by Sariah Skye
Gabriel elbowed me gently and looked solemn. “Leo, don’t say that. You’re not lost. You have Maxxus. He’s home.”
My frown softened, thinking of those blue eyes and strong arms that held me in good times and bad over the years (now that I could remember). I smiled. “You’re right. And, so are you. All of you.”
Braeden placed a brotherly kiss on my cheek. “That’s right, sister dear. Are you ready?”
I nodded.
Finnian took another vial out of his pocket and slammed it on the ground. “Back to the castle?” he asked me.
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“There’s a quick gathering tonight to discuss what happens when the delegates arrive,” Braeden said. “You should probably get back and freshen up.”
Gabriel held out his arms, urging us to link. I outstretched my other hand to my brother and we waited for the portal to form. The haze from the vial started trailing upwards, like a blue steam and spun around into a circular portal in the living room. It shimmered briefly before bursting outwards and turning a dark blue. Finnian raised his brow slightly before stepping in.
I exchanged a look with Gabriel that said, “What was that?” But we wouldn’t know until we stepped through.
“I’m guessing that’s not what he was expecting?” Braeden guessed aloud, and I shook my head.
“Don’t think so. But it can’t be dangerous since he stepped through,” I said. Taking a step, I eased into the portal and was met with a loud screech in my ears, like the sound of a train stopping sudden on its metallic tracks.
I dropped Braeden and Gabriel’s grips and put my hands to my ears as I tumbled through the void. This was new.
“Hello?” I asked, feeling disoriented. My gaze shot around, trying to find Gabriel, or my brother, or Finnian but all I saw was…empty dark.
Oh fuck. I immediately thought. Shadows. I tumbled around slowly, feeling dizzy, and sick to my stomach. Everywhere I looked I saw nothing but dim darkness before I was deposited into the middle of a sunny field, head first into a pile of…
…leaves?
Piles of leaves were hard to come by in Anarach this time of year; even with most of the Court out of commission. They’d have blown away completely or just hadn’t fallen yet; the Meteorological department made that decision depending on each individual location. Certainly, there was none in the castle, where we were supposed to be.
I blinked a few times, trying to push the dark out of my vision.
“Where are we?” Braeden asked, rubbing his eyes, and slowly getting to his feet. He was about five feet in front of me and had just barely managed to get tangled in a weeping willow tree nearby.
“Are we…?” I turned and blinked, seeing Gabriel at his feet behind me. He rushed forward and held out his hands. I grabbed them and he pulled me unsteadily to my feet. I knew we were in a field of sorts, and there was a tree but my vision was still somewhat confused; our exact location not registering in my brain.
“It’s a park of some sort,” Finnian mused distinctly. I couldn’t see him, but I could tell he was nearby from the sound and the nearness of his voice.
“What happened?” I asked, as I pulled away from the sorcerer. The second I did, I felt my knees weaken and I nearly tumbled to the ground dizzily before Gabriel’s arms were around me for balance.
“Whoa… just take a minute. You’re disoriented,” he said, helping me to stand solidly.
I tried to look around, blinking quickly. I felt waves of nausea wash over me. I swallowed a putrid lump that was forming in my throat. Rubbing my eyes, I shook myself out of the daze I was in.
Gabriel touched my shoulder gently, and I felt it warm. Magic poured through my body and I slowly felt better as it penetrated my hazy mind. I turned, fully seeing his confused expression and offering him thanks.
“This is that park, isn’t it?” he asked, sounding uncertain.
I finally could see. Willow Lake Park was near the edge of a small trail and forest which is where we’d been dumped; I could see the line of willow trees that surrounded the lake nearby as well as the leaf-littered trail ahead of us. Just behind the trees sat a still lake, low sunlight overhead beaming down into the water, indicating that it was now late afternoon. “Yes, it is.”
“You know this place?” Braeden asked, and I nodded.
“Yeah, it’s a park inside Pineville. Willow Lake Park.”
