The Order of the Shadows

Ella Mae Locke was in a hurry. She pulled her red rain coat tighter around her skinny frame and hurried to the corner of Thompson Lane and Barn Street. She looked around the deserted streets to make sure no one was watching before she ducked into Madame Marsh’s Psychic Readings.

Earlier in the morning, Ella had received a call from Cynthia Marsh inviting her to Cynthia’s shop. Ella had been confused by this call, for it was out of the ordinary for Madame Marsh to be in her shop in the middle of the afternoon, when she was usually in hiding.

A bell rang as the door creaked to a close. Cynthia gave a start and cringed at the sound. She had been staring intently at a swirling crystal ball, eyes wide and confused. She gave Ella a look which made her think Madame Marsh was sizing her up for a coffin.

“Sit,” whispered Cynthia, looking back into her crystal ball. Ella raised her eyebrows, frightened, but she did as she was told.

“So what do you see?” Ella inquired.

Cynthia looked up, “Death.”

Ella’s eyes widened, “Who’s?”

“Jeffery Francis Bennet.”

Ella gasped. If Mr. Bennet was killed, the Order of the Shadows would have no leader, and that would leave Ella and all of the other Saturnines’ unprotected.

Ella rushed out of the shop and heard the door slam behind her. Cynthia was the only mortal that knew Ella was a Saturnine, because most people try to avoid them. If any of Ella’s friends knew, they would avoid her as if she were a pile of trash.

You see, Saturnines spread bad luck and sadness to mortals whenever a Shadow is not around. A Shadows’ presence helps to control the Saturnines’ powers. Therefore, whenever a Saturnine was born, they are paired with a Shadow to cancel out their powers and protect them from the Rays, who spread good luck and happiness, and for some reason are almost always plotting to kill the Saturnines.

Ella hurried around the corner to Barn Street without looking back. She staggered down Newman Avenue and into the alleyway. Once there, Ella took off her red rain coat and spoke in the ancient language of the Shadows. “Thrumta.”

The brick wall opened up just wide enough for Ella to slip through, and she found herself in an elevator. She pressed her forefinger against a small round button with B12 printed in large lettering.

“B twelve.” Spoke a women’s voice, “Jeffery Bennet.” Ella leaned against the side of the elevator as it fell twelve stories into the earth. The door flew open and the women repeated what she had said before. Ella stepped onto a black and white tile floor and walked steadily over to a women sitting at a large black cherry desk.

“I would like to speak to Mr. Bennet.” Ella stated.

The receptionist didn’t even look up from her papers. “I’m sorry, Miss Locke,” She replied, “Mr. Bennet is busy at the moment.”

“With what? This is extremely urgent! The fate of the Order relies on this!”

The receptionist looked up this time. “I’m sure it does. But, you are going to have to wait, just like everyone else,” She nodded toward a large double door, “Or I can take a message.”

“All right,” Ella said, quickly.

“Name,” asked the receptionist.

“Ella Mae Locke.”

“Age?”

“19.”

“Message?”

“You are going to die, very soon, and most likely very painfully.”

The receptionist stopped writing. “Did Madame Marsh predict this?” Ella nodded. The receptionist’s eyes widened and she pressed a button on a miniature microphone. “Mr. Bennet, sir? You have a visitor.” Then she pointed to a smaller door right behind her, and Ella could feel the women’s eyes on her back until she closed the door behind her.

“Why have you interrupted me,” the leader of the Order of the Shadows asked Ella.

“To tell you that Cynthia Marsh predicted your death in a crystal ball, and her predictions are never wrong.”

Jeffery Bennet bit his lip in frustration. “With the biggest war ever between the Shadows, Rays, and Saturnines about to start, I expected this,” He said, “But without a leader, who knows what the rest of the Shadows will do! Some may even join the Rays! Some Shadows believe their job pointless, that we should just destroy the Saturnines, since all you cause is grief, but we can’t just destroy an entire ancient race!”

“Oh, yes you can,” said a voice from behind Mr. Bennet. Mr. Bennet opened his mouth and slumped against the desk, blood spilling from his mouth and a knife wound in his back. Ella screamed and ran for the door, but found it was locked from the outside. Through a window on the door, she saw the receptionist smiling and jiggling some keys in her hand.

Ella turned around and faced the man who had killed Mr. Bennet. She looked straight into his icy blue eyes, bracing herself to die, when she realized that she knew him. “Travis Lytle?” Ella’s faced morphed from sadness to hate to sadness and then back to hate.

When Ella was in 10th grade, she had dated Travis for almost an entire year. She had hoped to one day be called Ella Lytle, and soon she gathered up the courage to tell him that she was a Saturnine. The next day, he broke up with her, and now she knew why. Her ex-boyfriend was a Ray, and now it looked as though he was about to kill her. She closed her eyes and waited. Waited for death.