In The Shadows

Chapter Seventeen: Cameo

Elowen had completely forgotten she had Henry's phone until it started ringing early the next morning, pulling her from a deep and, thankfully, dreamless sleep. The book she'd been reading the night before slide off her chest when she sat up and the bedside lamp was still on.

She trudged to the kitchen where she'd left the device to charge on her old phone's charger. The screen displayed an incoming call from J, who she could only guess was Julian. Henry's phone had four contacts in all: K, J, M, and H. And no apps besides the standard factory ones already installed. She guessed he didn't have much time to play the latest games and check Instagram with a doppelganger in town.

"Hello?" she answered, sounding more like a frog than a human with sleep still in her throat. She cleared it noisily and sat at the kitchen table where she put her head down.

Julian didn't reply at first and then burst out, "Elowen? Why are you answering Henry's phone?" There was some noise in the background and Kasper's voice drifted through the speaker. What he said got lost somewhere between here and there.

"Oh." Elowen, now more awake, tried to remember why she did have Henry's phone. "He lent it to me. My new one won't be here until next week." It wasn't the entire truth but it worked since she was supposed to be at Ivy's. She didn't think Julian would be happy to find out she hadn't followed Mitri's advice. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

"No," Julian responded too quickly. "It's nothing. Sorry for waking you―"

"Julian, did something happen?"

The line went silent long enough that Elowen pulled back to make sure Julian hadn't hung up on her. His intake of breath was loud enough to echo across the line.

"We found one of Cadmus's hangouts in Harlem last night," he finally said. "It was pretty bad. It's the first we've come this close in weeks so we're going back tonight. That's why I'm looking for Henry."

Elowen wanted to ask what bad meant and how bad, but held back because she likely didn't want to know the details. "I'm not sure where he is. He gave me his phone last night and left," she said as she ambled over to the coffee maker. She put a cup under the dispenser and turned it on. The bitter smell helped her to wake up a bit more. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"I could use some company," Kasper piped up from the background. "I have to make a trip to Cleo's for a few ingredients for the serum."

With the store closed until further notice, there was nothing much to do while Ivy went to classes and on her dates. Elowen agreed to meet Kasper at the subway station on Fulton. While the coffee made, she pulled on warm clothes and pocketed Henry's phone after sending the burner phone's number to Julian for him to call. Kasper already waited for her when she got to the station, his ash-blond hair curling around his ears. She'd assumed it was his natural hair color but now she second-guessed it. He wore a green coat and round Harry Potter style glasses even though it was obvious he didn't need them. Elowen couldn't help but laugh.

"Cute," she said by way of greeting. He flashed her a white smile and lead the way underground, already talking about something he saw on the Internet the night before. Some new trends with the potential to poison you. They rode the subway, switching between companionable silence and comments about such random subjects that Elowen forgot half of them by the time they arrived at Cleo's. Kasper was a big fan of Marvel, especially Deadpool, and collected comic books as a hobby. Apparently he had an extensive collection and some copies signed by Stan Lee himself.

Cleo's apartment midtown was modern: black and white everywhere. The artwork on the walls matched the scheme in only paints of black, white, or grey and the books on the shelves in the living room were organized with their spines in so that the only color you saw from them were their white pages. There weren't even books with yellowed pages from use and age. Elowen wondered how she kept the white sofa so pristine when she perched on the edge of the cushions. Though her clothes were entirely clean, she feared some imaginary dirt might rub off on the white fabric and avoided sitting on more of the cushion than she needed to.