The Descending Darkness

by Michael Chulsky

  “Shadow, Kay’s missing!”

  “What…?”

  Isaac rubbed his arms stressfully. “She said she was going to her room to lie down, and I went to check on her…but she’s not there. And I’ve looked everywhere!”

  Shadow’s eyes widened at this news. “Are you sure, did you look–”

  “Yes! I looked everywhere. Even the rooms. She’s gone! Something must have happened to her! We’ve gotta find her!”

  Shadow turned away to hide the disturbed expression he knew to be on his face. If Kay was really missing, that was a bad sign. He cursed himself for not taking initiative earlier and questioning Kay when Ellie had brought it to his attention. Still, there was no way to be sure if she had left on her own accord or was captured by the enemy. So preemptive guilt wasn’t needed. There would be time for questioning later – when they found her. And they would find her, no matter where she was.

  9

  The First Temptation

  Shadow paced back and forth through the living room. Following Isaac’s announcement that Kay was missing, he had everyone fan out to look for her. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe Isaac, but he couldn’t fathom why Kay would have left the protection of their home – especially at a time like the present. He was hoping one of them would find her and the situation would resolve itself. But he couldn’t ignore the tightness in the pit of his stomach telling him that something was horribly wrong.

  He turned towards the doorway when he heard footsteps. It was Niki and Ellie. “Any luck?”

  “Nada,” Niki replied, giving an apologetic tilt of the head. “I went all around the grounds like you asked and there was no sign of her anywhere.”

  “She’s not in the training room,” Ellie replied. “It’s like she just vanished.”

  “I’m afraid I haven’t had much luck in my search either,” Ethan said, entering the room. “I went to the third floor like you asked, but it was empty.”

  “Something’s happened to her, I know it!” Isaac said, pulling on his sleeves.

  “Isaac, calm down,” Shadow said. “Freaking out isn’t going to solve the problem. It’s only going to make things worse.”

  Ellie looked from Isaac to Shadow and seemed to struggle for a moment before speaking. “Do you think this has anything to do with what we talked about earlier?”

  “I don’t know for sure. But I should have pulled her to the side and talked to her about things before something like this happened. I should have listened to you, I’m sorry.”

  “No, no,” Ellie said quickly, “I didn’t bring it up like an ‘I told you so’ type of thing, I was just wondering if this changes things in your mind...about her.”

  Isaac looked at her. “What are you talking about?”

  Shadow looked thoughtful for a moment. He didn’t believe in coincidences, especially given recent events where Niki confirmed something he thought as a coincidence to be true. He also knew that the possibility of Kay disappearing moments after the wave of darkness appeared and not being involved in some way was miniscule. But he also knew that if he were to draw a line in the sand between him and Kay, it would cause a rift in the team. It wasn’t an easy choice. After a short pause, he decided to use tact. “I have a bad feeling about all of this. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think these events weren’t connected somehow.”

  “Yeah, someone’s obviously kidnapped her!” Isaac exclaimed. “We have to save her.”

  “That’s one theory,” Ellie quipped.

  Isaac frowned. “What does that mean?”

  “I mean that’s one way of looking at it…maybe it’s possible that she’s involved somehow. Have you considered that?”

  “You can’t seriously think that Kay had anything to do with what happened.”

  Shadow opened his mouth to speak and then closed it immediately as the others – sans Cameryn, Tristan, and Faith – filed into the room. He didn’t want an audience for the inevitable and uncomfortable conversation he needed to have with Isaac. “How did it go, guys?”

  “No luck,” Ryan said, and the others echoed him.

  “Alright, I guess we’ll have to–”

  “No,” Isaac interrupted. “We’re not moving on here until Ellie takes back what she said. Kay didn’t do anything wrong. It’s crazy to even think something like that!”

  Shadow took a breath and let it out slowly. He had intended to wait until they were alone to finish the conversation from earlier, but it seemed as though Isaac wasn’t going to give him the opportunity. He sighed. “I’m not so sure it’s crazy, Isaac.”

