All Things in the Shadows II

by B. D. Messick

  I raise my finger to my lips.

  “Shhh.”

  She nods and gives me a friendly smile. I boost myself up and step back into the shadows and vanish again. I glance back, and I see the little girl staring down the aisle, a confused look on her pixie face. The beast is back at the rear of the plane again, struggling with Kateri, their weapons clashing together over and over. I sprint toward them when a sudden sense of doom makes me stop. I turn slowly and stare down the narrow lane between the seats as a blue shimmering opening forms near the curtains separating first class from coach.

  “Oh fuck me,” I say as I run toward the rift.

  Before I can even cover the distance, out steps a large black and green demon with spikes running down its arms, a nasty, serrated sword in its clawed hand. It looks at me for a second and then turns and moves toward the exit door. I reach for my crossbow, but it’s not hanging on my belt. I spot it on the floor by the little girl’s seat.

  “Shit!”

  I wish I could stream down to the front of the plane, but the shadows are all chopped up, making it difficult at best and dangerous at worse. I’ve already been spotted by one little girl. I don’t need any more people seeing me, but when the beast reaches for the handle on the door, I know I don’t have a choice.

  I melt into the shadow and try to pick a stopping point right behind the demon, but as soon as I move, someone opens their window shade, and the sunlight strikes me, and I materialize about three-quarters of the way there. I land in the aisle, but my foot catches on one of the seats and I fall face-down onto the floor. I scramble to my feet, trying to ignore the heads turning to look in my direction. Stepping into a small shadow cast by one of the seatbacks, I vanish again.

  People are getting out of their seats and call buttons are being pushed when I spot the demon turning the handle on the exit door. I lift my sword and throw it with all of my strength, even uttering a short prayer as I push my way through the agitated passengers.

  “I just saw a girl,” one man says.

  “What are you talking about, sir?” an attendant asks.

  “There was a girl here, with a sword,” he insists.

  “Sir, I assure you, there was—”

  “I saw her too,” a young lady chimes in.

  I finally spot the beast as I break through the crowd. It’s lying on the floor near the door, my sword protruding from its side. It turns and looks at me, its gray eyes narrowing as thick, black blood oozes from the wound.

  “Eve,” it says. The voice strangled and evil, but familiar. “I see you.”

  The demon’s eyes glow red as it speaks to me, as if someone is speaking through it.

  “Who are you?” I ask, kneeling down and staring into the bright red eyes.

  “I am righteousness,” it utters quietly. “I’m coming for you.”

  I stand and pull my sword from the side of the beast.

  “I’ll be waiting,” I say as I bring the blade down and remove the creature’s head, cutting the line.

  K ~ Are you okay?

  E ~ I’m good, but we’re in real trouble.

  Chapter Eleven

  “Who knew about the flight?” I ask.

  “Why? What happened?” Father replies from his office.

  “We were attacked,” I respond flatly. “Who knew?”

  “Are you both okay?”

  “Father. Who knew?” I ask again, my tone more insistent.

  “Oh, um…besides you two, there’s me, your mother, Reeva, Clay, Wren, Jax, and Evan.”

  “What about Jerol and Sira?” I ask, pacing back and forth just outside the terminal building in Minneapolis, the phone on speaker.

  “Yeah, they knew as well, and Zeke in Minnesota.”

  I shake my head as Kateri frowns at me.

  “One of them is the traitor,” I say, locking eyes with her.

  She nods her agreement.

  “Tell me what happened,” Father says.

  “At least one demon may have already been on the plane, but the second one appeared while we were in flight.”

  “While the plane was moving?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Damn,” Father says before falling silent for a moment. “I think we can eliminate a few suspects.”

  I know he means my mother, and himself. I would like to add a few more, but I don’t know anything anymore.

  “From now on, we only talk to you, and you make any arrangements yourself,” I say, feeling a little odd to be giving Father orders, but it’s the life of the woman I love on the line here, not to mention my own.

  “Absolutely. You should head to the facility and then get back here as soon as you can,” he says.

  I can hear the concern in his voice, the worry weighing heavy on his shoulders.

  “We’re going to the Abyss before we come home. We need to talk to Kyuki.”

  “Don’t go until you get back here. Evan has been working on a modified cell phone that may work there.”

  I look at Kateri and she nods, although she still looks angry.

  “Okay. We’ll see you soon,” I reply.

  “How are you getting back? Are you taking the planned flight?”

  I shake my head.

  “We’ll find our own way.”

  “Be careful, okay?”

  “Always.”

  “We’ll see you when you get back.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Love you both,” he says quietly, and I smile.

  When I look at Kateri, she’s smiling too.

  “You too,” I answer before hanging up.

  “Why didn’t you tell him about the demon talking to you?” Kateri asks.

  “That’s between you and me. I’ll tell him after we talk to Kyuki about it.”

  She nods and grins at me.

  “Okay. So, how do we get to the facility?”

  “I’ve got the address in my phone. We can Google Map it,” I say as I pull up the app, giving it a few seconds to calibrate.

  “I guess we’re streaming?”

