Bound by Shadows (Kissed by Shadows Series, Book 2)

by Lola StVil

  I spot Atlas beside me. She gropes out blindly, and I grab her hand, pulling her closer to me. I try to cushion her fall as she’s dropped back down to earth, but it’s no good. I just hang onto her hand and hope for the best.

  Forty-eight seconds.

  Perry is only a step away from safety, but he’s faltering. The intense pain he’s feeling, and Saudia’s weight, bring him to a stop.

  “Perry! One more step. You can do it,” Remy screams.

  Forty-nine seconds.

  Perry steps onto the violently shaking ground. He drops Saudia as he falls, and they both land hard, but the pain has stopped, and Saudia’s face is back. Her body follows.

  As they hit the shaking ground, something changes. The shaking doesn’t stop, but it isn’t as intense. It’s far from over though.

  The ground we’re lying on begins to tilt, and I feel myself starting to slip. I glance over my shoulder. We’re heading for the cliff’s edge. I scramble my feet, trying to stop the downward motion, but the chalk just crumbles away.

  “Grab on to each other,” Langston shouts, but not everyone has a chance to hold on to someone.

  The ground continues to tilt. We’re now almost vertical. I’m hanging from the root, and Atlas is hanging from me. I look down at her terrified face and what lies beneath her. It isn’t water. It’s fire.

  “Don’t let go,” she whispers.

  “Never,” I reassure her.

  But the truth is I don’t know how long I can hang on. I’d sooner have my shoulders wrenched out of their sockets than let her go, but our palms are slippery with sweat, and I can feel her hand starting to slip.

  “Quinn, do something. Can’t you control earthquakes?”

  Regal hangs by the ends of his fingers beside me.

  I don’t know what Quinn does. I don’t even know if it’s her or not, but the ground stops shaking, and we slam back flat just as I feel Atlas’s fingers slipping out of mine.

  I jump to my feet. I feel almost sick with relief when I see her beside me. I reach down and pull her to her feet. She looks shaken, but she’s basically unharmed. She gives my hand a tight squeeze, then she pulls loose and runs to Langston’s side. Blood pours from a gash in her head.

  “Where’s Regal? Langston needs to be healed,” Remy says.

  The team is crowded around Langston. Regal is nowhere in sight.

  I spot the ends of the fingers of one hand clinging to the edge of the cliff face. The fingers are slipping. It has to be Regal. He has seconds before he falls.

  I’m the only one close enough to reach him. I take a step towards him.

  Help or will let him die?

  I can see him in my mind, kissing Atlas…

  “Help,” Regal shouts.

  Dammit. He’s found his voice.

  Shout is the wrong word. He wants to shout, but the panic and the exertion of hanging on are taking their toll, and it comes out a bit louder than a whisper. It’s loud enough for Quinn to hear though.

  She pushes past me and runs to where Regal’s hand is. His fingers slip just as she throws herself on the ground. The jerk of her body tells me she grabbed him.

  She pulls him back onto the chalky ground.

  “Did you see him? Were you going to let him fall?” she asks accusingly as she passes me.

  “If only you knew… ” I say.

  She gives me a strange look, but before she can ask any questions, Atlas points to the hill, forcing us to focus on the mission at hand again.

  “That’s the hill. We’re almost there. We just need to get to the top.”

  Regal moves past her and heals Langston. A quick assessment of everyone shows that no one else needs healing.

  Atlas starts for the hill. I make my way to her side.

  “I wonder what’s next,” she says as we begin to climb.

  “What do you mean?” I ask.

  “I mean what’s at the top. The Shadow world is a living nightmare. Every part of this island is barrier after barrier, and the Shadow world is no different.”

  “Nothing worth having is ever easy,” I say.

  She throws me a look, but then she smiles.

  “I guess you’re right,” she says.

  Our climb to the top of the hill is uneventful, which should be a relief, but it only serves to put me even more on edge. Atlas was right. Nothing in our world is ever easy, and this island takes that to an extreme.

