Jamieson Wolf
Number-one bestselling author
Captain Maven and the Shadow Man – Chapter Eight
Chapter Eight
Maven had never been so happy to see Tianado.
They had followed Carley and taken the elevator down to the kitchen area. “What time did he show up?” Maven had asked.
“Like, ten minutes ago. I wanted to give you both time to finish up your conversation, so you’re welcome.”
“Thank you,” Maven and Gregory said in unison.
She gave them both a wide grin. “My pleasure. This guy already looks a lot happier,” she said, pointing a finger at Maven. “Hopefully he’ll be easier to be around.”
“Don’t I know it. He’s not too much fun when he’s all mopey, is he?” Gregory said.
“Hey,” Maven said. “I resent that remark.”
Gregory gave him another quick kiss as the elevator doors opened. Tara was there waiting for them. “Gregory, thank goodness. I heard that you were back.” A shadow passed over her eyes for a moment. “Please tell me that you’re back.”
Laughing, Gregory said “I guess so. Has he been that bad?”
“The worst,” Tara said. “It was really bad this time.”
“Well, I think it’s safe to say that it was the last time.” Gregory said, looking at Maven.
“Gods, I hope so.” Tara said. “Come on, all of you. Tianado was just about to tell us what he was up to while he was gone. I wanted everyone here before he told us.”
“I’ll just wait in the loft then,” Gregory said, attempting to slip back into the elevator.
“I said I wanted everyone there.” Tara said. “That includes you, Gregory.”
“But I’m not a super.”
“No, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have other qualities.” She winked at him.
Maven looked at her in confusion. “What was that about?”
“Now’s not the time to find out, honey. Let’s go.” Carley said.
They walked down the hallway to the tech room and when they entered, they saw that the computer had already been fired up. Tianado was sitting at the console, and he was making a digital layout of a building rotate in the air.
“Nice of you to finally get here,” he said, giving them a wide grin.
“You should talk,” Maven said. “What the hell happened? What was your idea?”
“Well, do you all see this?” He motioned up at the layout of a building.
“Looks like a warehouse,” Sandoz said. He motioned at the wide open floorspaces and the storage doors. “Like someplace you would store something.”
Tianado tapped a finger on his nose. “Right in one.” He pulled the camera angle back so that everyone could see the outside of the warehouse. “This is a place out in an industrial area on Queenview Drive and the warehouse is owned by a corporation, CPMX Industries. Three guesses who owns it and your first two guesses don’t count.”
“Yeah, but Gregory found out about the warehouse when he was being kept hostage by Max Shadow,” Maven said.
“Yes, but did Gregory save the children?” He asked. “I mean no disrespect, Gregory. I’m so thankful you’re back.”
“I’m thankful to be back,” Gregory said. “I need to go away and come back more often if everyone is so happy to see me again.”
“Dear gods, please don’t,” Finley said. “We love you Maven, but we couldn’t take much more this time.”
“Yes, thank you Gregory,” Maven said, desperate to change the topic of conversation. “What did you mean about the children, Tianado?”
“Well, do you see any kids there?”
They all looked at the layout of the warehouse again. Maven didn’t know what he was supposed to be seeing. All he could see was Cracklepuss. That sick fucker was sitting in what looked like an office that he had converted into an apartment. They could see a bedroll and sleeping bag, a hot plate and a pile of clothes. He was yelling at someone and stomped to the door, opened it and yelled something else out into the hallway. He slammed the door again and sat back down in front of his computer. Maven didn’t want to know what Cracklepuss was looking at, but Carley had told them already that Cracklepuss liked looking at some weird shit. Thankfully, they didn’t have to see it.
“There’s only Cracklepuss there, Tianado.” Finley said.
“Yes…and no.” Tianado said. “Here, take a listen.” He flicked a switch and sound blossomed to life in the room around them. It sounded like they were right in the warehouse with Cracklepuss.
When Maven closed his eyes, he could hear hundreds of children all playing loudly in the warehouse. They were screaming and yelling as children do. When he opened his eyes, he only saw Cracklepuss, alone in his office, however he could still hear the children screaming and playing. Maven looked at Tianado. “What did you do?”
“Well, your so-called shadow man isn’t the only one who plays with the shadows, is he? They’re my bread and butter and I’ve been working them for longer than he has. I’ve seen and done shit that would make his head turn.”
“But what did you do with the kids?” Sandoz asked. “You didn’t make them invisible, did you? That would be kind of cool.”
“Not really, but kind of. You see, I made them all into shadows of themselves. That way we can keep them safe.”
“You’ve lost me,” Maven said. “I think you missed a step. I don’t think the parents would be happy to get shadows back instead of their kids.”
“The kids have already been returned home. I just borrowed a bit of their shadows, you see?” Tianado said.
“Nope.” Everyone shook their heads. Tianado was often like this, leaving out important bits they needed to know when he spoke. He just got so excited that his mind jumped ahead and they had to back him up and ask him to explain everything properly.
