Shadow

by Christina Garner

  She hoisted her overnight bag—packed for Thanksgiving with Quinn’s parents and plucked from Mikel’s car as she and Ash had made their escape. It was all she had left in the world, and she wasn’t going to leave it for Ash to snoop through.

  Once in the restroom, Eden locked herself in a stall and cradled her head in her hands. What was she doing? She didn’t even trust Ash with her phone, and she was going to get on a plane going who knew where?

  I thought my life had reached peak crazy with Bes’tal.

  She could leave. Ash couldn’t stop her. She could go back home to Coventry House, where she belonged. She had people there who loved her and were more than willing to fight.

  And that was the problem. Eden flashed on the feral violence of Mikel’s minions and the calm determination of the pair who’d tried to run them off the road not even three hours ago. They wouldn’t stop—not until she’d gotten rid of the mark on her chest.

  She loved Quinn and Sarah so much it made her ache, and it was for that same reason she knew leaving was the right thing—the only thing—to do.

  “Get on with it then,” she muttered under her breath.

  Eden flipped open the passport and studied the photo. Ani had Ash’s eyes. Her hair was dark like Eden’s, which helped, but was much shorter. That was why Eden needed the hat. She’d have to take it off for security, but hiding her hair while she was in line meant not needing to hold the glamour as long.

  Eden pulled out her compact and glanced from Ani’s photo to her own reflection. She watched as her face became more oval, and her eyes changed from blue to gray. Next, she went for the hair, straining the limits of her depleted power, but exhaling with relief as it shortened. The results were startling; she no longer recognized the reflection as her own.

  Satisfied she’d be able to recreate the effect, she released most of the glamour and tucked away the compact. She stuffed her long locks under Ash’s baseball cap and fished out her sunglasses.

  Her hand was on the stall latch when a chill ran up her spine so strong it caused the hairs on her neck to stand on end. She whipped her head around, suddenly sure she was being watched, but there was nothing behind her except for a tiled wall.

  Eden exhaled and tried to slow her racing heart. She had enough to be freaked out about; she couldn’t let herself be spooked by nothing.

  Outside the stall, she paused in front of the mirror. Her face remained oval, the only part of the glamour she'd need to maintain until she’d cleared security.

  Eden exited the restroom, stopping short to avoid a collision with Ash.

  “That was not five minutes.” His words held the heat of annoyance, but his face spoke of worry.

  “Sorry.”

  He eyed the hat and sunglasses, and his lips twitched into a smirk.

  “Come on, Mata Hari.” He hoisted his duffel bag. “That line isn’t getting any shorter.”

  Chapter 5

  The security line moved forward by inches, and the longer they waited, the more heavily exhaustion weighed upon Eden. Even the memory of the ruined auction couldn’t give her a boost. She struggled to maintain the false shape of her face.

  “Where’s my phone?”

  In her worry over the glamour, she’d forgotten to get it back.

  Ash gestured toward a different terminal. “On its way to Hawaii.”

  Eden whipped around to face him. “What?”

  “Just because our friends don’t need technology to find you, doesn’t mean they won’t use it.”

  “So, your promise to give it back was bullsh—”

  “Actually, I said I wouldn’t keep it. And I didn’t.”

  “You just gave it to someone?”

  That phone was Eden’s only connection to her friends. She couldn’t recite Quinn’s or Sarah’s phone number if she tried. She’d never needed to.

  “More like I slipped it into a bag headed for parts tropical.”

  Eden folded her arms across her chest. “You’re a real dick, you know that?”

  He seemed entirely unremorseful. “I’ve been called worse.”

  “I bet you have.” Eden turned away, fuming.

  The people in front of them moved forward, but before Ash could reach down to slide his bag, she gave it a firm kick.

  But as angry as she was, she didn’t leave his side.

  As they approached the front of the line, Eden’s anxiety grew. After twenty minutes, she was barely maintaining her current glamour. How was she going to do the rest?

