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

by T. M. Franklin

  “Avery?” I whispered, unable to keep my voice from squeaking with excitement.

  The shadow turned and ducked into my bedroom.

  It had to be Avery. Maybe he was too chicken to go home and face his parents after staying out all night. He wasn’t used to getting in trouble—at least not without me. He probably came here first, looking for an excuse for why he was out so late. I bet he had no idea the trouble he’d caused. Relief washed over me. I couldn’t wait to see him—and slap him for making everyone worry.

  I ran to my room, expecting to see Avery sitting on my windowsill the way he always did, but the room was empty. I turned wildly in all directions, wondering if I’d imagined it. Then I saw it by the doorway. A shadow. Not a person casting a shadow.

  It stood facing me, not moving. At least I thought it was facing me. It didn’t actually have a face. No eyes, nose, or mouth. I’d always thought it was creepy to feel someone’s eyes on me, but this was ten times worse. What I’d originally thought was the shadow of Avery’s shaggy hair now looked more like some sort of hat. If shadows wore hats. For a moment, I questioned if I was still dreaming. How could a shadow exist without someone to cast it?

  As scared as I was to turn away, I took a quick glance out the window behind me. The full moon made it unusually bright. I held my arm out at my side and slowly turned back toward the shadow, hoping to see that it was my own. That I was only imagining a male figure because I was hoping it was Avery. But the shadow’s arm wasn’t raised like mine.

  I froze, unable to look away. The hair on my arms stood on end. I didn’t know if I should try to talk to the figure or if I should run. But running didn’t seem like a good option since the thing was blocking my door. I grabbed the alarm clock off my nightstand, yanking the cord from the outlet. Not the greatest weapon, but it was the only thing within reach. I considered throwing it at the shadow, but the neon green clock had been a present from Avery. It was the last gift he’d given me, and with him missing, I wasn’t about to part with it. I raised it above my head, hoping the threat of throwing it would be enough to scare away the shadowy figure.

  It wasn’t. The shadow stood its ground. Not moving. Taunting me. Making me wonder what it was going to do to me.

  “What are you?” My voice was so shaky and high-pitched I barely recognized it.

  The shadow didn’t answer. But then I didn’t really expect it to, seeing as it didn’t have a mouth.

  Several things flashed through my mind. Avery. The missing kids. The figure in my room. I almost wished Officer Bobson was still parked outside so I could yell to him for help. I didn’t want to call my parents because I didn’t want the shadow to attack them. I wouldn’t have lost any sleep if Officer Bobson got hurt trying to protect me, but I never would’ve forgiven myself if anything happened to my parents.

  Then my mind went to the worst place. What if this was the thing that took Avery and the other kids? What if I was its next victim? Standing here threatening the shadow wasn’t working. I had to try something else. I lowered the alarm clock, returning it to the nightstand, and held my hands up to show the figure I wasn’t doing anything sneaky. I slowly sidestepped to the wall by my closet and reached for the light switch. My fingers grazed it, but I stopped. If I turned on the light, would the shadow go away? Did I want it to go away?

  I decided to try talking to it again. Maybe it could speak somehow. It was possible that it had a mouth I couldn’t see through the darkness.

  “Do you know where Avery is?” I asked. “Did you take him somewhere?”

  The shadow turned and slipped behind my open door.

  Great! What did that mean? I didn’t know what this thing was or why it was in my bedroom. And I couldn’t imagine what the shadow could be doing in the small space between my door and the wall. Although, I doubted it was playing hide and seek.

  Still, the mention of Avery’s name had gotten a response. It had to mean something.

  The only thing I was sure of was that I wanted to find Avery. No matter what. Even if it meant getting kidnapped. Even if it meant becoming one of the missing kids.

  I squeezed my fists and took a deep breath before following the shadow behind my door.

  2

  My hand shook as I grabbed the doorknob. I didn’t want to hesitate because I was afraid I’d lose my nerve and run screaming like a five-year-old to my parents’ room. In one swift motion, I flung the door shut, expecting to see the shadow standing behind it.

