The Shadows We Hide - Jane Bailey (red white and royal blue hardcover TXT) 📗

fuckin' needles that weren't so little. Gawd, It hurt so much." Ivy looked horrified.
"Ah lead a breakout and headed North in a boxcar. Ah got picked up by a truck driver and then ended up in Laughlin City." Magenta finished.
Ivy frowned. "That must have been one hell of a year for you, huh?"
Magenta laughed.
Ivy smiled then sighed.
"Well, my name is Ivy Higgins from Toronto, Ontario. I've lived in about eleven different cockroach, rat infested Welfare places. Two rundown motel rooms, and two homeless shelters. I've been forced to sell all my birthday and Christmas gifts. My parents were verbally and emotionally abusive. At some times even physically abusive. My Dad was a drunk pothead and my Mom was a chain smoking pothead. When I was nine my Mom started to threaten to kick me out. When I was thirteen I started hoping she would." She stated with a bitter smile. Magenta was horrified. How could parents be so cruel?

"I met a guy named Kevin and fell in love. I was 13 he was 21. It was stupid but I was naive. I found out he was a crack head and left him. I didn't want my kids raised the way I was raised when I had them. I thought it would be like in a movie y'know? He'd kick the habit and beg for me back. We were engaged. It didn't happen like that. Him and his friends cornered me one night when I was 14 and he smashed my face up against the wall of an elementary school and molested me telling me that if I told anyone, he'd kill my family. He stabbed me above my right breast and made me give his three friends head before walking off." Ivy showed Magenta her scar from his knife. Magenta thought she was going to puke. Ivy had tears running down her face and Magenta was now hugging her from behind.
"From then on 'till I moved to Sudbury, He would whip me, beat me, burn me, molest me, humiliate me, and degrade me. He made me crawl around in my bra and underwear in a choker for dogs and a leash. He would let his friends touch me. He made me snort cocaine and take ecstasy unwillingly. The one thing he didn't do though was rape me. Until I told him my parents were splitting up and I had to move six hours away that is. He had his friends hold me down while he took away the one thing I wanted to save until marriage. I then killed him but his friends are still out there." Magenta was now crying while Ivy started getting angrier by the second.
"I hated my parents at the time. Obviously while all that was happening I withdrew from them but they just blamed me instead of figuring out what was wrong! Anyways. I got into a fight with my Mom a few days ago and found out I was a Freak when her and the whole neighborhood was calling me a Demon and saying I didn't deserve to live. I hitched a ride and ended up in Laughlin City."
By the time Ivy was finished her eyes were black and the room was a shade darker.
"It's okay now, Ivy. Those stupid humans are dead to us now." Magenta soothed.
Ever so slowly, Ivy's eyes and the room turned back to it original colour.
"I'm glad I have you as a friend, Mariah." Ivy admitted softly.
Magenta filled with pride. "I'm glad I have you as a friend too, Ivy."
That night the two girls fell asleep each taking comfort in their friends arms. Their problems could wait until tomorrow.

Chapter Six

Ryder was sitting alone in his apartment watching Sex in the City and eating peanuts.
"Did you ever think that, to the nuts inside, the peanut shell is like their whole universe?" He asked out loud for no real reason as he gazed at the peanuts. "I mean, they could fall in love and never be together because the shell separates them. So close, but their cruel prison - the shell - keeps them apart. It's so sad!" He said analyzing the peanut. "How they must hate their cruel, cruel master, The Shell, uncaring despoiler of legume romance!" He was getting angry now and cracked open the nut. "And then one day, they're free! And it's like, 'let's dance you hot, salty nut!'" He went on to act as if the nuts were dancing together.
His door was then broken down by a bunch of people in diver suits. Including some pretty hot chicks. Didn't matter though. He grabbed his Katanas and was about to start killing when he saw Derek.
"Derek! Buddy! I've missed you. Nobody calls me Man anymore." He greeted.
"Do I know you kid?" Derek asked.
"Oh, that's right! You can't remember didly squat. Too bad."
"We're here to recruit you." The African one said calmly.
"For what? Sorry but I'm not into the whole bondage and submission get up you got going on."
"There's a war coming. You can kill people without having the law enforcement on your back." The red-head said. Heheh I rhymed.

