 
                      The Shadow Knight Chronicles
 
The Shadow Knight Chronicles  

By Gambit
 
 
 
 
 
_Chapter Three_
 
_ _
 
_ _
 
Light filtered through the window, making the sleeping form on the bed
stir. The form tossed and turned as if he were in a bad dream, the
covers were wrapped around him in a very constricting manor.
 
 
 
Reaching blindly, Ethan grabbed the pair of mirror-plated shades that
were on the nightstand. His eyes were still firmly closed as he slipped
them on. *Much better. *The sleepy boy thought as his eyes slowly
cracked opened.
 
 
 
He noticed two things at that moment. The first was that he was the
only one in his bed. He distinctly remembered going to sleep with her
the night before. *The night before . . . Fuck! It worked. *He thought
wildly, sitting straight up in bed.
 
 
 
The teenager pulled his covers off and got out of bed completely naked,
smiling as he remembered last night’s festivities. Then he frowned,
wondering where Heather was. Ethan walked to his dresser and pulled out
some clothes for the day. As he looked in the mirror that was on the
dresser, he saw something on his muscular chest. It was a symbol of
sorts. It looked like small tiger vaguely, but had the coloring of a
hickey.
 
 
 
*Huh. *He thought.
 
 
 
In all truth, Ethan didn’t know whether to be exited or a bit scared
about this new development. He didn’t exactly know why he was changing
so much. And the more he thought about it, the more it scared him.
After all, would he change more? And what price would there be for
these gifts?
 
 
 
He sat back down on his bed and let out an explosive sigh as he put on
his shoes. *And to top it off, Heather might be mad at me. *He thought.
 
 
 
As he looked at the nightstand by the bed, he saw that it read 11:45.
He almost slapped himself in the forehead. He never slept that late
before. *Could it be because of the changes? Does my body need that
much rest?* He mused.
 
 
 
The reason that it worried him was because of the fact that he was the
type of person that only slept four to five hours a night. He did the
math in his head and realized he slept thirteen hours. He never slept
that long in his life.
 
 
 
Ethan jerked his head up at the sound of the door. It was a fairly
light knock, so he knew that it wasn’t Tosh. Tosh just gave three heavy
thuds and opened the door. “Yeah?” He called out, standing up.
 
 
 
“Great, you’re awake.” Heather said as she walked into his room.
 
 
 
“Yeah, I guess I slept late enough last night, didn’t I?” He asked with
a wry shake of the head.
 
 
 
“Yeah, guess,” Heather started with more than a little nervousness in
her voice. “Listen, Ethan, we have to talk-- about last night, I mean.”
 
 
 
*Oh shit. She knows. *Was the first thing that popped into his mind.
But then he looked at the expression on her face and it was more regret
than anything else. “Well, you see, it’s like this,” She went on. “I
have a boy friend and . . .”
 
 
 
“And last night was a one time thing?” He finished for her watching her
nod. Then he nodded, very gladly. “I’m glad you feel like that. I mean,
I thought that you was going to come in her and slap the shit out of
me.” He told the redhead.
 
 
 
Heather laughed a beautiful laugh. “As if. It was all my doing anyway.
Hell, I practically raped you.” Now she was blushing deep red.
 
 
 
*Thank god she doesn’t even know what happened. *He thought as he
looked at the beautiful eighteen year old. The possibility of that
would have been disastrous and Ethan knew it. 

 
 
The next thing he notice’s is Tosh sticking her head in his room. “Hey,
Bro. Could you do me a favor?”
 
 
 
Ethan looked at his sisters face and winced. He could tell that she was
in obvious pain. “What’s the favor?” No matter what she asked, he
promised himself that he would try his best to do it. That’s how guilty
he felt.
 
 
 
“Could you go to the store and get some aspirin. We’re out.” Tosh said
in an almost whisper. 

 
 
“Yeah, I was wanting to get some CD’s anyway. I was gonna to it
tomorrow, but now I just kill two birds with one stone.” he replied
with a smile.
 
 
 
“Not so loud, Bro.” Was his all his sister said, rubbing her temples as
she said it. Then she just went back down the hall and back into her
room. Her nice *quiet *room.
 
 
 
Both watched her go with pity in their eyes. “Hey, Heather, could you
maybe do me a favor? Watch her while I’m gone? I don’t like seeing her
sick like this,”
 
 
 
“Are you sure? It’s a two mile hike to the store and I would be happy
to drive you.” She replied politely. They both knew it was for show
though. Heather really wanted to watch over her friend. She hated
seeing her like that just as much as Ethan did.
 
 
 
“Yeah, I got some energy to burn . . . So, go see how she’s doing, ok?”
He asked again.
 
 
 
“You got it, kid.” Ordinarily Ethan would have argued over her use of
the word ‘*Kid’*, but the boy just had to much on his mind. “See ya
later.” She added as she disappeared into the hall.
 