“Well, it’s simple really. Cracklepuss had to believe the kids were still there. He and Max aren’t too smart, see? I took a bit of each child’s soul to make doppelgangers of each of them. I couldn’t just take them home. I had to make sure that the evil fuckers believed that they still had possession of the children. They plan to take their light and that’s where the shadow man comes in. He’s supposed to take it from them.”
“You can’t take light from a shadow.” Maven said.
“Well, you can take a bit because shadows are made from light. But shadows don’t have the amount of light that they’ll be wanting and expecting.”
“What do they want with so much light?” Tara asked.
“They want to burn the city down. I heard Cracklepuss talking with the shadow fucker. Max Shadow can take all the light from the kids and Cracklepuss has built some kind of fucking ray gun. They want to force Ottawa pay them millions, or else the city goes up in flames.”
“Except now that won’t happen,” Carley said with a wide smile.
Tianado tapped his nose again. “Yup. They can’t get much light from the shadows, and they don’t know it yet. We should get our asses over there and kick their asses.”
They watched the screen as a shadow appeared. It seeped into the main doorway of the warehouse. Maven knew immediately that it was Max Shadow, before it began to form itself into the shape of a man, but there was something off about him. Tianado zoomed in and they all watched him stagger and shift, man and shadow. It was hard to know where he began and where the shadows ended. The thing that drew Maven’s gaze though was the fact that there were holes in the shadows; there were holes in him.
“It looks like moths ate away at him,” Dez said. “Man, that looks painful. I mean, look at him.”
The shadow man was staggering and the shadows, far from being the rolling and majestic ones that Maven had seen before, looked haggard. He tried to think of what the holes reminded him of but couldn’t place it. It was Gregory who spoke up. “Those aren’t moth holes. Those are burn holes,”
“Really?” Maven said.
“Yeah, look at them. There are a lot of them. Remember when you used to try burning stuff with a magnifying glass when you were a kid? It looks like that, don’t you think?”
Maven moved closer to the screen and looked at the holes carefully. Gregory was right. He had burned a lot of things as a kid until his mentor had made him the staff of light. Until then, the light came out of him, and it had no focus. He burned things without even trying. It was pretty horrible. He couldn’t read a book without setting it on fire and it made getting dressed difficult. He’d had to wear fire retardant fabric for a while, and clothing made from that type of fabric was certainly not fashionable. His mentor had made him the first staff of light. There had been many variations and improvements since then, but before the staff there were a lot of fires.
He remembered the holes in his clothes and furniture had looked like the holes that now punctured the shadow man. Max Shadow looked terrible. That brought him a small moment of joy. “I did this,” he said.
“Well, he is repelled by light,” Tara said.
“It’s more than being repelled,” Carley said. “You fucking savaged him.”
“How is that possible?” Finley said. “Light and shadow can exist together normally. Why did Maven’s light burn right through him?”
“Well, isn’t it obvious?” Carley asked. Everyone remained silent while they looked at her. She gave them all a wide grin. “It’s because of love!”
Dez let out a groan. “Oh please, don’t give me that peace and love bullshit,” he said. “Love couldn’t do that to another person, and we’ve watched Maven use his light tons of times.”
“But he’s not a person,” Carley said. “And power is different when love becomes involved. Look at you when you were with Finley.” The room went quiet for a moment and a pained look flickered across both Finley and Dez’s faces before Carley continued. “Love changes our powers. It’s always been this way. Love just strengthens everything. It was the fact that Maven was protecting Gregory that made his light so strong.”
“Whatever it was, we’ll have to get over there fast,” Maven said. “Finley, do we still have those high-powered search lights from when we were trying to rescue those kids from that boat on the Ottawa River last year?”
“Yes, we do.”
“And Sandoz, do we still have all those flashlights from when we helped the police look for that missing girl guide troupe in the Pinhey forest?”
“Yep, I keep them with all the emergency supplies.” He said.
“Good, we’re going to need all of them. And one more thing.” Maven turned to look at Gregory. “I need you-”
“Well, I know I need you too, but this hardly seems the time,” Gregory said.
Maven brushed a thumb along Gregory’s jaw. “I need you to come with us, babe. You’re going to be a superhero.”
Captain Maven and the Shadow Man – Chapter Seven
Chapter Seven
Gregory was sitting in one of his brown leather armchairs, two glasses of red wine nearby.
Maven stopped in his tracks and the door closed with a click behind him. He wasn’t sure what to say or do, and his mind was a jumble of what he wanted to say versus what he needed to say. He went with the obvious instead. “How did you get in here?”
Gregory reached into his pocket and held up a keychain and jingled the keys like they were bells. “I have my own keys, remember? Plus, the security guard recognized me. He said that it was nice to see me again and let me in.”
“Oh, that’s…wonderful?” Maven was really at a loss for words. Seeing Gregory in his loft after all these weeks was really throwing him off.
Gregory patted the seat across from him. “Come in and sit,” he said. “I think it’s time that you and I have a conversation.”
“Are you sure that’s okay?” Maven asked. He was surprised by how nervous he was to have him here. He wanted to approach cautiously, as if Gregory were a deer he didn’t want to frighten away.
