Magic and Shadows: A Collection of YA Fantasy and Paranormal Romances

by T. M. Franklin

  Nothing.

  “Caleb?” Quieter now, unsure if someone else might have been listening. “Are you there?”

  Hesitantly, she made her way between the two buildings, keeping one hand on the wall next to her like a lifeline. The rain intensified, freezing bits of ice melting in her hair, dripping into her eyes, and blurring her vision, but she swept away the water as she stepped toward the back of the building. Easing her way silently.

  Left foot. Together.

  Left foot. Together.

  She came to the far corner of the building and pressed her back against the wall again, listening intently for any sign of Caleb or whatever—or whoever—he’d found. Mud seeped into her shoes, and she shivered uncontrollably in her wet clothes, but she barely noticed as blood pulsed through her veins. Slowly, she leaned forward, one eye breaching the border to the back of the house.

  “Hello, Ava.”

  She whirled about at the unfamiliar voice, throwing her hands up instinctively in defense. She blinked for a moment in surprise, unable to process what—or rather, who—stood before her.

  “Arthur?” Her hands fell to her sides slowly as she took in the figure of her childhood friend. “What in the world are you doing here?”

  He reached out to wrap his long fingers around her upper arm, his voice quick and urgent. “I’m here to help you. Come on, we need to go.”

  Ava took a couple of steps, still dazed, before stopping abruptly and pulling her arm free. “What’s going on, Arthur? I don’t understand. I thought you were at MIT.”

  Arthur brushed his long black bangs back impatiently, shaking icy drops of water from his hand. “Look, we don’t have time for this. I’ve come to get you out of here before it’s too late.”

  “But . . . I’m supposed to go before the Council.”

  “You don’t want to do that.”

  Ava looked back the way she came, stomach roiling with nerves. “I need to tell Caleb—”

  “No time,” he said gruffly, grabbing her wrist to drag her along. “Look, I know you’re freaked out, and I’ll explain it all, but right now we need to go.”

  He looked down at her, black eyes piercing. “I’m your friend, right?”

  Ava just nodded.

  “Just trust me. I’m trying to help you. Don’t worry. I’ll get word to Caleb.” His steps quickened until they were both jogging down the street, dodging between buildings and ducking behind trees as the sleet pounded down in heavy sheets.

  “You know Caleb?” she asked finally, as they paused under the eaves of a low brick building, Arthur texting into his phone.

  “Yeah . . . sure,” he said distractedly.

  Ava took a deep breath, tapping into her power and focusing on Arthur’s familiar face. She expected it, but to see his features change, becoming more angular, his skin golden and glowing, still took her by surprise. She gasped, and the Veil snapped back into place.

  “So . . . you’re one of them? One of the Race?” she murmured, still trying vainly to put everything into place. Why was he there? Where was he taking her?

  “Uh-huh,” he muttered, shoving his phone back into his pocket and grabbing her hand. “Let’s go. They’re waiting for us at the edge of the city.”

  “But what about the cameras?”

  “Taken care of,” he said. “Believe me, we have this operation well coordinated.”

  “Operation?” she repeated, yanking her hand from his. “Arthur, what the hell is going on? Are you my friend? Or are you just someone else who’s been lying to me my whole life so you could keep an eye on me to protect your precious Race?

  “And if you’re not with the Council, who are you with? The Guardians?”

  “We don’t have time for this,” he said through gritted teeth. “He’ll realize you’re gone soon, if he hasn’t already.”

  “Who?” she asked as a frightening chill raced through her. “Caleb, you mean?”

  “Ava, come on!”

  “I thought you knew Caleb. I thought you were on the same side.”

  Arthur cursed under his breath as his phone buzzed. He pulled it out, glancing at the message and exhaling heavily. “I didn’t want to do this,” he told her. “But we’re out of time.”

  And as Ava gaped at him, he pressed a hand to her forehead and caught her in his arms as she faded into unconsciousness.

