Amber Deen Leska

Amber Deen’s eyes darted around the room. Only three people inside—her, the girl in front of her, and the boy with his back turned to them, feverishly working on the enigmatic machine. With the room’s lone window closed and the door behind her, one of these kids had to be the man with the maroon beanie. They probably also had a stealth ability because she didn’t see anyone else enter, but two of them were here.

Dario and the others hadn’t mentioned having fought shapeshifting Adumbrae, but Deen assumed these two worked for the 2Ms. That was the most logical explanation. If she was wrong, they were still Adumbrae and certainly up to no good. She had to stop whatever they planned to do.

“Though you’re not in Radi’s memories,” the little girl continued with a finger on her temple and a raised brow. “I can’t access it now, but I’m sure that if someone as beautiful as you were related to him; you’d be forefront on his mind and I’d remember you.”

“Ugh, I don’t know—” Deen began to say, still feigning she was hurt. Outnumbered and clueless of their powers, she shouldn’t act rashly.

“What’s going on back there?” said the boy. A spark and a puff of smoke; he cursed and more mechanical sounds followed.

“The woman following us woke up.”

“I don’t understand this wir—What? I thought you knocked her out?”

“Apparently not.” The small girl tilted her head to the left and gave Deen a playful smile. “I’m going to fix that.”

[ Jump back.]

Deen pushed herself up and rolled through the door. The little girl’s punch landed where she laid moments ago, the tiny fist breaking through the floorboards. Gabe continued to give instructions.

Splinters flew. Deen raised her hand to cover her face, palm out as Gabe instructed. A piece of wood landed in the middle of her hand. She hid that she grabbed something as she studied her opponent.

Their eyes met, then they both stared at the hole on the floor. The girl’s hit would’ve killed a normal human—she had realized Deen wasn’t one. “You’d make a precious addition to my wardrobe,” the girl said.

“Can you keep it down?” the boy called out. “I’m concentrating on the instructions here.”

[Throw it. Fake aim girl. Aim window.]

“I’m just greeting our new—oh!” The girl shifted left. The piece of wood flew past her and hit the window on the other side of the room.

Broken glass showered on the boy and his machine. There were sparks. “Hey!” the boy exclaimed. “Watch it—!”

[Run.]

Deen bolted, the red-haired girl was hot on her heels. She followed her Guardian Angel’s instructions on where to run. She went inside the next room and closed the door. The girl kicked down the door. Already knowing what was going to happen, Deen ducked below the girl’s kick and exited the room.

She dashed down the corridor, turned left into a large room full of boxes, likely a storage room, and picked up the first box she passed as she headed for the other door.

[Go low. Throw box left.]

She complied, crouching as she ran, and hurled the box she held at the tall stack of more boxes. Just as the box tower teetered off-balance, her pursuer burst through the wooden wall. The girl’s hands were stretched out, trying to grab her. But since Deen already preemptively stooped, the girl overshot and was covered by the boxes that fell.

Deen went out and continued to the end of the floor. She could hear the girl rampaging. Checking behind her, she saw the little girl destroy more walls to get back to the corridor.

“Am I just going to run?” she asked her Guardian Angel as climbed the staircase, skipping several steps with each stride. “They’re already separated. I can fight her.”

[Jump.]

As she did, tiny hands pierced through the floor.

[Don’t let her touch you.]

The little girl smashed the rest of the wooden planks and climbed to the floor Deen was on. Her hands glowed purple, emitting heavy smoke of the same color that seemed to solidify into wiggling tendrils. A mischievous smirk was on her face.

“Help me fight her,” Deen furiously whispered at Gabe. Those hands were obviously dangerous, but from what she’d observed, the little girl wasn’t especially strong or fast, or even well-versed in fighting—just indiscriminately destroying everything. “I can’t run forever. I need to stop these Adumbrae.” With her Guardian Angel’s guidance, she could defeat this girl, and then move on to the boy. To defeat an Adumbrae meant killing them…she was prepared to do it.

“What are you mumbling over there?” said the girl. “Come on, show me your ability. Fight back.”

Gabe told Deen to weave through the rooms again. She resigned herself to following the instructions for now even though she couldn’t see their point. What if she stood her ground and fought the girl so Gabe would be forced to help her?

Notwithstanding her small size, the kid was a mini-wrecking ball, ignoring walls and closed doors to catch her.

I’m really going to fight her! Deen yelled in her head as she evaded the girl’s grasp yet again. The boy might be done fixing the machine and come too. With or without your—

[Next room. Fight her there.]

Did Gabe just respond to her? That counted as a direct response, didn’t it? Deen couldn’t remember that had ever happened before. She had a grin on her face as she rushed to the next room.

