Page 74 of In the Shadows

erratic. Whatever Josiah thought he was discovering bled into

every aspect of their lives. They moved constantly. We’d go

months without hearing from her, and when we finally did, the

news was always disturbing. Finally, when Arthur was just a lit-

tle boy, Josiah disappeared. We begged Adelaide to come and

live with us, but she refused. She always insisted our town was

one of ‘the bad places.’ We sent her money, and your father

checked on her whenever he could.” Mrs. Johnson paused, and

there was a sniffle that Thom didn’t think was coming from

Minnie anymore. “Arthur came here when Adelaide killed her-

self. She wrote a letter to me, telling me that she couldn’t run

anymore, asking me to take care of Arthur. So you see, he is

family. And I won’t fail him the way I failed his mother.”

“What was she so scared of?”

“Scholarly nonsense. Josiah thought he’d discovered some

ancient secret society that was controlling things across the

world. Some silly Latin name — I can’t remember. He was a

very sick man, and he dragged Adelaide down with him. I

thank God that Arthur is free of it all.”

Charles caught his breath, and Thom put an arm around

his thin shoulders to steady him. Whatever else was real, Mrs.

Johnson was wrong about one thing: Arthur was not free of the

Ladon Vitae.

None of them were.

India

Early May, 1949

fourteen

C

HARLES WENT FOR A WALK. Thom was too angry, worry-

ing over what Arthur may or may not know, arguing with