  Isaac slowly turned to face him. “What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying that Kay has been exhibiting questionable behaviors. Some of the things she’s said have made me uneasy, and then Ellie informed me about an incident at the mall where Kay shoplifted from a magic shop. Based on her actions…I think Ellie may have a point for concern.”

  “What the hell is wrong with you? How can you say something like that!”

  “Isaac, don’t get upset,” Tereya said, placing a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Shadow didn’t say that Kay was definitely to blame for all this…he just said he was concerned.”

  “Stay out of this, Reya,” Isaac said, jerking his body so Tereya’s hand fell off. He pointed a finger at Shadow. “In case you didn’t hear correctly, he basically just accused my best friend of being in league with evil. I’d say that’s good reason to get upset!”

  Shadow met Isaac’s eyes. A reaction like this was exactly why he didn’t want to jump the gun about Kay. He had nothing but sympathy for Isaac. He understood perfectly that the young boy would be upset at the prospect that Kay, somebody who had always been there for him, was capable of anything less than perfection. But he couldn’t ignore the evidence in front of him. “Isaac, I don’t want you to be upset, trust me. But I can’t just pretend like she didn’t mysteriously vanish an hour after stealing items from a magic shop and right after the wave of darkness appeared.”

  “You’re framing it like that on purpose!”

  “How else is he supposed to frame it?” Ethan asked quietly.

  Isaac stomped his foot impatiently. “Not that way! Not like she’s some evil mastermind or something. It could all just be a misunderstanding!”

  “How is stealing a misunderstanding?” Ellie asked, frowning.

  Isaac bit his lip. “Maybe she didn’t steal anything. Maybe you’re wrong, and it wasn’t her who stole something. It could have been someone else.”

  “I think Ellie would recognize Kay,” Crystal replied curtly. “Besides, she was acting weird in the mall. She ditched me and Ethan and ran off somewhere…I guess now we know where.”

  “You’re all just against her. You all want her to be evil so you have a target to blame!”

  “That’s just ridiculous,” Shadow said, with the heat of impatience rising in his voice. “I understand you’re upset that your friend may have betrayed you, but you’re acting–”

  “She didn’t betray me!” Isaac roared. He rushed forward and swung his fist towards Shadow’s face – it connected.

  Shadow turned at the last second, so the punch only grazed the side of his face. It hurt, but it wasn’t severe pain. He heard Ellie and Crystal gasp behind him, and felt the collective weight of their gaze, waiting to see what he would do. He had to stay calm and keep order. “I guess the training is paying off. But for future reference, if you want to deal actual damage, you’ll have to work on putting some weight behind that punch of yours.”

  Isaac growled. “Oh yeah? Well how about I try again?”

  “Isaac, stop!” Tereya yelled.

  Cameryn entered the room with Tristan and caught the tail-end of the display. He darted in front of Shadow and stared daggers at Isaac. “You won’t.”

  “Move,” Isaac said.

  “No,” Cameryn replied. “Shadow promised to never let anybody hurt me, so the least I could do is return the favor and not let anyone hurt him.”r />
  “Get out of my way now!”

  “No,” Cameryn repeated. “Why are you trying to attack Shadow in the first place?”

  “Because he’s spreading lies!”

  “Hardly,” Shadow replied, rolling his eyes. “Kay’s missing, and I think she might be involved with what’s going on. Ellie came and told me about some shady behavior Kay exhibited at the mall earlier and so that, plus her disappearance, is enough to warrant suspicion.”

  “Oh,” Cameryn said in a soft voice, quite unlike his own.

  Shadow noticed the sudden change in the young boy’s demeanor and felt a sense of unease. “Cameryn, what’s wrong?”

  “I…I don’t know if I can say.”

  “Of course you can. You know you can tell me anything.”

  Cameryn just shook his head. “I’m scared…please promise you won’t hate me, Shadow.”

  “I would never hate you, okay? Don’t be scared to speak up here.”