Sure enough, the girl burst through the wall. Deen was waiting with a kick, catching the girl in the stomach, sending her flying upwards.

The girl’s body smashed against the ceiling. She buried her fingers into the wood, stopping herself from falling back down. Then she flipped herself over and scuttled all cockroach-like across the ceiling before diving down at Deen with her hands forward.

Deen avoided it thanks to Gabe’s promptings.

Upon landing, the girl crawled up the wall and leaped at Deen. She repeated this again and again, inhumanly scurrying to another position, finding a different angle, before diving, becoming faster and faster.

Although Gabe taught her how to evade, Deen was still grazed a few times. This was the weakness of her power—a straight-up fight. Gabe could warn her only when the attack was about to happen, otherwise, the enemy would change her actions. Furthermore, her Guardian Angel gave short instructions. Combined with the delay in understanding and following them, it was inevitable she’d still get hit.

Fortunately, the wounds were shallow and beginning to heal. They did sting a lot. The purple smoke seemed to erode whatever it touched; a slight contact easily wounded her.

The girl climbed the wall directly opposite the door, kicked off it, heading straight for Deen.

Deen was prepared. She bent back, intentionally falling, grabbing the girl’s arms that missed her just below the fists coated with the dangerous purple miasma. The girl kicked her, the tiny feet digging into the sides of her chest, probably breaking a couple of ribs. Deen clenched her teeth, stopping herself from crying out; she already expected this. Ignoring the pain, she kneed the girl’s stomach with everything she got and threw her out the corridor.

Coughing out blood, the girl picked herself up.

Deen wasn’t done. She jumped up and, with both feet, kicked down the girl.

Both of them shot through the floor down to the level below.

Deen quickly got back to her feet. “Huh? Why here?” she said. They landed right outside the room with the boy and the machine. Doubtless, this was part of her Guardian Angel’s plan. But she didn’t know how it could be a good idea to bring the two children back together. She had enough trouble with just one.

The girl shoved off the debris that covered her. “You know how to fight,” she said, wiping off the blood dripping down the side of her mouth.

“Hedley, you still haven’t taken care of her?” The boy approached them. He had a similar shade of red hair and deep blue eyes as the girl. Actually, their faces were eerily similar that they could be twins. The machine behind him was damaged, emitting more smoke, minute sparks exploding all over it.

“I was just having fun with—huh? What happened to that?”

“I’m not certain, other than it’s certainly busted. Pieces of glass from the broken window lodged into the wiring and I’ve given up trying to fix it. You shouldn’t have fought near the generator. But that’s it for that, what did you learn about our beautiful friend?”

The girl, apparently called Hedley, said, “She’s definitely not human. An Adumbrae?” Her eyes lingered on Deen’s wounds that had healed.

Deen was about to protest, but stopped herself, realizing she didn’t have any plausible excuse.

Hedley continued, “Following us, trying to stop us, an enemy for sure. Did Auron Cohenn send you?”

“Auron? The PCM leader? I’m not part of the PCM!” Deen truthfully exclaimed. Were the PCM enemies of the 2Ms? Their leader did say they were going to attack the hospital, and the 2Ms were conducting terrible experiments there. “And I wasn’t trying to stop you or anything. I was just following the man with the maroon beanie, that’s why I was in the rally. I really don’t have any connection to the PCM or Auron.”

“Following Radi?”

“I didn’t know he was you two…that you were, uh, using his appearance.”

The boy held out his hand to the girl. “Hedley, let’s merge and quickly dispose of her. We still need to look for another field generator and megaphone.” Their clasped hands gave off purple light.

[Say you’re an Adumbrae. Tell the truth and make peace.]

“Wait! Yes, I am an Adumbrae.” Deen held up her hands to show she meant no harm. “That’s why we shouldn’t fight because we’re all Adumbrae here, right?”

“Other Adumbrae don’t necessarily like us,” the girl said.

Deen didn’t know what that meant, but the good news was they didn’t continue attacking her. “I-I don’t know anything about that. I only know one other Adumbrae, my best friend. She’s just beginning to get seeded, and I’m protecting her. That’s the reason I was following this man called Radi because I thought he hurt her last night.”

The boy turned to the girl. “Why aren’t we merging yet?”

Deen tensed up. The machine was destroyed; these two couldn’t continue with their evil plot. As much as she wanted to kill them, she knew there was little chance of that succeeding now. It was apparent Gabe wanted her to befriend them and then wait for an opening to escape.