 
 
Ethan was most certainly *not *lying when he said he had some energy to
burn. It felt like he was on meth, or crank to some people. He knew
what that felt like because he had a foster parent force it on him when
he was ten, just to see what it would do. He was up for days and had
more energy than he knew what to do with. The down side was when he
came down, he started hallucinating. *God, I hope it won’t be like that
with these changes.  *He considered*. *But in the back of his mind he
really knew that it would be nothing like that.
 
 
 
*Well, better get to walking. *He thought, grabbing his wallet off the
dresser. When he walked out the door he grabbed it and he was going to
shut it like he normally would, with the normal amount of strength and
got a surprise. The door knob came off in his hands as the door was
shut with vicious force.
 
 
 
He heard Tosh moan at the sound. 

 
 
*Yeah, I walk would do me some good. I _definitely _need to sort out my
thoughts. *He thought. He was really getting worried now.
 
 
 
 
 
**********************
 
 
 
 
 
The only thing that Ethan didn’t like about the mall were the people.
He really didn’t have much against a person singularly, just when they
were in large groups-- like in a mall. 

 
 
The first thing that he bought was Tosh’s aspirin. He really didn’t
want to forget that as he was going to look at the Music CDs at the
music store. He had about a total of thirty-five bucks in his pocket
after he bought the aspirin. *Then again, I could walk out with
anything in this store and not get caught. *He thought with
contemplation. But he knew that he could never do that. He never was
one for stealing.
 
 
 
Ethan walked towards the music store, fully hoping that the CD
*Everlast: Eat at Whitey’s *in. hat was when he felt it. It was on the
inside of his head. It was like when he used the mind control trick.
This was more of a low-grade buzzing that he could even hear, let alone
feel. It made his head feel funny and it oddly made him feel like
scratching his scalp.
 
 
 
The boy just shook his head and tried to clear it as he made his way
towards the music store. When he made it there, he automatically went
to searching in the “E” section. But he really couldn’t focus. The
buzzing sensation was starting to get on his nerves. Then all of the
sudden, it seemed to get stronger. 

 
 
Then for no apparent reason, Ethan jerked his head up and looked
directly to the left. What he saw was a little surprising. It was a
girl. But it was also a girl of likes of which Ethan had never met
before. And there was one thing that stood out on the girl that gave
Ethan a sense of wonderment, and, if he was truthful, dread.
 
 
 
The girl that stood no more than six feet from him had a sword that was
attached to the back of a thick leather jacket. The sword looked like a
Katana with a silver dragons head on the butt of it. Under the leather
jacket--he could tell because it was unzipped--was a black t-shirt that
was tucked into her skintight black jeans. To top it all off the girl
was wearing a pair silver tipped boots.
 
 
 
But what got Ethan was the fact that she was wearing the exact same
kind of shades that he was wearing. She also had the same shade of hair
he did. It was a little unnerving though, to have her just standing
there, like she was evaluating him. 

 
 
“Problem?” He asked in a neutral voice, taking a step towards her. She
took a step back, and all of the sudden he felt a wave of dizziness
wash over him. By sheer instinct alone, he realized that the girl
before him had entered his mind. With that same instinct, he locked her
out and lashed out.
 
 
 
The girl reached up and rubbed her temples, a lot like what Tosh was
doin when he left. She quit almost as quickly as she did it, though. As
if not wanting to show that she was in pain before him.
 
 
 
“Hunter, Tracker or Rogue?” She asked. Even though there was an edge to
her voice, Ethan had to admit that sound quite esthetical.
 
 
 
She might have been beautiful and her voice might have been lovely, but
Ethan thought that her manners were lacking. “What the hell are you
talking about?” He asked and there definitely an edge to his voice at
that point. 

 
 
It didn’t seem to faze the girl though. “Are you a Rogue, Hunter or
Tracker?” She asked slowly. There was a little uncertainty in her voice
now.
 
 
 
Ethan looked at the girl, who looked to be about his age, and thought
that she may be a little crazy. “My god, you really don’t know what you
are, do you?” She asked. There was even a note of pity in her voice.
 
 
 
“What’s your name?”
 
 
 
“Jesse Budroux. Second Adept,” She started, but before Ethan could
speak, she asked another question. “Have you even learned what you are
capable of yet? Or do you just play with peoples minds.” Jesse asked
that last question because that was all she was able to get from him
with her quick probe before he shut her out like a Master*. Who is this
kid? *She thought. A novice wouldn’t have even known she was probing
until it was to late. She saw Ethan go pale at the thought of being
caught and she had to smirk.
 
 
 
“Relax, I’m not judging. You’re really new to this aren’t you?”
 