  Cameryn took a deep breath and quickly spewed out a series of words: “A few days ago, I overheard Kay talking to someone on her phone about some really heavy stuff. I didn’t get to hear everything, but it didn’t sound good. It sounded like she was getting advice on how to do something bad. But anyway, she caught me, and she freaked out. She told me if I said anything she would call me a liar and you would all believe her and then I’d be kicked out…I couldn’t go through that.” He closed his mouth and looked at Shadow’s face. “Please don’t be mad. I’m so sorry, Shadow…I didn’t want to cause problems for the team, and I didn’t want to lose you – any of you.”

  “It’s okay, I’m not mad,” Shadow said softly. “I just wish I would have known about this sooner…maybe things would have played out differently. Maybe I could have done better.”

  “Don’t blame yourself,” Ellie said. “You couldn’t have known about any of this.”

  Ryan made a noise of agreement. “She’s right. None of this is on you, it’s on Kay.”

  “He’s a liar!” Isaac yelled. “Kay wouldn’t have done anything like that. She just wouldn’t!”

  “Why would I lie?”

  “Maybe you want the attention. Isn’t that how you got here in the first place? Because you needed Shadow to go rescue you. And now you’re here and making up stories on Kay…they should have left you in your village!”

  “Isaac!” Tereya cried. “You shouldn’t say that. You weren’t there…you have no idea about the kind of stuff Cameryn had to deal with.”

  Cameryn flushed bright red. He clenched his fists, and a spiteful smile spread across his face. “Maybe instead of getting mad and attacking me, you should be getting mad at your friend for being an evil liar.”

  Isaac bowed his head for a moment with no response, and then without warning, threw another punch, hitting Cameryn squarely across the mouth.

  “Enough!” Shadow said, his voice echoing through the room. He flicked his hand forward, and Isaac was knocked backward several feet and onto the floor. Shadow then made a fist, and tendrils of darkness surfaced from the rug and bound Isaac by the wrists and ankles, pinning him to the ground.

  “Let me up!” Isaac growled.

  Shadow ignored the young boy’s cries and turned to Cameryn. “Are you okay?”

  Cameryn rubbed the edge of his mouth but nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m lucky that Isaac can’t throw a real punch.”

  “Good,” Shadow replied. He went over to where Isaac lay bound, and fought to keep a neutral expression. “I’m going to say this once, and only once. If you want to take out your anger on me, that’s fine. But don’t you dare hit Cameryn, or anyone else. You understand me?”

  Isaac struggled through the bindings. “He…shouldn’t…have…said…that…about…her!”

  “Grow up,” Shadow said harshly.

  Isaac ceased struggling for a moment, surveying Shadow with great loathing. “Go to hell – I’m done with you and this stupid team. I want out!”

  “You don’t mean that,” Ellie whispered.

  “I do!”

  “No, you don’t,” Ethan replied. “You’re saying it because you’re mad. And when people get mad, they often lash out at the ones they care about.”

  “Like it or not, you’re a part of this team,” Crystal said. “And we need you with us.”

  Isaac’s face softened a bit. “Kay’s also part of this team, and everyone is trying to make her out to be the bad guy…but she…isn’t.”

  “The evidence doesn’t look good for her,” Ryan said. “Ellie and Cameryn have seen her do really questionable things. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

  “I don’t know…okay?”

  “Well, you’d better figure it out,” Shadow replied, a hint of impatience in his voice. “Time is of the essence and we cannot spend what little we have on an emotional crisis.”

  Isaac made a sobbing sound and then turned his face away, as if he was determined to not let them see him cry.

  “It’s all right to be upset, Isaac,” Ethan said. He knelt down and placed his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “I know you must be hurting right now. I understand.”

  “You could never understand!” Isaac cried, and the tears which he had tried to hide began flowing down his face. “I barely escaped from the demons that killed my parents. I was wandering the street cold and alone. Kay found me…and she’s taken care of me ever since! She’s gotten me food, clothing, everything and anything I could ever need…and she’s protected me. If you guys only knew the real her, you couldn’t accuse her of any of this stuff.”

  “And how did Kay accomplish those things?” Shadow asked, his face neutral and indifferent to the kid’s tears. He felt bad that Isaac was sad, but also knew the kid had to toughen up if he was going to survive. “Getting food, clothing, and shelter would take money. Did she have a job?”