  I did see a shadow. But not the one I’d expected. A staircase crept up my wall. Or came out from my wall was more like it. It was three-dimensional, something I’d never known a shadow to be. The stairs led up to my ceiling, and a foot rested on the top step. A shadowy foot.

  “Is Avery up there? Is that what you’re trying to tell me?” I called to it. “Because I can’t follow you up these steps if that’s what you expect me to do. They’re only shadows.”

  The foot tapped impatiently on the step.

  “Listen, you don’t seem to get it.” I leaned forward toward the outline of the stairs. “I’m not like you. I—” My voice choked in my throat. My hand was touching the stairs—and they were solid. I ran my fingers along the edge of a stair, feeling the cool, smooth surface. “What? How can a shadow be solid?”

  I looked up at the foot, waiting for an answer, but it climbed out of sight. I couldn’t lose it now. This was my only clue to finding Avery. I didn’t have a choice. I had to follow.

  “I must be losing my mind,” I said, lifting one fuzzy green slipper and carefully placing it on the bottom step. I raised myself onto it, wobbling a little out of shock. It didn’t help that the stair was extremely narrow either. “Avery, you better be up here.” I took another step. And another. I stopped a few steps from the top and ducked to avoid hitting my head on the ceiling.

  “Now what?”

  A shadowy hand reached down through the ceiling and wagged its finger at me.

  “No way!” I shook my head. “I’m not a shadow. I don’t know how I’m able to climb these stairs, but I do know I can’t walk through my ceiling.” This shadow was really getting on my nerves, and after losing Avery and having to deal with that unfeeling cop all in the same night, I’d had enough.

  The finger wagged at me again. I reached up to grab it, wanting to twist it right off, but my hand went through the ceiling instead. I gasped and pulled it back, examining it to make sure it was still there. My head was spinning with a thousand thoughts, and all of them were telling me to get down off the staircase and run to my parents’ room. But I couldn’t. Not if there was a chance the shadow was leading me to Avery. Perched on the staircase, I took one last look at my room. “Here goes nothing.” I climbed the remaining steps.

  Walking through my ceiling was more than a little odd. I flinched, expecting to hit my head, but nothing blocked my way. It was like I’d become a ghost and could walk through solid objects. I couldn’t see anything thanks to the darkness all around me. At first I assumed I was in the crawl space my dad refers to as the attic. But there was a doorway—minus the door. With one last look at my room, I stepped through the doorway and came to a silver light, coming from an opening of some sort, shimmering above me. It looked like a puddle of liquid metal. I reached out and touched it with my index finger to see if it was wet. Thankfully, it wasn’t. I put my arms through first and felt for something to grab. The surface around the hole was flat and dirty, with nothing to hold onto, but I managed to pull myself through the opening.

  It may have been night, but it was as bright as day, and I had to squint to see much of anything. The portal, or whatever it was, closed the moment I stepped through it. Actually, it sort of popped like a bubble. I bent down to touch the ground. It was solid, and it wasn’t silver any more either. “Wait a minute!” I pounded my fists in the dirt. “How am I supposed to get back home?”

  I struggled against the bright sunlight, looking around for the shadow or anyone who might be able to help me. S
omeone who might be able to tell me where I was and why the sun was out in the middle of the night. But all I saw were giant peach boulders all over the ground. What was this place? It was different from my world, but sort of familiar at the same time.

  “Hello? Um, shadow person?” I said, not exactly knowing what to call the thing that had led me here. No one answered. “Just great! That thing insists I follow it to who knows where, and then it leaves me. Thanks a lot, you rotten shadow! What am I supposed to do now?” I squeezed my fists, wanting to hit something. I knew better than to hit a boulder, so I bent down, picked up a small rock, and hurled it as far as I could. It didn’t make me feel any better. I wasn’t going to feel better until I found that shadow and kicked the living darkness out of it.

  I didn’t see the point in staying by the portal since it wasn’t even there anymore. I had to figure out what this place was and find someone who could help me get home. I had no clue if Avery was really here either, but I wasn’t going to find out staying in one spot.