  “Unless you can rent a car,” I reply.

  “Even if I could, I don’t know how to drive,” she says with a grin.

  “Who wants to drive when you can stream?” I ask, taking her hand and fading into the shadows.

  A second later we’re on the top of the terminal building, walking toward the edge. We look north toward downtown, the gleaming office towers shimmering in the sun.

  “It’s in an abandoned textile factory on the river,” I say pointing in the general direction, although we can’t see it from our position.

  “Well, what are we waiting for?” she asks before leaping off the side of the terminal, dragging me with her.

  We stream together, skipping from link-point to link-point. I look over at Kateri and smile. She’s doing all the work; I’m just along for the ride. I can see her eyes locking onto our next landing spot, while she squeezes my fingers every now and then. We come to a stop on the roof of a small apartment building; a shirtless young man is lying on a beach towel, sunning himself. We walk past him, and I look down at my phone for further directions. Unfortunately, we’re not high enough to see very far.

  “It’s still that way,” I say, pointing northward again.

  “You got it,” Kateri says.

  “Wait. I’ll drive this time.”

  She smiles at me and my heart skips a beat.

  “Let’s get going then,” she says, taking my hand.

  I pick out a link-point across the street on the roof of a pizza joint. We stream over and then I make four more quick jumps, ending up on top of a building in the middle of a small office park.

  “One more,” I say, pulling Kateri to the edge and jumping into a shadow between us and the much taller, adjacent building.

  When we land, I release her hand and we walk to the edge of the roof. A massive white stone factory stands on the far side of the river. Multiple buildings occupy the site, nestled among a young forest of trees that
have started invading the abandoned property. From our vantage point, we can’t see any visible damage, but it’s likely that until we get close, we won’t be able to see it. A power cable crosses the river, casting a thin line of shadow from our side to the other.

  “Ready?” I ask.

  “Yep,” she replies.

  We leap off the side of the office tower and melt into the shadows, quickly streaming across the slow-moving waterway. When we touch down, I immediately stumble on a loose piece of concrete. Kateri grabs my arm to stop me from falling.

  “Thanks,” I say, looking at her, but her eyes are staring at something in the distance.

  I turn. My mouth drops open and my hand shakes even with Kateri holding it.

  “My God,” I mutter quietly.

  The strange thawing effect that I have on the Shayd world is slowly spreading across the area in front on us, pulling back the curtain of the Solas. One entire side of the largest of the buildings is missing, obviously torn away by an explosion that makes the one at the Factory look like a firecracker in comparison. Bits of steel, concrete and glass are scattered throughout the property, some larger pieces dangle precariously in the remains of the few trees that are still standing. Some of the surrounding, smaller buildings are little more than piles of rubble.

  The scene reminds me of video and pictures I saw of the Oklahoma City bombing. We stand there for a few minutes just staring at the devastation, and then Kateri finally speaks.

  “Where is everyone?”

  I look around, realizing for the first time, that there’s not a single person in sight.

  ~ Who are they?

  ~ God, he’s going to get us caught.

  I reach out and touch Kateri’s hand.

  K ~ There are people here.

  E ~ I know.

  I put my hand on the hilt of my sword.

  “You can come out. We’re from the Factory,” I say, speaking loudly, but not shouting.

  I look over at Kateri and she shrugs, but I notice she has her fingers wrapped around the handle of her knife. Slowly, eight figures emerge from their hiding places. It’s a mix of men and women, children and older Shayds, but the one thing they all have in common are the bandages and the blood.

  “Is one of you Zeke?” I ask, looking over the ragtag group.

  One of the men steps forward, a bloody scar on his forehead. He looks like he might be about thirty years old, but it’s hard to tell.

  “Zeke’s dead,” he says, and one of the women behind him lets out a small cry.

  “What? What happened? He survived the blast, right?” Kateri asks.

  The man nods and then sighs.

  “He was helping to search for survivors when part of the building collapsed. He and three others were killed.”

  I shake my head.

  “I’m sorry,” I say, unable to come up with anything else to say. “This is Kateri, I’m Eve.”

  As soon as I say my name, a murmur of hushed whispers breaks out amongst the gathering. A girl with short, dark hair and swirling pink eyes steps forward. She has a bandage wrapped around her left arm; blood stains offer a clue to what lies beneath.

  “You’re the one,” she says, staring at me. She looks on the verge of tears.

  “The one?”

  “The one who went to the Abyss and returned.”

  “Yeah,” I reply.

  “Kolby,” the man says. “You can talk later.”

  His tone is gentle, but forceful at the same time.

  “Of course,” she says, taking a small step back, but keeping her eyes locked on me.

  “My name is Rome. I guess I’m in charge here now,” the man says, sounding reluctant to admit it.

  “Okay, Rome. Where is everyone else?” I ask.

  “We had to move,” he says. “The building is a total loss. We’re about a mile downriver.”

  “What’s the count?” Kateri asks.

  “One thousand twenty-one dead,” he says.

  “One thousand twenty-five,” Kolby whispers.

