Shadows

by Paula Weston

  Her hand is on his elbow, gently urging him forward.

  ‘But…’ Simon puts one foot in front of the other, his steps stilted. ‘He just…appeared.’

  Jason and I glance at each other.

  ‘He’s that good,’ Ez says.

  ‘But he just appeared.’

  ‘Simon.’ Ez lowers her voice. ‘It’s night. He’s wearing dark clothes, and he’s a beautiful black man. It all works to his advantage.’

  Simon looks around at me. ‘Didn’t you see it?’

  ‘No,’ I lie. ‘I was too busy watching what Mick was doing.’

  We get Simon back in the driver’s seat. He starts the car, but doesn’t move. ‘I know what I saw.’

  ‘How about you just see the road?’ Rafa says.

  Simon stews for another second or two, then puts the car in gear.

  ‘I know what I saw.’

  IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD

  Another half-hour of increasingly steep and winding track, and Simon swings the jeep into a clearing. He cuts the engine and the headlights. The forest slides back into darkness.

  ‘Time to walk,’ he says to nobody in particular.

  Rafa opens the door. ‘How far?’

  ‘The Retreat’s at the top of this ridge. We can’t drive any further.’

  I climb out and wait while the guys rummage about in the back of the jeep. The sky is low, smudged, the moon hidden behind clouds. My eyes adjust to the night quickly. The ridgeline looms over us, dark, crouching. The air is cooler up here, fresher than I expected.

  ‘This friend of yours—she knows about us?’ Ez asks me.

  ‘She knows enough.’

  ‘She’s not going to have a meltdown if things get a little weird?’

  ‘She’ll be fine.’

  I hope. I hope that shifting is the worst Maggie’s experienced with Taya.

  My pulse kicks up a notch.

  The back door of the jeep slams and Simon’s torch scans the group. The beam lingers on the duffel bags and then shifts beyond me, where a narrow track disappears into the trees. Pale light passes over palms, ferns and the mottled trunks of old fig trees.

  ‘Stay close to the torch.’ Simon sets off. ‘And watch where you put your feet.’

  Jason falls into step with him. Zak repositions his duffel bag, and he and Ez follow.

  I breathe in damp leaves and dark soil. This is it.

  Rafa presses his palm on my lower back, moving me forward. ‘Still good?’ he asks.

  ‘Yep,’ I say, the lie almost convincing me. ‘You feel the others yet?’

  ‘We’re not close enough.’

  I pick my way over tree roots and on to a clear section of path. Rafa’s hand falls away. ‘What if Simon was wrong? What if this isn’t the place?’

  ‘Then Daniel needs to provide clearer directions.’

  The track twists and turns, but I can see well enough without watching the beam up ahead.

  ‘Maybe we should turn the torch off. We don’t really need it.’

  ‘You’re right: we don’t. Your barman does.’

  ‘What? What makes you say—’ I don’t need to finish the sentence. I can make out each tree and shrub we’re passing, even though the torch is well ahead of us. ‘Oh.’

  ‘Jude really was the smart one, wasn’t he?’ There’s a smile in his voice.

  ‘Shut up.’

  The tension between my shoulders eases a little. If Rafa is being a smartarse, he can’t be too worried about what’s waiting for us at the end of the track.

  It feels like we’ve been hiking uphill for about half an hour when Simon finally stops on a plateau. A gentle breeze rises from the valley. It cools the sheen of sweat on my neck. Pan Beach is far below, hugging the coastline, the town lights beautiful from here. Simon hunts around until he finds the beginning of a boardwalk, which disappears into the rainforest.

  ‘The first cabin is a few hundred metres in,’ Simon says, his voice low. ‘There’s a network of boardwalks through the forest. Stick to the map or you’ll be wandering around for hours. I can come with you if you want—’

  ‘Go back to town,’ Rafa says.

  ‘You planning on walking back?’

  ‘Not your problem.’

  ‘What about the Butlers?’ I ask. I don’t want Simon coming with us, but I also don’t want him getting shot on the way down.

  ‘Don’t worry about me. You’re the ones who need a getaway plan. Jason?’

  Jason clears his throat. ‘We’ll be fine, seriously.’