  Keeping my head down to shield my eyes from the sun, I climbed over the boulders to an area filled with bare trees. If it were winter, this wouldn’t have been weird. But it was July. The trees should’ve been green and full of leaves. These trees were blackened like they’d been burned. I looked up at their singed branches and saw an enormous pair of eyes staring back at me.

  “Oh!” I stumbled backward, tripping over a pointed rock, and did the exact opposite of a belly flop onto a large boulder. My spine felt like someone had taken a hammer to it, but I was grateful I hadn’t hit my head. I sat up slowly, and that’s when I noticed the sky. Or should I say, the sky noticed me?

  Even though it was night, the stars weren’t twinkling lights shining down on me. They were actual living, breathing forms. All the constellations were figures in the sky. Solid figures. A bull, which I guessed was Taurus. A goat for Capricorn. And some other constellations that weren’t exactly alive but were still objects, a crown or a shield, instead of stars. I stared at them in amazement. Sure stars were beautiful and I watched them every night before I fell asleep, but this was seriously awesome. As a kid, I always daydreamed about playing in the clouds, and it kind of looked like that was what these constellations were doing here. I forced my eyes to get used to the brightness as I studied the figures.

  By the arrow pointing in my direction, I knew it was Sagittarius, the archer, staring at me through the branches of the tree. He held his bow firmly, but he smiled at me. I couldn’t help staring at him. I’d seen pictures of centaurs in Greek mythology books and in movies, but that was nothing compared to seeing this larger than life image hovering above me in the heavens. Sagittarius had thick, dark wavy hair and a beard that perfectly matched his long flowing tail. He looked like he was solid muscle, both his human upper body and his horse lower half.

  He raised his right hoof slightly in front of him, and I got the impression he was trying to wave to me. I wasn’t about to offend a guy pointing an arrow at me, so I gave a small wave in return. I checked out the rest of the sky. Amazing! Like someone plucked creatures and people and other things right off the ground and placed them in the sky. I was so mesmerized by the constellations that the sound of rocks falling behind me didn’t register as possible danger until it got so loud I knew I was in trouble. Something was coming toward me. Something big.

  Before I could turn to face my maybe attacker, Sagittarius reared up on his hind legs and aimed his bow and arrow at me.

  “No! Please don’t shoot!” I ran behind a large oak tree. Its bark was singed from fire, and it crumbled as I leaned against it. I turned away to avoid getting soot in my eyes and saw that Sagittarius wasn’t the one I had to worry about. The dragon, not more than twenty feet away, in the very spot I’d been sitting, was more frightening than anything I’d ever seen. This thing was so huge it would have made the Loch Ness Monster look like a tadpole. The dragon’s green scaly body was perched on top of the boulders. Its tail looked like an anaconda weaving its way between the rocks. But the head, which was directed right at the oak tree—my only source of protection—was absolutely terrifying. A pair of giant red eyes darted menacingly back and forth. The dragon’s tongue snaked out through spiky white teeth. Its nostrils flared. The creature was picking up on my scent.

  I looked up at Sagittarius. He was still aiming his arrow at the dragon. I felt bad that I’d thought he was trying to hurt me when he had actually been trying to warn me. I wasn’t sure why he didn’t shoot the dragon so I could get away, but I didn’t know anything about this world or its constellations, so I assumed it wasn’t that simple.

  Sagittarius’s mouth moved. I had no idea how far away the constellations were. They seemed so much closer here than in my world, but they weren’t close enough for me to hear what Sagittarius was saying. I squinted, trying to read his lips, but he was talking too fast. It looked like he kept yelling, “Scalp your cow,” but that didn’t make any sense. There weren’t any cows around. Only a hungry dragon looking to make me its next snack.

  The sound of rocks grating against each other broke my attention away from Sagittarius, and I whipped my head around to see the dragon advancing on the tree. Advancing on me.

  “Come out, you delicious little morsel,” the dragon’s deep voice bellowed.

