The Wandering Shadow: Chapter Nine
9The morning
broke cold and grey on the day after they left Arles. With how late they had
left the city they hadn't made it far before night had come, leaving them with
a significant distance remaining before they would reach Nice. They likely
still had another two days of traveling ahead of them.As they traveled
they had taken to an unspoken pattern of seating, with David handling the
reigns and Will and Jenna sitting in the back of the cart. David wasn't overly
fond of the arrangement, as it left him little ability to rest, but he didn't
complain. Though he wasn't always the most caring person, he at least knew he
had little to complain about compared to Will and Jenna.He took one hand
off the reigns, trying to draw his coat closer around him. David sighed. It was
far too cold. At least those two have
each other for warmth, he thought. He glanced back over his shoulder, his
eyes widening slightly. He furrowed his brow, a bit confused.Will and Jenna
were on opposite sides of the cart. Will had his cloak drawn tight and Jenna
was curled up, her tail wrapped around her. David returned his attention to the
road before them, sighing almost imperceptibly. In the short time he had
traveled with Will and Jenna, he had gotten a pretty good gauge for what they
were like. Will was clearly a very serious person, with generally strong morals.
Jenna was a bit harder to read, but she seemed significantly more relaxed than
him.The one thing
they seemed to have in common was that they--in spite of their apparent
differences--loved each other. David didn't remotely understand how they had
managed to stay together as long as they had, but it was clear to him that they
were drifting away from each other. Near as he could tell, their relationship
was in a delicate stage, and the slightest thing could send them even further
from one another.First it had
been Jenna's energy enhanced attacking of the bandit. David thought he had
helped mend that divide back in Paris. Now it appeared as though the knowledge
that their goal was still so far away had driven them apart once more. "I'll
just have to do something about that then, won't I?" He whispered.From behind him
Will asked, "What was that?"David looked
over his shoulder, surprised that Will had heard him. Thinking quickly he said,
"Oh nothing really. Just complaining about how bloody cold it is.""Oh." Will
watched as David turned once more to face the road. He was a bit suspicious,
but decided it didn't matter. It was probably just his general distrust of
David making him paranoid.Will sighed,
watching as the cloud of warm breath floated away in the chilly air. If they
had been home then--and if things were the way they used to be--he and Jenna
would have been cuddling on their sofa, a small blaze going in their little
brick fireplace. He missed those days. He was sure Jenna did too. She probably
missed them even more than he did. Even simple, quiet moments like that seemed
to have vanished from their lives. His looked over at Jenna, and their eyes met
for an instant before both shifted their gaze.Jenna didn't
want to look at him any more than he wanted to look at her. She had grown sick
of his pushing her away. She wanted to be close to him, to find comfort in his
embrace, but she could tell he wanted nothing to do with her--at least not as
she was. It broke her heart to think that if they couldn't change her back,
then Will might simply find himself unable to love her any more.As the day
marched neither Will nor David spoke and Jenna made no attempts to communicate
either. As the hours passed by, they sky grew greyer, with clouds gathering
above. By mid afternoon they sky was black and the road was dark. Then came the
rain. It began with but a few drops here and there. Soon it was sprinkling,
which added a fine mist of water droplets to make the cold that much more
apparent. Eventually the clouds above burst, drenching the trio in rain and
chilling them to the bone.Will had some
protection from the elements thanks to his cloak, but it was plain to him that
the others weren't faring well. Shouting to be heard over the downpour, Will
said, "David, we need to find shelter. I don't care what it is. Just the next
place you see where we can get out of this will work.""Doesn't look
like we'll find much, but I'll keep an eye out!"Another ten
minutes passed in the unrelenting storm before David called out, "I think I see
something up ahead! Could be a house or something!"Will strained to
see through the sheets of water until he finally caught sight of what David had
been talking about. The shape that came out of the shadows was that of what
seemed to be a barn, though why one would be randomly placed at the side of the
road was beyond what Will could, or could be bothered to comprehend. Either
way, it was shelter.David urged
Vincent on toward and into the barn, finally freeing them from the rain's cold sting.
