17. Darklight Obscured

Do you ever look over your shoulder, thinking someone is there? Do you ever walk in the woods late at night and for an instant, out of the corner of your eye, think you see someone, or something?

Maybe you saw a shadow man. Aerz Cross was a shadow man, or rather an umbraer, which was the proper term. He came from a long line of shadow men living in the woods of Maine.

Well, they used to live in the woods. Now they lived in houses, talked on new-fangled telephones, and existed almost as people in the light, those who were not shadow men. It was ridiculous, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. He was a servant to the greatest umbraer family there was, the Blacks. Which meant he went where they did.

Just because Aerz was their servant, and duty bound to serve the Blacks, it didn’t mean he didn’t know more than them. Although they were the most powerful and gifted umbraers, for shadow people could do more than just turn into shadows at will, they weren’t exactly the smartest, at least he didn’t think so.

He reasoned he was brighter than three or four of them put together. None of them had any common sense. They stayed shut up all day in Black Manor, their grandiose home on the sea, chasing follies like playing the piano, needlework, and looking at maps of places they would never visit.

But Aerz didn’t mind their stupidity. He knew enough to keep them and their lives pleasant. What they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them anyway. There were threats to shadow men everywhere. People in the light were frightened of what they didn’t understand. And shadow men could die by a bullet as easily as anyone else. It was up to Aerz and his family to make sure that didn’t happen.

Aerz had taken over his post at Black Manor from his father, Raze. All the men in the Cross family were named using a variation of four letters. Aerz wasn’t sure of the origin of the naming tradition, but he saw no reason to change it.

He saw no reason to change anything, but the world around him was changing anyhow, and very quickly. The old ways were dying out. For many centuries umbraers had lived in seclusion, but that wouldn’t last forever. Messages and news travelled quickly now. People knew of things that their grandparents would have been ignorant of, blissfully ignorant. It was all rather depressing for someone like Aerz who preferred to continue with the status quo.

But if things were to change then they needed an umbraer who was different than the bumbling lot that came before them, especially for the Black family. It would have to be someone who wasn’t afraid of the future, or people in the light, or anything for that matter. It had to be someone who could bring umbraers kicking and screaming into the modern world.

As Aerz bustled about Black Manor, doing all the chores no one else wanted to, he hoped that person would come soon. If life was going to change, he wanted it to happen now.

“Better to just get it over with.” he grumbled to himself. The clock in the parlor struck twelve. Aerz stopped sweeping. He leaned on his broom handle as he listened to the ornate chimes ring off the hour. “That bloody clock.”

"Aerz!” John Black came running into the back hall. He was the current master of Black Manor. He was a year older than Aerz.

“What do you want?”

If John was alarmed by his servant’s surly tone, he didn’t show it. “Virginia is expecting.”

“Expecting what?” Aerz asked. Virginia was John’s wife. She was the smartest person in the manor besides himself.

John laughed. “A child.”

“Oh.” John and Virginia already had a boring son named Owen.

“Isn’t it grand?” John said excitedly.

“Children are a lot of work.” Aerz said plainly. “And when you have more than one it’s even harder.” Aerz had a son called Ezra. He was a good boy, but he certainly had no interest in having another.

John’s smile vanished. “I know, but we want more.”

“There’s a difference between want and need.” Aerz resumed his sweeping.

John backed out of the way of the broom. “I’m sure it will be a fine child.”

“Uh huh.”

“The child will be here in May. Maybe he’ll come on your birthday.”

“Perhaps.”

“Well, I’ll be in the library if you need me.” John scurried away.

“Another Black.” Aerz mumbled as he continued his work.

Eight months later the newest Black family member came. It was another boy. John and Virginia named him Malachai. He was born on Aerz’s birthday, May twenty sixth.

Aerz stared into the cradle at the blue-eyed boy with a wisp of blonde hair. The child stared back at Aerz as though sizing him up.

“He’s beautiful, isn’t he?” John said as they stood side by side.

“I suppose.” Aerz had never found babies to be anything more than wrinkly looking.

John chuckled. “We think he’s beautiful.” He nudged Aerz’s elbow. “Happy birthday.”

“Thanks.” he mumbled.

“We’re so lucky.”

“Why?” Aerz asked.

John pointed at the baby. “Because we have him. And Owen.”

“Right.” Aerz muttered.

“You must feel the same way about Ezra.”

Aerz nodded. He cared for Ezra, he even loved him, but he didn’t raise him in the rose-colored world of the Blacks. Life was harsh and cruel and most of the time it was terrible. That’s what these boys would face. And that wasn’t even taking into account that they were umbraers. “It’s not going to be easy.”

“It will be fine.” John said breezily.

“Fine?” Aerz cried. “The world is a bloody mess.” He pointed at the window. “That lot out there, they are going to find out what we are. What are you going to do then?”

“That won’t happen.”

“The bloody hell it won’t!”

In the cradle, Malachai watched Aerz with what could only be called a look of amusement.

“Calm down.”

“You don’t understand anything.” Aerz told his employer.

John sighed. “No, I probably don’t.” He smiled down at Malachai. “But looking at him gives me hope.”

Aerz took another look at the baby. Malachai stared back at him. That one was going to be trouble.