by K. G. Reuss
A squeal broke free from its jagged cut of a mouth. I didn’t waste any time turning tail and rushing in the other direction through the fog, blindly running without destination. Away was all that mattered.
Snapping my head side to side, I tried to gauge where it was. Despite being unable to see it, I knew it was there. I could smell it. Wet dog and rotting flesh flooded my nose.
A blood-curdling scream erupted from my mouth as its body rocketed at me from the right, toppling me over. I was all arms and legs, kicking and screaming as I struggled to keep it from chewing my head off.
My arms shook with the effort as it nipped its teeth at me. This felt too real to be a dream. If it got a hold of me, I was dead. I knew it. There was no waking up. No coming back.
“S-Shadow! Shadow!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. “SHADOW!”
Thirty-Two
Raiden
I fell to my knees in our commons room, clutching my chest.
“Gen?” Damien called out to me. Eric’s head jerked up, worry in his eyes.
I stared around the room at my friends—everyone was there. We were just finishing our planning session for the central region haunt. I still hadn’t assigned members to go. Or condemned one of them to death.
This wasn’t possible. Nothing was supposed to harm her here.
“She’s hurt,” I wheezed out. “E-Eric—”
I didn’t get to finish my sentence. I was pulled from the room, not bothering to fight it. I landed on my knees in her dark bedroom. Climbing to my feet, I searched the room for her. It didn’t take long; she was easy to spot. She was in bed flat on her back, her dark hair a mess around her.
Frowning, I looked at her, confusion setting in. She was breathing. Her plump pink lips were parted. If I didn’t know better, I’d think she was sleeping peacefully. It was the crinkle in her forehead that suggested otherwise.
Her front door banged open, footsteps rushing in.
“What’s going on?” Damien demanded, coming into the room, his sword drawn. Eric was next to him with his own weapon out, his gaze sweeping around the room.
“I don’t know.” I turned my attention back to her. She shifted, letting out a whimper.
“Is she dreaming?” Damien had moved to stand beside me.
“No.” Eric put his sword away. “She’s in the Veil. She has to be. Look.” He pointed to her clenched fists. She kicked her legs before taking a swing with a fist. Her head shook back and forth as tears cascaded down her cheeks.
“Everly,” I choked out, reaching for her. The moment my hands made contact with her, I was tugged into the Veil, the thick gray fog swirling around me. She was struggling with a creature only feet from me.
With a burst of energy, I raced forward, my dagger out. It was the only weapon I had on me when I’d been tugged to her. I swung my dagger, slicing through the creature’s skin like butter. It let out a howl of pain and anger as I managed to kick it away from her. I reached out and was pulling her to her feet when her eyes widened.
“R-Raiden?” She stared at me in disbelief. I shook my head at her, not sure what the hell was happening either.
“Look out!” she screamed.
The creature threw itself at us, knocking us both to the ground in a painful heap. It was on top of me, teeth snapping, spittle spraying onto my face.
A rake.
One of the most dangerous creatures in our world. In all of anywhere—even the Veil. They were rare. I’d only ever read about them in books. They were deathbringers who loved to prey on the Natties, bringing death and misfortune after toying with them first.
I clocked it in the face with my fist as I held it off with my other arm at its throat. My dagger had flown from my grasp and landed somewhere in the fog. My abilities didn't work in the Veil. I was about to be totally screwed.
“Everly!” I struggled beneath it. “My dagger! Stab it in the base of the skull!”
I heard her scurrying around, searching for my weapon. A moment later, its heavy body dropped on top of me, dead. Killed in the Veil meant dead for good.
I pushed it off me to find both Damien and Eric staring down at me, blood dripping from Eric’s sword. Ever stood behind them, her mouth in an O of surprise, my dagger in her hand. The blood from the rake was still dripping from the blade from my first attack.
“How the hell,” Damien gave a low whistle and looked around at the Veil.
I wasn’t paying attention to him. I was already on my feet and moving toward Ever.