  ‘How? How are you going to be fine? You have to get Mags out without one of you getting hurt, and then you have to get off the mountain—’

  ‘The less you know, the better,’ Jason says.

  ‘Don’t give me that bullshit.’

  ‘Trust me,’ Jason says. ‘It’s not bullshit.’

  Simon shifts his weight from one foot to the other. ‘I want to see her when she’s safe. I mean it.’

  Rafa shrugs his duffel bag further onto his shoulder. ‘Can we go now, or do you two need to hug first?’

  ‘You’re a dick, you know that? Here—’ Simon thrusts a sheet of paper at him.

  Ez laughs. ‘He prides himself on it.’

  Simon walks by me as he leaves. ‘Be careful,’ he says quietly. Then he heads along the trail without a backwards glance.

  The sound of a zip pulls my attention to the board-walk. One of the duffel bags is open and Zak is handing out knives. Ez straps one to each of her upper arms. Rafa opens the other bag and passes out katanas to Zak and Ez. He hands Jude’s to me.

  ‘Any point in giving you one of these?’ Rafa asks Jason.

  ‘None at all.’

  ‘Probably works better, anyway.’

  ‘Does that mean you have a plan?’

  Rafa laughs. ‘Goldilocks, anyone would think you had no faith in me.’ He re-zips the bag, scans the trees beside the boardwalk, and lobs it into the darkness. Then draws us into a circle.

  ‘It’s a bit thin on detail,’ Jason says when Rafa’s finished laying out what we’re about to do.

  ‘Got a better idea? No? Let’s go then.’

  We set off, Rafa now in the lead. I catch him in a few steps. ‘Won’t they feel us when we get close?’

  ‘We didn’t shift here, so maybe not. But if they do, they’ll only know someone is coming. Not who, or how many.’

  I keep the blade of the katana in front of me. ‘The same goes for us too, though, doesn’t it? We won’t know how many of them there are either.’

  ‘Daniel’s not going to have an army up here. We can take them.’

  We round a bend. My stomach dips, like I’ve stepped off the boardwalk into open space.

  ‘Feel that?’ Rafa asks me. ‘You can stop worrying about us not being in the right place.’

  He pulls out the paper Simon gave him. It’s the mud map. I can just make out the markings Rafa’s pointing to.

  ‘The first cabin must be around the next bend,’ he says. ‘See how the path forks?’

  We creep forward. I hear faint music before I see lights through the trees. Cabin isn’t the right word: what’s in front of us is an A-frame house, twice the size of our bungalow.

  Rafa signals for us to leave the boardwalk. I look over the side. The forest floor is thick with ferns—it’s hard to tell how far the drop is. He goes first, barely making a sound as he vaults over the rail. He lands in the waisthigh ferns with a soft thud, keeping his feet. There’s no way it’s as easy as he made it look.

  Zak and Ez go next, then Jason. He’s not quite as agile as the others, but he’s athletic and he lands with almost the same grace. I have no intention of impaling myself on Jude’s sword, so I sit on the railing, swing my legs over, and drop to the ground.

  We move through the ferns until we’re side-on to the cabin. At the front is a wide deck that steps down to a grassy clearing with a picnic table and benches. Out back, French doors open onto a smaller deck and the forest is pressed clo
se around it. The music is louder now, mellow Spanish guitar. Maybe this isn’t the right cabin. Maybe we’re about to destroy someone’s romantic weekend—

  A figure moves into the open doorway and my heart jolts.

  It’s Taya.

  Rafa waves us down, below the ferns.

  I watch her from my new position. She’s in regulation t-shirt and jeans, with her long hair pulled back in a slick ponytail. She’s also armed, resting a sheathed sword across her shoulders as she wanders to the far side of the deck, scanning the forest.

  Rafa nudges me to get my attention. Then he points to Jason, and then the house. Jason nods. Rafa holds up two fingers—wait two minutes—and moves off silently towards the front of the cabin.

  Jason manages to stay still half that time, his breath shortening, and then crawls in the opposite direction. The rest of us stay put. I try to remember to breathe.

  Rafa has doubled back to the boardwalk and now saunters onto the front deck, sword hanging loosely from his right hand. He bangs on the door. On the back deck, Taya’s head whips around. She draws her katana and disappears inside. The music stops. I hear muffled voices.

