Casting Shadows

by E. A. Copen

  The elevator slid to a stop on the second floor. “My mistake. It’s the eyes. You’ve got that tired look I see in most father’s eyes. Well, have a good day!” She waved and got off the elevator when the doors opened.

  I shifted, uncomfortable under the scrutinizing gaze of the other nurses in the elevator car. The minute the doors slid open on the third floor, I dashed out of there. At the entrance to the ward, I pushed the call button. “Uh, hi. My name’s Lazarus Kerrigan. I’m supposed to be meeting Emma Knight here? She’s not a patient, but she told me to meet her here.”

  The door immediately buzzed open, and a heavyset nurse at the station waved me over. “Your detective friend is in the viewing room,” she said with a dimpled smile.

  “Okay, but why is she here?”

  “Oh, we get requests to see the babies all the time. Of course, with it being a locked ward and all, we don’t let just anybody through, but Emma and me go way back. We went to high school together. She’s a detective, and she seemed so down. I figured there was no harm in just letting her watch the babies for a little while. It seems to cheer some people up, especially with what’s goin’ on downstairs. I’ll take you to her.”

  I followed the nurse down the hallway and into a narrow room with big, glass windows on either side that looked into rooms full of clear cribs. The room on the left wasn’t in use, but the room on the right held about a dozen sleeping babies plus two or three fussy ones. Two nurses moved from crib to crib, checking the babies, adjusting blankets, writing things on their charts.

  Emma stood in front of the window, her arms crossed, face distant. When we came into the viewing room, she turned her head and then came to greet me with a hug.

  I hugged her back. “Hey, are you okay? No symptoms?”

  She looked up at me and nodded. Her eyes were red and swollen, betraying earlier tears. “I’m fine, but Grammy. I shouldn’t have left her alone. I just couldn’t stand to sit in that empty room. With all the machinery she was hooked up to, she barely looked human. That’s not her.”

  I squeezed Emma’s arms. “We’re going to fix this. She’ll be back to her snarky self, mouthing off to the both of us in no time. In the meantime, mind if I ask what you’re doing down here?”

  Emma pulled away, turning back to the viewing window. “It was just so quiet, like a morgue. Like death. I needed to be somewhere else. Here seemed as far away from death as I could get.” She placed a hand on the window. “Do you ever miss it? When Remy was a baby, I mean.”

  “You mean do I miss the late-night feedings, the dirty diapers, endless doctor’s appointments, and constantly worrying I was screwing everything up?” I put my arm around her. “Every day.”

  “I wasn’t good at it, taking care of a baby. It was wrong of me to be so bitter about the fact that she wasn’t my child. It kills me inside I ever felt that way, even for a second. I was so absorbed in my own problems, in the job, I couldn’t imagine…” She closed her eyes and lowered her hand, pressing her forehead to the glass. “What happened with Loki, it gave me perspective I didn’t have before. I’m tired of just surviving in the moment. I need to do more than make it to tomorrow or next week or finishing this case. I need something to hope for.”

  “I know,” I said, squeezing her shoulders.

  “It can’t always be like this, Lazarus. You fighting off the end of the world every other week, and me trying to grasp what you’re wrestling with.” She shook her head and stood up straight, focusing on one of the babies. “That’s not a world I can plan to live in. It isn’t a situation I’d ever want to bring a child into. It wouldn’t be fair.”

  “Then I’ll quit.”

  She spun around. “Quit being the Pale Horseman? You can’t just quit!”

  “I can,” I protested, though I’d never heard of a Horseman retiring. It was supposed to be a lifetime gig. Then again, I’d already done more than most Horseman ever had to. It seemed like every other week I was averting an apocalypse. The Baron could pull the title anytime, but he’d also suggested doing so could be fatal. Maybe there was a way around that. I put my hands on her shoulders. “I’ve paid my dues. There were Horsemen long before me, and there will be more when I’m gone. Someone else can pick up the mantle after I’m done with Mask.”

  She offered a half-smile. “That’s a lot to ask you to give up, Lazarus. I know how much helping people means to you.”