  We reach the top of the hill. It was steep, and we’re panting for breath as we reach the top. A wooden cabin sits in the center of the now flat, grassy land. A rocking chair rocks softly in the breeze. The foreboding, eerie feeling is gone. This place feels peaceful.

  The sun is shining, and birds sing as they fly overhead. The wooden cabin looks like a peaceful summer home, somewhere a family comes to make memories outside of the city. A small lake stands to one side of it. A wooden pier stretches to the center, and a small boat that’s tied there bobs on the gently moving surface.

  It would be paradise if it weren’t for the giant ogre that lies on the ground in front of the cabin. He appears to be sleeping. His mouth is open, and he makes a roaring noise that I think is him snoring.

  A wooden club that’s bigger than me sits beside him, gripped loosely in his fingers.

  “Fuck,” I say.

  “Yeah. What he said,” Perry says.

  “Maybe I can sneak around him. If I can just get in and out of the cabin without waking him, we’ll be okay,” Atlas whispers with determination.

  “It’s too dangerous,” I say.

  Atlas fixes me with a glare.

  “Seriously, Atlas. You need to get off this island alive.”

  “He’s right; we’ve been through this, Atlas. I’ll go,” Quinn says.

  She starts towards the cabin with almost cat-like movements. She isn’t making a sound. She’s halfway across the grass when a loud siren wails.

  Wahhh. Wahhh. Wahhh.

  The ogre’s eyes fly open, and he jumps to his feet. He stands around forty feet tall, and over twenty feet wide. His bloodshot eyes are full of hatred, and his face is twisted with rage.

  He reaches Quinn with one giant step that booms down, making the ground shake slightly. Quinn stands frozen in fear as he peers at her.

  He raises his club high into the air and brings it down. Quinn jumps and rolls aside just in time.

  The club lands with a loud thwacking sound, and a hole opens up in the ground. He roars, angry that she escaped, and he raises the club again.

  We spring into action and run towards him. Perry fires a red web from his palm. It hits the ogre, but it’s merely an annoyance to him when it sticks on his knee. He roars again and turns towards us.

  Quinn scrambles to her feet, momentarily forgotten by the ogre. She races to join us.

  The ogre blinks, and a stream of yellow light pours from his eyes. We jump back as one as it hits the ground. The grass where it lands turns black and shrivels up.

  “Ogres don’t have any magic,” Remy says.

  “Well, this one does,” Perry says.

  “Remember, nothing here is what it seems,” Atlas reminds us.

  She fires towards the ogre. Her laser hits him, and a little hole appears in his stomach, but it’s no bigger than a paper cut.

  “We have to get closer,” I say.

  We advance on the ogre, zigging and zagging to avoid the lethal club and the yellow lasers he keeps firing. He isn’t the brightest bulb in the factory. He makes no move to back away from us as we approach, and he makes no move to advance.

  He just stays there, roaring his anger and swiping with his club.

  “We don’t necessarily have to beat him,” I say.

  Atlas agrees. “We just have to outwit him so that we can get around him.”

  Even now, while we’re closer to the ogre, he’s so big that whatever we fire at him is only hitting his legs. It’s bothering him, like a sharp pain bothers a human, but it’s not lethal. All we’re doing is making
ourselves easier targets for him.

  Remy starts to run in a circle around the ogre. The team joins her when they see the puzzled look on the ogre’s face. I join too. He spins in a circle on the spot, trying to keep his eyes on us at all times.

  “Half of you change direction,” Atlas says.

  Perry, Quinn, and Langston do as she orders.

  The ogre twists and turns, trying to turn in both directions at once. His angry roar is replaced by a puzzled mewling sound. It would be comical in any other situation.

  He’s still swinging his club and throwing the lasers from his eyes, but he’s so confused by what we’re doing that his shots have no accuracy.

  Atlas breaks from the circle and heads towards the cabin. The ogre sees her and focuses all of his attention on her. He raises his foot, ready to bring it down on her.

  “Atlas, look out,” I shout.

  She throws herself to the left just in time.

  The ogre might be dumb, but he knows his purpose, and he isn’t about to let any of us get into the cabin.

