“Maybe he won’t?”
He looked at me skeptically. “You’re the only one who’s managed to attack the creature. Of course, he’ll put you in danger. He has to, to stop the creature.”
“What if I just remain an initiate?”
“Tira,” Ian sounded exasperated. That made me feel better. “You can’t remain an initiate. Not if you’re made an operative. It’s not how that works. But,” he relented, “on the upside, the initiates are also moving to the main headquarters, so I’ll still be there.”
I smiled at him. “That’ll be nice. I don’t know many other raccoon pillows.”
He chuckled. I liked that sound. I didn’t get to hear it nearly often enough.
“How did you join the Guild, Ian?” I asked softly. “Did Sonsil recruit you?”
He shifted, bringing one knee up and resting his chin on it. “He did. Found me in a bush, years ago. Told me the Watch would find me, but he’d keep me safe.”
“So you went.”
“Oh no,” he laughed softly again. I really loved that sound. With the green lights around us and our hushed voices, it felt like we were the only two people in the world. “I turned into a badger and bit him. Right on the hand. He still has a scar.”
“Holy crap. And you lived?”
“Sonsil isn’t as harsh as he seems to be…” Ian stopped, and sighed. I stared at him meaningfully. “All right. Maybe he won’t get you killed. But I’m not sure. The stakes are high.”
“But he’s not your enemy.”
“I hope not,” he said.
“Why did you live in a bush?” I tried to shift the conversation away from the morose feeling that was creeping back into Ian.
I was surprised to see him hesitate.
“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”
“No, it’s okay.” He glanced at me sideways, his eyes picking up some of the green, as though he debated how to frame what he would say.
“The old woman,” he said, and I frowned.
“Okay, not what I expected,” I mumbled. “Was she related to you?”
“No, but she was old.”
“Hence her being an old woman.”
“Thank you for your contribution. Do you want to hear this or don’t you?”
“I’ll be good now,” I said, holding up my hands.
“She’s more than twenty years old.”
I remembered the Boss’ words from earlier. “I had an inkling,” I muttered.
“Well, not every Traded came during that one giant swap twenty years ago.”
The words didn’t surprise me, not after everything I’d seen. But the ramifications of it...I couldn’t wrap my head around all of them. How had this happened? Why did a giant swap occur twenty years ago, then? Did humans know we existed before then?
“How come we were never told that?”
“Because the ones who all came at once…that was the first time it really became known. But there had been others, over the centuries, the millenia, even.”
“Wait. Why are you telling me this?” I looked him over. He looked about my age, but he might be a bit older, I guess.
“Because I came about five years before you did, Tira. And I wasn’t swapped. I was just…I don’t know, transported here.”
I looked at him as though seeing him for the first time. But he still looked the same to me. Same warm eyes. Disheveled hair. Thoughtful smile.
“You remember coming here?” I asked, my voice hushed with awe. I didn’t. I was too little. I sometimes dreamt of another place, but it felt more like story-fueled dreams than memories. From the hellscape I saw in those dreams, I hoped they were just stories.
“I do,” he said. “I remember landing on this world. I remember,” he paused, hesitated, then pushed on, “I remember the first time I shifted into a human.”
He still looked like Ian. And Ian looked human. With pale skin, brown hair, brown eyes, a little too disheveled, a little unkempt, no laugh lines surrounding his eyes…
“What were you, on your world?”
“A shifter,” he shrugged. “It’s weird. I don’t really remember, but I remember coming over. I know the land felt differently, all soft compared to mine. And my own shapes weren’t the same. I don’t think fur was a thing, where I came from. Which is probably why I like shifting into furred animals. It’s more comfy.”
“Except hair,” I teased him.
“Hair is hard! Why can’t it just stay one length like everything else?”
I gave a short laugh. “Do you know others like you? Is Sonsil a Traded from another time?”
He shook his head. “As far as I can tell, Sonsil is quite human. But allied with some powerful Traded. I knew the old woman at the league. She was kind to me. Helped me master some of my shapes.” He raised an eyebrow as I got a “ha-ha!” look in my eyes. So, she had been Guild of Shadows. “But that’s it. Sometimes I spot older Traded in town, but we never talk. I don’t know what to say. I don’t know if it’s important enough to bring up with complete strangers.”
I’d spotted a few there, too, in the neighborhood dedicated to Traded. And their weapons, and shops.
“Is it lonely?” the question took both Ian and me by surprise.
He looked to the side, pondering. “Sometimes,” he said. “I haven’t really had friends until you,” he said, “and there aren’t many shared experiences with the Traded when you haven’t gone to school, haven’t been in a shitty family, and you remember where you come from. I never know what to talk about with other Traded, I guess. I don’t know. You’re not like the rest. You don’t follow the rules. You have fun. You’re open to the world being different than what others say it is. I guess I connected with that more than I thought I would.”
He grew silent, the green light a comfortable hue around us.
“I’m glad we met,” I said, meaning every word. “No matter what happens, Ian, you have a friend for life with me.”
He stared at me for a good long while before he answered. “If anyone else said that, I might not believe them. But you’re just stubborn enough to pull it off.”
