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

by Lola StVil

  Shadow people show up for each other, and they celebrate each other’s victories. They are genuinely happy for us.

  The party is being held in a club, but it’s no normal club. The club is immersed in the Mediterranean Sea. Its floor, walls, and ceiling are completely see-through.

  We’re surrounded by clear blue water, and fish swim around us. The ceiling of the club is strung with lights, and they flicker through the water, casting sparkles across the club like there’s diamonds twinkling everywhere.

  The music is banging, and the drinks are flowing. Everyone is having a good time, mingling, catching up with old friends and dancing. I’ve been introduced to hundreds of people, most of whom I’ll never be able to keep track of.

  It’s strange because the people I meet already know who I am, and some of them know many details of my life. And I don’t know anything about them. I guess that’s how celebrities feel when they meet their fans. It’s strange but good strange.

  The people here are a varied mix of creatures, and the outfits and costumes on display are enough to have my jaw dropping at regular intervals. There’s a woman wearing a bikini made solely from blue flames. A man in an outfit that changes color each time he moves catches my eye, and I watch him for a while.

  It’s weird when Remy isn’t the most eccentric person in the room, although she has brought a bubble blowing machine, which is quite strange in itself. The machine blows large bubbles into the air that come down and pop on us.

  Remy and I talked once the quest was over. She thanked me again for cutting off the supply with her pain dealer, and she swore to me that she’s done with that. It’s early days, and she has a long and painful road ahead of her, but somewhere under the embarrassment she feels for resorting to a pain dealer, I can see that the old Remy is back.

  A hand touches my hip, and I turn around. I smile when I see Millicent standing before me. She’s wearing a cocktail dress with a diamond encrusted neckline and matching diamonds in her ears and on a short chain around her neck.

  “I just wanted to congratulate you,” she says. “I honestly didn’t expect to see you all alive again.”

  I laugh.

  “It was touch and go at times. Thank you for your help.”

  Millicent shrugs.

  “Anytime. And I’m sorry Valerie was such a bitch to you.”

  She drifts off into the milling crowd, and I can’t help but smile as she sashays her hips as she walks and pouts anytime she sees a camera flash.

  Langston approaches me with a shy smile.

  “Cool party, huh?” she says.

  She’s clutching a large red cocktail, which she sips through a straw.

  “Banging,” I agree.

  Banging? That’s the best I could come up with? I’ve never used that term in my life, and I vow never to use it again.

  We stand in awkward silence for a moment. I just want to forget the whole Drew situation, but I can’t just leave the air between us like this. And Langston did make the first move.

  I lead her to a pair of comfy armchairs on the edge of the dance floor.

  “Langston, listen,” I say when we’re seated. “I know how much Drew meant to you. And I’m truly sorry for what I did. I don’t expect you to be able to forgive me, but I really hope that you know that hurting you that way was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.” I look down at the floor.

  She looks down into her drink, stirring her straw around in it.

  “I get why you did it. And I’ve made my peace with it. Drew’s in a better place now. But I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to forgive you fully, Atlas.”

  It’s not what I wanted to hear, but it’s better than what I expected to hear.

  “Well, look at you two sitting here not trying to kill each other,” Perry says as he walks over to us. He puts his arm around me playfully.

  Langston and I look at each other and roll our eyes. She might not be able to forgive me yet, but I hope, in time, that she will. And in the meantime, maybe we can rekindle our friendship somehow.

  Tracey stands beside Perry. He whispers something to her, and she shrieks with laughter.

  “Perry, you’re terrible,” she says.

  It’s nice to see those two enjoying their easy friendship again. I’m not entirely sure what Tracey did to convince Perry she really has changed, but he seems to have accepted her again. It’s improved his relationship with Saudia to no end, and the two of them are close again.

  I jump to my feet when I spot Pest through the crowd. I can see the relief on his face when he sees me waving at him. These large social gatherings aren’t his thing at all, and I’m surprised he came, although I’m really glad to see him.

