Shadow Weaver Series, Book 1

by MarcyKate Connolly

  I only hope that Dar is wrong and that my new friends will forgive me.

  I tear through the forest, running in the direction I last saw Lucas leaving. I have to find him, warn him and his family, just in case Dar decides I’ve betrayed her and blames them.

  The moon lights my path in the early morning hours. Shadows swirl around me in greeting, dodging through my hair and cloaking me as securely as I could wish. My magic seems to obey my thoughts unconsciously now.

  I pause in a clearing to get my bearings, and a sudden shocking revelation nearly brings me to my knees: I no longer cast a shadow.

  My shadow, my companion for my whole life, is utterly gone. It must have become so inextricably linked to Dar that it transformed as part of her during the ritual. A tiny part of myself that will always be with her. Maybe, just maybe, it will lend her a small piece of my conscience too.

  For the first time in my life I am alone. Really, truly alone. No constant presence at my side, no voice echoing in my head. This feeling—solitude—is a strange and lonely thing that hollows out my insides.

  But I don’t have the luxury of time to think on this now. I regain my composure, then begin to craft a hound from the shadows that follow me. Once it is wagging its tail on the forest floor in front of me, I give it the scent of Lucas and his family, still lingering on my clothes, and set it running through the woods to track them.

  It bounds away, and I chase after, my steps swift and fueled by a burgeoning sense of terror. The shadow hound leads me on a circuitous route through the woods, sometimes looping back on itself, then pausing to catch the scent again before bounding away in a new direction. I do not know how long or how far we run, but when the shadow hound finally stops not far from an outcropping of rocks, I pause to catch my breath. My heart pulses in my ears, blood and adrenaline racing through my veins. The single spot on my forefinger that was pricked by the rose throbs too, a pinching reminder of what I’ve done.

  I dismiss the shadow hound, letting the shadows return to cloak me instead. I creep toward the rocks, doing my best to steady my breath.

  Something white flashes between the rocks and I halt in my tracks.

  It happens again and this time I see it more clearly. It is a girl, ghostly and pale, with hair like a frizzy sort of shroud.

  Simone.

  I duck behind the nearest tree, shivering. I don’t understand how, but whatever Lady Aisling did to that girl makes it possible for her to see through my shadows. If she is near, then the rest of the soldiers must be too. This could be their encampment.

  My heart drops into my boots.

  And if the shadow hound led me here, then Lucas and his family are here as well.

  They’ve been caught.

  My eyes burn with frustration and unshed tears. I have to fix this. I must free them. I’ll just need to get past Simone to do it.

  I peer out from the tree to see Simone’s flashes of dull white every few minutes as she winds between the rocks. From where I stand, I see no sign of soldiers or Lucas and his family. I dash from tree to tree until I circle farther around the outcropping. A soldier or two is hidden in the woods on guard duty, but unlike Simone, they can’t see through my shadows. Between those and the darkness of the night, I’m protected from discovery.

  When I reach the opposite side of the rock formation, I finally see them. The soldiers have set up camp in the perfect spot so that the rocks in the woods conceal them from anyone passing by. Like me.

  At the center of the camp, three figures are huddled around a tree trunk, tied together with rope. Cold foreboding sweeps over my body. It’s them, Lucas and his parents. I had hoped I might be wrong.

  I ball my hands into fists at my sides, shadows swirling around my wrists, ready to heed my bidding.

  An idea sparks inside my brain. If I can get enough shadows together, then—

  “I know you, I know you,” says a singsong voice in my ear. I gasp, spinning around and scrambling backward. Simone, her dull white frock swaying in the nighttime breeze, stands behind me with a wild grin over her face.

  She frowns. “You’re missing something,” she whispers, and tilts her head to the side. She draws in a deep breath like she’s getting ready to yell. I cannot allow that to happen. It would bring the soldiers running, and disrupt my plan before I’ve even started.

  With hardly a second thought, the shadows around my wrists transform into tacky material and I fling them at her.

