chapter Seventeen
Mathieu had curled up in his bed to think as soon as he had left the group, but now his mind was blank. The shock of being in charge was keeping his mind from getting far into a train of thought. But it was more than that, he was pretty sure. It was the look of betrayal and disbelief that had flashed across Solomon’s face when Josette had said his name. In truth, it hurt that the blond thought so poorly of him. I should have expected nothing less, he told himself.
Hot breath tickled the back of his neck and an arm snaked around his waist, fingers drumming on his stomach. “Why are you so sad, Mathieu?” Jo snuggled between his shoulder blades sweetly. He was like a little kid.
Sighing softly, he shook his head. “It’s fine, Jo. It’s getting pretty late,” he hadn’t realized just how late until Jo had brought him back to something like reality, “so we should sleep. It’ll give things time to settle down.”
“Okay. Night-night.”
Mathieu couldn’t help but smile to himself as Jo wiggled until he was comfortable. The brunet was too adorable, always eager to please; like a puppy. And Jo had big doe eyes that made him look clueless half the time. And if Mathieu was honest with himself, he was glad to have Jo around. Because Solomon had taken to avoiding their room, Jo had moved in with him, filling the hole in his life that the blond had left with childlike charm and excitement.
As it were, Mathieu had done some research into Jo. Amongst the extensive collection of books Nathan’s house had, there were a few about The Darkness. According to the books, when someone who had high concentrations of dark qualities in their hearts, such as doubts, anger, and angst, entered the Realm of Darkness, that person may not be able to control what becomes of those emotions. In a few rare instances, the qualities are released to take their own form, and can pass into the Realm of the Living. It seemed Mathieu had so much pent up that he’d made another person.
He hadn’t ever dealt with his issues about his family, and those insecurities had formed into Jo. But at the core of him was Mathieu’s belief that there was something worth living for beyond this moment. It gave the brunet a sweet, if shy, demeanor. He was well liked by the others in the house, especially Kiev. But as a result of being made from within the darkness, there was the other side of innocent Jo. Sometimes, he changed. His eyes weren’t so like a doe’s, his body language becoming hard and dangerous. The first time it’d happened, he’d been watching Mathieu and Avanon doing a quick spar in the yard. The moment that it seemed as if Avanon would win, Jo was between the two of them, his unnatural fangs bared at her, and nails clawed. It was a physical transformation as much as a psychological one.
It had terrified Avanon, but as soon as Mathieu was a safe distance from the female, Jo had relaxed back to his normal, sweet self. He had apologized profusely, unable to explain why it had happened. Darcia, who had been nearby, guessed that it had something to do with Jo and Mathieu having been one person at some point: Jo was essentially protecting himself. Whatever the reason, Mathieu felt safe with the young brunet at his back, there to watch it and occasionally cuddle up next to it. As he thought that, Jo let out a little puff of air and made a content sound of the sleeping. Niveus gave off a soft purr from her spot by Mathieu’s head.
As happy as he was, Mathieu still felt like something was wrong. It was like his family was with him, but an integral piece of it was missing. And he knew what it was: Solomon. Mathieu sighed softly, sad that the last time he’d had a chance to say something to the blond, he’d yelled at him. He was never going to fix things like this. Even if he could kiss, touch, or love the other, he wanted things to go back to how they were, as friends. But that didn’t seem likely to happen. He pulled his knees to his chest, closing his eyes.
Mathieu was finally in the lightest of dozes when he felt the shift in the bed. Jo was sleeping soundly behind him, Tesla and Nikola had already joined the bed earlier, so that only left…but no, he couldn’t be foolish enough to believe that it was Solomon. Staying still, and silent, he continued to breathe evenly, listening to the noises that the newest addition to the bed was making.
And soon, he was sure it was the blond. Mathieu would always recognize the way that the man stretched out on his stomach before falling into a deep sleep, the way he huffed slightly as he relaxed into the bed, the way he smelled. There was no doubt that it was Solomon, even though he’d been sleeping in chairs, on couches, anywhere but in their room. He was too tired to question Solomon’s change of heart now, so feeling more complete than before, Mathieu closed his eyes and fell into a much deeper sleep than earlier.
~*~
Mathieu woke up slowly, sweating profusely. Jo had shimmed down while he slept and now had his head on Mathieu’s hip. All three Shadowriders had piled onto each other and were in a tangle at the foot of the bed. Solomon’s face was inches from his, and his hand was on top of Mathieu’s. The combination of his bedmates was having a feverous effect on his body, so as carefully as possible he slipped out of the bed, trying not to disturb anyone.
Jo grasped at the empty space where his warmth had been and Tesla cracked open an eye in annoyance, but he quickly returned to sleep. Putting his feet on the floor, Mathieu got up and went to the little desk in the room, sitting in the swivel chair. He touched the holographic crystal and suddenly a miniature Avian was standing on the desk, smiling at him. Mathieu recognized the outfit she was wearing as the same one that Avian had worn when she’d been in his mind’s eye. When Narrie had shown up about a week ago, she had brought it to him as a gift. At present, the woman was staying at Elise’s home.
His fingertips hovered just short of touching Avian before he took a deep breath and touched the crystal again, sealing her away again. Looking at her brought up another memory that had him digging in the desk drawer, pulling out the book he’d stolen so long ago. Its cover, which had always been blank for him, now had soft writing scrawled across the front that read: “The Guide to Successful Ventures”, and proclaimed an included manual to powers, gifts, and skills.
Curling up in the chair, he flipped through the book to discover only the first page had writing:
Hello, Mathieu. I have heard that you must undertake the task of leading a resistance. As a helping book, I shall do my best to help you find success in your project. I shall compile a guide of strengths and weaknesses of each type of power user, basic battle tactics, and a general overview of Unith. We shall start with a strengths and weaknesses section.