“Are you OK?” I stared down at her, my hands cradling her face as I surveyed her. An ugly purple bruise had already formed on her cheek. Her body shook.
“What the hell is going on?” she whispered through chattering teeth.
I released her for a moment and pulled the Dementon blazer I’d been wearing off and wrapped it around her.
“That’s what I’d like to know.” Eric looked through the fog, his brows knit.
“That’s not what I want to know.” Damien took a step toward us. “What I want to know is how the hell we’re going to get back. I’m not staying in this shit hole.”
I glanced at Ever. She needed to go first. I reached for her, grasping her hand. The way she felt was different. It wasn’t like when we were at Dementon. Her skin had a strange bluish glow.
“Come here,” I murmured, bringing her closer to me. She didn’t fight me. She fell easily into my arms, her small body trembling against mine.
“You need to go back the way you came. We’re here in our bodies. You’re here more in spirit.” I cringed as I said the word, hating that I had to, but that was really what it was like.
She looked up at me. “You mean this isn’t a bad dream? It’s real?”
“I’m afraid so.” I nodded sadly at her. “Concentrate on where you want to go. Force yourself to awaken. I think that should take you back.”
She shivered once more but nodded, a determined look on her pretty face. We watched as she began to flicker, the blue glowing brighter before dimming. She faded away slowly with the light, leaving just me, Damien, and Eric behind.
“How did you get here?” I asked the guys, turning to them.
“Same way you did, Gen.” Damien nodded. “You touched Ever’s hand and disappeared, so we figured it was worth a shot. Good thing we did because it looked like you two were about to be a midnight snack.”
“I’ll send you a thank you card.” I sighed. “Now, we need to get back before more shit hits the fan.”
“How are we going to do that?” The look of worry in Eric’s eyes was evident. But I’d been in the Veil before. If I could get myself out, I could probably manage to take them all with me. Or at least that was the theory.
“Let’s all just grab hold of each other and hope for the best.” My concern for the situation was clear, but if we’d all gotten in, then we could all get out.
“Group hug?” Damien asked, opening his arms to wrap around me. Eric did the same.
“Let’s hope it works.” I closed my eyes and focused on our destination. Everly’s bedroom. With a terrible tug, we were wrenched forward, hopefully in the right direction.
But any direction was better than where we were.
“What the hell happened?” Brandon demanded as we came tumbling through Ever’s bedroom doorway. Everyone rushed to us.
“The Veil. She was in the Veil,” I spoke into everyone’s minds.
“What?” Chloe squeaked.
“How the hell did that happen?” Jared demanded. “And how the hell did you get her out? Because she’s right there, and you guys are right here—”
“We need to have another meeting.” I looked to where Ever was sitting, her legs dangling off the bed and her body hunched over as she shook. Sloane was rubbing her shoulder, trying to comfort her. “But first, I need to heal her. Everyone meet back at the house.”
I broke the connection and went to where Ever and Sloane were.
“Ever.” Her head snapped up as she
stared at me, tears staining her face.
“They weren’t supposed to be able to get me here,” she choked out. “I was supposed to be safe here. I-I don’t know what’s real and what’s fake. I-I’m going to go nuts, I-I can’t do this. Not again. Not again.”
I stared at her badly bruised face, my heart breaking. She was right. They weren’t supposed to get her here. And by the looks of her, she was already sliding down the slope of a nervous breakdown. I had to get her trained. If I hadn’t shown up…
“I’m sorry.” I knelt in front of her, reaching out to push her messy hair away from her face. “You’re safe now.”
I cupped her face in my hands and pushed my healing out to her. She let out a soft sigh as the bruises disappeared, her eyelids growing heavy.
“How’s that?”
“Better,” she mumbled in a shaky voice.
“You’re still crying—”
Her glassy eyes met mine in a heartbreaking stare. “He didn’t come. Shadow didn’t come.”
Sloane gave me an uneasy look.
“Leave us,” I broke in through her thoughts.
