The Shadows Trilogy

by Cege Smith

  It was the raw urgency of Lucy’s words that caused Ellie to believe her, at least about the part where they were going to potentially be in a lot of trouble. “Now what?” she asked.

  Tapping her foot and then chewing on her fingernail, Lucy seemed to be considering. That worried Ellie even more.

  “You have to tell me if anything is left,” Lucy said.

  “Left? What does that mean?”

  “Ellie, I believe you when you say that you never wanted to hurt him. I don’t want to hurt him either. But if we leave any trace of a soul inside of him, then what’s going to happen next is going to damn him to a hell far worse than the Afterlife. I know this sounds unpleasant, but you’ve got to scrub him out.”

  Ellie looked at Lucy in horror. “Worse than this place?”

  Snorting, Lucy shook her head. “If you think this place is bad, you’ve got a lot of learning to do.” She pointed her finger at Martin. “Do your thing. Root around in there. See what you can see. Point is, if you see anything, then take it. Believe me, eternity in Mikel’s little collection is going to be a mercy.”

  Ellie was on her own again. It was becoming more obvious to her that no one knew exactly what to do with her. Whatever gift it was that she possessed, it was an anomaly even in the Afterlife.

  She stepped forward and put her hand on Martin’s forehead. His skin felt dry and papery. It was slightly easier this time, emptying her head and letting the thing deep inside of her loose. This time, though, it was completely different as she reached into Martin’s body. It was nothing but a dark hole where before a vibrant, pulsing soul had lived within his skin.

  It was like her entire body was turned into a divining rod. She let herself sweep his still form from head to toe. She thought that this would be what it was like to be pushing at the edge of a black hole. She didn’t dare delve any deeper; certain that doing so would result in something extremely unpleasant.

  Just as she was ready to move her hand away and disconnect from Martin’s empty form, she felt it. It was a tiny pulse, and if she hadn’t been trying as hard to see what she could see, she would have easily missed it.

  “Anything?” she heard Lucy ask.

  Ellie ignored her. The tiny pulse was proving elusive. Ellie started to chase it, but every time she thought she was going to be able to close her mental fingers around it, it slipped away. “Damn,” she said out loud.

  “What is it?”

  “I can’t quite get it. If that is what it is. It’s slippery.”

  “That’s it!” Lucy sounded relieved. “Even when the body is dead, the soul seeks self-preservation. Can you take it?”

  Ellie hadn’t opened her eyes. She knew that she had a frown on her face. She couldn’t think about what she was doing. She just had to do it.

  “Let me be,” she mumbled. In her mind, she tried something different. She called out Martin’s name. She remembered what it was like talking with David’s mother, Emma. Emma couldn’t see her, but had known that she was there. Emma’s mother had the ability to sense ghosts. But even she had been unwilling to ask for help from Ellie until she absolutely had to. For some reason, Ellie was starting to understand that souls didn’t want to give up their bodies, or their secrets, or their destinies. Who would? So they weren’t going to make things easy for her.

  She decided to approach it differently. She let her mind wander and open up an image of sitting by the Lake of the Isles. The picture became so vivid that she could actually feel the late summer rays warming her skin. She almost forgot where she was and what she was trying to do in her delight. In the image in her mind, Ellie was sitting on a park bench by herself, just smiling and watching the ducks swim past. It was entirely peaceful. Everything else around her she blocked out.

  A sigh escaped her lips. She was in her favorite place in the world and everything was going to be all right. Then she waited. And eventually, as she suspected, he came. Martin slipped out of the trees that lined the path behind her, and after he sensed that she wouldn’t move, he came closer.

  “Where am I?” he asked.

  Ellie had a fan in her hand and she moved it up and down to cool her face. “Does it matter?”

  “Am I dead?” Martin asked somberly.

  The question ripped at her heart, knowing that she had been the one responsible, but she knew that regardless of whether or not she had taken his gift, he would have been escorted somewhere else in the Afterlife. No matter what, Martin’s time on Earth had reached an end.