“Arnold, I’m in your loft. I think it’s you who should be asking me what the fuck I want.”
“Oh, yes of course. Um, well yes…” Maven made his way across the room slowly, not trusting Gregory to stay siting in his leather armchair. He sat across from Gregory and admired the Christmas lights he had put in the window. He wanted to look at their warmth, as it was easier than looking at Gregory now that he was so close to him. Maven turned his head towards Gregory when he got a whiff of his scent, spearmint with a hint of citrus. Gregory always smelled so fresh and clean, and it was what had attracted Maven to him in the first place. He had smelled Gregory while he was walking past him one night after he’d saved a woman from being run over by a bus, and that scent had filled his entire being. It was the same now as it had been then, intoxicating.
“Are you going to look at me?” Gregory asked.
Maven jumped a little and turned to look at Gregory. His hair was a mess as it always was and there was a dark brown curl that that looped across his forehead. Maven stopped himself, wanting to reach out and push the hair off Gregory’s face. However, as soon as he thought it, his hand reached out to do just that. Maven felt Gregory shiver as his finger brushed against Gregory’s forehead.
When Maven put his arm down, he stared at Gregory for a moment before trying to find something to occupy himself. He couldn’t believe what he’d just done. Grabbing his glass of wine, Maven took a very large sip and ended up dribbling a substantial amount down his front. Maven was astounded to see Gregory was smiling at him and very close to laughter.
“You don’t have to be nervous,” Gregory said.
“But I am nervous.” Maven said. “So fucking nervous.”
“Why? You’re a superhero, you can take anything on, can’t you?” Gregory teased.
Having his own words quoted back at him. “I’m sorry,” Maven said. “I didn’t mean that.”
“You did. You know you did, too.”
“I’m sorrier for what I said afterwards,” Maven said.
“What, that saving the people of Ottawa from evil was the greatest feeling in the world, and you couldn’t let a relationship get in the way when you loved being a superhero more than you could love me?”
Maven shifted and took another big gulp of wine, managing to swallow all of it this time. “I didn’t mean it quite that way,”
“Yes, you did.” Gregory said.
Letting out a long sigh and lowering his head slightly, Maven said “Yes, I did.” He looked up again and saw that Gregory was looking at him openly and with curiosity. That look always gave him wonderful shivers. “Why are you here, enjoying one of my 2015 vintage red wines, if I said things like that?”
“Because you have fabulous taste in wine,” Gregory said. “And I love you.”
Maven thought he’d never hear those words again. “I’m sorry, what?”
“I’m going to pretend that you didn’t hear what I just said and say it again: I love you.”
There were so many things rolling around in his head that wanted to get out, but Maven’s mouth moved before he could think about which words he wanted to say. “Why are you here?” Maven gave himself an internal smack. He knew he had just repeated his first question, but he was just so overwhelmed with all his feelings at that moment.
Gregory took another sip of his wine before setting down the glass. “Well, it was when you came to save me. You rode in there on your white horse-”
“I don’t have a white horse. I went there through a portal I’d created.”
“I know how you got there,” Gregory said. “But you charged in, guns blazing, and you’ve never looked so beautiful to me. The fact that you would come to my aid even though I was being an asshole was incredible.”
“Yeah, but you would never have been in trouble if it weren’t for me.”
“It’s always going to be like that though, isn’t it?” Gregory asked, “Because of what you do and who you are.”
“So, you’re okay with what I do now?”
“I was always okay with what you do. I just didn’t like being valued less than your fucking job. It’s always your job first, isn’t it?”
“It shouldn’t be that way,” Maven said. “I can change, I swear.”
“Don’t. If you did, you wouldn’t be who you are.” Gregory said.
“You’re okay with what I do?” Maven asked nervously.
“Am I okay with you risking your fucking life every day to save the lives of others? No, I’m not. Am I okay with you going out there to fight bad people who could do you serious harm? No, I’m not. Can I live without you in my life? No, I can’t. I love you, Arnold and that means sometimes making compromises. You infuriate me and you drive me completely crazy, and when I left this time, I thought that was it. I thought I would never see you again and yet as soon as I left you, I realized that I belonged right next to you.”
This was the most that Gregory had talked to him in months, and hearing all that come out at once left Maven feeling a little lightheaded. He’d pictured this conversation between the two of them for months now and it wasn’t going at all according to the script that he’d imagined in his head. “I don’t know what to say,” Maven said.
“Because I’m not saying the lines that you’ve made up in your head, right?”
“I had some really good ones planned.”
“Like what?” Gregory asked.
“I was going to tell you how I would rip my heart out and give it to you because it had stopped beating since you had walked out of my life. You could have it because it no longer worked without you.”
“Always the fucking drama queen, aren’t you?”
Maven looked into Gregory’s beautiful eyes, they were dark enough to hold his soul. “I value you more than anything else in the world. I hope you know that.”
“I do,” Gregory said.
“Are we going to be okay? We fight all the time. Is that normal?”