Mathieu raised an eyebrow and turned the page, which quickly filled with writing as well. At the top, in thick, decorative writing was the word ‘Shaper’.
A Shaper is one of the most unique types of power users. They have the ability to meld their internal energies into a real force in the world around them. The level of power changes what energy they can utilize. There are three main categories: Life Shapers, Form Shapers, and Design Shapers.
Life Shapers - The lowest level of Shapers available. Their skills are limited to only using their internal energies as a protective barrier and creating short-range attacks. These attacks are purely physical.
Form Shapers - The middle tier of Shapers. These Shapers retain the ability to create protective barriers around themselves, however, the attacks they make are able to cause disorientation, as well as inflict wounds. Also, they are able to funnel their energies into making things, such as plant life, grow.
Design Shapers - The most powerful of the Shapers, their power is said to be a gift from the divine. They are able to create barriers around others, and make long-range attacks that disrupt the internal systems. If a Design Shaper’s energy is focused to a high enough concentration, it has the ability to dissolve the brain, heart, and lungs of those that it touches. Those who are this level of Shapers also have individual skills that are created by their personality and can only be defined by that person.
The book continued to go on about specific exercises that could be done to create better control of one’s energy, and that was about the time that Mathieu dozed off.
It wasn’t until he felt warm arms pick him up bridal style and heard his book hit the floor that he woke back up. Cracking one eye open, he saw Solomon’s throat and scarred jaw. The blond laid him on the bed and covered him with the blanket before picking his book up and putting it on the desk. Then Solomon sighed and raked his fingers through his hair, leaving the room. As soon as the man had left, Mathieu felt Jo wiggle across the bed and curl back up around him. Letting a deep breath out, he closed his eyes and fell back asleep. It seemed that all his body wanted was to sleep; he sort of hoped that would help him figure out what he was going to do with his newfound leadership.
~*~
The smell of breakfast had his mouth watering before he was even fully awake. The air was filled with the delicious scent of cinnamon that accompanied homemade French toast. Groaning, he rolled out of bed and got to his feet, reaching down for the sweater on the floor. Pulling it on, he kicked Jo’s shoes out of the doorway and did the zombie-walk to the kitchen.
He hadn’t slept well last night after Solomon had put him into the bed, dreaming all night about a hallway full of doors that were locked, being chased by a steady pattern of footsteps. At the end of his dream, he’s found the end of the hallway only to fall into a pit of darkness. He’d spent a significant time falling before the smell of breakfast awoke him.
Erik was standing in the kitchen wearing jeans and a button-up flannel over a plain white shirt. His sleeves were rolled up and his day old stubble stood out against his pale skin. “Good morning, Mathieu.”
“Uh, hey. Erik, right?”
The dark-haired man nodded and smiled slightly, then put some French toast on a plate. “Here. Eat. There’s syrup and butter on the table, then you should go speak to Enak. He has things he wishes to discuss with you.”
Taking the plate, Mathieu prepared his French toast then, sat down at the little table in the corner of the kitchen. Turning his attention to the man in the kitchen, Mathieu took his first bite. “Do all gods know how to cook?”
“That’s an excellent question.”
Huffing, he rolled his eyes and focused on eating, not in the mood to deal with people being annoyingly obtuse with their responses.
“Can I ask you something, Mathieu?”
“Go for it.” He said in an almost sarcastic way.
Erik sat at the table with him, “You and Solomon…you are attracted to him. It’s dangerous.”
“That’s not a question.”
“You’re right. It’s not.” Erik reached into the breast pocket of his shirt and drew out his pack of cigarettes, popping one out. Then, he took out a lighter with a tiger lily engraved on it, and lit the cigarette. The scent of apples filled the room. “The question is whether it’s serious.”
Wrinkling his nose, Mathieu raised an eyebrow. “What business is it of yours?”
Smiling a crooked smile, Erik blew a smoke ring across the room. “It’s important to understand the relationships between people. For instance, if you have a serious…thing with this man, then putting you two near each other during the siege of Unith would be a bad idea. You two would be more concerned with the welfare of each other than the success of the invasion. Make sense?”
“You don’t get to decide who I’m near during the siege, Red. I’m the new leader, apparently, therefore, I make those sorts of decisions.”
“Oh? And do you have experience with organizing large scale attacks with rebel military forces that I’m unaware of?”
Mathieu smiled sarcastically and leaned over, taking the cigarette out of Erik’s mouth, putting it out on the man’s stack of French toast. “Thanks for breakfast.” Irritated, he stood and left the kitchen, going to one of the sitting rooms.
Avanon, who was stretched out on the floor with a book, looked up as he entered. “Hey. How are you?”
“Ducky. Where do I find Solomon?” It had occurred to him while he slept that maybe if he tried to Solomon again, they could get somewhere. He truly doubted it, but he was hoping that he could at least get the trust as to why the man thought he would make such an unfit leader.
She tilted her head and made a face, thinking. “He said he was going to see that Mina and Elise got home safely, then he was going to go to the Head Quarters. Why?”
“Uh…” He said, mind trying to churn out a decent lie to cover why he really needed to talk to Solomon. “I needed to ask him something, but maybe you’ll know. Because the resistance is so spread out, how did Nathan communicate with all the members at one time? Sending messengers out seems just impractical.”
“Well, that job fell to Josette.” Avanon said.
Mathieu waited for her to continue, but she did not. “And why is that?”
“Don’t know. Go ask her. She’s meditating down by the Emotion Tree.”
“Well, if she did it before, I’ll just leave her to it now...” He said, really not wanting to talk to Josette one-on-one.