“Just don’t ask me to speak in front of that many people ever again,” I deadpanned.
He held up his hand, palm forward. “I promise I will not. I can’t speak for Sonsil, however. Speaking of,” he said, “I should get going. We’ll be starting to move people within a couple of hours. There’s a lot to do.”
Despite his words, he still lingered, hesitation in every limb and feature. He leaned toward me, our eyes holding contact. I held my breath.
Then the main lights turned on as the beginning of our day, aka the night, started.
He blinked, and I flushed purple. He stood up quickly, as did I.
“I’ll see you soon,” he gulped out and walked out of there so fast I was surprised he didn’t just turn into a gazelle.
What the hell had that just been about? I’d almost kissed him. And I’d kissed Clay earlier that day. I mean, we weren’t an item or anything.
But, still…
I covered my face with my hands. I knew full well that if Ian came back this moment, I’d happily kiss him, full light or not.
#
My thoughts and heart danced annoyingly as I walked back to my room, barefoot. Clay and Ian were pretty much polar opposites, but both were pretty awesome.
I hopped a couple of times to shake myself awake. It didn’t matter, anyway. It’s not like I’d have time for romance, now that I was about to become a full operative. I wondered what my first mission would be.
I hoped it wouldn’t put Clay in danger. Or Ian.
I realized I was smiling widely.
Damn it. I was in trouble, wasn’t I? Well, this wasn’t entirely bad trouble to be in.
“Tira,” the gravelly voice brought me back to reality and my grin faded away as I turned to see Glitter. It was nice to have one friend I didn’t w
ant to make out with.
He motioned for me to join him, right by the door to his room.
“She’s here,” he said, eyes wide. He pointed to the other corridor. I had no doubt who he meant.
“Stay here,” I said. He shook his head, and pretty much hooked on to my arm. “Fine,” I whispered as I folded the shadows around us. “But don’t impede my movement.”
Not that I had weapons. That would be too nice. I didn’t even have boots on. Glitter seemed to sense my hesitation, and he handed me a pen. It wasn’t a cheap pen, and had some weight behind it. I was pretty sure I could stab someone and do some interesting damage.
I grinned my thanks and focused on my shadows and stealth as I rounded the corner. It took everything I had not to gasp.
The warrior was in full view, not cloaked one bit. Her head almost looked like it was made from more rock, jutting out in a rectangular shape. Her body was the same flint gray as her head, but it seemed to be a protective shell, like it protected her soft, chewy center. Which was good. I could stab soft.
The rock shimmered, as though it wasn’t fully there. Probably, parts of her cloaking device were still active.
Her arms turned to swords just below the elbow, two on each side. All four of them were currently down. A band of metal seemed to connect each arm, maybe to facilitate the whirling attack that I’d witnessed before.
Her eyes were diamonds, hard and unwavering, as sharp as her deadly swords.
Before her, equally unwavering, stood Rachel.
I grabbed Glitter’s arm, afraid he’d gasp and draw attention to us. I didn’t really have to worry. He seemed to have turned to ice beside me, frozen in place at the sight.
What the hell was Rachel doing? The two stared at each other. The blue of her skin seemed muted, somehow, and all her attention was on the creature. The corridor smelled of sweets again, just like in the Chengzu Guild, and like in the Wolf Pack League. Could that be another way to track her?
I hesitated. Should I attack? Should I help Rachel? But they weren’t attacking each other…what the hell was going on?
Another initiate stepped out of his room, just in time to see the monster in front of Rachel. Before I could warn him, the creature held up her sword arm and swept it upwards, slicing his head in two from chin to forehead.
The creature stared at Rachel, who hadn’t reacted at all to her fallen Guild member. Then, the warrior stepped away from Rachel, vanishing back into the shimmer of her cloak. And Rachel walked back in her room.
She was a traitor. She had to be! But the creature had killed her crew!
There was no time to worry about that. Why the hell hadn’t the alarm sounded? There were cameras everywhere!
The creature had moved away from us, at least. I grabbed Glitter to make sure he stayed within my shadows and ran toward my room. I needed weapons. I needed shoes. And I needed to warn everyone else.
Before I could reach my room, the alarm sounded: not a distracting shrill, just a little “boomp” every two seconds. Enough to warn us, but not enough to block all our senses and overwhelm us with panic.
Initiate doors flashed once with red. It was the signal to go in and stay there. The doors would lock and keep the initiates in and, theoretically, safe.
Except when monsters could walk through walls.
It flashed again.
Rachel stepped out of her room, running down the corridor, holding a long staff in her hand, a blade fixed to its end. She hadn’t seen me – I still hid in my shadows.
“Last chance,” I whispered to Glitter.
“I stay with dessert,” he said resolutely.
“Let’s go, then.”
The light flashed again, and the initiate doors all locked with a resounding clang.
I turned and trailed Rachel. If she was in league with the warrior, then she was the reason the distraction existed.
Whatever she planned, I intended to stop her.
Chapter Twenty
Rachel ran down the hall, forcing me to stay close to not lose her in the maze of corridors. Glitter didn’t struggle to keep up as much as I feared he might, his back still hunched, his arms bobbing before him.
