Midnight Shadows

by Emerson Knight

  “This is pointless,” he sighed.

  “So take a break. Get your head straight and then come back and start over.”

  He gestured broadly at the contents of the library. “There’s nothing here that’s going to shed light on the contents of the Clostra.”

  “Ask London,” I said.

  His gaze shifted away from mine as he scowled. “She’s not talking to me. I burned that bridge in our hunt for Ethos. We need Sky’s help.”

  “No.”

  “She can read the books,” he explained as if his argument was both undeniable and obvious.

  “We’re not getting her any more involved than necessary. Without the third book, the spells are useless. When we have all the books, we can consider using her help, but only as a last resort. Until then, there’s no point.”

  “We can’t cast the spells,” Josh agreed, “but we can figure out what they are. With Sky’s help, we can determine if there is a spell that lays the beast to rest.”

  All we knew about the spell was rumor, that it had the potential to somehow kill the entire were-animal species. We needed to locate the spell, determine its actual purpose. Could it be cast by any witch, or did it require a witch of high skill?

  Josh continued, “We can at least get an idea which other spells might present a danger to us. It’s also possible that somewhere in these books is a clue to the location of the third book.”

  I scrutinized him for a long moment. After their shared recklessness regarding Ethos’s magic, I didn’t trust the two of them with another magical secret; I understood enough Latin that I’d be able to follow along with the translation, but I’d have to rely on my brother for a deeper understanding of the text. When it came to power, his track record for self-control was manifestly poor. With Sky involved, could he stop himself from drawing her into his experiments to test the spells once he had access to the third book?

  Sky couldn’t be trusted when it came to Ethos’s magic, so I didn’t see why giving her access to the Clostra would be any wiser. Josh was right, though. There was too much at stake not to utilize every advantage we had.

  “There are nearly two hundred pages in each book,” I said, “and she doesn’t speak Latin. You’re going to have to interpret her terrible pronunciation. This will take a long time.”

  He shrugged, helpless.

  While I considered the option, his gaze shifted to my hands. “Coffee?” he asked.

  I’d left the pot brewing in the kitchen. “I was distracted.” I filled him in on Gideon’s presence in the clinic.

  “What is your assessment?” I asked him.

  He was about to answer me when something in the doorway caught him by surprise. His eyes brightened. A broad smile spread across his lips. I knew before I looked that Sky was standing there.

  “Just the person I wanted to see,” he proclaimed. “I was about to come get you.” He pulled out a chair next to him and patted the seat for her. She obliged, acknowledging my scowl with a dismissive look while going out of her way to return Josh’s smile.

  He slid both of the Clostra books in front of her, pressing them both open to the first page. “Please,” he gestured, “start reading.”

  She blinked at him. “Read what?”

  “All of it. We need to translate it.”

  While she waited for the punch line to an imagined joke, he leaned down to the messenger bag beside his chair and retrieved a digital recorder and a tablet. Only when he was ready and gave her an expectant look did she seem to realize that he was serious. Glancing at the pages, she shook her head. She gave him another look, then began reading. As expected, her pronunciation was terrible, frequently leading Josh and I to instinctively lean over the pages to read for her. Each time we did, Sky would make a disgusted sound as the pages apparently went blank for her. She didn’t appreciate when Josh frequently stopped the recorder to clarify her pronunciation, either.

  To make matters worse, the information from the missing third book proved consistently critical to understanding the spells, but that didn’t stop Sky from asking at the end of nearly every entry, “What does that spell do?”

  After a few torturous hours, we were all on edge.

  “Do you understand any of this?” she asked Josh, exasperated.

  “It’s Latin; I understand most of it, but the rest we will figure out later.” He gestured for her to continue, which she did reluctantly.

  After a while, my thoughts began to drift toward the visions of Dennis until I heard Sky utter “bestia” as she read through one of the spells.

  Beast.

  I leaned forward, stopping myself from hovering over the book. Josh was paying particular attention, as well.