  “Stop touching your face, it’s making you look suspicions,” Ash said, low enough so only she would hear.

  Eden forced her hands to her sides.

  What was the penalty for using someone else’s passport?

  “Next.”

  Eden glanced up at the impatient TSA agent, and Ash nudged her forward.

  She handed him the passport, while Ash offered her boarding pass. He still hadn’t told her where they were going.

  “I’m going to need you to take off your hat and glasses, ma’am.”

  “Right. Sorry.”

  Eden fixed the image of Ani’s gray eyes in her mind and slowly lowered her glasses. Ash offered a reassuring nod, so she reached for the cap.

  Please be short. Please be short.

  She pulled off the cap, relieved and delighted when she didn’t feel her hair cascading down her shoulders and back. She managed a tight smile.

  The agent glanced from her boarding pass to the passport and then back up to her. “Safe flight.”

  Eden thanked him and only exhaled once she’d stepped past.

  She held her hair short and her face oval, but blinked and released the eye color as she placed her purse in a bin and slid it onto the conveyor belt to be screened.

  She spied the restroom just past security and told herself in less than a minute she’d be home free. She could walk in there looking one way and walk out totally different. No one in this madhouse would even notice.

  Once cleared, she didn’t wait for Ash, instead striding toward the ladies’ room. Inside a stall, she ran fingers through her hair and touched her now-familiar face.

  As she retrieved her lip balm, Eden noticed the boarding pass sticking out of a pocket in her purse. She’d been so worried about fooling security, she hadn’t stopped to look when the agent had handed it to her.

  She pulled it out, eyes widening at their destination.

  “Transylvania?”

  It was the first word Eden said as she shot out of the restroom and found Ash waiting.

  “You have a problem with Transylvania?”

  “I don’t have a problem, but it’s…Transylvania.”

  “I’m aware. I did book the tickets.”

  “Are we…” Eden lowered her voice. “Are we going to see Dracula?”

  Ash’s stare was so flat it almost caved in upon itself. “What the hell are they teaching you at that house?”

  He grabbed his bag and started walking.

  Eden scrambled to keep pace. “Not nearly enough, clearly.”

  “There is no Dracula,” he said, mouth twisting with derision. “I mean there was—Vlad the Impaler—and he was a monster, but not of the demon variety.”

  “So, there’s no such thing as vampires?” Eden had never managed to get a straight answer from Carolyn.

  “Who knows?” Ash shrugged as though the existence of blood-sucking demons would be of little importance.

  “You don’t think that would be vital information to have?” Eden dodged out of the way of a passenger as he sprinted down the corridor.

  “All I care about is the next battle. And whether it’s with a vampire or a borahn, all that matters is that I win.”

  “Still, you must have some idea.”

  How could he not be curious about what was out there?

  They reached their gate, and Ash dropped his bag and took a seat away from other passengers. Eden sat beside him.

  He scrubbed a hand across his close-cropped
scalp. “Are there legends? Sure. But they might be only that—legends. Most of what we know of the underworld is from centuries and even millennia ago. I know of zero credible stories—and I’m talking the past two hundred years—that include vampires.” Ash shrugged. “But then again, I was told cicru demons were long extinct. I believed it right up until a year ago when I killed one with my bare hands.”

  The scaled, hulking image of a cicru formed in her mind.

  With his bare hands?

  “That’s us.” Ash rose when a voice over the loudspeaker announced boarding group five.

  Eden glanced at the travel shop with longing. She hadn’t eaten in hours and had planned to get snacks for the flight.

  But hunger was the least of her worries, so she fell in behind Ash and waited to board.

  A few minutes later, she found herself sitting in basic economy, sandwiched between Ash in the aisle seat and an elderly Brit at the window. She exchanged pleasantries with him, but then he made a point of putting on noise-canceling headphones and pulling out a book, which suited Eden just fine.