  Rafa waits, his shoulders loose. He grins when the door opens.

  ‘Buona sera,’ he says.

  ‘Where’s Gabe?’ Taya’s voice is flinty.

  ‘Hanging out with the barman,’ Rafa says, spinning the sword hilt in his hand. ‘You told her to come at dawn. The new and improved Gabe apparently does what she’s told.’

  ‘What do you want?’

  ‘To end this bullshit. Gabe’s not going back to Daniel, so you may as well just hand over the blonde now.’

  Taya steps out onto the deck, her sword in front of her. Her eyes graze the ferns where we’re hiding. ‘Who else did you bring?’

  ‘For you and Malachi?’ He laughs.

  ‘You forget we can grab our guest and—’ She snaps her fingers.

  ‘Nathaniel’s okay with you dragging that girl all over the world? Yeah, right. Just cut the crap and bring her out.’ He looks past her, into the cabin. ‘Ah, Malachi. How’s the ball sack?’

  A movement catches my eye. Jason, sneaking up to the back of the cabin while Taya and Malachi are busy at the front. I’m holding my breath.

  He reaches the back door and slips inside.

  Time stops. My heart bangs against my ribs. Above me, a green tree frog starts up its flat, repetitive call.

  Jason just has to find Maggie, shift with her back here so we know he has her, and then we can all get out of here.

  Something smashes inside the house.

  ‘I knew it!’ Taya says. She and Malachi race back into the cabin. Rafa shakes his head, glances over at our hiding spot, and follows them inside.

  Beside me, Zak lets out his breath slowly. ‘Guess it’s plan B then.’ He and Ez exchange a look and disappear, leaving me alone in the ferns.

  IT’S GOOD TO SEE YOU

  I stay put for about thirty seconds.

  Then I slip forward, to the open window. Rafa’s not going to like it, but what was the point of giving me a sword if he didn’t want me to use it?

  ‘So now you’ve got two human hostages.’ Rafa’s voice. ‘Great work at keeping a low profile.’

  I press my back against the cabin, one hand against the smooth wall, the other strangling the katana.

  ‘He shouldn’t be here.’ Taya.

  ‘He’s her boyfriend. What did you think he was going to do?’

  I hold my breath and peer between the timber shutters, my face in the shadows.

  Maggie.

  Drawing short breaths. Her brown eyes wide.

  Taya has Maggie in front of her, the tip of her sword at Maggie’s throat. Maggie’s face is streaked with tears and her hands are bound tightly in front of her, but she doesn’t seem to be hurt.

  A guy I’ve never seen before is restraining Jason. He’s tall, well built—as all the Rephaim seem to be—with cropped blond hair and light stubble on his jaw. They’re in a large room with a bamboo lounge suite at one end and a wooden table at the other. A staircase winds up to a mezzanine level draped with mosquito nets. Maggie and her guard must have been upstairs when Jason went in.

  There’s no sign of Malachi. I bet that punch-happy prick is already back at the Sanctuary, raising the alarm.

  Jason is so close to Maggie. Why doesn’t he just lunge for her and shift? We’d factored in he might get caught. The plan can still work if he does something right now.

  But he’s frozen.

  I should have seen this coming. Jason doesn’t want to show them what he is. Maybe because he fears the Rephaim. Maybe because he’s seen Maggie and realised she might not be quite so open-minded now about the offspring of the Fallen.

  ‘This is on your head, Rafa. You brought him here,’ Taya says.

  Why haven’t Ez and Zak shown themselves? If they’re waiting for something, I should keep my head down too. But we’d agreed that if Jason’s move didn’t work, our next option was to fight. And as much as I don’t want to use this sword, I’d rather do that than nothing. I need Maggie to know we’ve come for her. I need to see that fear leave her face. I need—

  Sharp steel presses against my throat.

  ‘You’re early.’

  Malachi. Fuck.

  ‘I couldn’t wait to see you.’

  ‘I don’t suppose you want to come back to the Sanctuary now, and save all the drama?’

  ‘Um, no thanks.’ My hand tightens on my sword.

  He sighs. ‘Come on, then.’ He pulls me back from the window. ‘Drop the weapon.’

  I can’t let him disarm me. I have to do something. I have to—

  Don’t think.