  “I’m going to attempt to climb up him and fry his brain,” Remy says.

  She ignores the protests from the rest of us and runs forward. The ogre is still focused on Atlas, who’s been sectioned off from the rest of us.

  Remy jumps onto his foot and begins to drag herself up his leg. He peers down, and Atlas runs back to the rest of us. He sees Remy pulling herself up by the waistband of his trousers. He shakes his leg, but she holds on tight.

  He lifts his hand and forms a flicking stance with his middle finger and thumb. Remy sees it coming, and she scrambles around so she’s on his back.

  His finger connects with his skin, and he gives a surprised exclamation of pain.

  Remy is scrambling up his back. He tries to reach her, but he can’t. He shakes and jumps up and down, trying to throw her loose, but she clings tightly to his shirt.

  She reaches his collar, and now he can reach her. We have to keep him distracted.

  “Hey, ugly,” Perry shouts, throwing another red web.

  It hits the ogre’s ankle and he roars in pain. He throws another laser in our direction. It almost clips Saudia, who’s concentrating on Remy, but it misses her, plowing a hole in the ground beside her feet.

  The ogre reaches up with both hands. He’s almost touching Remy as she pulls herself up by his hair. He screams in anger, swatting at his head. Remy manages to avoid being squashed, but she’s not going to be able to dodge his blows for long.

  I run forward and stick in my blade, the one I used on Atlas’s father and vowed never to use again. I push it into his foot as far as it will go.

  The ogre screams again and lifts his foot off the ground, bending down and trying to pull out the blade.

  Remy wobbles when he bends, but she holds on. She places her hands on the ogre’s head and gives it all she’s got. His head smokes. She screams as her power takes full effect and fries the ogre’s brain.

  His pained expression turns blank, and he wobbles. He starts to fall. He’s coming towards us face-first, and we jump to the side. Remy rides him like a surfer riding a wave, barely keeping her balance. When he crashes to the ground, she tumbles off him and comes back to us.

  “That’s not something I ever expected to do.” She laughs breathlessly.

  “Let’s get the Hand before anything else goes wrong,” Atlas says.

  I swear that girl invites trouble. The sentence is barely out of her mouth when the ground shakes slightly. Each hole the ogre’s laser and club has made starts to widen. We watch as small furry creatures emerge from each one.

  Where their mouths should be, there are only rows of razor-sharp teeth.

  “What the fuck are those?” Saudia cries.

  No one knows. Once again, it’s like nothing we’ve seen or fucking heard of before, and by rights, they shouldn’t exist. Fucking perfect.

  They each stand on four legs. A fifth leg protrudes from their chests. A closer look tells me it’s not a fifth leg at all. It’s some sort of tentacle.

  Atlas doesn’t waste any time. She fires at the first of the creatures, and it explodes in a shower of black gore and brown fur.

  The others start to run towards us, and once again, we’re surrounded.

  The creatures make a funny high-pitched squeak. It’s like a chattering sound, and I realize they’re communicating with each other. They’re planning their attack.

  We fire into them, and all around me, the creatures explode into gory splat marks.

  One of them darts forward, avoiding the shot Perry has launched at it. Its tentacle lengthens, and it flicks it. It makes contact with Regal with a loud whipping noise, and he shouts out in pain as a large gash appears on his back.

  Perry spins at Regal’s shriek, and he finishes off the creature. That gash looks fucking brutal. These creatures might be small, but they could easily be deadly.

  Eight of them have Quinn surrounded. She waves her hand, and the earth beneath her begins to shake. The creatures stand their ground, their tentacles expanding. One of them jumps at Quinn, but the shaking ground throws it off course. Their tentacles are reaching into the air, sensing her. She has only seconds before they kill her.

  “Quinn. Jump,” Saudia shouts.

  Quinn does as she’s told, and Saudia sends a plasma field at the creatures. I turn away as they are crushed.

  One of them has crept up on me while I was distracted, and its tentacle is only inches away from my face. I fire at it, and it explodes.

  We’re pushing the creatures back. Their numbers are reaching manageable levels.