  Pest makes his way over to me and wraps me in a huge hug when he sees me.

  I quickly introduce him to Langston, Perry, Tracey, and Remy and Regal, who have also joined us.

  “Good to see you in one piece,” he says.

  I laugh.

  “No one seemed to think I’d get off that island alive. I don’t think I would have if it weren’t for Kane.”

  It hurts me to even say his name. I’ve avoided thinking about him as much as possible over the last two days, and his name has become like a curse word no one will speak in my presence in the house. But I have to know he’s okay.

  “Is he… ?” I start.

  “I haven’t seen him, Atlas,” Pest says.

  He sees the expression on my face.

  “But you don’t have to worry about Kane. He’s pretty hard to kill. He probably skulked into some bar somewhere to lick his wounds, but he’ll turn back up. He always does,” Pest adds.

  I wish I could believe him.

  “What if Arken got pissed off because he helped us and killed him?” I ask.

  It’s the first time I’ve said it out loud, but I haven’t heard from him since we returned from the quest. He isn’t taking my calls. Or answering my texts or Facebook messages. God, I sound like a stalker, but I just want to know he’s okay.

  When I blurted out the truth about Sadie being Kane’s mother, Quinn added her blood to the Manolo vine mixture, and Kane healed. He thanked Quinn and got up and left without a word to me.

  I push the memory away. Everyone doesn’t need me bringing down the mood of the party.

  “If Arken had killed Kane, you’d know about it. He doesn’t do anything subtly, and he would take great pleasure in rubbing your face in it,” Pest says.

  “Yeah, you’re probably right,” I say.

  I think he probably is. Arken would know that learning Kane had been killed because of me would distract me from my quest, and he wouldn’t miss that opportunity. So, he’s just avoiding me because of the bombshell I dropped then. Great.

  “What exactly did Kane do to help you?” Pest asks.

  “He pretty much kept us all alive,” Remy says.

  Pest raises an eyebrow.

  “Really?” he says, surprised.

  “Look, I can’t stand the guy, and that’s no secret. But without him, we wouldn’t have gotten the Hand off the island, even if we’d made it out,” Regal adds.

  “He had the chance to screw us over and end Atlas’s mission, but instead he threw the Hand over the barrier and barely made it out himself,” Perry says, being serious for the first time.

  The team seems to feel the same as I do. There’s no doubt that Kane helped us, and there’s no doubt that helping us was never his plan. No one knows what changed, and none of us know where exactly we stand with him.

  “It’s true,” I tell Pest. “He had every chance to keep us from getting the object, but he didn’t. And now he’s gone.”

  “Trust me. He’ll be back. Now stop thinking about that and enjoy the party. This is your night, Atlas,” Pest says.

  I force myself to smile.

  “You’re right. Thanks, Pest. And on that note, I’m off to get a drink,” I say.

  I leave Pest chatting with the team, no doubt giving them a list
of facts about the club, or the drinks, or, well, anything.

  I spot Saudia and Quinn off to one side talking, and I go over.

  “What’s up?” I say when I join them.

  “I’m trying to work out what to get Regal for our anniversary next week,” Quinn says.

  “He’s so hard to buy for,” Saudia adds with a giggle.

  I feel a pang of guilt as she mentions their anniversary coming up. I swallow it down. It was one stupid mistake. That’s all.

  “Well, he doesn’t know this, but I saw him buying a Tusk the other week. You could always get some inspiration from that.” Saudia giggles.

  Quinn’s eyes widen for a second, and she joins in with the laughter.

  “What’s a Tusk?” I ask.

  “It’s a box that gathers your deepest fantasies, and when you open it, it plays them out for you,” Saudia tells me.

  “Ooh, like personalized porn,” I say with a twisted look on my face.

  Quinn and Saudia laugh.

  “Yeah, like that,” Saudia says. “I can imagine it now. Quinn dressed up as Princess Leia, begging her sexy Skywalker to save her.”