  Caleb stepped across the front lawn of a white clapboard cottage, popping a cube into his mouth to ward off the dizziness from several short shifts. He’d felt that same presence as before, and again, found no evidence of whoever had been watching them. Brushing the rain from his eyes, he circled back to the street, opting for the sidewalk rather than vaulting the fences and shrubs he’d encountered while skulking through the backyards in his fruitless search.

  The presence was gone. He reached out with his senses, but whoever it was had disappeared.

  He quickened his pace, knowing Ava was most likely worried about his quick departure, not to mention full of questions.

  Again.

  She was always full of questions.

  He rounded the corner, expecting to find her waiting where he’d left her, several blocks up. He didn’t see her at first and scanned the surrounding area, figuring she must have taken shelter under a porch or tree when the rain picked up. He froze, however, when he spotted a familiar red shape rolling in the street.

  The umbrella.

  Caleb’s heart raced as he sped up, eyes darting around him frantically. “Ava!”

  What had he done? How could he have left her alone?

  “Ava!”

  What if, in some ridiculous attempt to protect him, she decided to try and escape on her own? She wouldn’t get past the city borders, and when the Council found out—

  He couldn’t even think about what the Council would do when it found out.

  Lightning flashed, and out of the corner of his eye, Caleb spotted movement in the window of a house across the street. He raced up the porch and pounded on the door until a young woman with flowing blonde hair and startling pale eyes responded. Caleb didn’t recognize her, but he could see the fear on her face.

  “I’m sorry to bother you. I’m Caleb Foster,” he said, forcing his voice to remain calm.

  The girl nodded, a spark of recognition in her eyes. “Ah, yes. I’ve heard about you.”

  “I was just looking for my friend—”

  “You mean the Half-Breed.”

  Caleb swallowed. Of course, she would know about it. The whole city knew about it.

  “Well, that’s still up for debate,” he replied. “But I left her here, and she’s gone now. Did you . . . did you happen to see where she went?”

  “The Council won’t be happy you lost her,” she muttered.

  “I haven’t lost her,” he snapped. Taking a breath, he looked into the woman’s eyes. “Please. I need to find her.”

  She shrugged. “I saw her talking with a tall man, black hair. I figured he was another Protector. They left a few minutes ago. Seemed in a hurry, too.”

  Caleb fought to overcome the panic threatening his control. “Which way did they go?”

  She pointed down the road, and Caleb took off without another word, pulling his cell phone from his pocket. The rain had finally stopped. He missed nothing, pounding through the puddles and searching for clues, before he dialed a familiar number.

  “Caleb?”

  “Mother,” he replied, coming to a stop abruptly at the sight of a footprint just off the sidewalk. He searched the muddy grass, spotting another one—no two, different sizes—between two houses.

  “I need to know if you assigned anyone else to Ava,” he said, following the prints to the shared backyard.

  “What?”

  “Mother, please,” he nearly shouted. “No politics. No talking in circles. Just tell me. Have you assigned another Protector to Ava?”

  He heard her exhale heavily. “No, of course not. Where are you? She’s supposed to appear before the Cou
ncil in less than fifteen minutes.”

  “Is she Race?”

  “Caleb, you know I can’t discuss—”

  “Mother! Is. She. Race?”

  After a moment, she said quietly, “Yes. Caleb, what’s going on?”

  Caleb continued following the prints to where they disappeared in some thick underbrush. “I don’t know, Mother, but I need your help. I think someone’s taken her.”

  “Taken her?” Caleb listened carefully for any indication of subterfuge, but his mother sounded genuinely surprised. “Who? Where?”

  “I don’t know where. I need Tiernan.” The man grated on Caleb’s patience, but he was the best tracker they had. “As for who, I don’t know that, either. Guardians?”

  “Perhaps.” Hesitance.

  “You don’t think so.”

  “I don’t know, Caleb,” she said. “But you have to entertain the possibility that it might have been a Rogue.”

  The thought sent a leaden heaviness to settle in his stomach. “Why would a Rogue want her?”

  “Because we do?” she offered. “Because he knows she’s one of us? Who knows, perhaps he wants to hold her for ransom.”

