How to Hunt a Menacing Magical Shadow

by Christine Schulz

  I glanced down hoping there weren’t two dead bodies floating in the cove below. I didn’t see anything, so that was promising.

  I let go of Lizzy’s legs, and she dropped to the ground staggering next to me. She was half conscious, and I didn’t exactly know how this “escape hatch” worked. She nearly fell off the cliff on her own when I snatched her hand and whipped her back a little too quickly as she pounded into my chest. Too close for comfort, I immediately let go but Lizzy grabbed onto my torn hoodie and nuzzled her bloody face into it, softly smiling as she drew herself closer to my warm body.

  “What the hell are you doing? Whatever. Let’s get out of here.” I didn’t think anything was processing in her fractured brain at the moment.

  I scooped her up and cradled her in my arms. It felt like my magic energy was running low, but the least I could do was protect her from the discomfort of the fall. The fading orange glow shrouded us as I put a little power behind the balls of my feet and launched into the open canyon.

  The cold air penetrated through my ripped clothes right down to my spine, rushing over my skin as we accelerated to the crashing sea. At first, the fear of falling overcame me. But then it faded away as I enjoyed the liberating feeling it gave me, like I was flying. I lifted my eyes over Lizzy’s head to marvel at the view of the sunset over the horizon. A blanket of dark clouds concealed the rich hues of blended oranges, purples, and crimsons. I could now sense it in the salty air that a storm was coming and I didn’t want to be here when it arrived.

  Under any normal circumstance, there was no way anyone would have survived a fall that steep. But, again, illusions were a funny thing. My back slapped against the icy water, and it stung like an entire hornets’ nest swarming over my body. I held firmly onto Lizzy, our bodies sinking deeper into the turbulent sea rushing around the cove made possible by the oncoming storm. Her body faded in my arms, her weight lifting, until eventually she was completely gone.

  But I wasn’t.

  I kicked to the surface, a rip current sucking me right back under as it attempted to carry me away from land. I gasped for air before gulping down a mouthful of sea. Did it work? What happened to everyone, and why the hell was I still here?

  I thrashed my arms around my head trying to keep my head above the water. My muscles were tired and aching. I had little energy left to keep going. I was cold and I just wanted to go home, have a drink, and take a hot shower. I sucked in the cold air, my numb fingers finding a slippery rock.

  FIND ME!

  “Come on!” I protested in disbelief. This couldn’t be happening.

  The voice rang through my head like a bullet went off inside my skull and hit a gong on the way out. My whole body had lost feeling, and now my brain was threatening to explode from the accumulating pressure. After a moment to catch my breath, I paddled over to a cluster of jagged rocks and climbed my way out of the water. My chest burned as I coughed up the briny liquid filling my lungs. When I finally looked around, I noticed an odd iridescent shimmer floating around a small, almost hidden crack in the mountain like swirls of watercolor paint on an artist's canvas.

  I had seen this shimmer before back at the pizza joint when I had that unexpected meeting with myself. I hopped to my feet, ignoring the fact I couldn’t feel my legs moving, and hurried over to investigate.

  I jumped back into the icy water, now only up to my waist. I trudged my way into the cave, a small fracture at the base of the mountain no wider than my own body.

  It was a dark, wet, slippery hell.

  I sucked in my gut and shimmied my way through the narrow passageway, the rough limestone scratching like sandpaper against my torn and completely soaked clothes, my body convulsing from lack of warmth.

  Eventually, the light slowly disappeared until it completely consumed my shadow and everything around me.

  Even though I couldn’t see it in the darkness, I glared at the watch, wondering how I’d know when the magic energy was really depleted. I was fatigued, but that didn’t necessarily mean the watch ran out of magic. So I held a vision in my head of the glowing orange magic consuming the darkness and turning it into light. I carried my fist like a torch, advancing deeper into the mountain.

  A cheerful memory popped into my head...sitting by the fireplace with my family blowing on a steaming cup of hot cocoa warming my lips. Ugh, the things I’d do for a cupcake and some hot cocoa right now. I wished at least this magic torch could give off some heat before I became an icicle in this cave.