  Quinn blushes a little bit, but she shrieks with laughter.

  “I don’t know,” I say. “I think he’d be more of a Jessica Rabbit kind of a guy.”

  “You two are bad.” Quinn laughs.

  “I’m sure it’s something completely normal like whips and chains. And maybe some crotch-less leather.” We giggle again.

  “You or him?” Saudia jokes.

  “Him, obviously.” Quinn laughs.

  “Maybe it’ll be a threesome. You up for getting down and dirty with a third?” Saudia says.

  “Never say never, right, Quinn?” I add.

  Quinn shakes her head.

  “Will you two excuse me? I have a show to go peek at.”

  “You’re really going to watch it?” Saudia asks.

  “Sure, why not?” Quinn says.

  “You might find something you don’t like,” Saudia says.

  “Well, there’s no law that says I have to actually act on it, is there?”

  “I guess not. You know it’s gonna be locked though, right?”

  Quinn nods. “Yeah, but I’m pretty sure it’ll take more than a lock to stop me.”

  She winks at us and leaves in a hurry. Saudia and I laugh.

  “I dread to think what she’s going to end up getting him as a gift,” Saudia says.

  “Yeah, me too,” I say.

  We chat for a while longer, and then we hit the dance floor.

  When I’m sure I’ve stayed more than long enough to not look rude or ungrateful about the party, I slip away from the team and leave the club. It’s surreal walking up the coral staircase surrounded by water.

  I had every intention of going straight home and going to bed, but I don’t. Instead, I turn in the opposite direction from home.

  I can’t get Kane out of my head. He definitely helped us in our quest. I know he intended to stop us. I genuinely believe he was there to keep me alive because clearly I’m a damsel in distress that couldn’t possibly do it without a hero to save me.

  But I also know he intended to get me out of there alive without the object. I’d be willing to bet he planned on bumping off a few of the team along the way too.

  But when it came down to it, he didn’t kill anyone. He saved Quinn from certain death, saved Remy from her own fear, helped Regal more than once, and he saved us all as a group more than once. And at the end, he gave me the Hand when he knew he had a way out by keeping it.

  And then there was the Green Gas. If I had any doubt in my mind that he was helping us, the effects of the gas tell me he was. Quinn said it only affects those with good in their hearts. And it sure affected him.

  I had no idea what changed on the island, but now I realize it was him. He changed.

  And now, I have no idea when I’ll see him again. And when I do, if I do, I have no idea which version of him I’ll see. Whether it’ll be the good Kane who wants to help, or the Kane who will think nothing of slicing down my team.

  I can only hope that me revealing his parents’ true identities, and the god-awful way I did it, doesn’t push him back into the darkness and extinguish the newfound light.

  I have to talk to him, to apologize, to explain why I didn’t tell him sooner. I know that will bother him more than anything. The fact I kept it from him.

  I spend the next few hours walking the streets, checking Kane’s usual haunts, but I don’t find him.

  I give up and head back to the loft. I have to cling to the hope that Pest is right. He’s off somewhere licking his wounds, making his peace with what I told him, and he’ll come and find me when he’s ready.

  I push the door open and step into the loft.

  “Atlas! Run!” Perry screams at me as I enter.

  I blink. What?

  I dodge to the side just in time as a large ball of plasma sails straight for me.

  Have I walked in on an attack?

  Not exactly. The person who threw the plasma ball was Quinn. And she looks mad.

  “What the fuck, Quinn?” I shout.

  She and Regal stand glaring at each other, and then she turns the glare on me.

  “I opened Regal’s Tusk,” Quinn starts.

  “Which you had no fucking right to do,” Regal interrupts her.

  She glares at him then glares at me.

  “And guess what his fantasy was?”

  “I’m guessing it wasn’t Princess Leia or Jessica Rabbit by your reaction,” I say, confused.

  But I have no idea what any of this has to do with me.

  “It was you, Atlas.”