  I took her hands in mine. “I can help people at the shop like I used to. Might be a nice change of pace.”

  “And if The Baron refuses? Last I counted, the world was already short a few Horsemen. You and War are the only ones left. He might not want to name a new Death at the same time as a Pestilence and Famine.”

  “And maybe naming three at once is easier than two.” I kissed the top of her head. “Don’t worry so much. I’ll make The Baron see it my way. Once Mask is gone, I’m all yours. You just worry about getting Grammy the best care. Ask for Doctor Benjamin Frieder to take a look. Tell him I recommended him.”

  She smiled and raised an eyebrow. “Doctor Frieder? Any relation to Nate?”

  “His dad. He’s tough but knows his stuff. He’ll make sure she’s taken care of. Do you need anything else? Change of clothes? Toothbrush? An erotic romance novel to remind you of me?”

  “Cool it, Romeo.” Emma gave my shoulder a punch. “No offense but I don’t think you could pull off being on the cover of a romance novel.”

  “Hey, I heard on the internet that the dad-bod is coming back into fashion. That must make it true.” I hugged her one more time and passed her a slip of paper. “I’m going to Faerie to try and win back the lost Speaking Stone which we need to turn Mask into a blue plate special. If you need anything while I’m gone, you can contact Josiah at this number. Might be a guy named Stefan that picks up. He’s ok. Just don’t pull his rap sheet. You might not like what you find.”

  She grunted and took the paper. “I’m a former homicide cop and former Valkyrie dating a felon. Pretty sure I can handle whatever he’d throw at me. Just make sure you come back in one piece, okay?” Her voice softened toward the end.

  I nodded, stepped back, and gave her a limp salute. “Always do.”

  Before I left the hospital, I looked in on Grammy and glanced at both her soul and her chart. It was the same as the other patients. I stood at the end of Grammy’s bed, hands in my pockets. What’s his endgame? Why infect people with a supernatural virus? What good does it do him?

  Grammy’s arm suddenly shot out as if she were reaching for something, then flopped back down to hang over the edge of the bed. Something about the way her arm was sitting was wrong, though I couldn’t put my finger on what.

  I leaned in closer and passed my hand over her arm, searching for any magical resistance. There was nothing, not even a shadow. Of course, why would there be? I’d traded my shadow to Odin in exchange for the means to kill Loki. The old bastard had refused to give it back. I’d have to deal with that too.

  Wait a minute…

  I scanned the room and settled on the supply drawers near the bed. There’s got to be a flashlight in one of those, I thought and went to search them.

  I was halfway through digging through a drawer full of gloves when someone cleared their throat behind me.

  “Can I help you, sir?”

  I jumped and hit my head on one of the open cabinets. “Yeah. You got a flashlight?”

  The nurse gave me a skeptical look but produced a small black flashlight and held it out to me.

  “Thanks.” I took it, clicked it on and shined it on Grammy’s arm as it rested over the edge of the bed.

  It should’ve produced an exact replica of her arm in shadow form on the floor. Instead, the shadow on the floor was twisted, black, and writhing.

  “What in the world?” The nurse took the flashlight from me and moved closer, focusing the beam on Grammy’s arm.

  The shadow suddenly shot up from the floor and wrapped around the nurse’s neck. Her hands w
ent to the tentacle of shadow to try and free herself, but she could no more grab it than she could a puff of smoke. The flashlight hit the floor and rolled to a stop at my feet. I picked it up and turned the beam on the shadow tentacle. The shadow screeched and let her fall to the floor only to whip toward me. It snapped at the side of my face and missed.

  I spun the flashlight around to focus it on the tentacle again, forcing it back. “That’s right, asshole. Don’t care for the light, do you?”

  It made a clicking sound and surged forward, snapping against a chair. The chair hit the inside of my arm with a blow that left me numb from the wrist down. The flashlight tumbled from my grasp. I dove for it, but I wasn’t fast enough. The tentacle batted it away, reared up and jabbed itself at my face like a needle.

  I braced for the inevitable impact, cringing.

  It never came.