  Caleb leaned against a tree trunk, his mind whirling with the frightening possibilities. “I need to find her.”

  “Where are you?”

  “East end of the city. Last row of houses next to the school.”

  He heard her turn to address someone in the room. “Tiernan’s on his way. I’ll organize a search party and will be in contact.” She hung up before he could thank her.

  Caleb paced nervously as he waited for Tiernan, anxious to move forward, but knowing there was no point until the tracker joined him. Fortunately, it was only a few minutes before the huge man appeared, eyeing the tracks with single-minded focus. He crouched down, examining the brush, and reached out to touch a slightly bent branch.

  “They went this way,” he said.

  Caleb nodded and followed him into the undergrowth.

  A heaviness tugged on Ava’s limbs, her hands and feet hanging down inexplicably as a strange pressure wedged against her stomach. She moaned, trying to clear her blurry vision and focus her equally fuzzy thoughts.

  Where was she?

  She swayed nauseatingly, head bumping against something. No, someone.

  Someone’s back.

  Just as her mind cleared enough so she could identify the fact that she hung draped over someone’s shoulder with branches whipping her hair, a cool hand touched her forehead, and the blackness consumed her once again.

  When she next awoke, her head lolled on her shoulders, her body aching and mouth parched and dry. Blinking unseeing eyes, a darkened room came into focus after a few moments, stacks of boxes laden with dust . . . a rickety staircase on the far side of the room. Ava straightened, but her movement halted abruptly, and she realized she was tied to a wooden chair, hands shackled behind her back with metal handcuffs. She shook them tentatively, and a rush of tingling pain shot up her arms.

  Evidently, she’d been there a while.

  “No use trying to escape,” a familiar voice warned. “You’ll never get free of those bonds.”

  She turned her head to see Arthur leaning on the wall to her right, watching her carefully. “Arthur? What are you doing?” Her voice rasped harshly. She cleared her throat, longing for a drink of water. “Why are you doing this?”

  He chuckled lightly, crossing to stand in front of her. “You really have no idea, do you?”

  She looked up at him blankly. “No idea about what?”

  He crouched down on his heels, putting him on eye level with her. “All these years, and you never suspected,” he murmured. “We were close, you and I. That was intentional. I needed to know if you ever got a clue. There was that one time—with the hamster—but other than that . . . nothing.

  “When the Protector was sent, I had to step back, of course. But I’ve never been too far away. Someone had to keep an eye on you.”

  Tears burned in Ava’s throat as she pulled instinctively at her bonds. “Arthur, I don’t understand. Why are you doing this? I thought you were my friend.” His eyes softened, and Ava felt a rush of relief.

  “I am your friend,” he said. “But there’s a higher purpose at work here.”

  Ava shook her head, wincing at the pain behind her eyes at the movement. “I don’t understand. What higher purpose?”

  He stood abruptly, all signs of compassion gone. “Your purpose, of course. Your destiny. You always said you felt different, like you were special somehow. Well, you are. More than you know.”

  “Is this about the Council—”

  “The Council!” He slashed a hand through the air angrily. “The Council is a bunch of self-righteous bureaucrats who have been holding our people back for centuries! But all that will end soon. And you, my dear, will be the key.”

  “Me?” Ava’s mind whirled with confusion but then focused on what he said, and what Caleb had once explained to her. “Wait a minute,” she began. “You’re . . . you’re a Rogue, aren’t you?”

  “Rogue,” he spat. “I’m a revolutionary. Don’t you see, Ava? Our kind was not created to bow down to humans, to serve them in secret while we hide in the shadows. We are the superior beings. We are the ones who should rule this planet.”

  Ava swallowed in fear and revulsion at the fanatical light in his eyes. “And . . . what about the humans?”

  He shrugged. “They are inconsequential, really. Most will fall into line, don’t you see? They are cowards at the core of it. Once they realize what we are, they’ll be the ones cowering in fear.”

  “You can’t do that,” she said quietly. “The Council will stop you.”