All three got off the cart, Jenna shaking the water out of her fur while Will
and David tried to squeeze as much as they could out of their clothes.Stepping out of
the puddle he had left behind Will took a look around. The barn seemed to be
abandoned. "Well, at the very least we can spend the night here. I doubt we'll
be disturbed."David stretched
and yawned before saying, "Lovely. I'm going to get some sleep then."David made his
way toward the back half of the barn and walked into one of the stalls, apparently
intending to sleep there. Not feeling quite ready to sleep, Will took to making
a closer examination of their surroundings. His searching turned up almost
nothing except some old wood and equally old hay. Will put some of the hay down
in front of Vincent, figuring the horse would appreciate a meal.The rest of the
hay he laid out in an empty stall to serve as a bed for him and Jenna. He then
gathered up a few pieces of the wood, piled them up in the same stall, and lit
them with a match from the book he kept in his bag. Once he was satisfied that
they would be comfortable he looked around to see where Jenna was. To his
surprise she was lying near the barn's entrance, staring out at the rain.He walked over
to her and knelt down, placing a hand on her shoulder. When she looked up at
him he smiled and said, "It's not much, but I've made one of the stalls a bit
more comfortable. It should do for the night."She stared at
him for a moment then turned her head away, looking back out at the rain. Will
furrowed his brow, confused. "Jenna? Is something wrong?"When she failed
to reply in any way he sighed. "Alright...well I'll be over there if you want to
join me."Jenna watched
him walked over to the stall out of the corner of her eye, wondering how he
could fail to see how much she was hurting. She gritted her teeth, feeling a
surge of anger as she began to shiver. Even now he was distancing himself from
her and her needs. She wasn't so self-centered as to believe she should be the
only thing he was focused on, but she should be at the top of the list!Anger turned to
anguish as she curled her tail around her body, resting her head on the fluffy
appendage. She sniffled quietly, glad the sound of the rain was there to drown
it out. Like so many times before she wished she could cry, if only to feel the
relief such an emotional outpouring would bring. But like every other time,
tears never came, the only drops on her face having come from the storm.She hunched
slightly as she heard thunder rumbling above. She wasn't afraid of thunder per
se, but she wasn't a big fan of it either. She preferred that her surroundings
be quiet, and thunder had a habit of ruining otherwise peaceful moments. It
certainly wasn't doing anything to improve her current mood.Will on the
other hand was barely disturbed by the thunder, outside of mentally registering
that it had happened. As he lay atop the bed of hay his mind was too busy to
worry about something as simple as thunder. He was trying to work out why Jenna
had been so cold toward him before, and why she seemed to be against joining
him there in the stall.As far as he
knew he hadn't done anything to upset her all day. What could she have against
him? He rolled onto his other side, hay sticking to his clothes. At least it
wasn't wet, he thought. He had had the forethought to hang his cloak on a hook
near the fire, which he was hoping would have it dry soon. Of course, the
inside of the cloak was already dry, never having been wet in the first place.
It was a testament to the magics Quentin had put into the cloak. It really did
seem to repel the elements rather well.Will shook his
head. That wasn't important to think about! Not at that moment at least. He
needed to figure out why Jenna was upset. He thought and he thought, but the
answer seemed to elude him. What had he done? He would need to know that before
he made any effort to mend the situation. He couldn't apologize for something
when he didn't know what he was apologizing for.The was a flash
of bluish white light through the stall's window as a bolt of lightning lit up
the sky, sending out another rumbling wave of thunder. That time the sound
caught Will's attention. Odd, he
thought. Normally Jenna would be snuggled
up with me during a storm like this. She always wants me to hold her when the
weather is like this back home. I guess she doesn't much want to with the
distance that's grown between--Will's eyes went
wide as clarity came to him. Jenna wasn't upset over something he had done. She
was upset over what he hadn't been doing. For the past week or so he had been
generally ignoring her. Not so much because he wanted to, but because it had
been easier that way. He hadn't prevented the growing divide between them. He
hadn't even tried.He sat up,
placing his head in his hands. "Oh god...I am an idiot. I kept pushing her
away...and now I may have pushed too far. She must hate me right now."Dropping his
hands to his lap he looked up to the ceiling. "I've really fucked up, haven't
I?"He felt simply
horrible. He had already felt more than a bit of guilt over how they had
drifted apart, and for how he hadn't been there for her as much as she probably
needed, but he hadn't thought it had progressed to such an awful point. He felt
more than just horrible in fact. In that moment he felt like a horrible person.Lowering his
head his eyes drifted over to the dying fire, and to his cloak hanging above
the remaining embers. He stood and walked over to the cloak, pulling it from
the hook. It felt dry. Good, he thought, maybe I can still fix things.Leaving the
stall behind he saw that Jenna was unmoved, still lying in that same spot and
still staring out at the rain. He walked over to her, and as he drew near he
could see she was shivering. He sat down beside her and without a word draped
his cloak over her. When she looked up at him with questioning eyes he simply
said, "You looked cold. I thought this might help."She stared for a
few seconds then looked away from him again. Even with how seemingly
emotionless her stare had been, Will knew she was very upset. He had seen that
stare before, only one other time in their relationship, and it had been at a
time when their relationship had nearly come to an end.That thought
scared him. He didn't want to lose her. He wasn't sure of what to do next. After
a few moments of thought, he decided to do the thing that would be both the
easiest and the most difficult. He would just have to tell her the truth."Jenna...I want
you to know...that I'm sorry. For too long now I've been distancing myself from
you. It was...well selfish. I figured it would make it easier for me to deal with
all of this, so I didn't try to stop it. I felt badly about it, but I figured
it was for the best. I should've known better. I should've known it would just
make things that much harder for you."Jenna tilted her
head slightly, so that she looked at him with just one of her emerald eyes. It
was piercing, as though looking into his soul. He knew that look too. She was
waiting for him to say more.He gulped.