  She glanced at Ash. “I wonder how long it will take them to rebuild.”

  Threat of discovery and possibly imprisonment by the TSA now past, Eden’s thoughts returned to the black market and the destruction she’d wreaked.

  “They’ll just set up somewhere else, you know.” He pulled out the in-flight magazine and began flipping pages.

  Eden’s jaw set. She knew all too well. But a spell that intricate? It would take months, maybe a year to weave that market back into existence.

  “That’s what people tell themselves, so they don’t feel guilty for doing nothing while terrible things go on under their noses.”

  She’d heard it all before. At the animal shelter, at voting drives. She’d been overwhelmed by the enormity of darkness in the world her whole life, but that didn’t mean it was okay to give up. It only made her try harder.

  The auction block would be back, and stolen witches would once again be forced to stand upon it. But for those witches today, she’d done the right thing.

  I doubt they’d tell me I shouldn’t have bothered.

  Ash studied her for a long moment, watching as Eden became uncomfortable under his scrutiny.

  “What? Just say it.”

  “Nothing.” He settled back into his seat and closed his eyes. “I was just thinking, I’ve seen some savior complexes in my day, but…you might take the cake.”

  Eden’s cheeks grew hot. “I don’t have a savior complex.”

  He opened a single eye. “Martyr then.”

  “I don’t have any complexes!” She was loud enough that people around them turned.

  Ash raised both hands in surrender. “Got it. You are clearly issue-free.”

  The smirk never left his face, but Eden bit back another retort. Anything she said now would only serve as confirmation for him.

  It was going to be a long flight.

  Hours later, Eden stretched herself awake. The airplane cabin was dark except for the strip of lights marking the aisle and a handful of overhead lamps.

  She reached for her phone to check the time then remembered she no longer had a phone. She cast an irritated glance at Ash sound asleep beside her.

  Some watchdog.

  Eden was working out how to slip past without disturbing him but thought better of it. She jabbed an elbow in his side.

  He didn’t move, aside from cracking open a single eye. “You could have just said excuse me.”

  The idea of him sleeping on the job had been annoying, but the fact that he hadn’t been actually sleeping grated even more. “Well, then excuse me. I need to pee.”

  “I’ll go with you.” Ash moved as if to rise, but Eden held up her hand.

  “Except you won’t though.”

  What one Earth did he think would happen in an airplane lavatory?

  Ash appeared aggrieved but swung his legs into the aisle and out of her way. “Don’t be long.”

  She glared down at him as she passed. “We really need to talk about your obsession with my bathroom habits.”

  The passenger directly across the aisle choked on his drink but made a point to keep his eyes glued to the screen in front of him.

  Ash smiled up at her. “Just can’t bear to be away from you, darling.”

  Eden ground her teeth and strode toward the back of the plane. The last two rows were empty except for one passenger stretched out across three seats, snoring softly.

  She sighed, grateful to find the restroom unoccupied. Once she’d relieved herself, she took her time with other activities—rinsing her mouth and combing fingers through her hair. Purposefully lingering was stupid and petty, but so was Ash.

  She slid open the lock and moved to step outside but stopped short, her breath catching with surprise.

  A petite woman with flame-red hair stood much too close to the door.

  “If you could just…” Eden gestured for the woman to back up so she could exit the lavatory.

  But the woman didn’t move. She stared at the spot over Eden’s heart where the mark had been drawn. When the woman glanced up, her eyes shone with reverence and fervor.

  Eden shrank back as the woman licked her lips.

  “The Blackest Sun has plans for you.”

  Chapter 6

  Logs hissed and popped on the fire. The first ones laid had burned and been replaced, but the four individuals huddled around it were no closer to resolution. Sarah glanced from Kai to Quinn to Alex, each staring into the flames.