 
 
“How ‘bout we go to someplace that’s a little less public to talk?” He
asked. Ethan would be lying if he said that he wasn’t more than a
little scared. *How did she know? *He thought wildly.
 
 
 
Jesse nodded. “I saw a small café that’s just a short walk from here.
I’m a little hungry, might as well kill two birds with one stone.” She
replied practically.
 
 
 
All Ethan could do was nod mutely. This was becoming a little too much
for his brain to process. “Yeah, sure. I could use something to drink.”
 
 
 
The both of them started walking down the line of stores in the mall.
He knew one thing for certain and he was completely baffled by
something else. The first was, the longer he stayed with this girl, the
more at ease he was. Well, there were two things that baffled him. The
first was the fact that no one seemed to mind this beautiful blonde
walking around the mall with a Katana strapped to hitch that was on the
back of her leather jacket.
 
 
 
“Why aren’t people freakin’ about the blade you have on your back?” he
asked, curiosity tinged his voice.
 
 
 
Jesse gave the boy a smirk. “I just give off a mental vibe that tells
them to ignore it.”
 
 
 
“Why do you carry it?” He asked as they walked into the small café were
there were very few people. They took a seat as far away from the
people as possible.
 
 
 
“I’ll answer that all in good time, maybe,” She started. “But first,
what’s your name?”
 
 
 
“Ethan.” He replied. A chubby little waitress chose that time to come
over to take their order. Ethan ordered a Mountain Dew and Jesse
ordered a hamburger with a Coke.
 
 
 
Jesse looked at the boy before her with a very serious expression.
“Look, I’m going to ask you something. And before you say no, I want to
take into consideration that I’m in a little bit of trouble and I don’t
know who I can trust.”
 
 
 
Ethan just cocked his head as if asking her to go on, then took a sip
of soda.
 
 
 
“I want you to let me into your mind-- to see if I can trust you.”
 
 
 
The word “NO” almost jumped immediately to his lips. But then he
thought about it and decided that he really didn’t have anything to
hide. But he did want something in return. “I’ll let you do it-- on one
condition.” He stated.
 
 
 
Jesse leveled her gaze on him.
 
 
 
“Let me see your eyes.” 

 
 
The girl decided that the few moments of irritation that the light
caused would be worth it if she could get a look into Ethan’s mind, to
make sure he wasn’t a threat. She lowered her mirror-plated shades and
gave him a level gaze with a small smile on her lips. “Now its my
turn.” She stated as she pushed back up her shades.
 
 
 
“Is gonna make me dizzy like it did last time?” He asked. He really
didn’t like the feeling. Ethan saw how she squinted against the light.
*We really are alike. *He though. *Maybe I can get some answers now.*
 
 
 
“No. You should only feel a slight tingle.” She didn’t tell him that a
novice wouldn’t feel anything at all. “And that’s because you gave me
your permission.”
 
 
 
“Do it.” He said with a note of finality, before he lost his nerve. 

 
 
Jesse didn’t have to be told twice. The whole thing only took about
five minutes, because she was *that *good at doing probes. She learned
everything about him since the time of his first memories. It gave her
only a slight headache doing a full probe like this.
 
 
 
Ethan felt the tingle, like she said he would. And after about five
minutes it was gone and he knew that she was out of his mind. When he
looked at her he was a little more than surprised. He saw a tear
rolling down her left cheek. He then did something that was completely
uncharacteristic of him. He reached out and wiped it away. “What’s
wrong?” He asked gently.
 
 
 
“Hell’s Outhouse . . . How did you survive it?” She asked in a terribly
sad voice.
 
 
 
Ethan was glad that he was wearing his shades, because, although he
wasn’t crying, his eyes misted. *Finally, someone that fully
understands. *He thought. He gave her a weak smile. “No other choice.”
He stated plainly. He was starting to feel really connected to this
girl named Jesse.
 
 
 
“You’re much braver than you let on, Ethan.” She replied, collecting
herself so that her voice didn’t waver. “You really don’t know about
the Shadow Knights?” She asked, after what all she saw in his mind, it
was the least she could do to explain it to him.
 
 
 
He shook his head negative. “What’s a Shadow Knight?”
 
 
 
“You and me, and a lot of other people. Shadow Knight’s are a cut above
the Normals, Ethan.” She said in a very serious manor. “We’re faster,
stronger and have a higher mental capacity. I want you to notice that I
didn’t say that we were *better, *though. We also have many of the same
faults.” She added this in a bitter tone.
 
 
 
Ethan leveled an intense gaze on her. “What kind of trouble are you
in?” 

 
 
“The Hunters from the Zone are looking for me.”
 
 
 
Ethan looked at the clock on the wall of the café, then back at the
beautiful Shadow Knight. “Come home with me.” He stated plainly. Even
he could hardly believe he said it.
 