“And yet we always make up. Love is like that, Maven. We don’t have the relationship where it’s all sugar and spice and everything nice. We’re going to fight again, and I may need some space, but I’ll always be here for you. Some relationships are like that. The one thing that’s for sure is that I love you.”
“And I love you.” Maven said.
Gregory moved the glasses of wine, leaned forward to kiss Maven, and suddenly all was right with the world. Maven didn’t know how long they were kissing, whether it was five seconds or five minutes, but they broke apart when there was a knock on his door.
“Um, guys? Can you stop sucking face for a second?” It was Carley and her voice was muffled through the wood. “Tianado is back.”
Captain Maven and the Shadow Man – Chapter Six
Chapter Six
It had been a long walk.
They had walked back to the base. Maven hadn’t been willing to try the portal again so soon; using the magic of the cup of power and the sceptre of light always left him tired. Plus, Maven had some things to think about. He hadn’t liked the way that Gregory had been so angry at him, but he supposed it was understandable.
As if reading his thoughts (and knowing Carley, she probably was), Carley asked “What did happen between you two this time?”
“Get out of my head,” Maven said.
“Hey, if we have to walk home, you might as well tell us what happened.”
“I still don’t see why we’re not taking a cab.” Maven said. “People are going to stop us asking for an autograph.”
“No, they won’t.” Carley said. “I’ve turned on their blinders. They won’t see us unless we want to be seen.”
“Okay fine, but can’t we take a cab? Wait, I didn’t bring any money with me.” Maven said.
Tara let out a snort. “Do you think I’d remember to put my wallet in all of these pockets?” she said. Putting her hands in a few of them, she pulled out rocks, bits of string, pieces of pottery, what looked like coffee beans, fuses, a skipping rope, a belt, a small packet of seeds, a journal, a handful of pens, a small book of poems, a small jar of hair dye, bags of sweets, and, for some reason, a taser gun.
“Do I want to know why you have a taser?” Maven asked her.
“Probably not,” Carley said. “But see, no wallet or money.”
“Does any of that stuff come in handy?” Tara asked.
“You’d be surprised. Why don’t you have any money?”
Tara pointed at her spandex suit. “No pockets. What I wouldn’t give for your outfit. I would carry everything in there,” she said.
“Yeah, that’s kind of the problem I’m having.” Carley let out a laugh. “Since we have to walk, you can tell us what happened between you and Gregory.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Well honey, you haven’t talked about it for a few weeks now and you’ve been brooding something fierce. Won’t it help to talk?”
“It’s not good to keep emotions inside all trapped up,” Tara said. “They tend to come out in the worst kinds of ways. Look at what happened to Dez the last time him and Finley broke up. He kept saying that he was fine all the time and then he started crying. Filled up half the floors of our building with water before he finally admitted that he wasn’t fine.”
“I remember,” Maven said. “I had to swim through a few of the floors, and the electronics were almost totally fried.”
“Well, then let it out. Tell us what happened. If anyone can understand, it’s us, honey.” Carley said.
Maven thought about saying no, that he didn’t want to tell them anything about what had happened with Gregory, but Carley was right. If he didn’t tell someone, he would certainly burst wide open. Unlike every other time they had broken up, this time had been different. Instead of wailing in the arms of a friend, usually Carley, he had kept everything inside. It had been eating at him and he hadn’t known how to release some of the excess emotions he had been holding on to. He had to tell someone, and if he didn’t the feelings would fester. He let out a shuddering sigh. “Fine.” He tried to sound put out, but he was secretly pleased that they wanted to hear anything about what had happened.
“Well, it was just silly,” Maven said. “I don’t know why he made a big deal out of it, really. He was just overreacting, as per usual.”
“Typical,” Carley said. “What happened?”
“He got upset when I told him that I valued being a superhero over him and our relationship.” Maven said. “I mean, what’s so bad about that?” He was surprised by the shocked looks on their faces. Tara looked as if she’d been slapped. “What?”
“Honey…” Carley said. “That’s just wrong.”
“No, it’s not, we save people, that’s what we do. We help all kinds of people in Ottawa and the surrounding areas. Many people owe us their lives because of what we do.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean we love what we do above the people who love us,” Carley said.
“Agreed, that’s cold,” Tara said, giving him a dark look. “I didn’t think I’d ever say this, but I’m siding with Gregory on this one. Normally he’s a bit of a hypersensitive prima donna, but that was cold, Maven.” She let out a breath. “No wonder he was upset. You basically told him that he was worthless.”
They turned down Gloucester Street off of Laurier and kept walking. “I don’t understand why what I said was so bad,” Maven said. “I mean, what we do is a valid service to this city.”
“Your problem is that you’re a little bit too much into the job. I mean, what do you go home to, now? An empty loft.” Tara said. “Being with someone when you’re a superhero is not an easy thing to do. You have to open yourself up and let the other person into your life, knowing your deepest secret. It’s not easy for the other person either. Imagine what it’s like constantly worrying about whether the person you love will die today.”
Maven stopped and looked across the street. He didn’t want to look at Tara and have her see that her words hit home. He felt them both inside his head, so he recognized that they knew how he felt anyways, but it was the principle of the thing. “I’d never thought about it that way,” he said.