  Sky stopped reading as she stared at the page, her brow furrowed. “What is ripiso?”

  Josh and I answered together, “Rest.”

  “The beast will lay to rest,” she whispered, then continued reading.

  I raised an eyebrow to Josh, who gave me a frustrated look and shrugged. Like most of the spells, there just wasn’t enough information to be sure what they did, but I saw him highlight the translation on his tablet.

  Eventually, she read another phrase that caught our attention, Magia rescet.

  Magic will wither.

  Josh’s color melted to a ghostly white as he stopped the recorder. “Why don’t we take a break?” he said, putting on a cheerful smile for her. He rose to leave the library. When I rose to join him, he waved me off. Whatever the text meant to him, he needed to think about it.

  The silence between Sky and me quickly grew awkward. Judging by her occasional cold glances, she remained angry. I couldn’t apologize for depriving her of Ethos’s magic; she’d made that decision for me when she’d chosen to keep the magic in the first place. As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t explain how it was that I’d stopped her heart and nearly killed her; that knowledge was too dangerous for her.

  We sat like teenagers, looking at our hands, our nails, our clothes, and every piece of furniture in the library in an effort to not look at each other. I was relieved when she placed her phone in front of her on the table and began browsing the Internet. I brought out my phone as well. For lack of a better idea, I slowly swiped through my settings. We remained like that for several minutes until Josh finally returned, balancing three cups of fresh coffee in his hands.

  Our project had taken on a greater sense of urgency. I doubted we would stop before the texts were fully translated.

  He gingerly set the three cups on the table, then slid one to each of us before taking his seat. Sky took a tentative sip, watching him closely as he turned on the recorder, picked up the notepad, then looked at her expectantly. After another sip, she set her coffee aside, cleared her throat, and continued reading from where she left off.

  After two more tedious hours, her Latin wasn’t much better than when she’d started. Her already limited pronunciation began to slip, leading to more interruptions from Josh. She paused, rubbing the strain from her bloodshot eyes as she leaned back into her chair.

  “Do you know who can do these spells?” she asked Josh.

  “There seem to be numerous safeguards for the spells. Not only do you have to be able to get past the ward; you also have to be strong enough to perform them.” He looked down at his tablet. “These seem to be very strong spells. I wonder if even I could perform one.”

  I scowled but remained silent. There were few witches more powerful than my brother, but none of them could be trusted with such power. A bridge for another time, I decided, sipping my coffee. I turned to Sky as her body sagged in her chair. Her expression was dull. This is exhausting for her, I reminded myself, suppressing my impatience.

  “Shall we continue?” I asked softly.

  She nodded begrudgingly as Josh turned on the recorder. The next hour was an exercise in diminishing returns as exhaustion caught up to each of us. After several cups of coffee, my head was ringing but I could barely keep my eyes open. It occurred
to me that I could slip out of the library for a short rest, but I didn’t want to leave the two of them alone with the Clostra for long.

  When Sky eventually asked for another break, I finished off my cup and excused myself to get a refill. Only a few minutes later, I returned to find the books on the table but Josh and Sky gone. I scowled and left my cup on the table as I went looking for them. Had he been waiting for a chance to get her alone? Was there something about the Clostra that he didn’t want me to hear?

  Both of their rooms were empty. They weren’t in the main room, either. After checking the game room, then the porch, I felt a rising surge of anger. Only the gym was left, and there was only one reason for Josh to take her there; they were practicing magic. Descending the stairs to the basement, I could feel a sudden, powerful pulse of magic from the gym.

  There was a thud, followed by Sky’s anxious exclamation, “Sorry!”

  I stopped in the doorway to find them kneeling together next to the far wall, near the cardio machines. For a moment, I thought Josh was hurt, but he was simply collecting himself.

  “Try another protective field,” he said.