He snorted. “There’s a Willow Lake Park inside of Pineville?” he chuckled. “This town likes its trees, huh?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “We’re surrounded by pine forests, but years ago someone planted the willow trees near the shoreline. It’s said it was some local witchcraft practitioners, but it’s just a rumor.”
“Willows are known as the witches’ tree,” Gabriel said, in a hushed voice to my brother, like he was filling him in on some sort of secret.
Braeden glowered. “Yes, I know that. I just thought it was funny that—”
Gabriel shoved his hand out and said adamantly, “Shhh!”
My brother narrowed his eyes at him but stopped talking.
“What is it?” I whispered.
“There’s people here, but there’s…something else. Let’s go.” Holding his hands out in front of him, he followed the trail through the tree line, a handful of steps behind Finnian who appeared to be on a mission with how fast he as walking.
“Finn?” I called after him, but Gabriel put a finger to his lips and shushed me too.
There was a break in the tree line, and it led us to the bench where, just a month ago Gabriel and I sat for our ‘date’, eating ice cream when Maxxus called us to tell us there was a car near the Anarach portal. Kit’s car.
Finnian emerged from the trees and we followed behind cautiously. I peeked over his shoulder at the human family gathered in the picnic area, talking boisterously as a handful of kids darted about the colorful playground equipment.
I scoffed. “Why all sneaky? Just some people at a park.” I began to step past him when he stuck his arm out, effectively stopping me.
“But, why did the portal bring us here? It should have taken us to Anarach. There is a reason we are here,” Finnian said, in hushed tones.
“How can a portal just change direction like that?” Braeden asked.
“I’m not sure,” Gabriel replied, confused.
At that moment, we looked around, puzzled as the sky grew overcast. Shadowed. But there were no clouds; it was just the immediate area that appeared darker.
I swallowed a lump of fear that swelled at my throat. “Oh no…” I said, pushing past everyone to enter the park area. Finnian tried to grab for me, but I pushed him away.
The shiver that ran down my spine and the empty feeling that settled in my chest could only mean one thing. “Shadows.”
“Shadows?” Braeden emerged behind me and reached for my arm, not sure if it was for his comfort or mine. “I don’t see anything yet. Just that it suddenly got dark.”
The human family noticed too. They were squinting into the sky and shrugging at each other. I gasped when I realized that one of the humans looked familiar.
“Ben Needles,” I said, hushed.
“Who?” Gabriel asked from next to me.
“Remember that truck stop? When we were having those storms and I stopped the tornado?” I asked him. He nodded. “He was the guy that was working there. He pulled the glass out of my face.”
Gabriel swore under his breath. “Think it’s all somehow linked?”
“I don’t know. Seems like anyone who’s had any sort of contact with me seems to be a target, but this is so odd,” I said, with a regrettable sigh. I took a couple of steps and stood behind the boys to shield myself. “I don’t want to be seen yet.” Thankfully, they were all so stymied by the unreasonable darkness that lay out before us they hadn’t noticed us yet.
One of the humans—a woman, I assumed was the mother—started hollering for the kids on the playground. They protested but whe
n Ben yelled angrily they came running.
A crack of mysterious thunder shook the park at that moment, making the kids scream in fear as they hid behind random adults. Only, it wasn’t thunder.
“Shit!” I said, and familiar dark shimmer nearby ebbed and flowed before making another cracking sounds, followed by the roaring of a portal tearing through the normal space.
“What the hell is that?” one of the humans exclaimed in terror, pointing at the portal
“I’m not sure, but we need to get out of here!” Ben called, motioning for everyone to follow him to the parking lot nearby, assumedly for the vehicles for shelter.
“What do we do?” Braeden asked, confused, as several Shadow tendrils began slithering out of the portal.
“We fight it, that’s what!” I stormed through the field, palm raised as I began to summon light magic before Gabriel caught up to me, clutching my hand and effectively quelling the magic.
“No, Leo! You can’t! What if the humans see you?” he asked.
“I’ll have to compel them to forget, or something! I can’t let the Shadows get free! Not in the human world, they’ll wreak utter havoc!” I said, shoving him aside.