  One shadow flattens over her mouth, holding in her scream. Her eyes go wide and she scrabbles at the shadow holding her voice inside. Then the others wrap around her wrists, drawing her back and pinning her to the nearest tree.

  She struggles but can’t break free of them. Then she stops struggling and sighs. The shadow still allows her to breathe but doesn’t release its grip on her mouth.

  There is more curious light in her eyes right now than I ever saw when she was traipsing around my parents’ house. I take a step closer. I can’t help wondering what talent she once had that made Lady Aisling desperate to steal it and landed her in such a state. The girl feels as odd and empty to me as ever, but now I view her with more pity than I did before.

  “What did she do to you?” I say, knowing she can’t answer. Simone stares blankly at me. “Do you help them willingly? Or are you as much a captive as the ones she keeps in her garden?”

  Simone’s eyes flash at that question and she goes very still. She doesn’t even blink, almost like she is trying to send me a message.

  If I know you, then she knows you, a small grim voice echoes in my head, startling me. Followed quickly by an odd pang of loss. I’ll never hear Dar’s voice in my head like that again.

  “Was that your talent? Getting in people’s heads?”

  Simone slowly nods, her eyes never leaving mine.

  “Then how did you—” I frown. “You could sense my mind, that’s how you did it, isn’t it? That’s how you could see through my shadows. You could sense my mind…and Dar’s.”

  The girl’s eyes brighten and she nods again.

  “Do you want to be free of her? The Lady? If you help me, maybe I can help you.”

  This time Simone’s eyes go wide and sorrowful.

  My mind is not my own. Do not trust me. She looks as if she has swallowed poison, and I shudder. How awful is it to not be in control of one’s own mind?

  “Is it painful to use your magic then, to communicate mind to mind?”

  She nods.

  An awful thought tears through me, halting my breath. “Does she know we’re talking?”

  Tears pinch at the corners of Simone’s eyes. She nods again.

  Suddenly her eyes go wide, then blank. Her gaze has always been unsettling but this time it’s different.

  And so is the voice resonating in my head.

  Where is my sister?

  The hair raises on the back of my neck.

  What did you do with her, girl? the voice says more forcefully. Give her to me, and I will let your friends go.

  I step backward, my hands quivering at my side, and I yank more shadows to me as if that could hide me from discovery. After all I’ve learned, I have no doubt Lady Aisling is controlling Simone.

  And she wants Dar.

  Simone’s first words to us—I know you—hit me with the full force of their true meaning. Lady Aisling was using her as a puppet all along. Somehow, she recognized Dar even though she was only a shadow.

  And she has been pursuing us ever since.

  Carefully, I duck behind a tree. The voice in my head laughs. That boy, the light singer, will make a fine addition to my Garden. The last word ends in a snarl. Maybe a sunflower.

  I can hear Simone’s body struggling against the bonds tying her to the tree. Lady Aisling must be in full control now; the poor girl is nothing more than a puppet. I move as q
uickly as I can, traveling behind the tree Simone is stuck to so that she (and Lady Aisling) can’t tell for certain which direction I’ve gone. I wish I could help the girl, but I’m not sure how. By her own admission, I can’t trust her.

  When I find the outcropping where I first spotted Simone, I move closer to the camp, feeling a little safer knowing that she is tied up, and I am out of her line of sight. I can no longer hear Lady Aisling or Simone’s voice in my head, so her power must be limited to a range. Which is a relief because that will also make it difficult for them to warn the guards.

  From my new vantage point, I can see more of the camp. Only a few guards remain awake, gathered around a fire in the center. The rest must sleep in the tents scattered throughout the rocks or are fighting Dar back in the glade. Lucas and his family are tied up a short ways behind the soldiers on watch.

  I keep my shadows close at hand so I can deploy my plan. Fully encased in them, I creep into the camp with bated breath and tingling skin.