“We know you didn’t. Now you do.” Carley said. “You just have to decide how to move forward.”
“I don’t see how there’s any way I can move forward. You saw him. Gregory’s fucking pissed at me.”
“Nah, he loves you.” Tara said.
“You could read his thoughts, I assume.”
“No, honey, we could see it in the way he looked at you. He’s fucking hurting without you. I’m surprised you don’t see that.” Carley said.
“I was a little too busy trying to fry a shadow man if you didn’t notice.”
“Yes, but when you said that he was the man you loved, Gregory’s face softened,” Tara said. “He still loves you.”
They turned off of Gloucester Street and onto Nepean Street. They walked by an apartment building where most of the balconies were decorated with Christmas lights. They shone brightly in the fading daylight. Maven loved this time of year and loved that the light was a tonic against the darkness. His light shone brighter when Gregory was in his life. Maven felt lighter when Gregory’s love filled him, and he wondered how he could have fucked things up so severely.
“Honey, you have to talk to him,” Carley said.
“He doesn’t want to hear what I have to say. You saw what happened today. He no longer feels the same way as I do about him.”
“And yet you told him you love what you do more than you love him.” Tara said. They approached their building, and the security guard came to meet them. He ushered them into the building, locking the door behind them. “Maybe you could write to him, see if he’ll talk to you that way.”
“I guess…” Maven didn’t think that was the way to go about it. “We’ve got enough to worry about for now. We still don’t know where Tianado went, we’re no closer to finding Cracklepuss, and we don’t know how to find Max Shadow.”
“You know how to find Max Shadow,” Carley said. “Both times you’ve found him just by looking for him. It’s like the two of you are linked. You just have to look for him again.”
“I guess,” Maven said. They took the elevator up to the main floor and Tara and Carley got out. “I’m just going to go and relax for a moment. I need to recharge after using all that light earlier.”
Tara gave him a knowing look. “Sure, you go and take it easy. We’ll reconvene later. I’ll see if anyone has heard from Tianado.”
“You go and take a few minutes to regroup, and we’ll be waiting for you in on the tech floor in an hour or so. Okay?” Carley said.
“Okay,” Maven said, giving them both a grateful smile. “Thank you for today. I couldn’t have done it without you.”
“We know,” Tara said. She touched his cheek softly. “Come on down when you’re ready.”
“Okay.” Maven said. He took the elevator up to his floor. He tapped his foot impatiently, then let out a breath of relief when the doors opened. He stepped out into the hallway, slid his key into the lock, and entered his apartment.
Except there was already someone inside.
Captain Maven and the Shadow Man – Chapter Five
Chapter Five
Maven looked at Gregory. He looked angry.
It didn’t matter what emotion his face was wearing; Gregory was always gorgeous to Maven. Gregory could look beautiful if he was crying, yelling, or laughing. Each emotion just enhanced his beauty. Though of course, the fact that he was still giving Maven the finger did put a damper on things.
“How nice of you to drop in,” Gregory said. “I would offer you something to drink, but I’m afraid I’m a little tied up at the moment.” He wriggled his hands to illustrate the point. His attempt at humour made his eyes narrow and Maven realized how angry he really was.
“It’ll be okay, babe. We got this.” Maven said.
“Oh, so this is you getting it?” He rolled his eyes. “Thank goodness, I was sincerely afraid for a moment!” The vein on the side of his head pulsed like it did when he was livid. Maven wanted to run over and pull Gregory to him, tell him that everything would be okay, except there was a shadow that was taking over the room.
Amidst the twinkling lights, ornaments, and presents that sat wrapped under the Christmas tree, there was a shadowy shape taking up most of the room. Even as the shadow moved and shifted in front of them, there was a vaguely man-like shape within the clouds of shadow. Tara moved in front of Carley and Maven.
“I take it you’re Max Shadow,” she said.
“Very well ascertained. What gave it away?”
“The fact that you look like a fucking ink blot, maybe?” Carley said.
The shadow man let out a short laugh that sounded like footsteps over broken glass. “You’ve got a sense of humour. That won’t make a difference, but I do appreciate the bravado.”
Maven moved closer to the mass of darkness. “You wanted me to come here, now I’m here. What do you have to say for yourself?”
“Only this: leave me alone and stay out of matters that don’t concern you,” the shadow said.
“See, that’s where you’re wrong. You and Cracklepuss have kidnapped children and you got my attention by holding my boyfriend hostage,” Maven said.
“I’m not your boyfriend,” Gregory said.
“Stay out of this,” Maven countered. “The thing is, we’re all involved.”
“And we’re pissed!” Carley said. “I mean, what kind of scumbag kidnaps children at Christmas?”
The shadow man let out a laugh that sounded like nails on a chalkboard. “Well, we did obviously.”
“What do you want with them?” Tara asked. She was narrowing her gaze, and Maven knew that she was trying to look into his mind even though he wasn’t asleep. Maven could also see the moment she met the wall that Max Shadow had put up around himself, because her eyes widened and then she scowled at him. Normally, people would melt under that scowl, but not the shadow man.