  “Yeah, a thousand twenty-five,” Rome says with a sigh. “We have about a hundred in the hospital, and thirty-one more that are unaccounted for.”

  I look past him at the ruins of the building, wondering if any of them are still alive, waiting for rescue.

  K ~ Christ.

  E ~ Yeah.

  “How many others are uninjured, or at least walking around?” I ask.

  “Fifty-seven.”

  “That’s it?”

  “That’s it,” he replies. “Are you here to take over?”

  He almost sounds like he wants me to say yes, and I can’t say that I blame him.

  “No,” I reply and his shoulders slump slightly. “We’re just here to find out exactly what happened. See how similar it is to New York and the Factory.”

  He nods without replying.

  “But we’re going to help as much as we can,” Kateri quickly adds.

  “Absolutely,” I say, backing her up. “If you’ve moved, why are you guys here?”

  “We’re trying to scavenge as much equipment as we can from the parts of the building that are stable,” Rome answers.

  “We can help with that, and then you can take us to your new digs and we can talk.”

  A tired smile appears on his face, and the others look as grateful for our offer. As we’re heading down a small slope toward the central building, I look over at Rome.

  “Why were you guys hiding when we arrived?” I ask.

  “We thought you might be someone coming back to finish the job,” he replies.

  “Do we look that much like Demons?” I ask, chuckling.

  He stops suddenly and stares at me. My laughter fades quickly.

  “It wasn’t a Demon who did this,” he says. “It was a Shayd.”

  Chapter Twelve

  “What?” I ask. “Are you sure?”

  “I’m sure.”

  “Why didn’t Zeke tell Father?”

  “We didn’t know until a few days ago,” he answers. “We only just got some of the surveillance equipment up and running again.”

  “You have video?” Kateri asks.

  He nods without saying anything. I sigh and then look down over at the shattered remains of their former headquarters.

  “Let’s get as much stuff as we can and then head to your new place. We need to see that video,” I say.

  “Okay. Come on. Watch your footing.”

  We scramble, climb and scoot across, over, and sometimes under the debris littering the ground near the building. It takes more than fifteen minutes of careful navigation before we’re standing just outside the ruin.

  “When we go inside, don’t lean on the walls, don’t tug on any wires, or push anything out of the way until we’ve had a chance to make sure it’s safe,” Rome says. “We all go in, we all come out. Okay?”

  At first, I sort of felt like he was lecturing Kateri and I, but then I realize he was talking to everyone. The rest of the group nods their agreement, but a few look even more nervous than I feel. We all duck down as we pass under a massive concrete slab that’s partially blocking our entry point. I can hear the building groaning along with the quiet but disturbing cracking of stone and wood, high above our heads.

  “You sure this is safe?” I ask Rome.

  “It’s as safe as it’s going to get,” he replies as we move deeper into the shattered building.

  Wires hang down from the ceiling, some of them sparking every now and then in the dark corridor. Light seeps in through cracks, both large and small. We move carefully along the narrow hallway, peering into the doorways that are not blocked by rubble. Suddenly, I spot a hand sticking out from beneath a pile of wreckage. I stop and Rome looks at me.

  “It’s too dangerous to dig the bodies out,” he says sadly.

  K ~ Damn.

  E ~ I know.

  I notice the slab covering the rest of the body is painted with a crude “X” and is marked with a line of chipp
ed spots where a hammer may have fallen many times as they signaled and waited hopefully for some response. It never came. We leave the body behind, moving deeper into the building. As we scramble over piles of debris and make our way through the shattered remains of the structure, I begin to wonder if any of the other thirty might still be alive. Some of the others pick up this or that as we move, slipping the items into pockets or packs.

  I’m not really sure what we’re looking for, so I don’t pick up anything. I feel something touch my hand and when I turn, Kateri just nods at me as she intertwines her fingers with mine. I’m not getting any thoughts from her, but the meaning behind the gesture is unmistakable. I squeeze her hand firmly before releasing it, so we can both focus on staying safe. We reach an intersection of sorts, although it’s pretty difficult to tell what purpose this area used to serve.

  “Lia and Rail, to the right,” Rome says to a couple of our companions, pointing down the rubble-strewn corridor.

  “You got it,” the young man says.

  “Be safe, okay? No risk taking,” Rome says, firmly.

  “We know,” Lia replies with a friendly grin tempered by the seriousness of the situation.

  The pair disappears down the dark hall and the others look to Rome for additional instructions.

  “Aryn and Shale, check that way,” he says, gesturing straight ahead past a large slab of concrete that looks like it fell through at least three floors.

  They nod their acknowledgment and split off from the group. Rome looks at us and sighs.

  “The rest of us are going up,” he says.

  I can feel the worry and concern from the others in the group, but they’re keeping most of their thoughts to themselves. Looking around, I have no idea how Rome thinks we’re going to get up to the higher floors. I haven’t seen an intact staircase since we got in here, and the elevators are an obvious no-go.

  “How are we getting up?” Kateri asks, speaking what I’m thinking.

  “Elevator,” Rome replies.