  “Yes,” Ellie answered truthfully. “Walk with me around the lake. It’s so peaceful here. This place has such a calming effect when you are troubled. I know you’ll love it.” She was getting good at lying. Ellie needed Martin to trust her.

  Standing, she held out her hand to him. She smiled confidently. He looked just like a little boy who had lost his way. But she didn’t let that sway her. His hand joined hers, but there was a hesitance before he gripped it.

  “Is it going to hurt?” The question was so simple.

  Ellie wanted to take all of his pain away. She reached up and brushed a lock of hair from his forehead. “No, Martin. There is no pain here.” She hoped it was the truth.

  The boy’s face lit up and his smile was dazzling. Then it faltered ever so slightly. She saw that he was starting to fade. “Wha—?”

  The rush she felt moments later was indescribable. Her eyes flew open in the gloomy basement and she drew in deep gasps of air like she was drowning. She didn’t know how, but Martin was inside her. She could feel him, joining the small gift that she had ripped from him earlier. She saw that Lucy was watching her closely.

  “It’s done,” Ellie gasped.

  “You are wicked scary, Ellie Coulter,” Lucy said, shaking her head.

  “So what now?”

  “Now, well now, we burn him.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Ellie had seen more death in her lifetime than she ever cared to, and as she glanced at Martin’s body, she was forced to deal with the reality that she now was the one doling it out. In such a short amount of time, her whole perception of herself had spun off its axis. If she looked in a mirror, she didn’t think she would recognize her face.

  She looked around the basement. “I don’t see a furnace or anything like that.” She couldn’t believe she was going along with this. But if she thought too long about it, there was a good chance she’d lie down, curl into a little ball, and never come back out of her mind. That wasn’t good for anyone. So she focused on the matter at hand. Action would help quell her nerves.

  “You aren’t quite done yet, Ellie,” Lucy said, pulling a small knife out from behind her back.

  “What’s that for?” Ellie said warily.

  “Everything here is bound by blood. A Guardian’s blood is needed for me to be able to cast the right kind of decimation spell so that the escorts won’t be able to trace Martin’s presence here. There’s powerful magic at play, and I can leverage it with the right...introduction.”

  “My blood?” Ellie winced.

  “You don’t seem to understand how powerful you are, Ellie. As a Guardian, the waypoint shifts and conforms to your commands.”

  “I thought that Guardian stuff was just a lot of bull,” Ellie said. “Stuff Jeffrey made up to mollify the unfortunate souls that wound up here.”

  “You can almost be certain that every game is a game within a game. But in any one of them the stakes can be pretty high,” Lucy said. Her eyes were shifting everywhere and Ellie could tell that the witch’s anxiety level was growing by the minute. “Everything Jeffrey said is essentially true. A Guardian maintains the waypoint and ushers people in and out of it.”

  “So I am supposed to be their protector?” Ellie felt sick again. It was like the bad news kept piling on.

  “Your duty is first and foremost always to the waypoint,” Lucy said. “Regardless of what Mikel tells you. It’s not unheard of for things to happen to the souls that are crossing over. You have to und
erstand that there are political issues here just like where you came from.”

  It was the second time that Lucy had mentioned some kind of political strife, and Ellie could see that beyond the walls of the mansion, she still had no idea what the broader spectrum of the Afterlife encompassed. Lucy flipped the knife so that the handle faced Ellie and held it out to her. “I still have to take care of Katie and Will before the escorts get here. We need to hurry.”

  Ellie took the knife reluctantly and Lucy rolled her eyes. “It’s just a poke. Not a big deal. You need to put a drop of your blood on each of his limbs and his forehead.” As she spoke, Lucy walked around the body and pointed to each of his palms and then pulled off his socks and shoes, pointing to the tops of his feet. Whatever Lucy was about to do, Ellie was certain it was magic of the darkest kind.

  Biting her lip, Ellie dug the knife’s point into her index finger. The pain was sharp but dissipated quickly. Instantly, bright red blood pooled up over her skin. She quickly made her round of Martin’s body, putting a small red smear in each of the places that Lucy had indicated. With the corners of her eyes burning from unshed tears, she nodded to Lucy.