"I...well I don't want you to think I've stopped loving you, because that
couldn't be farther from the truth. Everything I've done up to now...I've done
with the best intentions in mind. Even...even down to hiding from you just how
dangerous your situation really is."He could see he
had her attention now, as both of her eyes were focused on him. He took a deep
breath and prayed she wouldn't hate him. "I...after I saw you injure that man
with the energy that's inside you...I realized just how bad things really were.
That energy...it's may be doing more than just keeping you in that form. There's
a possibility that if it takes control of you...if it's too much for you to
handle...it could take even your mind away from you, truly changing you into a
beast. It could even just destroy you outright."Will had to
choke back the upwelling of emotion he felt at just the thought of either of
those scenarios. He could see too that Jenna wasn't taking the information very
well. Her eyes were wide and she seemed stiff. She was dumbstruck.Her thoughts
were in chaos as she tried to reconcile what he had just told her. At first she
felt anger and contempt, then it changed to sorrow and regret. She looked to
him, the question in her eyes of why. Why had he kept this from her?Will looked away
for a moment then looked back, his eyes meeting hers. "I didn't tell you before
now because I didn't want to upset you. I figured you had enough to worry
about. I just didn't want to see you upset over one more life altering issue.She gritted her
teeth, looking away from him. She took a moment to think about everything, not
just that he was saying, but that had happened since her change. From those
thoughts one emerged above the others. There's
nothing I can do but pray.It was true. She
had no control over her form. She couldn't simply wish things back to normal.
All she could do was hope that they would find someway to reverse what had
happened. Until then there would always be some reason for her to be upset.
What did one more matter?She also
realized that if she really could die at any moment, or lose her sanity to
whatever was inside her, then she should treasure every day that went by
without that happening. She looked back to Will, who seemed to be anxiously
waiting to see how she would react. Her eyes softened a bit. It may not have been the best course of
action...but I think he really did it with my best interests in mind. He's always
done what he thought was best for me. I...I can't believe I even thought...that he
could stop caring. He couldn't if he tried.In that moment
she decided to forgive him. She knew he would probably make other mistakes in
the future, but at the very least she could forgive these ones, knowing they
wouldn't be repeated. She shimmied across the floor and crawled into his lap,
inching up his torso until her head was resting against his chin. She sighed
contentedly as she felt him pulling the cloak over them both like a blanket, wrapped
his arms around her, holding her close and warming her. More than that though,
he was protecting her, like he always tried to do.With a light
shove she knocked him onto his back, which only made him laugh. He smiled as he
hugged her a bit tighter. "I really am sorry Jen--"He was cut off
by her placing one paw over his mouth. He nodded, getting the message. She
removed the paw and he whispered, "I love you."She felt a pang
of sadness, as she couldn't return the words, but decided it didn't matter, as
long as she returned the emotion. She nuzzled his neck for several seconds,
hoping that was enough to say how she felt. It must have been enough for him at
least, as he squeezed just a bit tighter, before loosening his grip enough for
her to roll off his chest, taking her place beside him.It wasn't long
before the rain slowed to just a drizzle and the sound of thunder was but a
memory. By then they were already asleep, lulled into the realm of dreams by
the rhythm of the rain and the comfort of being together.***When Will woke
the next morning he immediately squeezed his eyes shut to protect them from the
bright morning sunlight. Keeping his eyes shut he sat up, stretching his arms
out over his head. He yawned widely, still worn from the previous day. Will
gritted his teeth and opened his eyes a little bit at a time, waiting for them
to adjust to the harsh intensity of the sun. He blinked a few times to clear
the tears and after image the bright light left in his retinas.Once his vision
had cleared enough for him to see clearly, Will furrowed his brow in confusion.