  She concentrated and a vaporous barrier formed close around her, but it lacked strength. Without Ethos’s magic, she was once again limited to whatever magic she could borrow. The pulse I’d felt from the stairs had used up most of what Josh had given her.

  “Offensive magic requires a lot of power,” he said apologetically. “You will have to use it sparingly.”

  Offensive magic? My arms folded over my chest. Teaching Sky offensive magic was only going to get her into more trouble. You just couldn’t help yourself.

  Her shoulders slumped as grief came over her. She was feeling the loss of Ethos’s magic, I realized. He comforted her as she leaned forward and rested her head on his shoulder.

  “I know,” he whispered.

  Did she know it was Josh who’d shown me how to take the magic from her? “Playtime is over,” I snapped. “We need to go back to work.”

  He glared at me as he released Sky. “Okay,” he said with the tone of a spoiled brat who had no intention of obeying.

  “Now,” I insisted.

  He sighed, exasperated, as he watched her rise and walk past me.

  “Come on,” I said, nodding toward the stairs.

  A mischievous grin came over him. At his slight gesture, an invisible force pushed me back against the wall, then dissipated. It wasn’t a strong spell. Josh was just letting me know he wasn’t to be trifled with. I had every intention of trifling with him when Sky inexplicably laughed. We stared at her, confused, before she stifled her laugh and went on her way up the stairs.

  I scowled at Josh, letting him know this wasn’t over, then started after her. There was too much work to do to waste time on my brother’s insecurities. After a few minutes, he followed.

  Another hour passed in the library, with little progress to show for it. I could tell by Josh’s growing impatience with me that he still didn’t have answers to his questions. He’d figured out just enough to scare him, and that pissed him off. When it came to magic, my brother didn’t accept failure. He rarely found someone or something that could defeat his curiosity, and the frustration was getting to him. The frustration was getting to me. The longer we spent together, the further back into our childhood our relationship seemed to regress.

  Does he resent me now for taking Ethos’s magic from Sky?

  Sebastian walked into the library. “Anything?”

  Josh slouched back into his chair, his legs spread. He frowned as he gestured to his notepad. “This is a riddle within itself. There is absolutely no way to tell what the spell is for without the third book. Like this one: The first book reads, ‘I will that the undead walk among’—then it continues in the second book—‘The living will hear my request—’” He shoved the notepad toward the middle of the table. “And freaking what? Then do what, a dance? Bake me a cake? Sing me a ballad? What will they do?”

  Sebastian stroked his chin thoughtfully as he walked to the table and opened one of the books, flipping through the blank pages. “Senna,” he said to Sky, “what’s her deal?”

  Her tired expression became bitter. “With how meticulous and obscure this world is,” she answered, “I am surprised that someone else in my family would be so closely linked to an object of power.”

  He paced slowly along the side of the table. After some consideration, he announced, “I don’t think she is true family.”

  “We look just alike,” she said, surprised. “She’s a teenaged version of me.”

  “She’s a dark-haired, olive-colored woman; other than that, there wasn’t anything that similar in your appearances. I don’t believe she is a Moura Encantada. There has to be a link between you and her as to why you two can read these things. I need to find the link.”

  “Why, so you can find others?”

  “Yes.” He smiled. “Do you see something wrong with that, Skylar?”

  Sky defiantly puffed out her chest. “Yes. If they are as dangerous as you all say. I don’t think we should have these books at all, let alone try to find the other people who can read them.”

  “I prefer to know those that are in a position to hurt this pack, and handle things as necessary. As far as the books are concerned, I would love to destroy them.”

  Sebastian crossed to one of the small cabinets where Josh kept some of his magic supplies, and removed a lighter. Josh tensed as Sebastian returned to the table, bent the lighter to the edge of the blue book, and struck a flame against it. The book burst into orange, blue, and red flames that burned furiously, though the fire didn’t seem to consume the material. As the Clostra called on more magic to defend itself, the temperature in the room dropped dramatically. A frigid breeze licked at the flames, while ice rose up the leg of the table, spread across the surface to envelop the book, and snuffed out the flames. Once extinguished, the breeze died. The ice receded and disappeared, and the temperature quickly returned to normal.