“Fuck it,” he said under his breath, and we both summoned our magic in hand, Braeden right behind us with his own fire magic.
The handful of tendrils started slithering towards us. Gabriel and I began summoning and pelting light ball after light ball after them as they crawled out and aimed for anything alive: trees, humans, Mythos. Anything they could latch on to.
“Go after those!” I ordered to Gabriel, as one tendril had poured out the other side of the portal and was slithering for the humans that had been attempting to take cover for the parking lot. Now, they were standing next to their cars, watching the scene unfold before them, expressions of shock and confusing on their faces.
“Shit,” I said under my breath, but I couldn’t worry about it right now. Another echoing crack sounded from the portal. I called for my magic and produced a large light ball, mixed with the shining pink spirit magic, and took aim for whatever it was.
The Shadow form made a sickening sucking sound as it stepped out, and I gasped briefly.
It was humanoid from what I could tell. Its skin appeared dull as if wearing a veil that clung like oil, with small holes bitten out every so often. The only telltale sight on the form that distinguished it from others was a dull, gray bun at the back of the head.
“Ceceline.” Finnian spoke, stunned, his eyes flashing disconcertingly as his colleague and friend slid out of the portal, like some sort of oozing swamp monster.
Her eyes were bright for a moment as she grinned, before the Shadow form took total hold of her body. “Well, Finnian. Fancy meeting you here. Well, actually no it’s not.” She cackled lightly, with menace.
“Why not?” I retorted, trying to interrupt the stare-down between them.
“I know all your tricks, you see,” she said, her voice hoarse and somewhat strangled. “I knew eventually you’d be using your magic portals and at just the right time, I could hijack them.” She glanced around briefly. “Although I don’t recognize where we are.”
“You’re in the human world,” I spat. “So good luck trying to get anything done.”
She snickered. “Oh, pink dragon. How naïve you are. Since recruiting humans—who came voluntarily—we now know how easy it is to get to them. We don’t need magic. And—surprise—some of them actually have it, they just don’t know it!”
“But—why, Ceceline?” Finnian dared to near her. I shot out a gust of wind with my free hand and kept him from moving closer. His eyes and tone were pleading.
“Why? I was trying to save Castle Danger. Something you couldn’t do, Finn,” she hissed venomously. Finnian winced at her words, but composed himself quickly. “I was assured that if I came willingly with them, they would leave the rest of you alone. And they did.”
I snorted. “Yeah, but only after they got to most of the town, the mage, and killed handfuls of mythos!”
“I was trying to find a way to fight them!” She challenged, narrowing her black eyes. “No matter,” she said, composing herself. “Now that I know how much power I can contain as a Shadow, I’m glad I made the decision.”
“She’s gone mad,” I mumbled.
“So, it is as foretold.” Finnian’s eyes fixated on a deep brown color, and he whipped a glass vial from out of his pocket. In a flash, he tossed the flask to her. She lifted her hand in attempt to stop the vial from reaching her, tendrils shooting out her hand. The tendrils made contact and the vial exploded in a burst of fiery mist, effectively knocking her off her feet.
Shadow Ceceline let out a strangled cry, throwing her hands up in the air. She thrashed under the magic—and attempted to regain her footing but couldn’t; the magic had her trapped to the ground.
But her gesture called forth swarms of Shadows from the portal; a handful of mindless drones. More tendrils and forms came exploding outward, knocking the Mythos to the ground.
Gabriel struggled to his feet as a handful of Shadowforms started towards the humans. “Leo, come on!”
I gasped, as the human family cowered behind their cars. The children were sobbing, and the women were trying to whisper comforting words, but their tones were shaky. Two of the men stood blockading them.
“Dear god what is it?” one of the women shrieked.
“It looks like a demon!” the other woman responded in terror.
I scrambled to my feet and ran towards Gabriel, leaving Braeden and Finnian to battle the tendrils and the Shadow “ninja” coming out of the portal. Ceceline was bound, for now.
