Shadow Walk: The Gathering

Sirius, once again reluctantly reverted to his humanoid persona. He walked to a mirror and looked into it. Ice-blue eyes stared back at him. He chose a dark suit and slicked his black hair. He used to be so beautiful; the most beautiful creature ever created. Now, he would always be hideous--unless he was in human form.
In time, he would reveal his true identity, but not just yet.
He paced. The more he thought about the girl, the angrier he became. He forced himself to settle behind his desk and wait.
Dr. Hanson arrived in a hurry; he always did when Sirius commanded his presence.
Sir stood, leaning across his desk. “Hanson, I want answers, and I want them now.”
“Sir, I’m not sure what you mean. The one subject is doing well, she--”
“You are clueless, aren't you, Hanson? You have no idea?”
“No--no, Sir.”
“There is a successful hybrid in existence, Hanson. I have felt her existence for weeks now.”
He allowed the news to sink in. Sir saw Hanson’s face pale under his dime store tan. Sir narrowed his eyes.
“She’s around three years of age. That is usually the age of initial empathic contact. I cannot make a full connection with her until she comes to maturity. Bottom line is, somebody screwed up. You know the consequences of such flagrant incompetence. The only reason you are not dead right now, Hanson, is that you are the best in the world at genetic research. That’s the only thing that saves your ass.
“Hanson, I want as many men on this as possible. Find her or heads will roll. You get my meaning?”
“Sir, you know I am always at your command. Just tell me what I must do and it shall be done.”
“I want to know how she got here, how she slipped away without detection.”
“Sir, if I may suggest? I can put a team on this. They will ferret out old records. It could take some time, however. There’s over a million subject files in our records, as you well know.”
“Hanson, do I have to think for you, or can you manage that? Considering the child is around three, figure it out. Her incubator could be anywhere from fifteen to thirty years of age, by my calculations.”
“Sir, I know on my watch, not one subject has ever escaped this lab. As you know, I have faithfully served you for twelve years now. It has to be from Dr. Wendellson. It must have been during his tenure.”
“See to it, then.”
After Hansen left, Sir touched a button on his desk, which lifted a small trap door in the top. A miniature elevator rose, bringing him a cup of chamomile tea. He began to drink the boiling fluid. In his mind's eye, he saw Hansen walk down the hall, whispering a prayer.

Chapter 7

Baltimore, Maryland 1985

Leah happily colored while Sesame Street filled the television screen. She was not paying attention to Bert and Ernie playing the numbers game.
Her mother, Maggie, was busy baking.
Attracted by the smell of homemade chocolate chip cookies, she toddled into the kitchen. “Mommy, I want a cookie, please. Mommy, cookie is ‘C’.”
Distracted, Maggie asked, “What did you say, Sweetie?”
“Cookie is C. It’s a letter, Mommy. C is for cookie.”
“Leah, that’s right. Mommy is proud of you for learning that. Here’s your cookie. Now go play while I finish this batch, okay?”
“Mommy, cookie is c-o-o-k-i-e.”
Shaking her head, marveled at the intelligence of her daughter, all Maggie could do was say, “That’s right. Where did you learn that?”
“Sesame Street, Mommy,” she said, laughing.
“Oh, I see. You just learned that, huh?”
“Oh no, Mommy, I seen that the other day. Today is all about numbers. Uno, Dos, Tres, Cuatro, Cinco, Seis, Siete, Ocho, Nueve, Diez. That’s Spanish. In English: one-two-three-four-five-six-seven-eight-nine-ten.”
“Leah, honey, that’s very good. What else did you learn?”
Leah bowed her head, and a single tear fell from her eyes.
“Leah, why are you crying?”
“Mommy, I don’t want the bad man to talk to me anymore. Can you make him stop?”
Maggie kneeled down and took Leah by her shoulders trying her best to remain calm. “Leah. Sweetie, who wants to talk to you? Did a man approach you when you were outside playing?”
“No, Mommy. He wants me to talk to him in my head. I don’t want to. He’s not nice.”
“Leah, sweetheart, tell Mommy what you mean.”
“I know he knows I’m here.”
“Sweetie, who knows you’re here?” Maggie asked.
“Him; the one who wants to talk to me inside my head, Mommy. You can’t see him. He’s in my head.”
“Is he perhaps a pretend friend?”
“Mommy, I think he is a real pretend, but he’s not my friend. He scares me.”
“Well, then. Just pretend he isn’t there, okay?”
“Mommy, he won’t go away when I try to pretend he’s not there. Can you make him stop?”
“Leah, let me call Daddy and he’ll make the bad man go away, okay?”
“Okay, Mommy.”
Maggie watched as her daughter returned to her coloring books. Something felt wrong. It was not the first time she had felt this vague apprehension since Leah was born; but now it squeezed like fingers around her heart. She grabbed the phone and dialed Joshua at the base.
“Honey, I just had an interesting conversation with our daughter.” She told him about it and concluded with, “Honey, I’m worried. What should we do?”
“Mags, I think you need to downplay it. If you just treat it lightly, she may forget about it. It's probably just from a nightmare. Just keep it low. You have to stop being so overprotective, honey. It’s not good for you or her. When I get home, I’ll make the bad man go away. Tell her that. After all, it's not the end of the world.”
“Mommy, he told me something,” Leah interrupted.
“Just a second, baby, I'm talking to Daddy.”
“But Mommy...” Leah covered her ears, not wanting to listen anymore. “C is for cookie...” she sang, drowning out his last whisper.
“You are my destiny, child.”
~
Where was she? Sir used all the will power he had in his arsenal to control the rage that threatened to take over. He could ill afford to allow his “true” nature to be unleashed at this point. My patience will pay off soon enough, he thought.
He had to find her; she was already powerful enough to elude his messages. He paced the room. How had this happened? Years of research and they had not produced one successful hybrid. Just what path had been taken to bring this child to the here and now?