  Well, I didn’t see that coming. My mouth drops open.

  I’m not entirely sure how Quinn thinks it’s my fault what Regal thinks about, but I don’t say that. I don’t say anything. I don’t know what to say to make this better, and I fear anything I say will only make it worse.

  Quinn marches over to me and grips me by the top of my arm, hard enough to hurt. She starts to drag me towards Regal’s room. I snatch my arm out of her grasp, but I follow her. I have to admit I’m curious about what she saw.

  She throws Regal’s door open and picks up a black box. She stands it on his bed and opens it up. The box glows red as it powers up. I watch in awkward silence as the image springs to life, and I see Regal and me kissing. It’s a passionate kiss.

  “It’s just a fantasy, Quinn. It doesn’t mean anything,” I say.

  “You fucking liar,” Quinn shouts.

  “When the box glows green, it’s a wish-fulfillment fantasy. Something the person would like to do. When the box glows red, it’s a memory. A memory they want to relive. What color is the fucking box, Atlas?”

  Fuck.

  “Look, we did kiss once. It was after my father died. I was upset, and Regal was there for me. It just happened at the moment, but it didn’t mean anything,” I admit.

  “We were all there for you, Atlas. And I didn’t see you sticking your tongue down anyone else’s throat. What about Langston? She’s pretty hot, right? Have you been kissing her? No, that’s right. You were too busy killing her boyfriend.”

  Am I ever going to be able to live that down?

  “Look, Quinn, I get that you’re upset, but—” Regal says.

  “I’m not upset. I’m angry,” she says.

  “Quinn, I swear to you it didn’t mean any—” I try again.

  “I don’t believe you. And if it’s true, it doesn’t matter. It almost makes it worse that you betrayed me over someone that didn’t even matter to you. And maybe it didn’t matter to you, but the fact it’s shown up here tells me it matters to Regal. Do you watch it over and over? Do you come in here and watch it after we’ve had sex? Do you think of her when we’re fucking, Regal?”

  Quinn is working herself up into a frenzy, and the more we try to explain, the angrier she’s getting.

  “You know what, Quinn, I’m done
with this. I’ve apologized, I’ve told you it was just a stupid memory, but there’s no reasoning with you when you’re like this. Come and find me when you’re ready to talk about this like an adult,” Regal says.

  He turns and storms from the room.

  “Well, you’ve gotten your claws into him, haven’t you? How long did it take you to turn him against me? A day? A week?”

  “Quinn… ” I say.

  She doesn’t let me get a word in.

  “You know something, Atlas, when I first met you, I didn’t like you. In fact, I hated you. But then you grew on me, and I thought maybe I was wrong about you. But I wasn’t. You pretend to be all nice and sweet, but you’re not. You’re a two-faced bitch.”

  Quinn’s anger isn’t burning itself out like I’d hoped it would. If anything, it’s intensifying with every word.

  “You’ve taken everything from me. Wasn’t it enough to take my family? My mother only ever had eyes for you. My father left because like me, he got sick of coming in second to wonderful little Atlas. And then you found out I had a brother that my mother never thought worth mentioning. And you didn’t even tell me about it.”

  “I’m sorry about how that came out. I was going to tell you. I just hadn’t found the right moment,” I say.

  I focus on the one element of truth in her self-centered little rant. If I address the rest, like how Sadie tried to be a mother to her, but she wouldn’t let her get close, I’ll lose my shit.

  “You wanted to find the right time? But when it suited you, when it could work to your advantage, you blurted it out in front of everyone. And I was willing to let that go. I understood why you said it when you did. And I thought as I tried to deal with my mother’s lies, you’d be there for me. As my friend. I thought both of you would be. But instead, you were fucking behind my back.”

  “That’s not true, Quinn. It was one stupid kiss. That’s all. I swear.”

  “And if I hadn’t seen the box, you’d have sworn you didn’t kiss,” she says.

  She’s got me there. I would have.