  Sky appeared horrified as Sebastian lifted the unblemished book to examine it. “As you see,” he said, unsurprised, “they can’t be destroyed. I want to know as much as I can about the Clostra. I prefer to go on facts and not rumors. Once you have translated them, they will be separated.”

  He was on his way out of the library when we heard a crash downstairs, followed by Kelly’s scream, “Get it off of me!”

  Sebastian rushed out of the room, with me directly behind him. We arrived at the clinic just behind Dr. Baker to find Kelly on the floor frantically clawing at her leg. Medical tools and a tray lay spilled beside her.

  “Get it off of me!”

  Dr. Baker knelt beside her, running his hands over her legs, then arms. Failing to find what frightened her, he ripped open her scrub pants and felt along her skin while Kelly continued to panic. He cursed and tore the pants higher.

  There was an anxious tension in his voice as he asked, “What am I looking for?”

  “It looks w-weird,” she stammered, “a bug, small legs … tan, no, brown.”

  “I found it.”

  I knelt and saw beneath his fingers the form of a camouflaged creature that revealed itself as it tried to match the color of Dr. Baker’s skin. Within a few seconds, it succeeded and became invisible once more, but he maintained his grip on it. Holding it in place, he retrieved a pair of tweezers from the spilled tray and used it to pry the creature from Kelly’s skin. Holding it carefully, he rose to the counter and found a jar of tongue suppressors. After dumping the contents, he dropped the creature inside and sealed the lid. It quickly adapted its camouflage, but imperfectly, leaving thin, light brown legs exposed.

  Sebastian knelt beside Kelly. “Are you okay?”

  She grasped at her legs that were splayed to one side. Biting her lower lip, she fought back tears as she slowly shook her head. “I can’t move my legs,” she said, trying to shift into her clinical voice. A thin stream of tears broke free, streaking down on
e cheek.

  Sebastian carefully straightened her legs, but once he released them, they bent back into a splayed position. She gasped at the sight, her respiration quickly accelerating toward panic. He gently lifted her into his arms and laid her on one of the beds.

  “What happened?” he asked.

  “I found it on Gideon, at the nape of his neck,” she said, grimacing as she tried to move her legs. “It jumped on me when I tried to remove it. The next thing I knew it was biting and clawing its way up my leg. I couldn’t get it off me.” She closed her eyes and took a ragged breath. “And then I fell. I tried to stand, but my legs wouldn’t move.”

  Sebastian stepped aside as Dr. Baker pushed a wheeled stool to the edge of the bed. He set a tray of tools next to her and proceeded to test her reactions as he touched her skin with heated and cooled instruments. As he progressed from her feet up her legs without a reaction, I saw deep concern creep through his normally calm bedside manner.

  Only when he touched her abdomen with a chilled tool did she report any sensation. I felt a rush of relief until I saw his frown deepen. From a box of microfilaments, he touched one of the tools to her skin and again looked to her for a reaction.

  She barely shook her head, the color draining from her visage.

  Dr. Baker pushed up his glasses, then picked up the jar to examine the mysterious creature inside. After a long moment, he announced to no one in particular, “I’ve never seen anything like this.” Removing the lid, he tipped the jar onto a petri dish, then retrieved a camera from a cabinet drawer. After taking several pictures, he loaded the images into his computer and began searching his database for a match.

  I knew by his deepening frown that he found nothing.

  Gavin appeared next to me, examining the state of the room, then slipped past Sebastian to stand beside Kelly, gently resting a palm on her leg as he examined her. “What happened?” he asked, the usual edge in his voice absent. When she didn’t react to his touch, he moved his hand from her leg to her arm, gently stroking his thumb across her forearm.

  He listened attentively as Dr. Baker explained.