Page 74 of In the Shadows
erratic. Whatever Josiah thought he was discovering bled into
every aspect of their lives. They moved constantly. We’d go
months without hearing from her, and when we finally did, the
news was always disturbing. Finally, when Arthur was just a lit-
tle boy, Josiah disappeared. We begged Adelaide to come and
live with us, but she refused. She always insisted our town was
one of ‘the bad places.’ We sent her money, and your father
checked on her whenever he could.” Mrs. Johnson paused, and
there was a sniffle that Thom didn’t think was coming from
Minnie anymore. “Arthur came here when Adelaide killed her-
self. She wrote a letter to me, telling me that she couldn’t run
anymore, asking me to take care of Arthur. So you see, he is
family. And I won’t fail him the way I failed his mother.”
“What was she so scared of?”
“Scholarly nonsense. Josiah thought he’d discovered some
ancient secret society that was controlling things across the
world. Some silly Latin name — I can’t remember. He was a
very sick man, and he dragged Adelaide down with him. I
thank God that Arthur is free of it all.”
Charles caught his breath, and Thom put an arm around
his thin shoulders to steady him. Whatever else was real, Mrs.
Johnson was wrong about one thing: Arthur was not free of the
Ladon Vitae.
None of them were.
India
Early May, 1949
fourteen
C
HARLES WENT FOR A WALK. Thom was too angry, worry-
ing over what Arthur may or may not know, arguing with