  The witch settled at the head of the pedestal. Upon closer inspection, Ellie could see there were symbols and writing carved into the base. She knelt down to get a closer look. She was just reaching out her hand to touch one that seemed familiar when she heard Lucy’s hiss above her.

  “Don’t touch it!”

  Snatching her hand back, Ellie felt a vibration through the floor that caused her to lose her balance. She fell backwards and watched in astonishment as a bright blue light engulfed the pedestal and crept up to include Martin’s body. Lucy was mumbling feverishly with her eyes closed and her arms outstretched high above her head. Ellie scooted backward and awkwardly got to her feet, trying to balance despite the small trembles that continued to rock the room.

  Martin’s body lifted from the table and floated several inches above it. Lucy’s voice got louder and Ellie thought that she may be struggling. Then Lucy’s head shot back and her eyes opened. Her eyes were pure black. Then she shouted one final word, Martin’s body spun three hundred and sixty degrees and then a wave of hot air pushed Ellie back further. She raised her arm to block the sudden brightness that erupted from the blue light. She saw flames engulf Martin’s body and then a gigantic flame shot out in all four directions. Then it was gone. The room was silent.

  “What the hell was that?” Ellie coughed. Her arm was covered in black soot. She shuddered to think what else it contained.

  Lucy’s eyes had returned to normal and a sly grin crossed her face. “That, my friend, was a decimation spell. My first actually. I knew I could do it.”

  “Your first? Was it difficult?” Ellie asked, thinking of the frown that crossed Lucy’s face in the middle of the spell.

  “I told you that this place is like a magical epicenter. All the way lines that cross here, all converge right there.” Lucy pointed at the pedestal. “It’s pretty powerful stuff if you can handle it.”

  Ellie was beginning to understand what the mansion was literally sitting on. “I read that in Max Turner’s book. Way lines connect all the places of the Afterlife. They are the pathways of the dead.”

  Lucy nodded. “I’ve always wondered who, or what, more likely, whispered in Max Turner’s ear when he was writing that book. It all seemed a bit too insightful for some random dude who had never visited the Afterlife.”

  “He said he had a near-death experience,” Ellie said.

  “Not near enough,” Lucy said, watching the pedestal closely.

  It gave off a pulsing glow just then, and the hard white concrete returned to its previous state. Seeing Ellie blink, Lucy sighed. “His ashes are hidden inside the altar. It’s like he’s part of it now. And that pedestal belongs to you, so the escorts can’t touch it. Your secret is safe. Let’s go finish this.”

  Ellie followed Lucy up the stairs. She had more questions, but she sensed that Lucy was tired. Despite the witch’s protests to the contrary, she thought that the spell Lucy cast took a lot more out of her than she was willing to let on. Showing weakness or vulnerability seemed to be frowned upon in the Afterlife.

  As they exited into the hallway, Ellie was dismayed to find Mikel waiting for them. The man looked at Ellie in delight and she had the feeling that if she would have let him, he would have hugged her. “Ellie! I can’t tell you how thrilled I am with your first foray as a Ripher. An ability and a soul.” He winked at her. “Can’t be taking those too often, but I’m sure we can work out the details.”

  Ellie was disgusted by the man’s excitement. She pushed past him into the library. Katie and Will were sitting exactly where they had left them. Ellie walked over the fireplace and stared into the fire’s depths. Things were spinning out of control. She knew when Mikel approached her. She just wanted him to leave her alone.

  “I’ve done what you wanted me to do. Can’t you just leave me alone now?”

  “You did it in spectacular fashion even,” Mikel agreed. He came around to stand in front of her. In his hands he held a small jeweled box. “I knew you were special, Ellie, from the first moment I laid eyes on you. You haven’t disappointed me a bit. And now it’s time for my little Ripher to pay up.”

  Ellie looked at the box in confusion. “Pay for what?”

  Lucy appeared at her shoulder. “It’s dangerous for you to have any of Martin’s essence inside you when the escorts get here. A Ripher takes, but then you have to store it away. If you kept that stuff inside you for too long, well, let’s just say it wouldn’t be a good idea for your well-being.”