“Wait a moment, Kow,” said Hedley, letting go of the boy’s hand. “She might be telling the truth. The woman Radi was chasing last night—she turned out to be an Adumbrae, remember? She killed Radi—”

“Erind killed someone?” Deen had been expecting her best friend to kill humans, but the revelation still caught her off-guard. This would explain the lost hoodie; it was covered with blood and she had to ditch it—not the first time Erind had bloody clothes. Oh no! I shouldn’t have said her real name.

“Left him for dead, is what I meant. I just hastened his death because we needed his body. She did kill Radi's friend. What do you know about it?”

“Uh…all I know is that man was after her, and I—”

“Erind?” asked the boy called Kow. “Is that her name? It sounds familiar.”

Deen waited a couple of seconds for her Guardian Angel to speak. Nothing came, so she nodded to Kow. “Yes, Erind is my Adumbrae friend.” She assumed this was still covered by her Guardian’s Angel’s advice to ‘tell the truth.’ However, if they knew Erind’s name, didn’t that mean they were really with the 2Ms? But they weren’t acting with hostility.

“If you’re her friend, then we probably met before,” Kow said. Deen raised a brow. The way he talked, it was as if they weren’t enemies. He grabbed Hedley’s hand. “I’m going to check something. I’ll use my wardrobe. Don’t go to sleep.”

“Owhkaaay,” Hedley replied.

Deen readied herself to fight. Gabe was quiet.

A flash of light and the twins were gone.

In their place stood someone she recognized—Dr. Cornelio, the man in charge of the laboratory Johann worked at.

Deen gasped. “It was you back then?”

Dr. Cornelio bowed as a greeting. “I go by Hedley Kow. And yes, we’ve met.”

“Yo-you’re…you’re just one person?”

“Correct. The power I received from the Adumbrae split me into two bodies with different personas. Hedley and Kow can each absorb dead bodies, storing their data—appearances, memories, and all—in their respective, what I call, wardrobes. I can only access the memories of a specific person by wearing their skin as either Hedley or Kow, depending on who absorbed who. That’s why I wasn’t able to immediately recognize you. I only saw you as Dr. Cornelio for a couple of minutes, and at that time, I was focused on your friend, Erind Hartwell. I didn’t know you’re an Adumbrae too, and significantly further along into seeding than her it seems.”

“How did you know about her condition?” Deen said, following Gabe’s script. She herself wanted answers. “Erind hasn’t begun to change. That’s why I was confident she’ll pass the tests.” Was this Adumbrae, Hedley Kow, not with the 2Ms after all? Could they help Erind? Did she even want them to befriend Erind?

“You’re right, all her tests turned out fine. The BRF Umbrella, however, had an anomalous reading. Using Dr. Cornelio’s brain, I deduced your friend was about to start changing pretty soon. And that’s why I extended her some help.”

“What help?”

“I inserted a bookmark among her certificates. If she researched into it, assuming she’s smart enough, she’d be able to find a safe haven for Adumbrae.”

That explains the mysterious bookmark. “The hot coffee that spilled on you…”

“Was a surprise,” Hedley Kow replied. “But then I realized I could use it to signal to your friend that the one who gave her the bookmark wasn’t human like her, which was why I chose not to react.”

“I see…” Deen processed everything she just heard. She didn’t know what direction to go next. They weren’t with the 2Ms, which was good news. But she didn’t know what group they belonged to, or what their intentions were. She still didn’t have an answer whether she should try to ally with them or not.

“This is truly unexpected to meet like this.” Another flash of light and the twins were back.

“Are we taking her with us?” Hedley said. “And her friend too?”

“Excuse me?” Deen said in alarm.

“It’s for your own safety,” Kow said. “Your friend lived in the condominium building that was attacked by Adumbrae, right?”

“Uh, yes…”

“Long story short, those weren’t Adumbrae that attacked the place but humans forcefully turned into monsters...by Adumbrae.”

“How do you know about something like that? Are you—?”

“No, we’re not the ones responsible for it,” Hedley said. “In fact, we’re trying to stop something similar from happening again. That’s why Kow was trying to do something with that machine. It may be hard to believe, but we’re good guys. And you’re extremely lucky that you met us.”

“You see,” Kow said, “we can help you—you and your friend. Not only to survive as an Adumbrae but also to try and keep your human mind even if your body is taken over by the Adumbrae. The two of you are the perfect candidates for us to help because your seeding is in the initial stages.”

“I don’t understand,” Deen said, unsure of what path her Guardian Angel led her into. These two seemed to be misunderstanding something, but then again, she did lie to them.

“We have driven the Adumbrae within us to the corners of our mind,” both Hedley and Kow said in unison. “Fully controlling our bodies and powers, exercising our free will as we see fit. We may no longer be human, but our…my original human mind is still intact. We can help you and Erind achieve this, that’s why we want you to come with us.”