“Like we’re going to tell you anything. Just stop looking for me, stop looking for Cracklepuss and let us get our work done.” Max said.
“I don’t get it,” Carley said. “You go through all the trouble of holding Gregory hostage just to get our attention?”
“Seemed like a good idea at the time, what with Captain Maven Man over there poking his nose in where it isn’t wanted and all of you trying to find Cracklepuss. You won’t find him; I’ve hidden him well. You won’t ever find out what we’re up to either, so you can quit bothering us.”
“Is this the first time you’ve been at the rodeo?” Carley asked. “You do know how this works, don’t you? You do something horrible and then we kick your ass. It’s this game we superheroes like to play, you see.”
“And yet,” Max Shadow said. “We’ve just gabbed like a group of friends over the comforting sounds of a fire. None of you have tried to do anything. I felt both of you trying to get into my head. It won’t work, you know.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Maven said. He held out his hand and his staff of light appeared, the crystal at the top already full and bright. The light burned through the shadows that surrounded Max and they melted away as if they were made of liquid smoke.
“Stop it!” Max Shadow said. “What are you doing?” He tried to gather the shadows in his arms as if the shadows were his children and he wanted to keep them safe. They continued to melt, and they stained Gregory’s rug like black tar.
Making the light as bright as he could, Maven moved closer to the shadow man. He sent a bolt of light at the shadows that moved and writhed on either side of Max Shadow, and they withered and screamed as if the shadows themselves were alive.
“Stop it!” the shadow man cried. “Stop it please!” He tried to gather the dust that the shadows had become, tried to pull the fragments up off of the carpet, but they disintegrated in his hands. “Please, you’re hurting me!”
Maven shot another bolt of light at him, taking out two more shadows that screamed when the light touched them. “You want me to stop?” Maven asked, letting yet another bolt fly taking out the shadow that had been trying to curl around Max’s arms. Max was holding his arm close to himself as if to protect the shadow. “You infiltrated the home of the man I love and have been working with a known villain to kidnap children. I don’t think I’m going to stop.”
Maven turned up the light from his sceptre another notch so that the light was all that could be seen. The rest of Max’s shadows fled, and Maven saw him as he really was. Max Shadow was just a man. He looked older than he should have, as if something had aged him prematurely. He had sandy-coloured hair and scruff on his chin as if he hadn’t shaved in a few days. His eyes were black as if made of darkness, and he wore a ragged coat over a threadbare shirt with a pair of ripped jeans. He was actually starting to whimper.
Tara, Carley and Maven took in the actual face of Max Shadow and Maven made to move closer when the light on his sceptre began to flicker, throwing the room into light and shadow. That was all that Max needed. They watched as the shadow man reached into the shadow nearest him and pulled himself into the temporary darkness. When the sceptre of light came back on again, Max Shadow was gone.
“Shit!” Maven said. “Sorry guys, I’ve never had the brightness up that high.”
“That’s okay, Maven. We learned a lot tonight,” Tara said.
“Yeah, like we can defeat him with light!” Carley said. “And he can be hurt!”
“What about what I learned?” Gregory said.
They all turned to him in shock. Maven ran over and untied the ropes that were binding him to the chair. “Gregory, I’m sorry, I should have untied you!”
He grimaced. “Whatever,” he said. “But you might be interested to know that they are kidnapping children because they burn the brightest. They want their light.”
“But the shadow man was repelled by it,” Tara said.
“Yes, but look at what Arnold’s light did. They want to harness it. A child’s light is the most powerful.”
“How do you know all of this?” Carley said.
“He called this crackhead guy from my phone. Just hit redial if you want to talk to him. Better yet, you can go and collect him. He has the children staying in a large warehouse out on Queenview Drive. Apparently, they’re driving him crazy. And stop looking in my fucking head Carley. I’m telling the truth.”
“But how do you know all of this?” Maven asked.
“He may be full of fucking shadows, but that idiot likes to talk a lot. He called Cracklepuss and they got into an argument over the phone. Crackhead said that the shadow fucker shouldn’t be taking time to deal with you, that all that mattered was the children. He was standing next to me, so I heard the whole conversation. You’re welcome.”
Gregory turned away from all of them and looked at his ruined living room. The walls looked as if they had been covered in soot and his Christmas tree was smoking slightly. There was a tar-like substance on the carpet.
“Um, you have a…very beautiful place here?” Tara said.
“You can just go, the lot of you.” Gregory said. “And none of that just disappearing through a fucking mystical portal. Use the goddamned door like everyone else.”
“Gregory, I-” Maven began.
Gregory held up a hand. “I am in no mood for whatever you have to say.” He pointed at the door. “Go. Now. Please.”
They all shuffled towards the door and Gregory held it open for them then slammed it behind them. Maven stood there shellshocked. To be so near the man he loved and to be treated like that, after saving his life.
“It’s okay, honey!” Carley said. “Look how well that turned out!”
“What are you talking about?” Maven asked.