  I snapped open my eyes and found the tentacle of shadow stabbing wildly at me. Perfect aim, and I was a stationary target. There was no way it was missing with each strike, so why couldn’t I feel anything?

  I looked over at the nurse, lying still on the floor. Why was she affected and I was immune? The sludge monster at the water treatment plant had all but ignored me, attacking both Drake and Emma instead. My staff had passed through it too as if it wasn’t even there. Why? What was keeping me from being able to interact with these pieces of Mask directly?

  Then everything clicked. Our shadows, or rather my lack of one. This thing—this aspect or avatar of Mask or whatever it was—was made of shadow. I’d given up my shadow. Maybe to interact with a being made of shadow, you had to have a shadow.

  It seemed to work both ways, though. I hadn’t been able to hurt the sludge monster, and I couldn’t hurt this one either, but I did know something that could: light.

  I dove for the light switch on the far side of the room. The shadow raced me, but I was faster. I hit the switch and lit up the room with bright white light. The shadow tentacle screeched and withdrew, falling flat to the floor. It wriggled a bit but slowly faded back into a shadow that matched Grammy’s arm.

  Grammy’s eyes fluttered open. “Emmy?”

  “No, it’s just me.” I let out a breath and went to check the nurse’s pulse. She was breathing, her pulse strong. At least she wasn’t dead. “Need some help here!”

  Several more nurses rushed in. “What happened in here?”

  I shrugged and took several steps back. While they were checking on the nurse, I quickly squeezed Grammy’s hand. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

  “’Course it is. Ain’t my time. I can’t go until Emmy gets married. I promised Malik.” She yawned, patted my hand, and closed her eyes. “Think I’ll have a little nap for now. Just a little one.” She was snoring before she finished the sentence.

  I debated staying and trying to explain to the staff that I hadn’t choked out a nurse, but they probably wouldn’t believe me. The best thing to do in situations like that was to sneak out, so that was exactly what I did.

  I left the hospital armed with two more bits of information than when I went in. First, I was immune, at least to being hurt by these avatars of Mask’s. I’d have to remember to thank Odin later for holding onto my shadow. Second, light hurt them. While flashlights had worked against the sludge monster in the water treatment plant, that might’ve just been coincidence. But light had been effective against two of them now, which was enough for me to declare it useful. We had a weapon that worked, even if we somehow didn’t manage to get the third Speaking Stone back. It was a small victory, but I’d take it.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Took you long enough.” Finn tossed me a small plastic bag as soon as I arrived back at Paula’s.

  “You’ll be pleased to know I got some useful information while I was checking on Emma.” I peeked into the bag. It contained two energy drinks in neon blue cans, a stick of flaming hot beef jerky, and a granola bar. I grabbed one of the energy drinks and popped the top.

  Josiah crossed his arms. “Care to share with the class?”

  I held up a finger until I’d finished chugging the energy drink, then wiped my mouth on my sleeve and opened the granola bar. Man, was I starving. When was the last time I’d eaten anything? “I got attacked by a shadow while I was in the hospital. It didn’t like the flashlight. I think with enough focused light, we can do some serious damage to these things.”

  Remy stood from the barstool where she’d been sharpening her sword. “Makes sense. They are creatures of darkness.”

  “Great, but it still doesn’t help us stop Mask himself, especially if he can send things through shadows to attack us. He could be anywhere.” Finn crossed his arms and shrugged.

  I raised a second finger. “Which brings me to my second point. Since I don’t have a shadow, his creatures can’t hurt me.”

  Finn’s eyes widened and his shoulders stiffened. “I can’t decide if it’s troubling or good news you don’t have a shadow.”

  “Right now, it’s good news,” said Josiah. “Means one of us stands a chance against Mask. We can worry about what it might mean down the line when we get there. For now, the three of you ought to be getting to Faerie to check on the High Court.”

  Sir Foxglove limped over from where he stood in the corner and handed me my staff. “Remember, Mask can be in any one or all of them. You’re not there to challenge him. Go to the gate and invoke the rite of Tír na nÓg. If they argue about your right, remind them you’re the king of the Court of Miracles. Fae blood might not flow through your veins, but that doesn’t make it any less royal.”