  Every step is a nightmare. This is not the first time I have snuck past these guards, but it is the first time I’ve done it without Dar to warn me, guard me, and guide me. Despite the newfound knowledge that she has been using me all these years, I can’t help feeling as though I’ve lost one of my limbs. Some necessary piece of me is missing.

  And I’ll never get it back.

  But I keep moving anyway. I must do this by myself, and I’ll need to get used to it fast.

  I am halfway across the camp when raucous laughter rings out from the group of soldiers near the fire. I freeze, panic sliding over my skin like oil. One of them heads toward a nearby tent. He passes so close that I don’t dare move, don’t dare breathe. If he walks into me, I’m caught.

  He passes within inches of where I stand without giving me a second look. When he enters the tent and the flap closes behind him, I finally let out my breath, feeling rather lightheaded.

  I press on, emboldened by my success, but still weak in the knees from fear. Now that I know what Lady Aisling does, what would really happen, much more is at stake than my talent of shadow weaving. I can’t be as naive as I was the first time I snuck away from my parents’ estate.

  Up ahead, Lucas dozes off by the tree like he’s trying to keep watch and it isn’t quite working. His parents appear to be sleeping. A gag is wrapped around his mouth, probably to prevent him from using his lightcraft. Venom tears through me—I hate the fact that Lady Aisling knows about him, after all his parents have done to keep him safe. All I can hope is that they don’t spurn me now. I’ll do anything I can to keep them from Lady Aisling’s grasp.

  I am only a foot away when I stop. Lucas hasn’t seen me yet, and I can’t let my shadows down for a second for fear the guards might glimpse me too. But there is another way to show him I’m here.

  Inside my cloak of shadows, I pull a couple together, twisting and twining them into a shape Lucas will recognize. Then I set the shadow on the ground and send it bounding over to my friend.

  The shadow puppy dances over, pawing at Lucas’s legs. I’ve made it tangible enough for him to feel it. His eyes widen, and he twists his head. Almost as soon as he starts, he thinks better of it and stops. No need to let the guards in on my rescue attempt. At least not yet.

  But now his eyes are alight with hope.

  The shadows are still tinged with the red of the blood moon high overhead. I craft three more shadows, plucking more material from the deepening dark of the night. Within minutes, they are ready to release. I set one loose, and it floats toward Lucas and his parents. Lucas watches with wonder as it settles onto his chest, then expands to cover his full shape, becoming a shadow doppelganger, a nearly identical copy of his own form. Shading even gives the appearance of features at a glance.

  Then I kneel down next to him and hurry to loosen his bonds. I have no weapons, nothing to fight with except my shadows. But luckily I’m not too shabby with knots and his come undone quickly. He rubs his wrists and smiles, understanding that it isn’t safe to talk. I reach out a hand and pull him into my shadow cloak, widening it to cover both of us completely. The shadow doppelganger I crafted remains at the base of the tree, and even has shadow ropes holding it down.

  Lucas wakes up his parents, while I set their own shadow doppelgangers loose, then we free them from their bonds too.

  In minutes, we are all under cloaking shadows, tiptoeing back across the camp. But as we pass the tent where the guard disappeared earlier, the flap flies open and he steps out, nearly colliding with Alfred, hidden under the shadows.

  The guard has a strange expression on his face. With a sinking heart I follow his gaze: he’s squinting at the tree where Lucas and his family were imprisoned minutes earlier.

  We move faster as the guard walks over, then lets up a shout. “Hey! Where did they go?!” The shadows that had taken their forms dissolve into smoke, and we stop completely. All we need is a broken branch snapping under our feet to give us away. I must do something else to distract the guards.

  Breathless, Lucas and his parents exchange looks of terror under the shadow cloak, while I take more shadow material from the forest to weave. These too I craft into something I haven’t done much of before until tonight—human forms. I had Dar; what need did I have of other human-like shadows that didn’t talk? But tonight I hope they will serve me well.