“Well, Gregory said please! That’s got to be a step in the right direction, doesn’t it?”
Captain Maven and the Shadow Man – Chapter Four
Chapter Four
The morning came.
Maven fully expected that the shadow man would find him sometime at night, stretching out of the walls to grab hold of him. He was mildly surprised to wake to another grey and cold morning. Of course, he would have known if someone had broken into his apartment, shadow or not.
Still, he wondered if the shadow man would come for him as Tara had said he might. It still wouldn’t bring them any closer to finding the children who had been taken, but maybe he could use the light that he carried in his cup and his staff so that the shadow man would be blinded by the light. It was a nice thought, but Maven didn’t think it would be that easy. There was still the problem of Cracklepuss, who normally loved being front and centre. Maven wondered why he was hiding in the shadows of the shadow man?
Shaking his head, Maven got out of bed and looked out at the city around him. It had snowed again overnight, and it was still pristine, no one had walked upon it. Snow was still falling lazily through the sky. He could almost pretend that the world wasn’t going to shit and that he had no idea what to do. People thought that being a superhero was all battles with bad guys, posing for pictures, and interviews with reporters, but it was so much more mundane than that most of the time. They still had to find the criminals and they were more like private eyes than anything else. Sure, they had powers, but the powers didn’t do any good unless you could find the fuckers first.
He showered and dressed just as the sun was beginning to show itself along the horizon. Maven loved this time of day, before the rest of the world woke, and he could pretend that he was looking down at his own private kingdom. Then the thoughts of Gregory slipped into his head. He let out a sigh. So much for that then. Maven poured himself a coffee and turned to look at his cup of power on the mantle. He had to break himself of the habit. He couldn’t keep checking on Gregory, it wasn’t fair to him, and it wasn’t fair to himself. Maven knew that he couldn’t keep torturing himself this way. They were done for good now. He had to let Gregory go and make room for new beginnings.
He let out an even deeper sigh and went looking for a shot of booze that he could put in his coffee, but his phone rang before he could find his bottle of rum. Wondering who could be calling at this hour, he picked it up and saw Gregory’s number on the call display.
Maven dropped the phone back on the table as if it had burned him.
Why the fuck was Gregory calling him? He had yelled at Maven and said that he never wanted to see him again; Gregory was always one for melodrama, but still. Maven had been trying to get used to the idea of never seeing Gregory again and now Gregory was calling him? What the actual fuck? Despite his wish to talk to Gregory, Maven ignored the phone and let the call go to voicemail. Breathing a sigh of relief, Maven resumed his search for the rum when the phone rang again. Looking at the call display, Maven saw that it was Gregory again. Feeling a sense of unease that he could not explain, he answered the phone.
“Hello?” He almost whispered this, afraid that Gregory would realize he’d misdialed and hang up.
“Hello Arnold,” Gregory always did refuse to call him Maven. He disliked the way superheroes had made-up names, and didn’t buy it when Maven told him that the name of a superhero was everything. It added to their mystique. Gregory sounded pissed.
The sound of Gregory’s voice still sent shivers down his spine, though maybe it had a lot to do with the way he said his name, as if it was taking all his strength to even say it. “Hi Gregory, how are you?” He tried to keep his voice light, not too hopeful, but just enough.
“Well, I’m not doing so well. You see, there is a man here named Max Shadow and he wants to talk to you.”
“I don’t know anyone named Max Shadow.” Maven said.
“Well, he certainly knows who you are. Get your ass over here. Now.” He hung up the phone.
Maven tried to tell himself that Gregory hadn’t asked him over to reconcile, he had told Maven to come over because of someone else who was there, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. Then something clicked. Max Shadow! Could this be the elusive shadow man that had drawn his finger across his neck? Could it be the same shadow man that had almost materialized out of his cup of power?
He pulled his cup off the mantle and looked within it. He didn’t have to force his mind to think of anything to get the cup to work, because Gregory was always on his mind these days. The cup’s portal took him to Gregory’s apartment, and he could see Gregory sitting with the shadow man that he had seen the other night through the cup. Gregory sat with his legs and arms tied to a chair, but he was still giving Maven the finger. Gregory knew that Maven would use the cup. Maven supposed he deserved that, but still. The shadow man, this Max Shadow, let out a short laugh. Then the scene was filled with blackness shot through with white spider-like threads that began to fill the dark. They looked like cracks formed along black ice, and as he watched, those cracks became larger and larger until the whole of what he could see was a mass of white spiderweb lines. When those lines broke apart there was an audible crack, and the shadows slowly disappeared until he was left looking at the bottom of his cup. Gregory, he thought. “I have to get to Gregory.”
The first thing he did however, was to go and find Tara and Carley. They were in the boardroom. He knew they would be there. They always rose earlier than the boys and began planning what they would need to do for the day.
They were the brains behind the group, really. He may be Captain Maven, but he knew that the group of them worked together as a team. It was the way it had always been. Maven knew that there were several times when he would have died if it hadn’t been for one member of his team. They didn’t do anything without telling the others. Well, all except Tianado. He just did what he wanted to do, but it was to the betterment of the team. Maven knew that the man was able to use the darkness to his advantage, but he wished that Tianado would tell the others what he was up to; he still hadn’t returned. It didn’t matter now, only Gregory mattered.