  “I’m going in, guys. It’s time finish this. Kane, cover me.”

  I don’t need to be asked twice. Not when it comes to Atlas. I run to her side, watching her back and sides for any of the creatures. One or two break away from the pack and attempt to follow her, but it’s nothing I can’t handle, and they’re soon no more than mush.

  We reach the cabin. Atlas runs in, and I follow her, checking all around for danger. The cabin is quiet. There’s no sign of any creatures, strange or otherwise. I spot the Hand of Glory at the same time Atlas does. It stands on a golden plinth at the other side of the room.

  There’s one split second where I wonder if I can beat her to it, but she doesn’t give me a chance. She’s across the floor in three quick strides. She opens a bag she pulls from her pocket. She picks the hand up and drops it in.

  The moment the Hand of Glory leaves the plinth and drops into the bag is the moment I know we’re in trouble. The ground beneath us rumbles as Atlas fastens the zipper and throws it over her shoulder.

  We exchange a glance as the rumbling intensifies. Thunder cracks overhead, and the cabin lights up as the lightning flashes.

  I sprint for the door. I don’t know what’s out there, but whatever it is, Atlas isn’t going to be the first of us to face it. She’s right behind me as I exit the cabin.

  My jaw drops when I see it. A large fissure in the ground splits Atlas and me off from the rest of the team. And something is on the way out. Something big.

  It’s a dragon. A giant red dragon, and this one isn’t made of flames. It’s as real as we are. It spots us and snorts, flames and smoke pouring from its nostrils.

  “Oh,” is all Atlas manages to gasp as she stops short beside me.

  The dragon roars and takes a step towards us. I see it coming just in time. It breathes out a huge plume of flames. I throw my arm around Atlas and push her to the decking, putting my body over hers to protect her. I feel the flames lick at the back of my legs and my back and I bite back the shout of agony I want to release.

  “Are you okay?” I ask Atlas.

  “Look out,” she shouts, instead of giving me an answer. She pushes my head roughly to one side and fires five quick shots as the dragon advances. They bounce off its skin, not even making a dent.

  We’re dead. We are gonna fucking die here. Maybe Atlas and I can share the same house; at least we will be together
.

  I roll off Atlas and fire too. I position myself in front of her. If this fucking thing wants her, it’s going to have to go through me.

  “Atlas, run,” I shout.

  “Not without you,” she shouts back.

  This woman is so damn frustrating, and yet I love her with every fiber of my being.

  The dragon takes another step towards us. Its eyes are trained on us.

  Suddenly the ground beneath it begins to shake, and a spark of electricity encases Atlas and me. The rest of the team has made it around the fissure. Quinn is shaking the earth, distracting the dragon, and Langston has shielded us.

  I jump up from my crouch and Atlas joins me. The dragon has turned its focus to the others now. The team fires at it, but no one has any effect.

  “The eyes, we have to get a direct hit in its eyes,” Perry shouts.

  He fires in the direction of the dragon’s eyes as he shouts it. The dragon gives a roar of anger when his shot lands just beneath its right eye. It wasn’t a kill shot, but the dragon definitely felt that one.

  A log breaks free from the roof of the cabin. I cringe, wondering what’s coming next, but then I see Regal directing the log. He pulled it free with his telekinesis power. He launches it at the dragon, impaling the dragon’s eye.

  It bursts in a flurry of blood and yellow liquid that bubbles down its face. The dragon shrieks so loudly, the clouds above separate and lightning cracks all around us; its roar can be heard over the crack of the thunder raging above. It bellows its rage, advancing on Regal, holding him in place with its one good eye.

  I step forward at the same moment as Atlas. Regal is a dick, but he did take out one of the dragon’s eyes, and I move instinctively. He can’t die for that.

  The others are closing in from the other side. The dragon seems to sense the movement to its rear, and it gives an almighty swish of its tail that knocks us all high into the air.

  Only Saudia manages to leap in time to avoid being knocked off her feet. She fires plasma at the dragon, and it attaches itself to one of its back legs. The leg ruptures, but the dragon keeps going, dragging its now useless leg behind it.