Chapter 2a: Tobias and Sean
Mount Pleasant is about a 15 minute drive from the Mandarin Oriental. The neighborhood is very diverse, though vaguely segregated by street. The street on which Henry Leyden lives is, if there is such a thing, nouveau-middle class. The houses are small one-stories, possibly World War II era, but with modern, sensible cars in the driveway, many of which sport "Proud Parent" stickers from public colleges. Unlike many middle-class neighborhoods in America, there are no foreclosure or for-sale sale signs, but most of the neighborhood probably lives right on the edge of their income.
Henry's house has two cars parked in the driveway, though none of them sporting college stickers, and a light on near the rear. The front door is surrounded by curtained-windows. When you ring the doorbell you hear the padding of feet, then a small round face pushes back the curtains and peers out at you. There's something... off about the face, as if it didn't quite belong.
Hi, can I help you? The child, around 11 or 12 years old, asks you.
When he speaks you suddenly realize what looks peculiar about him: he's a Shadow human. Not every beast that resides on the plane of Shadow is strange and foreign; tribes of humans live there as well, and occasionally spill over. This child might have been born there, or else born to two Shadow human parents.