  Ellie could still feel Martin’s presence inside of her, or at least an echo of him. It felt foreign and wrong now, and she thought she understood what Lucy was saying. It made perfect sense. She took things and then she put them somewhere else for safe keeping.

  “What happens to these things that I take from them?” Ellie asked.

  She saw Lucy cut a glance to Mikel. There was definitely something more to the story and it was likely that she wasn’t going to hear it. Mikel flipped open the lid to the box and showed Ellie the inside. It was empty.

  “You can’t keep them inside you, so I created a special place for them with Lucy’s help. Think of it like a jewelry box for your valuables, only in this case, your valuables are gifts that you have collected from special people just like you. Once you are done, you just need to put your valuables away.”

  “How?” Ellie said. The more she thought about Martin’s essence being inside of her, the more anxious she started to feel. Her body was telling her to get it out. It wanted it all out.

  Mikel nodded to Lucy, who gently took Ellie’s hand. Then Lucy put her hand over the box and whispered a few words. The pain that followed felt like a million pairs of little scissors cutting out Ellie’s insides. Ellie bit back a scream as she felt Martin’s essence being ripped out of her and then the pain subsided, leaving her with only a dull headache.

  She gasped as she looked at the box. A small black onyx had appeared inside, nestled within the velvet folds. Next to it was a medium-sized pearl that glowed from the inside out. “Is that..?”

  “Yes,” Mikel said as he shut the lid of the box and turned the small lock. He set the box on top of the fireplace mantel and waved a hand at it. The box disappeared. “My own private safe, if you will,” he said, smiling. Then he cocked his head. “The escorts are almost here. I suggest you finish your business with the others, Lucy. Jeffrey will be here in a few minutes for you, Ellie.”

  Escorts sounded a lot like guards and the idea made Ellie a bit panicked. “So we are just giving these kids over to these escorts and that’s it?”

  “Jeffrey will assist you. Hurry up, Lucy. Then make yourself scarce.”

  Lucy nodded and went over to Katie and Will. Ellie watched as she put her hands on either side of Katie’s head and then started whispering in her ear.

  It was the burning sensation o
f warmth on her hand that brought her back to Mikel, who had taken her hand in his and was kissing the top of it. She tried to snatch her hand away, but he held it fast. His gaze was intense. “Until we meet again, dear one.”

  Ellie pulled again and this time she succeeded. Mikel smiled and winked, and then vanished. She decided that she wasn’t ever going to get used to that, but she was glad he was gone.

  Jeffrey strode into the room with a box under his arm. He waved at Ellie to follow him. She didn’t like leaving Katie and Will, but didn’t have much choice. She followed the butler out into the hallway.

  “Here, you’ll find an outfit more suitable in there,” Jeffrey said. “You’d better hurry.”

  Ellie started to protest, but Jeffrey shook his head. “I will get you through it. Just go.”

  The urgency in his voice finally got her feet moving. She dashed up the stairs to the second floor and looked longingly at David’s door. For a few minutes in this awful place she had felt happy again. But that was going to have to wait. She took the stairs to the third level two at a time and quickly made her way into her bedroom.

  She opened the box on her bed and gave a small gasp. Inside was a floor-length white dress. It had an empire waist and short capped white sleeves. A matching thin overlay was also in the package along with a heavily jewel crusted barrette. She didn’t have time to think. Ellie pulled off her clothes and slid the dress on over her head. It fit her perfectly. Pulling on the jacket, she looked around for a mirror. As if in response to her thought, she saw a full-length oval mirror appear in the corner. The way things appeared and disappeared in the mansion was maddening.

  Taking the barrette with her, she approached the mirror. In front of it sat a pair of white ballet slippers. The hem of the dress just skimmed the floor. Ellie didn’t even recognize herself. She looked like a girl from one of the covers of the gothic romance novels that she liked to read which seemed like ages ago.

  She took the barrette and swept her long hair back into a ponytail at the back of her neck and secured it with the clip. There was a rosiness in her cheeks and the white dress accentuated her pale skin. She looked young and innocent. She wondered if that was part of the plot or not.