He rushed to grab his cup off the mantle, put it in his belt pouch, and ran to the elevator. It was waiting for him, and he took it down to the kitchen. He knew that Carley and Tara would be there. He tapped his foot until the doors opened, and his thoughts of Gregory propelled him forwards. Bursting into the kitchen, he saw that Tara and Carley were sharing a morning cup of coffee, the sun beginning to stream through the windows. He would have normally spent a moment to compliment them both, saying that they looked lovely in sunlight, but Maven didn’t have the words. All he could say was “Gregory!” and held up his cup as if it were a symbol of salvation.
Tara looked at Maven and smiled kindly. “It’s okay Maven, did you have a dream again?”
“No, I-”
“Honey, I could have spent the night if you wanted me to,” Carley said. “I know how you have nightmares. I could have taken them away.”
“No, Gregory! He’s in trouble!”
“Honey, you only think he’s in trouble without you,” Carley said.
“No!” He held his cup out to them, trying to make them understand. “The shadow man has Gregory. He’s with him right now. Gregory called me and he’s in trouble,” Maven tried to ignore the sweet feeling he felt, knowing that Gregory had reached out to him. The fact that the shadow man was holding him hostage because of him did nothing to lessen the sweetness of the feeling.
He could feel Carley looking inside of his head and Maven saw her eyes widen. “Oh my god!” She said, “The shadow man has Gregory! He’s serious!”
“What can we do?” Tara asked. “We won’t be able to get there quickly enough. We have to find a way to trap the shadow man.”
“His name is Max Shadow, and my primary concern is making sure that Gregory is safe.” Maven told them.
“Yes, all well and good honey, but we know that the shadow man has been helping Cracklepuss. This is our chance to find out what he’s been up to.” Carley said. “We can’t pass it up.”
“But Gregory-”
“Is still alive, and he will be until we get there. The shadow man is using him as bait, you know this Maven.” Tara said. “Don’t let your heart get in the way of your common sense.”
The harshness in her words gave Maven the focus he needed. “Right. You’re both right. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome honey. Now how are we going to get there?” Carley asked.
Maven held up his cup. “With this.”
“Honey, there’s no way. Your cup shows you things, it doesn’t take you there.”
He had been thinking about it. It made sense. He remembered what had happened when he had first seen the shadow man, the form that had started to rise out the depths of the cup and it had made the lights flicker as if they were in the middle of a storm. Ever since that had happened, he’d wondered if he’d been ignorant of what his cup could really do. It was his cup after all. He decided how he used it. Gods, I hope this works, Maven thought.
Looking into his cup of power and thinking of Gregory, Maven tried to recall the feeling of Gregory’s hair running through his fingers, or the taste of Gregory’s lips against his. He could hear the timbre of Gregory’s voice when he laughed, feel the brush of his skin as Gregory ran his hands along the knuckles of Maven’s hands.
He watched Gregory come to life at the bottom of his cup of power, but the more he thought of Gregory, the wider the portal he was looking through grew. Even though he was holding the cup, the circle of the cups opening began to expand, as if someone was pulling it wider. Maven knew that he was doing this, that somehow he was managing to bend and shape time and space. He has never done this before, but it felt so natural to him when he was thinking of Gregory. He had been part of Maven’s world for so long that Maven was pretty sure Gregory had all of Maven’s heart. The wider the portal grew, the more he could see into Gregory’s apartment. Tara let out a gasp as the hole became big enough for all three of them to step through. Sitting so close that Maven could reach out and touch him, Gregory turned his arm. Even though it was tied to a chair, he still gave Maven the finger.
“I see his feelings still haven’t changed,” Carley said.
“What do we do now, Maven?” Tara asked as the air around them began to crackle and snap with electricity. There was no urgency to her voice, she was just as awestruck as he was.
“Hold on to me,” he said. Maven didn’t know if they would be able to enter the portal if they were not holding on to him, but he didn’t want to chance it. They each took one of his wrists and they stepped through the portal, the air around them crackling even more.
Maven could feel the electricity run along his skin, the thinness of the veil separating where they were and where they wanted to go. There was a loud snap as they finally came through and then the cup was left spinning in Maven’s grasp, the portal closing behind them. Maven didn’t know how for long he could have kept the portal open, but he didn’t want to chance keeping it open for longer than he needed to on his first try. He put the cup in the pouch on his belt. There was another loud snap as the portal closed and they were there, in Gregory’s apartment. Maven was marvelling that he had actually done it when Gregory spoke.
“Well, took you long enough,” he said.
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Jamieson Wolf has written a compelling story about navigating multiple sclerosis and cerebral palsy. His story will touch your heart, make you cry, then laugh, and inspire you. A touching memoir with a bit of magic…and tarot! ~ Theresa Reed, author of The Tarot Coloring Book
Jamieson Wolf 