"Hold the phone and the mayo! A war? Hmm. I guess. I don't have anything better to do. Besides, Killing people legally, in anyway I want? That's like going into a candy store and being told it's all mine for free. When do we start?"
"Well," The African one went on. "From what a seer told us, the war is in approximately a month but we need your help catching these two girls first. I contacted Antoine and he said he'd meet us in New Orleans." She added towards the geeks that wanted peace.
Ryder looked at the pictures of the two girls. There was a cute one with weird stripes in her hair and a super hot one with blue hair. He whistled and noticed Derek tense up. "The blue haired one is hot!" He said and Derek relaxed again. Hmm, so he had a crush on Stripes? Loser. "Why can't you guys just catch them?"
"Because Shadow," The red head pointed at the hot one, "can travel through shadows so she just grabs Magenta," now she pointed at the cute one with the stripes. "And they disappear leaving nothing behind. Not even a scent."
"So the next time we catch up with them all we need to do is hold on to Shadow for dear life so even if she jumps in to a shadow, she'd bring us with her." Ryder said. "Duh."
The dorks then started talking strategy while Ryder started watching Sex in the City again before he left with them. He somehow doubted they watched enough Sex in the City.
"So what do we do when we catch them?" Ryder asked as everyone was quiet again. "Can we wrap them up in duct tape? Man, I love duct tape. I love the way it tapes. I love the sound it makes. I love saying it. Duct tape, duct tape, duct tape."
Derek growled "Do you ever shut up, Man? Lets go."
If you were out on the street that night you would see a rather strange sight.
A bunch of silent men and women in full body suits walking down the street towards a sleek white jet along with a man with swords walking with them repeatedly saying, "Duct tape, duct tape, duct tape."

Shadow and Mariah were walking down the deserted streets of New Orleans when out of nowhere, the people in body suits appeared in a puff of smoke behind them and pushed Shadow and Mariah away from each other. Mariah automatically put her hand to her temple and dropped a man running really fast and a girl that turned in to a ball unconscious before anyone could blink. She then started fighting a girl who looked like she kept going invisible.
Shadow couldn't pay attention any longer because she quickly spun a kick to the head of guy who was starting to turn to stone from his feet up. Then in a puff of black smoke, she phased through the Wolf who was with them and punched the blue guy square in the jaw quickly following it up with a punch to the back of his neck knocking him unconscious. She looked over to see Mariah being knocked out by that invisible girl.
That split second of distraction cost her though. Wolf grabbed her tightly by the arm just as she was about to jump in to the next shadow to get Mariah. She then started to fight him but only got a split lip and a sore hand in the process. What was he, made of metal?
"Donkey Balls!" Shadow yelled.
It had the desired effect. The people left conscious, (Invisible-girl and Wolf) froze and looked at her with a bewildered expression and Wolfs grip loosened. She ripped her arm out of his grasp and went to jump in to the closest shadow to get closer to Mariah when she felt something dull jab her behind her ear knocking her to her knees.
"I can't believe you actually fell for that." An unknown male voice said.
"I thought I told 'ya to stay in the jet with Leah, Antoine, and Nabila." The Wolf replied before her vision went black completely.

Chapter Seven

Magenta awoke in a white room strapped down to a hospital bed. She looked around trying to find a way to escape but only saw Ivy on a bed beside her with her legs covered in... Duct tape? What the hell?
"Ivy, wake up." Magenta whispered. "Ivy. Come on, wake up. Ivy, wake the fuck up!" She ended up yelling.
Ivy groaned. "Did you get the number of the bus that hit me? Geeze."
The hot man in a white wife beater and swords strapped to his back that just entered laughed. "Nope, that was all me. I cold cocked you."
"Dick." Ivy replied staring at him with black eyes.
"You're hot." He said.
"Yeah well you're..." She paused. "You're pretty hot yourself." She shot him a fanged grin.
"Enough flirting." Said a gruff male voice. Magenta looked around to see The Wolf had walked in also with the red head, the African woman, an old man, creepy looking woman, a purple guy, a huge hairy cat looking guy, a guy that looked like he had a large stick up his ass, and a guy in a wheel chair.
"What do you want?" Magenta asked.
"And why the fuck am I duct taped?" Ivy asked incredulously.
"Guilty as charged." The sword man said.
Ivy looked as if she were about to say something when she was interrupted by the bald guy in the wheelchair. "Hello. I'm John Grey. We brought you here to recruit you. It could have been a lot more civilized if you would have listened before disappearing."