Page 36 of The Shadows Beyond
A long, tense silence filled the space between them.
Julien blinked back hot tears at the image of his mother returning home that night, her escape plans shattered. Had she ever tried again?
“Why are you telling me all this?” Julien spat. This was the last thing he needed right now. There were some things that he’d rather not know at this point, including that Eleanor, someone he trusted like family, had so badly let his mother down. “Have you had a dispute withPère?”
“Because, Julien, as much as you’d easily sit here and claim to despise your father—don’t give me that look—you’re already becoming a pawn in his game. His son climbing up the MEET ladder would be the queen’s gambit in motion, checkmating every move before it’s even made. There is already growing concern from many parties about his excessive influence over the consortium. Not to mention his ever-expanding collection of assets.”
Julien blinked at her in disbelief. Her distaste for his father, never before detectable, was fleetingly splashed all over her face before she pulled her expression flat.
“Did you know he now owns ninety percent of all motetech patents, if you factor in all of the smaller companies that have aligned themselves with HorizonTech?”
Julien shrugged. “Sounds about right.” His father was relentless in his acquisition of anything with the slightest bit of buzz around it.
A beat of silence as a bird flew close to the windowpane, stretching its wings to full span. Then, “And do you think that’s morally right, one man having so much power?”
He bit back a laugh. “Non, obviously not. But unless you’ve got more than a few million in the bank, there’s nothing you or I can do about it.” He narrowed his eyes. Whatever reaction Eleanor wanted out of him, she was likely disappointed. “Unless you want me to poison his wine? I can’t deny the thought has crossed my mind from time to time.”
Turning away from the window, she walked back to perch on the edge of her desk, inches away from him. “I think about that conversation with your mother all too often. I would do anything to go back in time and change my actions. I’ll carry that guilt to my grave now. It may be too late for me to change Isabelle’s fate.” Eleanor rested a hand on Julien’s shoulder in a rare moment of physical contact. “But it’s not too late for you. I’ll write you that reference. Not that you really need it. They know you’re a brilliant young mind. However, you need to make sure you’re doing this for you, not him.”
I am.
It was true—the world of motetech fascinated him, and most importantly, he was good at it. Excellent, in fact. The fact that it fell in line with the business interests of a father he hated was purely coincidental. Wasn’t it?
Not trusting himself to speak further on the topic, he nodded. His mind reeled, the multiple shocking revelations swam around his head like sharks, threatening to drag him under.
Julien combatted it with a rapid change of conversation. “Why are you meeting with Cinn this afternoon?”
Eleanor frowned at him, circling round to sit in her chair. “Viktor Sturmhart has instructed me to oversee his progress. Check his support network is working for him.” She gave him a pointed look. “Make sure he’s on track to assist us with the umbraphage onslaught. Of course, I’ll wait until Noir gives me the all clear that he’s emotionally ready before I divulge that information to him.”
Julien scratched the back of his neck.Putain.“He… he may already know a smidge about them. And about how Auri hopes he may be of assistance.” He braced for fire.
Eleanor’s smile froze icily on her face. “Does he now? And how did that come up in conversation?”
“The Arcane Purifiers.” The lie slid easily off his tongue. “He was asking lots of questions, and it came up that AP blame the appearance of umbraphages on mote usage.”
“And you decided to fill him in on the rest?”
“Well…” He stalled, brain stumbling. He really should have made coffee before leaving the house. “He asked how we were fighting them, and Auri’s theory on shadowmotes came up…”
Eleanor shook her head. Sighed. “To be honest, I don’t really care as long as that boy stays put and agrees to help us in due course. Are you being nice to him?”
Julien flashed her his fox-grin. “Since when am Inotnice?”
“Did you see the images from the latest umbraphage attack?” she asked abruptly, reaching within her desk. “Last week. Outskirts of Seville. Ten people dead before we could dematerialise it. That fucker better not reform anytime soon.”
Their biggest problem with the umbraphages was that they currently appeared unstoppable, permanently at least. That, and their numbers grew by the month.
“Want to see what we’re up against? I’m sure you’ve heard about MEET’s progress in developing a range of weapons for us to trial.” Eleanor slid a cassette into the tiny television that sat in the corner of her room and hit play.
Shaky footage from a handheld camera filled the screen. The recorder’s panicked breath coming in short bursts obscured any other sounds. The camera pointed at a pavement littered with junk. Then, the view jerked up to reveal a woman’s lifeless body, coated in blood, floating in mid-air, her limbs arching backwards.
“They’re invisible within video footage.”
With a sudden jerk, the woman dropped to the ground, and the videographer stumbled backwards, screaming bloody murder. They evidently dropped the camera. The view of the street bounced around wildly until only a patch of concrete was visible. Then, a limp hand engulfed the frame, fingers twitching one last time before falling very still.
An eerie garbled sound came out of the TV that Julien struggled to assign meaning to. The umbraphage?
“The camera was…recoveredfrom an eyewitness. The concealment team had quite the task this time. Over twenty people needed their memories tampered with. It’s a good thing they now have the LMD to work with.”