“Just tell her—”
“Sloane, please?”
She let out a sigh and left the room with everyone else.
“I’m sorry.” I squeezed her hand. “You did great, though. Training is really working.”
She gave a listless shrug.
“I bet you’re exhausted.” I could see it on her face. Her lids were heavy, her mouth set in a deep frown.
“I am, but I’m afraid to go to sleep.”
I hated the next words out of my mouth. “Would it help if we got Ambrose to weave a charm?”
“I think the worst is over.” She shrugged before her eyes met mine. “But I’d feel better if he did.”
I nodded tightly and stood.
“Get something on. I’ll take you there.” I stepped out of the room to give her some privacy and rubbed my eyes.
Eric was right. She wasn’t having nightmares. She was going to the Veil. But why? Why now? And how was she able to get there without her body following her? It was like she was a spirit too, only a mortal spirit if I had to describe it. It simply didn’t make sense. My physical body had to go, but Ever? She could leave her body to go. The only saving grace was that I could get there too. The thought that she could truly be hurt and die in that cold, gray world had me sick to my stomach. But I’d saved her. I’d gotten to her.
At least this time. But what happened if the day came that I couldn’t for whatever reason? That thought terrified me more than anything I’d ever encountered, rake included.
Thirty-Three
Everly
Raiden walked close to me across campus. I didn’t know him well, but I knew his mind was going a million miles a minute as he tried to process what happened in my bedroom.
That made two of us.
“How often is Ambrose providing his services to you?” Raiden’s deep voice cut through my thoughts.
I shook my head. “I don’t know. Once a week. He’s been making it stronger, so I don’t have to see him much.”
“What’s the price for it?”
“Price?” I frowned. “I don’t give him anything. He does it to help me.”
Raiden scoffed, a muscle working along his jaw. “Ambrose doesn’t do things for free. There’s a catch. He just hasn’t sprung it on you yet.”
I let his comment hang in the air. Marcus was doing it because if what he said was true about my grandparents, he didn’t have a choice.
We stopped outside Marcus’s door. Raiden rapped on it, causing a loud bang to sound around us. A moment later, we were met with Marcus’s amber-eyed stare.
“Yes?” His gaze darted between me and Raiden.
“We need you to spell Everly for her dreams. Can you do that?” Raiden was no-nonsense. Marcus nodded and opened his door wider but held his hand up when Raiden made to enter.
“Sorry, General, damsels in distress only.”
“Knock it off,” I sighed, pushing past Marcus and going into his living room. “This will only take a minute, General. I’ll be right out.”
Raiden glowered at Marcus who smirked at him.
“You can wait down the hall. She’s in good hands.”
A growl slipped from Raiden’s lips before Marcus closed the door on him and turned to me.
“What did you do now that you had to involve Hawthrone?”
I shook my head, my throat tight. Marcus, sensing my discomfort, sighed and led me to his couch.
“You need to join us, Ever. This shit wouldn’t be happening to you if you did.”
“And you need to get my grandma here so I can talk to her.”
“I’m working on it. It’s not like she’s sitting around knitting mittens and baking cookies.” He placed his hands on either side of my face and rumbled out his spell. The strange tingle from it blanketed me. I relaxed as he dropped his hands away from my face.
“Are you going to tell me what happened?”
I mumbled out the story to him. His eyes widened, and he gave a low whistle.
“Something has to give, Ever. You need us—”
“What I need is Shadow, but he left me,” my voice cracked. I looked away from Marcus, not wanting him to see my emotions.
“Then move on from those feelings. You’re dwelling on a guy who clearly knew when to hit the pavement. Without him, things might actually be better. He doesn’t want any of this either or you can bet your ass he’d be here right now claiming his birthright. Don’t you think?”
“Don’t you guys care who he is?”
Marcus shrugged. “Nev does. Me? Not really. The way I see it is if he’s sticking to the shadows, there’s a reason for it. He doesn’t strike me as a dummy. He knows as well as we do what it means to get involved. I think he’s giving you the out, Ever. Take it.”