"What the hell?"The barn they had
spent the night in seemed to have vanished, and there was no evidence anywhere
of the previous night's storm. Looking about he could see the piles of hay
where gone as well, though there was a small circle of ash--the only evidence of
the fire he had lit. The cart and Vincent were where they had been left the night
before. Jenna was still asleep by his side, and he could see David fast asleep
several meters away.Will scowled.
David. He had to have something to do with the barn's seeming disappearance.
Will turned and gave Jenna a few gentle nudges to wake her. She batted his hand
away with one paw at first, then grumbled and opened her eyes, blinking away
light just as he had done.She stood and
stretched in cat like fashion, shaking out her fur and ruffling the green
fabric of her scarf in the process. She then sat back on her haunches and
looked at him, a loving sort of look in her eyes. That look turned to one of
confusion as she realized what was different about their surroundings. She
looked over to David and growled. Will smirked. "You wanna wake him up, or
should I?"Jenna looked
back and forth between Will and the somnolent illusionist then jerked her head
toward David, indicating she wanted Will to handle him. If I do it, I can't guarantee I won't bite him, she thought.Will smirked.
Based on her expression, she wasn't too happy with David. Will stood and walked
over to the illusionist. He wasted no time in placing his foot against the man's
ribcage, nudging him more than hard enough to rouse him. "Come on you limey
bastard, wake up."David smacked
Will's foot away and rolled over. "Piss off. Do you have any idea how tired I
am?""Stow it. You
can sleep after you explain what's going on around here."Jenna nodded as
she waked up and sat beside Will, giving David a hard look. David tried to
ignore them, but he could somehow feel their eyes boring into the back of his
head. Finally he flipped back over and asked, "What the hell do you want from
me?"Will crossed his
arms. "I want to know why there's suddenly no barn, when we spent the night in
a damn barn.""Yeah, that was
me. What of it?""Okay...call it an
obvious question, but why did you feel the need to use your abilities on Jenna
and I?"David rolled his
eyes. "What the hell are you complaining about? You and Jenna were drifting
apart, yeah? Well, I helped fixed it, didn't I? So how about you shut up and
let me sleep. Between the barn and the rain--the bloody rain was such a pain in
the ass--I'm exhausted.""I...you...you're
right." Will sighed then smiled down at Jenna. "I hate to say it, but he is
right. We're better off than we would have been if he hadn't done anything."Jenna nodded
reluctantly. We do have him to thank, I
suppose. As if we didn't already owe him enough.Seeing that they
were no longer upset with him--as though they had any right to be!--David stood
and dusted off his clothes before walking over to the cart and climbing into
the back. "Lovely. Now I'm going back to sleep. If you want to keep--" he was interrupted
by a yawn, "--traveling, then you'll have to drive the cart for a bit."Will and Jenna exchanged
a glance, and Will shrugged. Jenna went ahead and jumped lightly up onto the
cart's bench, Will only a few beats behind. Will grabbed the reigns, intending to
spur Vincent into motion, but paused, a thought occurring to him. He turned on
the seat and asked, "David, why did you help us? What did you stand to gain by
helping us with our relationship?"David grumbled,
looking up at Will with a groggy scowl. "Bloody hell. If you must know I just...rather
hate seeing people's relationships fail, alright?"Will quirked a
brow, and exchanged a glance with Jenna, who seemed equally unsure of what to
make of David's response. Will decided to let it go though, and said, "Alright
then. We'll wake you up if we need you for anything."David didn't
reply, opting instead to roll onto his side so he was facing away from Will and
Jenna.Will rolled his
eyes, smiling as he did. What did it matter. He and Jenna were both feeling
better then they had in entirely too long. A contented silence fell over the
two as they settled into their seats and Will urged Vincent into a steady trot,
taking them down the road once more.