 
 
“What?! Are you that dense, Ethan? I just said that Hunters were
looking for me. I won’t put you in that kind of danger.” She added the
last sentence softly. “Or your family.” She added and watched him
flinch at that prospect.
 
 
 
“It’s highly unlikely they would find you at my place. They would
probably look in places that they knew you would likely go to. Since
you’re the first Shadow Knight I’ve met, I damn well know none of them
know me.”
 
 
 
“And what of your family?” Jesse retorted. 

 
 
“They’ll say yes.”
 
 
 
“If they say no?”
 
 
 
“I’ll . . . I guess I’ll have to *persuade* them.” He put emphasis on
the word persuade. His face was marred in a deep frown. He really
didn’t like the idea of doing that.
 
 
 
“It gives you a guilty conscience to use the gifts you were gifted
with?” Jesse asked with a curious expression.
 
 
 
“They’re my family,” was his simple answer.
 
 
 
And by the smile that was on Jesse’s face, it was the right one. She
watched as he stood up and held a hand out to her, as if to help her
out of her seat. If anyone else would have done that to her, she would
have thought them chauvinistic. But it was pretty charming when Ethan
did it. It also amazed her that he could still hold the element of
charm after all that he had been through.
 
 
 
What amazed her more, was when they were walking through the mall, he
never let her hand go. She didn’t know why she allowed this . . . Well
that was a lie. She did know. It just felt *right.*
 
* *
 
Jesse decided, before they even left the mall, that she was going to
teach this newbie of Shadow Knighthood everything he would need to know
to survive against those that would do him harm. And there were those
that would. She knew that for a fact. That was what the Trackers were
for. They were recruiters. If you didn’t give the answer they wanted,
it was your head. And she was going to make damn sure that never
happened to Ethan.
 
 
 
Ethan was in thoughts were very confused. He didn’t know why he kept
holding the girls hand. All he did know was that it felt completely
*right. *It was almost like the girl was a kindred spirit to his
tortured soul. She was someone that finally understood all that he went
through.
 
 
 
*I just hope Tosh, Joanna and Shawn understand. *He thought a little
sadly. But he had a feeling that he was going to *have *to use his
gifts on them to let him take in Jesse. 

 
 
*Mine. *A primal thought went through his head as he squeezed Jesse’s
hand a little harder, as if claiming her. *What the hell? *He just
shook his head and kept walking.
 
 
 
*Tosh sent me for aspirin and I am bringing home _so _much more. Hope
it don’t increase her headache. *He thought with no humor.
 
 
 
 
 
                                          ************************
 
 
 
 
 
Ethan let out an appreciative whistle when he saw the car that Jesse
had. It was a Mustang convertible with a scoop on the hood. “Nice
wheels.” He stated, as he opened up the door on the convertible and sat
down in the passenger seat. He almost looked at Jesse with jealousy
when she just vaulted over the door-- that was exactly what he wanted
to do.
 
 
 
“You’d be surprised the kind of deals you can get with our ability.”
She stated, know he knew what she meant. She in no way bought this car.
 
 
 
Ethan just smirked at her and appreciated the rev of the engine as she
gunned it. With a maniacal smile she pealed out of the mall parking
lot. This was a side of Jesse that she didn’t show many people. But for
some reason, she felt comfortable around him. 

 
 
There were legends about when two Knights meet in the Shadow Knight
Chronicles, written by Dakrin. Legends about how some Knights found
their soul mate. But she always considered that hogwash. That couldn’t
be it could it? There were no Knights back at the Zone that had felt
that. That she was sure of.
 
 
 
They didn’t talk much on the way over to Ethan’s. He wanted to wait to
quiz her when they were in private, and quiz her he would. The boy had
a thousand questions going through his mind. The first of them were
simple. When would the changes top? The second was; what was he capable
of?
 
 
 
Ethan groaned as they pulled into the driveway. 

 
 
“What’s the matter?”
 
 
 
“Shawn would pick this day to show up early from his business trip.” He
murmured, and then opened the door. It wasn’t like he wouldn’t have
been *very *pleased to see him . . . It was just the circumstances.
 
 
 
“Who’s Shawn?” Jesse asked as she hopped out of the car. She was a
little bit disappointed in herself for missing something in the probe.
 
* *
 
“He’s my Dad . . . Well, the only man that I respect enough to call
that anyway.” He replied with a sad little smile.
 
 
 
At that moment, Shawn came out on the porch smiling. The smile faltered
a little when he saw Jesse, but grew again. “Jesse Budroux, as I live
and breath. You’re a long way from home.”
 
 
 
Ethan noticed that everything in his adoptive fathers voice asked a
simple question: *What are you doing here? *Ethan was floored that
Shawn even knew the girl. And he knew that if knew Jesse, he knew other
things. But what?
 