  I nodded and gripped my staff. “I have to admit, I never thought I’d be invoking ancient fae rites when I put the whole thing together.”

  Foxglove patted my shoulder. “You don’t just wake up one day a hero, Lazarus. No one has the power to bestow that title on anyone else. It’s something that’s built, one day at a time, one choice at a time. No one sees it coming.”

  “You should write inspirational cards or something if this whole knight thing doesn’t work out,” Finn said to Foxglove. “Now, let’s go.”

  There were deep shadows all over the city, but the darkest would be out back of Paula’s in the supply shed. I retrieved the key to the supply shed and left her a note, thanking her for letting us use the place. She wouldn’t be in for another few hours, and Josiah was supposed to brief her on everything, but it never hurt to leave a personal touch.

  The lock on the supply shed popped open with a click and Finn, Remy and I stepped into the tiny, darkened building. It smelled vaguely of damp wood and cleaning chemicals. I found the chain and turned on the light while Finn moved a few boxes out of the way, stacking them to create a wide enough shadow.

  “When we come through, we’ll be inside Queen Oonagh’s tomb,” Finn said. “It’s technically inside the High Court’s lands, and also sort of in the subbasement of the royal palace.”

  “They buried their dead queen in the basement? Creepy.” I tied the key to the light’s chain so Paula would be able to find it.

  Remy studied me with a frown. “Aren’t the dead traditionally put to rest underground here as well?”

  “Yeah, but on land that’s been specially designated for that. You don’t put grandma under the floorboards unless you’re some sort of serial killer.”

  “You might find that description fits the nobles of the High Court better than you think,” Finn said dryly. He stepped back to examine his handiwork and declared it good enough with a nod of his head. “Try to think shadowy thoughts. I’ve never moved three people at once before.” He clamped his hand down on my shoulder.

  “Hey, wait a minute!” Before I could get out further protest, Finn dragged Remy and me into the dark shadow. For a long moment, my body was suspended mid-air with nothing below my feet. The sensation of falling punched at my gut, though no wind rushed by my head. Then, in a blink, my shoes hit rocky ground. Thick darkness surrounded me on all sides. If not for Finn’s hand on m
y shoulder, I wouldn’t have known which way was up or down.

  I clicked on the flashlight I’d brought with me, sucked in a lungful of musty air and immediately coughed. A giant sandstone wall loomed ahead and on either side of me, so I turned the other way. Dust danced in the beam of my flashlight, the only thing between me and Finn, who was already working on getting the sandstone slab door open.

  “There must be a button around here somewhere,” he mumbled.

  “You transported us to a sealed tomb you don’t know how to get out of?” Remy growled.

  He slid his hands over the sandstone wall next to the door. “I know how to get me out of it, Your Highness. I can walk through any shadow I want and be right back at home with my feet up. I didn’t exactly need a door last time I was here. It didn’t occur to me that anyone would build a door that doesn’t open from the inside.”

  Remy sighed, exasperated. “The dead don’t need doors and door handles, Finn.”

  “They might under the right circumstances. Like now.”

  The wall trembled, knocking ancient red dust from the top of the door. I took a step back. “What’d you do, Finn?”

  He looked at me over his shoulder. “Nothing that I know of.”

  The slab door slid up, revealing a whole company of armed guards on the other side. They filed into the tomb, surrounding us, swords drawn.

  I raised my hands in surrender. “Hey, fellas.”

  They didn’t respond. They just stood there, glaring angrily at me from under their shiny helmets.

  “I should’ve known you wouldn’t learn your lesson.” Another armored man strode through the door, set apart from the other soldiers by the presence of a white cloak. He was short for a guard but broad-shouldered, with beady eyes, a round chin, and a nose you couldn’t help but want to punch straight.

  “Sir Braes.” Finn stepped away from the wall. “Don’t you have anything better to do than stand outside a tomb all day? Man, you must’ve really pissed off the high queen to get this guard assignment.”