  “I-I-I don’t know, all right?”

  “You don’t know,” Shadow repeated, scoffing in disbelief. “The logical conclusion is that she stole everything.”

  Isaac shook his head. “No, there’s no way…she wouldn’t….”

  “I saw her steal, Isaac,” Ellie said quietly. “And it didn’t seem like it was her first time, either. It seemed like she knew what she was doing.”

  “Maybe she just really needed whatever it was, and she didn’t have the money.”

  Crystal looked at him with a piteous expression. “I was at the mall with her…I had money. If she needed anything, she could have asked me.”

  “Maybe–”

  “No more maybes,” Shadow said, his voice was cold. “Listen, I’m not going to sit here and play twenty questions with you while the world is in danger. If you aren’t going to take them at their word and allow this to break you, you need to stay here and not come on any more missions with us. Because otherwise, you’ll get hurt, or you’ll get one of us hurt. And I’m not going to have that.” He waved his hand over Isaac, releasing him from the dark restraints.

  Isaac got up off the floor. He rubbed his wrists and seemed to be thinking things over. Finally, he met Shadow’s gaze. “Everything is really confusing right now. I don’t think Kay is bad…but I also believe deep down Ellie and Cameryn wouldn’t lie about what they saw. But I just can’t be sure…isn’t there any way we can find her and hear her side of things?”

  Niki twiddled her index fingers together. “If I can interject for a moment, Isaac, you have to understand that based on the evidence provided, the likelihood that Kay is innocent is the same as hotdogs being able to fly – and they’re not known for their aerodynamic ability.”

  Shadow whistled to draw attention back to himself. “Of course we’ll find her and get her side of things. But I’m more worried about you. There’s a good chance that we may come up against Kay…I need to know if we can count on you or not.”

  “I…I need time. I don’t know if I could fight against her…after all she’s done for me.”

  Shadow sighed, but gave a curt nod. “And that’s to be expe
cted, given all you’ve been through. I just need to know that you’re not a risk to the rest of us.”

  “You mean, like, turn against you guys?” Isaac asked, frowning. “I wouldn’t do–”

  “Let me remind you that you’ve struck me and Cameryn in the last hour. So you’ll have to forgive my concerns.”

  Isaac looked down. “You’re right…and I’m sorry, to both of you. I shouldn’t have done that. I was just…I couldn’t stand to hear such bad things about someone I cared about.”

  “It’s understandable,” Ellie replied.

  “So can I count on you to be rational?” Shadow asked. “With no more violent outbursts?”

  “I promise,” Isaac said.

  “Alright, I believe you.”

  “So what do we do now, Shadow?” Crystal asked. “It’s not like we can just go after Maedara. We can’t even go after Kay. We have no idea where either of them are.”

  “I never thought I would say this, but Crystal is right,” Ryan said. “I mean, the world is huge. How are we going to find either one of them?”

  Shadow pulled out his communicator and looked at it for a few breaths. He had to find Kay, and there was only option left. “Maedara, unfortunately, will have to wait. The most important thing right now is finding Kay and hearing what she has to say. If she is involved in this somehow, she could have information we can use.”

  Isaac’s eyes widened. “But you told us that you didn’t know where she was!”

  “I don’t know where she is,” Shadow replied. “But I can find out. You see, in every single communicator there are tiny tracking chips. That way, in case we’re separated, or if there’s an emergency of some kind, I can track any of you down.”

  “Shadow, you’re brilliant!” Ellie exclaimed.

  “Thanks for the compliment, but I don’t feel much deserving of one right now. If Kay’s to blame for any of this…It would mean I’ve failed her.”

  “Don’t be dumb,” Ellie replied. “Nobody blames you for this.”

  “Are you so sure about that?”

  “I don’t blame you,” Tereya said meekly. “You are one of the most amazing people I know. You saved me from that woman who was trying to harm me, even though you didn’t know me. I wouldn’t be alive if it weren’t for you.”