  Arthur laughed. “Oh, they might try,” he said. “But they will fail. You see, that’s where you come into the picture.” He leaned over her, bracing his hands on the arms of the chair, his face mere inches from hers. “Don’t you get it? It’s your destiny to be useful to the cause, Ava. It’s the reason for your very existence.”

  17

  The scenery blurred at the edges of Caleb’s vision as he ran in Tiernan’s shadow, stopping only when he did to examine the terrain and search for another sign of Ava’s trail. The huge man ran a hand over the dirt, then scooped up a handful, lifting it to his nose.

  Caleb paced, fighting back the urge to demand they go now. He knew there was no rushing Tiernan, and there was no one who could do his job better.

  It was why the Council had sent him after Ava, after all.

  “It’s no one I’ve encountered before,” he said, letting the dirt drift through his fingers before brushing them off on his pants. “Race, of course, but other than that . . .”

  A few phone calls confirmed what Caleb already suspected—whoever took Ava was not a Guardian. Which left only one conclusion.

  “I don’t get it,” Caleb said, a hand knotted in his hair in frustration. “If it is a Rogue, how did he pull this off? Getting into and out of New Elysia without raising an alarm? He couldn’t have been acting alone.”

  “But Rogues by nature do act alone,” Tiernan replied, setting off again at a slower pace while still scanning the area for clues.

  He was right. Rogues lived for their own pleasure and eliminated anyone who got in their way—human and Race alike. Usually, their reckless indifference left a path of destruction easy for the Council to trace, and once discovered, they were quickly taken down. But this one . . .

  This one seemed unusually well prepared. He knew where to find Ava and how to get into the city unnoticed. Hell, he got to her and took her away right under Caleb’s nose. If it was a Rogue, it was one unlike any he’d ever encountered before.

  The thought chilled him. The Rogue’s unpredictability put Caleb at a disadvantage, something he rarely experienced and greatly despised.

  They burst through the underbrush and onto a paved road. Tiernan shook his head ruefully. “They got in a car,” he said. “I can still track her, but it
’ll be harder on foot. I won’t be able to feel her if they get too far away.”

  He and Tiernan felt the others approach at the same time, both spinning on their heels to take up a defensive posture, and relaxing when they recognized the group of a half-dozen Protectors apparently sent by Madeleine. They’d been careful to leave an easy-to-follow trail so the search party would be able to catch up quickly.

  Katherine stepped forward, addressing her brother. “How far?”

  Tiernan nodded grimly toward the ground. “We’re getting close. The trail is only a few minutes old. But it would help if we had a car.”

  Katherine nodded. “Rafe’s driving one.”

  Caleb blinked. “Rafe?”

  Katherine laughed slightly. “Yeah, he insisted. Your mother is not too happy about it, I might add—a Council member going on a mission.

  “He’s tracking me with a GPS. Shouldn’t be long until he catches up to us if we stay on the road.” She eyed her brother. “We are staying on the road, right?”

  Tiernan closed his eyes, his head tilting back as he took a deep breath. “Yes,” he said, turning to his left. “Let’s go.”

  The others lined up behind him and they began to run, feet pounding on the pavement as they sped down the road. After only a few more minutes, Caleb heard the sound of an engine, and a large, black SUV approached, Rafe at the wheel.

  “You guys need a lift?” he called, elbow hanging out the window. The Protectors piled in the car, Tiernan and Caleb cramming into the front seat. They sped down the road, hugging the tight curves as it twisted and turned.

  Tiernan remained tightly focused, relaying terse instructions until they pulled onto a gravel road nearly obscured by overhanging branches. “Stop!” he ordered.

  Rafe slammed on the brakes.

  “What is it?” Caleb asked.

  Tiernan’s eyes narrowed as he focused on something Caleb couldn’t see. “A cloak,” he said. “I think we’re getting close. We better proceed on foot.” They got out of the car and moved silently down the edge of the gravel road.

  When Rafe started after them, Caleb held up a hand. “You’re not coming.”