The Shadow forms were human but not entirely corporeal. In the castle, they appeared more solid. Here, for some reason they seemed to shift between their human and Shadow forms.
Biting my lip hesitantly, I called for my magic. Gabriel chanted nearby, spinning his hands around each other and conjuring a massive ball of light. I tossed my pink light magic at him and he built up a large ball of orange magic. He tossed it at the humans, who screamed in horror as the magic hit their feet, popped, hissed, and formed a barrier around them. “Don’t move!” Gabriel said, pointing his finger sternly at them.
“Let us go! We want to help!” Ben Needles shouted, attempting to pound on the magical shield to no avail.
“You have no idea what you’re up against!” I yelled back to him. He looked taken aback as I spoke.
“Wait—I know you! The lady from that day with the tornado!” He said, somewhat awed and dumbfounded at the same time.
I ignored his comment, as Gabriel and I continued summoning magic in our hands and tossing it to the Shadowforms. One of them turned on me, and pulled a dull metal Shadow weapon from out of nowhere and swung it at me.
An orb of light magic whizzed by me, and struck the glaring Shadow form in the shoulder. The weapon fell to the earth, fizzled away as the form shrieked in pain.
“More light, Leo!” Gabriel shouted, conjuring up the largest light orb I’ve seen yet.
“It won’t be enough!” I knew we needed to injure them physically. Since they weren’t dragons—we didn’t think—shooting the opposite magic at them wouldn’t help.
“You’re right, we really need those weapons!” Gabriel cursed, still weaving the light magic. I continued to summon pink orbs complete with my dragon mist, and tossed it to him.
The idea struck me quickly. “They’re supposed to come to us, right, from anywhere? Cover me!” I clenched my eyes shut, and imagined the beautiful artfully, lovingly formed dagger Maxxus had smithed for me. I pictured its weight balanced in my hand and the cool metal on my skin; and the way the power surged through me, giving me confidence and making me stronger.
On cue, I felt a weight in my outstretched hand. My eyes flew open, genuinely pleased to see the dagger I’d left in Anarach had apparated in my hand.
“Call for your weapon!” I called to Gabriel, and waved over to my brother and Fi
nnian on the other side of the field. Braeden didn’t have one, of course, but Finnian had his throwing stars. It would help immensely against these forms.
Gabriel tossed the magic in the air and pushed it down towards a handful of tendrils that were sneaking through the feet of the Shadowforms. Seeing that Gabriel was distracted, with his eyes closed, I bit my lip and pointed my dagger outwards to them, taunting them to attack me.
“Hey! Fuckers!” The two forms that had been heading towards Gabriel and the humans stopped in their tracks and spun towards me. I tried not to balk at their fearful expressions. Dull eyes that appeared like black holes, a gaping maw where the mouth should be and formless appendages. They flashed, giving me a brief look at their human forms; one had been a male, wearing jeans and a t-shirt when he’d turned and the other, an older woman in a business suit. What an odd combination, I thought. How did they ever succumb over to the Shadows?
One of the forms hissed at me, drawing a Shadow weapon from its seemingly invisible side. I held out the dagger in front of me and bent low, making my form smaller and harder to hit, per instructions I managed to recall from Maxxus.
It lunged the weapon—a rusty sword—towards me and I managed to duck, but barely.
I felt my shoulders tingle and pull. “Shit!” I said, as my wings emerged from my back, tearing at the back of my shirt as they came out and outstretched around me.
“It’s an angel!” I heard a child’s voice cry out, but I couldn’t look as the other form spun, trying to land a punch on me.
I fell to the ground, and attempted to tumble backwards but my wings wouldn’t let me. I cursed, but they shielded me as the other form took another slice in my direction. The edge of the blade nicked my wing that positioned itself in time to avoid a rough blow to my head.
“No!” Gabriel thrust his sword that appeared in his hand forward, and made a slicing motion in the air before him. It carved into the side of the male form and it cried out in pain.
“Gabe!” I opened my free hand and willed for the magic to grow in my palm. My wings helped center the power, and with my dagger I flung it towards him.