I nodded. He had a point. Drawing in a deep breath, I got to my feet.
“Thank you, Marcus.”
“You’re welcome.” He walked me to the door. “Ever?”
“Yeah?”
“What I told you doesn’t change anything. You know that right? We still need you on our side.”
“I know. And me accepting your help doesn’t change anything. Get me my grandmother. Then I’ll make my choice.”
“I will.” He nodded solemnly and pulled open the door. I stepped out and saw Raiden walking toward me from the end of the hall. My heart somersaulted in my chest as I took him in.
“Be careful around the general, Ever.” Marcus’s soft voice brought my attention back to him. “He’s probably more dangerous than Shadow.”
I nodded. He was probably right.
Thirty-Four
Everly
I wish I could say that having Marcus cast the spell helped calm my nerves. But I’d be lying. If anything, it churned me up inside knowing that I lived a life where I had to worry about going to sleep and never waking up because some flesh-eating creature had gobbled me up in a living nightmare.
Raiden insisted I stay the night in the Conexus house citing it was just in case. When we arrived there, Eric was the first to get to his feet to greet us. Raiden must have done his telepathy on the rest of the members who weren’t on patrols because the few hanging around straggled into his office, leaving the three of us in the living room.
“Watch her,” Raiden growled to Eric.
“I’m right here. I can hear you,” I muttered.
“Good. Then you know you’re safe. Use that time to get some rest.” Raiden’s eyes swept over me before he gave Eric a curt nod and stalked to his office, closing the door behind him.
Eric led me to the couch where we both sat down. I had no idea what the general was plotting out in his office. Something told me it wouldn’t be fun though.
“You need to sleep,” Eric murmured.
“C-can’t,” I chattered, the cold from that gray world still in my bones. I rubbed my arms, trying to warm up. With my k
nees pulled to my chest, I let my new reality sink in. “They’ll get me.”
Eric surveyed me for a moment. “I’ll be here to keep you safe—”
“What if you can’t?” I looked at him fearfully. He opened and closed his mouth a few times before finally answering.
“I’ll wake you every hour.”
“I can’t ask that of you. Besides. They want me. They’re going to take me.” I slid off the couch, Eric’s eyes on me. “There’s nothing any of you can do about it. There’s only him. Only Shadow. But he left. He doesn’t care about me anymore. He’s the only one who can get to me if something bad happens. And that’s even if he can get to me at all. We don’t know what the hell is happening. I-I don’t know what’s happening to me. I-I-I can’t do this. I don’t w-want to do this.” My body shook, my breaths coming out in ragged gasps. I knew Marcus said not knowing who Shadow was a good thing that I should embrace, but I just couldn’t. I wanted to know him. I wanted him at my side. My mind wouldn’t calm—my heart couldn’t—until I had his identity. Whether anyone liked it or not, Shadow was the key to making a lot of shit manageable. “Eric, if you’re Shadow, you have to tell me. I have to know! I have to know! Because it’s going to kill me. They’re going to kill me. I-I need you. I need you.”
Eric was on his feet in an instant, holding my sobbing body against his.
“You have me, Ever.” His fingers were in my hair before he guided my face up, lifting it so I was staring into his bright blue eyes. “You know I’ll do everything I can—”
“Tell me who he is if he’s not you. You have to know—”
“He-he doesn’t exist. He’s a figment of your imagination. A-an avatar your mind created to keep you safe.” His lip trembled as he stared down at me. “We all have gifts, powers, that manifest—”
“You’re lying,” I whispered, my throat tight. This wasn’t just about finding out for the Dyre or figuring out what the hell was truly going on in my life. It was about the truth. Friendship. It was about who I could really trust. Eric’s lack of words made me realize that as much as I hated what Marcus and Nev had told me, they were closer to being right. At least they opened up and told me. Eric kept it a secret. I didn’t want any more damn secrets.