  They’d talked until there was nothing left to say, then said it all a second time. Sarah had experienced this when Hannah had been killed, and then again when Carolyn and so many others had fallen. Trying to make sense of what was unfathomable led to people repeating themselves, as though stating what little was known would somehow fill in the gaps and bring some level of order and peace to the chaos. It was only a matter of time before someone began the cycle anew.

  This time, it was Quinn.

  “She wouldn’t leave of her own accord. Not like that and not with him.” Quinn turned his gaze from the flames and cast it upon Sarah, his best hope for agreement. “He must have forced her—with magic or something.”

  “Ash is not a witch.” Alex emphasized each word with the annoyance of someone who resented repeating herself.

  “But you admitted there was a residue of magic around him.” Sarah pulled her eyes from Quinn to Alex.

  “Residue is not ability.” Alex had said this before too. “He has no magical power of his own.”

  “He can use magic but isn’t a witch. What does that even mean? What is he?” Quinn’s question had grown more adamant each time he’d asked.

  Sarah had an answer, but even if Alex weren’t sitting next to her, she wasn’t sure she’d offer it. Power could be bought at the black market. But what sort of person would buy it, and what would have possessed her best friend to go with him?

  “Why is it so impossible to believe she went willingly?” Kai hadn’t spoken much since they’d all awoken, chilled to the bone from a long nap on frozen earth.

  She hadn’t even seemed as cold as the others, which grated on Sarah’s nerves. Did Kai really have to be so stoic she wouldn’t admit to being affected by a forced nap outside in winter? Sarah avoided looking at her girlfriend.

  Ex-girlfriend?

  Sarah had definitely broken up with Kai. She very clearly remembered it happening even if she could scarcely believe it at the time and found it even harder to fathom now. She had done it, and she’d meant it. But that morning felt like weeks ago, and Sarah wasn’t sure if she still meant it. Life and death situations had a way of crystalizing what was important, and Kai was…important. Did that mean they should be together? It was a question to wrestle with once they’d figured out a plan to find Eden.

  Sarah answered Kai’s question but spoke directly to Quinn. “She wouldn’t just leave. She loves us. She knows we’d do anything for her.�
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  “I wouldn’t.” Alex stood, taking her blanket with her and going to sit on the small sofa. “So why didn’t she tell me her plan?”

  “Because she didn’t trust you,” Quinn said. “Why would she, when you did everything you could to make her life hell?”

  Alex’s eyes glittered in the way they did when she was on the verge of doing just that—making life hell.

  “He’s not wrong.” Sarah spoke quickly, wanting to divert Alex’s wrath. “She’d have had no reason to confide in you.”

  “No reason other than to avoid this.” Alex gestured, taking in the trio still in front of the fire. “All of us sitting around wondering what Eden’s up to. Making her the center of attention even when she’s not here.”

  Before Sarah could fire back, Kai cut in. “Normally, I would agree with you.” She shot an apologetic glance at Quinn. “I’m just trying to be honest. I know Eden’s a good person. I just didn’t always agree with her choices.” She turned back to Alex. “But this wasn’t that.”

  “And you know that how?” Alex folded her arms. “Do you know something we don’t?”

  Kai hesitated, on the verge of saying something, but then shook her head. “I don’t know anything, except… Eden is a grown woman. She made a choice to sever ties, and we should respect it.”

  “To hell with that.” Quinn stood. “We should try the locator spell again.”

  Even Sarah had to admit it wasn’t a good idea. “It wouldn’t do any good, even if I weren’t tapped out from trying. She’s either too far away or jamming my attempts.”

  “You heard what she said—she doesn’t want you looking for her.” Kai was emphatic to the point of frustrated. “Why is that so impossible to believe?”

  “I do believe it,” Sarah said quietly. “I’m sorry, Quinn, but I do. I think she went willingly, which is the only reason I think it’s useless to go to the police.” She turned to Kai. “But that’s not the point. Even if she went willingly, it was to protect us from something. What could be more awful than Bes’tal?”