  And just like that, the warmth of a slow burning fire emanating from my fist brought a touch of feeling back to my face.

  The pleasant memory was wiped from my head, replaced with a salty, earthy smell that permeated the damp air. The water level lowered until eventually the narrow passageway stretched open into a multi-chambered cavern. A sea of rock in all different shapes and sizes expanded across the vast space, towering above me in layers of complimenting beige, brown, and gray. Droplets of water echoed in the empty cave, trickling down countless sharp spikes descending from the ceiling like blood dripping from the pointed teeth of a hungry lion. My heavy clothes clung to my body, leaving a puddle underneath me as I stared in awe.

  FIND ME!

  The voice boomed like it was right in front of me. As I swept my magic torch across the cavern, a figure hiding in the far back of the cave eventually started to take shape.

  “Tag. You’re it. Now what?” I pinched the bridge of my nose with my fingers, trying to relieve the throbbing pain in my head.

  The hooded man in front of me was huddled in a carved out piece of limestone no bigger than my undersized bedroom. He was clutching his knees and burying his face into his chest. He lifted his gaze, then rose to his feet.

  He pulled off his hood to reveal loose curls dangling past his eyebrows, streaks of grey lining his otherwise chocolate colored hair. The map of wrinkles on his face told a story of a long journey interlaced with both pain and pleasure. Lines across his forehead hinted at the stress and worry constantly troubling him. The crows feet etched around his honey brown eyes suggested that he also once enjoyed happiness.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  Not only was I staring at an older version of myself, he was wearing the same ugly ass cape thing and exceptionally tight khaki pants that I found myself wearing in my dream, although clearly he was too busy moping around in the back of this cave to wash them every once in a while.

  “It’s about time. I have been calling to you.” We stood facing each other, the only thing between us a shimmering iridescent barrier. I poked it with my finger, the dimple reshaping itself back to normal like a rubber balloon.

  “Yeah, I got the message. Who are you and what do you want?”

  “I am you. Well, to be quite honest, you are me. Sort of. I have been trapped here for seventeen years waiting to be freed.”

  He clasped his hands behind his back and paced back and forth in his bare dungeon.

  “If I free you, will you go away?”

  “In a sense.” His cryptic answer made me wonder what exactly he was hiding.

  “OK, so what do I do? Just blow this barrier away with some magic?”

  I reeled back my fist, and thrusted a powerful punch into the magic barrier.

  “No, don’t—” The magic rolled right off, sending me somersaulting across the sharp rocky ground. The magic exploded outward causing a disruptive shockwave. Spikes snapped off the ceiling, splashing into the shallow pools around me. Chunks of falling rock broke off the walls and cascaded down the misshapen walls. My first burned like a hot lump of coal, intensified by the fact it was also frozen cold.

  “You idiot, why would you do that? That’s like setting off a stick of dynamite right in your hand.”

  “Well I don’t seem to be getting any answers from you!” I was growing exceptionally irritated. I really just wanted to go home at this point. I was cold, tired, and I could barely move. I felt like I had just been thrown into a tornado, h
urricane, and earthquake all in a single afternoon.

  “There are things I can’t tell you yet.”

  “Why do you look like me?”

  The man shrugged, scratching the scruff on his chin. “It is how your mind interprets me. I don’t like it any more than you do.”

  I sighed, my frustration reverberating off the walls. First, I was framed for murder. Then I realized I’d never be able to use magic the same way everyone else does thanks to this...Nullifier ability. On top of that, now Raven was warning me about Lizzy and the rest of her team. And the only person who could help me was the one person trying to relentlessly kill me. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any more frustrating, I find a devious hermit version of myself trapped deep inside a hidden cave in an illusion that constantly plagued me in my sleep thanks to a murderous shadow that I can’t seem to kill.

  When will it all end!?

  I punched a fist against the wall as an avalanche of stones crumbled to the floor. Water swelled in my eyes. I squinted them tight, trying to fight back the tears.

