to his kind.

"Yes," crocodile eyes answered.

"So, he's… human now?" she ventured hesitantly.

"Almost." The stave in its hand rose up ever so slightly. "The Stave controls his existence. His life is still in our hands."

"But none of his powers will be available—to help you in the game."

That didn't really bother her. She had won the previous games on her wits alone, although she had had her friends then… and now she had Julian.

Breathing had suddenly become a rather difficult task.

"Where is he?" But even as the words left her mouth, something had begun to appear before her, a shadowy figure steadily defining itself apart from the mist. The outline of a translucent shape that was gradually solidifying.

A head now, and a body she could make out. Down on his knees, faced away from her and head bowed, but profile revealed to her eyes. Platinum hair falling forward into closed eyes, impossibly thick and dark lashes resting against the flesh beneath. Black pants, black duster; the very clothes he had been wearing as he faded away in her arms in her grandfather's crowded hallway that day.

It was like time had decided to stop and turn back eight years.

She almost took a step forward, but a certain sense of unreality held her back. He was like an apparition, or a dream that lingered in your mind after you awoke, while you drifted between the planes of sleep and consciousness. And if you grasped too hard, it would disappear, leaving you with nothing but the bittersweet taste of anticipation.

So she remained standing, as she was, heart thudding wildly in her chest but lungs refusing to draw breath. Finally, a shaky sound left her mouth, half-strangled cry, half-sigh of relief. "Julian."


TBC