  I duck sideways. Malachi’s blade nicks my throat as I break his grip. I have time to get my balance and swing at his shoulder. He blocks the strike, and the impact reverberates up my arm. It hurts…and then that strength I felt in the cage pours back into me, like it’s the most natural thing in the world.

  I grab the hilt with two hands and swing again. Again he blocks me, but this time he has to step back to absorb the blow.

  ‘You got lucky in the cage.’ He pushes me back.

  I swing at his head. He blocks.

  ‘Your technique is terrible,’ he says. And yet he’s not racing in to attack me.

  Swing. Block.

  ‘You’re going to get hurt—’

  In the light spilling from the cabin, I bring the blade down again, this time with one hand. He needs two hands to block the strike, leaving him wide open, and I punch him in the jaw.

  He reels back. I press my throbbing knuckles against my thigh.

  Malachi gives his jaw a quick rub, still backing away. ‘But you’re not…’

  I shrug. ‘I know.’

  Daisy and Rafa might be on to something about residual memory in my body. But why is Malachi retreating? I’m holding my own against him, but he’s still quicker.

  Inside, Rafa curses and then Taya and Maggie materialise on the boardwalk behind Malachi, setting off a colony of fruit bats in the nearby trees. The screeching almost drowns Maggie out.

  ‘Gaby!’

  ‘Mags!’

  Our eyes meet. In that fleeting moment, I try to convey everything I feel for her. Everything I’m prepared to do to save her. She lets out a small sob.

  Taya glances into the house. Her face is bathed in soft light. ‘Rafa’s gone?’

  Maggie’s guard emerges, pinning Jason’s arms behind him as he pushes him onto the deck. ‘Yeah.’

  Taya smiles. ‘Wrong choice again, Gabe. When will you learn?’

  I ignore her.

  Rafa wouldn’t give up that easily. I know the original plan has gone to shit, but he wouldn’t leave me here. Would he?

  Maggie’s guard is staring at me.

  ‘Now do you believe it’s her?’ Taya says to him.

  His face breaks into a smile. ‘Looking good for a dead woman, Gabe.’

  Taya gives him a w
ithering look. ‘She has no idea who you are, Micah. Focus.’

  In the moment of Taya turning to Micah, Maggie tries to run straight into the dark. Taya has her again almost at once. She grabs a handful of her hair, jerks her head back to expose her neck. The blade still hasn’t broken skin, but another move from Maggie and she’s going to bleed.

  Her eyes are wild, begging me.

  ‘Just put down that sword and come with us like a good girl,’ Taya says. ‘Don’t make me hurt you again.’

  I risk a quick look at Jason. ‘You okay?’

  He stares at me, breathing way too fast. Is this an act, or has he really lost the plot? Maybe close contact with this many Rephaim was more than he was ready for.

  ‘You made a deal,’ Taya says. ‘There was a time your word meant something.’

  I move towards her. ‘I’m pretty sure there was a time my friends didn’t torture me either.’

  I’m edging closer and she’s watching every step. I don’t know exactly what I’m going to do when I get to her, but I’m only going to get one shot at it.

  The shadows on the deck beyond Taya shimmer.

  ‘Oh, give me a break.’

  Daniel steps into the light, flanked by four other Rephaim.

  A PACK OF BASTARDS

  ‘Rafa is nothing if not predictable.’ Daniel stops beside Taya. Unarmed. He mustn’t be planning on getting his hands dirty tonight. ‘I knew he wouldn’t be able to follow instructions.’

  The guys with him are armed. Three are carrying shiny katanas, but the fourth is spinning a poleaxe.

  A freaking poleaxe.

  They all falter when they see me. The poleaxe stops moving.

  Daniel glances over his shoulder. The fruit bats are quietening. ‘Stay sharp,’ he says.

  The first to recover is a redhead with retro sideburns. ‘Gabriella,’ he says. ‘I had to see it to believe it.’

  Taya’s still got Maggie. Micah is right beside her, sword at Jason’s throat. I’m badly outnumbered. I need time, for either Jason to get his arse into gear, or the others to come back.

  ‘And who the hell are you?’ I ask the redhead.

  ‘Uriel,’ he says slowly, like he doesn’t quite believe I don’t know him. Another one of the Five.