  I had convinced myself to accept the way things were meant to be, but the truth was I hated being treated like trash all the time. I hated living in my dad’s shadow. I hated that I was useless and different from everyone else. But this...this was even worse. Now I’d do anything to go back to that lonely life. Not having to worry about someone killing me when I walked down the street. Or other worldly magic users who could rip my head clean off my shoulders. Or the most painful part, watching others get hurt because of me. Lonely me only had to look out for himself and that’s the way I wanted it to be.

  “But you wanted to be a hero? You can’t be a hero if you’re alone.” My doppelganger reminded me.

  “You’re inside my head?!”

  “Well, yeah. Where do you think we are?”

  “AGH!!!”

  I threw my head back and grabbed a fistful of hair, my teeth clenching so hard I felt the pain shooting into my eyes. I was breathing like an angry bull ready to charge at anyone who dared provoke me. Anger, frustration, and fear fueled my magic until the whole cave lit up like a football stadium.

  “Calm down…”

  “YOU...can shut up. I am DONE with this shit!” A persistent scratching feeling kept tugging at my leg.

  “GAH! Porky...get off my damn leg already!”

  I kicked out my leg expecting to see a furry black football being punted across the cave, but there was nothing there. I must have been really starting to lose it. Suddenly, I watched around me as everything started to blur.

  “What’s going on?” I glanced over to my other self.

  He just waved his hand. “You know what you need to do. But beware of that man, Nolan. That backstabbing bastard is bad news.”

  Chapter 23

  I blinked my eyes open to a stained white ceiling. Every muscle in my body ached like I had just been pushed over my limit. Oh wait, I had. Even if the effects of the illusion didn’t stick, before I snapped back to reality, I had run a marathon with one shoe and was being slapped around by Blair and Lizzy.

  My eyes shot out of my skull when a robotic voice came from the end of the bed.

  “I wouldn’t move too quickly if I were you. You’re pretty banged up.” Porky laid at the foot of the bed, right by the leg he was nibbling on like an ear of corn. “I wasn’t sure if you could hear us. So I tugged on your pant leg, hoping you’d snap out of it.”

  “Well, you’re annoying gnawing worked.” I twitched my arm, my pinky grazing against warm skin next to me. Not daring to move my head, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a blanket of shimmering ivory hair fanned out across the bed. My first thought was “What the hell am I doing in bed next to Lizzy?” I inched my hand over and placed it on top of hers. When she didn’t instantly rip it away and smack me over the head, I thought something might be wrong, but I sighed in relief when I realized her warm touch meant she was still alive.

  “Lizzy?”

  “Yeah?” She responded with a soft whisper.

  “You good?” She was awake and coherent, but I didn’t know what kind of lasting effects Raven’s illusion might have had. If everything Raven said was true, then she should have been just fine.

  “Yeah.” Another quiet mumble floated out of her mouth.

  “And the others?”

  “Fine.”

  “Cool.” I released the tension in my neck and shoulders, and I sunk into the soft mattress. I closed my eyes, letting go of all the chaos and crazy theories bouncing around my brain like ping pong balls. For now, I’d just be thankful everyone was safe and I didn’t get anyone killed. But at some point, I’d have to reconsider the details of this whole situation. My inability to trust anyone got me thinking about what Raven had said. Who was telling the truth? And then there was the man trapped in the cave. How could I break that barrier to get that annoying voice out of my head? Questions my brain couldn’t handle right now.

  Just as I was about to doze off, my hand still resting on top of Lizzy’s, the door creaked open and the sound of plates jittering came through the door.

  Blair placed a bowl and a glass of juice on the nightstand, then placed her hands on her hips as she towered over me with a disapproving scowl. “You will pay for what you did.”

  That’s right...I sent her flying off the cliff. It was necessary, but not one of my finer moments. What torture did she plan to punish me with now? I sucked in a sharp breath as I carefully pushed myself up and rested my head against the rough wooden headboard.

  “I will punish you when your health improves. There is no honor in tormenting those who are weak and can’t fight back.”