He kept up, motivated by the very real possibility that we’d get killed. I grasped my shadows tightly around me, trying to make them a bit thicker than usual to maybe even shield us from blows. For all I knew, Rachel dragged us straight into the creature’s path.
What if Ian was right? What if the monster had come after me?
What if Rachel was just the lure? Using my friend against me?
My shadows faltered a bit around me, and I pushed back my worries. Whatever I ran into, I’d figure it out when I got there. At least Glitter was with me. He could help scare the monster away, or put her to sleep.
Rachel turned a corner and slipped into the armory.
Good move.
I slowed down, grabbed the pen, and turned the corner.
Rachel was selecting a sword and a handgun. It was now or never. She could explode, sure, but I had the advantage in hand-to-hand combat. I wish I’d have refilled my sleeping agent.
I prepared to attack her and restrain her, when the perimeter of my shadows shimmered. Glitter gave a low “yip,” and I grabbed my shadows and threw them with force against the creature that had encroached on them.
Apparently surprised, Rachel whipped around, firing several shots in the creature’s direction. But the warrior stood ready, the bullets going through her shifted body. I moved quickly, ducking below her swords, and threw the pen in the middle of her, pushing my shadows on her.
It forced her to unshift, her stomach reforming around the pen. She looked surprised and screamed in anger, all four sword arms swinging for me. Glitter had fled, so he was of no use.
I tumbled out of the way, recalling my shadows. Rachel fired a few more shots, apparently to draw fire away from me. Thankfully, it worked.
The creature vanished.
Damn it, why had Rachel helped me? I couldn’t chance her life, so I grabbed her and drew her into my shadows, pulling her down.
I motioned to her to be quiet as we hid under a table. Nothing crossed my shadows, but that didn’t mean that the creature was no longer here.
I glanced at Rachel, fury and revenge flashing like lightning in her blue eyes.
Why would she ally herself with such a creature? Had she even realized what she’d done?
A thunk down the hall indicated that the creature had moved on.
“Why are you helping her?” I whispered to Rachel, holding her arm. I should have really grabbed a weapon before threatening her.
“I’m not helping her!” Rachel sounded incensed. “She killed my crew!”
“I saw you hanging out with her in front of your room,” I narrowed my eyes, “and keep your voice low.”
She looked puzzled and annoyed. “I…I didn’t,” she narrowed her eyes, looked down at her hands. “I didn’t realize that…I mean, it can’t be the same person, can it?”
“I know of only one sword-wielding maniac. What are you talking about?”
Rachel struggled with the weight of new knowledge. “My crew wasn’t all human. We had one more Traded, Alicia. She was kind to me, Tira. Why did she kill them?”
Alicia.
“You know her?”
“I had no idea!” Rachel said, her voice rising again. I indicated for her to keep it down. “She’s not herself! There’s something wrong with her.”
“No shit,” I said. “Look, we have to go. Can you at least tell me that you’re not allied with her? I don’t think we can stop her with words.”
“No,” her features softened, which worried me. “I wish I could reach her, but she barely seemed to recognize me…” her eyes grew cold, her grip on her weapon tightening. “I mean, I thought maybe another Traded has some of the same abilities. She was always so gentle. I was just glad someone had survived, so I didn’t want to�
�” she took a deep breath, her eyes closing briefly before reopening, lightning turned to steal. “We have to stop her. I can kill her.”
“Great. But she’ll probably kill us first.”
“You can make her show herself?” she asked. I nodded and grabbed several guns, a short sword with a bit of a cross guard, and several daggers. I wish I had boots, but mostly for esthetic reasons. My feet rarely got cold.
I glanced at Rachel. She looked pale, but resolute.
“Can you do this?” I asked.
She nodded, clenching her jaw.
“Let’s go,” I whispered, and we stepped out of the armory. A body lay barely ten feet away, cut in two, surprise marked on the face. Rachel’s face became harder, her eyes filled with growing light.
Her anger would be useful this time, if she could blow up the right person. I didn’t know if it was a trick of the mind, being surrounded by metal walls and all, but I could swear the entire area smelled ever worse of iron and blood. Like the whole place had been steeped in it.
Two more bodies waited for us further down the corridor. We moved faster, while we still had a Guild to protect. Three more bodies, and more blood. Maybe the whole world was steeped in iron.
I realized where we were going, my limbs growing as cold as the dead operatives’ on the floor.
She’d headed straight for the operatives’ area.
Ian!
Chapter Twenty-One
The door to the operatives’ area was closed and locked, as always. Several bodies were scattered around it, and biometrics didn’t exactly work for the dead. The pen I’d thrown into Alicia lay on the floor before the door.
Damn. She was definitely in there.
I pushed on the door, in case my biometrics had already been added. No luck, of course.
“How do we get in there?” I mumbled. I wondered if I could use my shadows to break it down, somehow. Maybe I could jimmy the door open with a dagger? I doubted that. There was no keyhole to pick. Just a biometric reader.
Damn tech.
Rachel reached over me, placed her hand on that section. Her skin began to glow.
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