  I mirror the forms of the guards using the tall trees’ shadows as raw material. The faces I mimic as much as possible in the firelight for some; for others I leave them blank and faceless. Then when I have a dozen of these shadow soldiers ready to release and expand, I gesture to my friends that it is time to move toward the woods again.

  I set the doppelgangers loose. We don’t get far before the camp soldiers find their shadowy counterparts and a new cry of alarm goes up. My shadow warriors are fierce and loyal, and they will do what they can to lead the guards on a merry chase and keep them from following us. Then when the morning light comes, they will go back to the trees where they belong.

  Chaos descends. Stuck in the middle of the camp, we watch them battle and see how the guards, unable to understand the shadow soldiers, accidentally begin to fight each other in the darkness.

  Then a sharp howl splits the night in two, and a new shape appears at the edge of the woods. Dark shadowed eyes flash and a monstrous form throws itself into the fray.

  Cold hits me like a bucket of water while Lucas and his family gape.

  Dar has found us.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  I watch in horror as Dar, all snapping teeth and flailing limbs, brushes guards aside with one long, clawed arm.

  It’s the perfect opportunity to flee. I could not have asked for a better distraction. We could hurry away, leaving nothing but chaos in our wake. But I can’t allow her to hurt any more people, not even Lady Aisling’s men. Who knows how many she injured when I fled from her the first time. And I certainly can’t let her roam free when she’s done.

  “What is that?” whispers Lucas. My gut twists. I am finished with lies and half-truths. Besides, I only said them at Dar’s insistence; had I known she was feeding off them, things might have gone very differently.

  I swallow hard. “It’s Dar, my shadow. Or she was my shadow. I—I thought she was my friend. She convinced me to perform a ritual that made her flesh again.”

  Lucas’s eyes widen. “You did that?”

  I hang my head. “She was a lost soul. She talked to me and played with me. She was my best friend.”

  Lucas’s mother sighs. “Oh, Emmeline. That’s why you hid things from us. You were really hiding her.”

  Dar morphs into something new, stockier and shorter than her monster form. In minutes she looks like the guards, her face shifting as she dodges and weaves through the shadows and soldiers.

  “I must do something about Dar. I can’t just let her remain loose, wreaking havoc like
this,” I say.

  She taunts the guards by mirroring their forms, confusing them. But she soon bores of this, and shifts again, this time into something bigger. I shiver.

  “I’ll help you.” Lucas grabs my hand. Heat burns through my fingers.

  “But I lied to you. All of you.”

  Miranda puts a hand on my shoulder. “You came back for us. You saved our son from Lady Aisling; we will not soon forget that.”

  “Well, we’re not quite safe yet,” Alfred says.

  “You should go,” I say. “I have done enough to your family. I don’t want to put any of you in more danger. I’ll send some of my shadows with you to keep you hidden.”

  I glance at my former shadow, and she is monstrous again. Huge horns adorn her head and she uses them to barrel into the guards, sending them scattering into the trees. Behind her, the hint of sunrise stains the sky red. My first thought when I fled her was that I needed help, but now the possibility of my friends getting hurt seems all too real.

  “I’m staying,” Lucas says. “Maybe my magic can help.” He glances at his parents. “But it might be best if you go. Then we won’t be distracted trying to save you too.”

  Alfred shakes his head. “We’re not leaving you. But we will stay hidden in Emmeline’s shadows between these rocks. We’ll be out of the way, I promise.”

  Lucas gives me an encouraging look. Something warm and light fills my ribs.

  “All right. Come on, Lucas,” I say. I tie off one end of the shadows around his parents, then pull the rest tight around me and Lucas. We move quickly from rock to rock trying to get closer without being seen. Some of the soldiers lie on the ground, unmoving, and bile rises in the back of my throat.

  We stick to the side of the camp where the soldiers are thinnest. They keep coming back, trying to take Dar down. I wonder if Lady Aisling told them who she really is or if they just know she has shifter magic and would make a valuable prize. They must want to bring her back to Lady Aisling so she can add her to the Garden and devour her talent.