  “I’d like to point out that it did actually work. That should count for something.”

  She growled at the observation. I got the sense she didn’t like the fact that I was the one who got them out of the illusion. She was most comfortable being in command and having everyone look up to her.

  “Thankfully, what Raven said appeared to mostly be true. We sustained no serious injuries, but my back hurt for days after plunging into that river.”

  “Wait, days?! How long was I out?”

  “Three days.” Lizzy answered from the other size of the bed.

  “Three days!? But after I pushed you off the cliff, I was only there for like...another hour! You’re telling me that hour was really three days?”

  Eli walked through the bedroom door and stood at the foot of the bed. “Time works differently in illusions. Blair and I came back about a day later, Lizzy a day after that. Then you three days after her. How you doing, anyway?”

  “Well, every muscle in my body feels like it’s been melted by acid, but I believe that was mostly Blair’s brutal training regime. Other than that, I’m good.” I placed a hand to my throbbing head. I couldn’t seem to shake this headache.

  “You know that feeling you get when you go to the gym for the first time in years? Your body isn’t conditioned to use magic and you used too much of it too fast. Like Raven said, even if it’s not really happening your body perceives it as such. You overdid it. Here...you need to eat and rehydrate.” Blair nodded to the scrambled eggs and juice she had left on the nightstand. “Because our training resumes tomorrow.”

  “You’re joking, right?” I snapped with an incredulous voice.

  “No. Every morning we wake up at 6AM and train. If you are to be a part of this team, you will join us. No excuses.” And with that, her shadow looming over me disappeared out the door, a final remark traveling down the hallway. “Lizzy, get your ass off that bed and do something. Lying there like a log all week has done nothing good for your strength.” A soft thump sounded on the carpet as Porky hopped off the bed, following Eli as he trailed behind Blair.

  I painfully twisted my neck to scan over Lizzy’s body, lying on top of the comforter. She appeared perfectly fine. Not a scratch, bruise, or injury on her. Although it had been several days since she woke up from the illusion, she should still have scabs and
healing bruises if any of her injuries were real. Besides some pain from fighting, it was all part of the illusion after all.

  “Hey, um, are you really OK?” She was squeezing my hand hard, rubbing her eyes with the other.

  “I’m fine,” she answered defiantly, letting go of my hand and rolling over so her back was facing me.

  “So I guess we’re even now.” I smiled to myself, knowing Lizzy wasn’t looking.

  “Huh?” A sniffle sounded across the bed.

  “You saved me, and I saved you. So...we’re even.”

  “I saved you twice, dipshit. At the police station and…” She paused for a moment. She kicked some ass at the auction, but I had been pulled into a black hole before we could escape.

  “...and I stopped that guy from shooting you at the auction. And don’t you go thinking I need a knight in shining armor to come save me all the time now. I can handle myself.”

  “Don’t worry, I don’t plan on making it a habit.” With what Raven had said, what little trust that had been building between us was ripped away. In fact, I didn’t think I could ever fully trust anyone again. I still preferred to do things my own way, but if it came down to it I felt like if there was anyone I absolutely had to rely on, it would be Lizzy. “Why did you storm after Raven in the first place?”

  “She pissed me off. I am not your little play thing. I needed to get that straight in her bird brain head.”

  “Right. Well, regardless of your intentions...thanks, I guess.” No one had ever stood up for me like that before. If I had been trapped in there with anyone else, I wouldn’t doubt they would have thrown me to the wolves to save themselves.

  “So, it sounds like you stayed in this bed next to me all week. You wouldn’t happen to have been worried about me or anything would you?”

  Lizzy twirled around to look me in the eyes. “Hmph! Don’t flatter yourself, you useless twat. It’s just...someone had to keep an eye on you, so they put you in my bed. Where am I supposed to sleep? In yours? No thanks. But now that you’re awake, you can get the hell out of my room.” She leaned over and shoved me out of the bed, the sting from my tender muscles registering off the pain scale when I crashed to the floor.