  If I hadn’t seen the dragon’s mouth moving, I would have sworn someone was playing a trick on me. Like the shadow that had lured me here. But there was no doubt in my mind it was the dragon that spoke. I nearly fainted. I could get over the giant figures in the sky or even the dragon right here on the ground. But a talking dragon?

  “You don’t want to eat me. I’m mostly bones,” I said, unable to believe I was talking to a dragon.

  “Ah,” the dragon said in a breathy voice. “The bones are the best part.”

  The dragon inhaled deeply, and the bare tree branches shook, sending a few crashing to the ground. I sidestepped to avoid getting hit by one. That was when I realized how the tree had been burned. I couldn’t stay here. I had to run, or I was going to become a pile of ashes.

  I cupped my hands around my mouth and yelled at the top of my lungs, “Sagittarius! If you can hear me, shoot the dragon!” I added, “Please!” so he didn’t get angry with me for ordering him around. I didn’t want him to turn his bow and arrow on me.

  I took off for the mound of rocks to my right. I knew better than to look back. The dragon blew his fire with a deafening roar. I wanted to cover my ears, but my arms were too busy swinging around wildly as I ran for my life. Within seconds, I heard the sound of wood snapping. The tree had taken the brunt of the fire. Now it was falling, and I was in its path.

  I raced for the rocks and ducked into a hollowed out spot in the mound. It felt like everything was happening in slow motion. The tree landed with a crash. Branches splintered and snapped, sailing through the air in every direction. I held my arms up to protect my face from the flying, flaming debris. The rocks kept me well protected from the fire, but I was trapped by the dragon. I’d saved myself from getting burned to a crisp once, but now I was an easy target for the dragon’s second attempt. I had to get out of here.

  I waited until the noise died down before I peeked out from the mound of rocks. Without knowing why, I looked up at the sky first. Sagittarius hadn’t moved. He held his bow and arrow steadily in his hands. He either hadn’t heard me cry for help or he hadn’t been willing to help me. I looked at the rocks where the dragon had been. They were vacant, except for the cloud of smoke hovering above them.

  The thought of seeing the dragon again made my heart beat faster, but the thought of not knowing where it was made me more nervous. I didn’t want to be caught off guard. If I was going to be attacked, I wanted to see my attacker. It was the only way I’d have a fighting chance to get away.

  “Where are you, you wretched fire-breathing reptile?” I yelled, slamming my open palm against the boulder next to me.

  The oak tree blazed on the ground in front of me, test
ing my nerves with every crackle and snap. The dragon had to be somewhere. It was too huge to get away that quickly. I realized Sagittarius must be able to see the dragon. He could probably see everything from his place in the sky.

  “Sagittarius, where’s the dragon?” I yelled.

  He didn’t answer me, which probably meant he couldn’t hear me. I continued to watch him, hoping to follow his stare. Maybe he’d answer me with his eyes, lead me to the dragon’s hiding place. But something long, thin, and red flickered above my head. The dragon’s pointy tongue.

  “Surprise!” the dragon said, licking its sharp teeth.

  “No!” I screamed, backing away.

  The dragon flapped its wings just above the mound of rocks. I knew if it landed on the mound it would come crashing down on top of me. But I couldn’t run away either. The dragon would swoop down and grab me in its claws. Then it would be able to fly off with me. I couldn’t risk letting that happen. Of course, being squashed in a pile of boulders didn’t sound much better.

  Before I could choose from my options of bad or worse, the rocks shifted. I steadied myself in the opening, hoping the mound would collapse inward and I could run away during the confusion. But something was keeping the rocks from caving in. Something that was moving under them. It wasn’t the dragon causing the shift at all. I turned around and saw an enormous pair of eyes staring out at me from the darkness.

  “Oh, come on! Don’t tell me this is your brother or something!” I yelled to the dragon. No way could I fight off two dragons.

  I needed help, and so far the only possible helpers I knew of in this strange place were a shadow that had abandoned me and a constellation that refused to shoot his arrows at the dragon. Sagittarius wasn’t the answer, so I called out to the shadow, hoping it would come back to rescue me.