by Pat Esden
In the center of the room, the boy lies in a bed identical to the one she just left. Silent tubes run into him and out. Oxygen. Blood. Drugs. Beside the bed, silent machines stand sentinel. But the boy is not dead. He’s waiting. For her. To help him.
She realizes her fingers are closed around something small and cold. An ampule.
The cure.
The right cure.
She steps toward the boy. But something draws her to glance back toward the bed she left. Devlin lies there, tubes now run into him and out. Silent machines stand sentinel on either side.
Tick. Tick. Tick. The machines are all ticking now like clocks. Like time running out. Beep. Beeping a warning now. She has one ampule. She has one. Only one.
She looks back at the boy. The Shade stands between her and his bed, long black hair, pale face, blood-red vest. She pivots to glance at Devlin. The Shade stands there too, between her and him.
The room goes dark, except for the flicker of a circle of candles around her and the Shade. He’s only an arm’s length in front of her now. In a flash, his blue eyes go dark, as black as the water in the quarry. He steps forward, tilts his head, and leans in as if to kiss her. He stops, his moist breath touching hers.
She wants to flee. She wants to run. But her legs can’t move. She has the red dress on. It cinches her thighs. Imprisons her.
The Shade seizes her wrist. A knife appears in his grip, Jessica’s knife. Pain rips up her arm as he slices her forearm, peeling back a strip of skin. There is no blood. Just pain and the sight of her naked flesh. He slices again, but this time it’s not a strip. Her arm has become a book, each slice creating a new page. A Book of Shadows. Her Book.
He wets his finger in an open wound and turns a page, devouring her with his eyes. Spittle glistens at the corners of his mouth. He smiles up at her and whispers, “Let me heal the boy. You know I can do it. Let me finish this chapter for you.”
Something pokes her leg, as sharp as a thorn. Her gaze darts from the Shade to the floor. Dozens of metal monkeys surround her, dancing in the candlelight, their sheet metal wings gleaming, their knife-blade fingers coming closer and closer, darting out to slice her legs.
A scream comes from her mouth—
In the back of Chloe’s head, it registered. The scream hadn’t come from her. Keshari.
She snapped awake.
Keshari shoved something into her hand, an ampule. “Drink it. Quick!”
“What’s going on?” Chloe vaulted from the bed, popped the ampule open, and downed it in one gulp.
“It was awful. A monke—” Her eyes bulged. She gestured wildly at something behind Chloe. “It’s back!”
Chloe pivoted. One of Chandler’s flying monkeys crouched on the ledge outside her windows, its nut and bolt eyes and sheet metal wings now animated as if alive. She flung her hands over her mouth, holding back a scream of terror. It couldn’t be. She had to still be dreaming.
The monkey latched ahold of the window screen, ripped it off, and flung it aside. With a shriek of delight, it raked its knife-blade fingers down the windowpane. A squeal rang out, like a bow scraping across a hideously out of tune violin.
No, this wasn’t a dream. This was real. Horribly real.
Chloe’s gaze streaked to something else. The window next to the one the monkey was perched on was open.
“Shit!” She leapt to her feet and dashed for the open window. The monkey met her there, only a thin mesh of screen separating them before she slammed the window shut.
The monkey hissed at her, canines showing. She glared back, magic simmering inside her, begging to be let out. She squeezed her hands tight, resisting the urge to blast him with an energy-ball. No way was he going to tease her into doing that. One shot and not only would the window break, but the wards would be damaged as well. For a brainless creature, the monkey was far too clever.
The monkey stopped moving and cocked his head as if listening. A second later, a low bee-like buzz came from somewhere beyond the window. Chloe might have thought there was a drone flying over the house, if it weren’t for a sense of foreboding in the air. This was exactly how she’d felt the night Devlin delivered the invitation, like someone powerful was thinking about her, only this time it definitely wasn’t him. The Shade.
Bang! The noise reverberated up from downstairs, and the monkey took off, vanishing around the side of the building.
“I do not like this,” Keshari said.
“Me neither.” Chloe grabbed the remaining ampules off the bedside stand, handed half to Keshari, and stashed the rest in her jeans pocket. “I doubt one is going to do the trick, but we need to try to make them last.”
“Yes. Good idea.”
The bee-like buzz grew sharp, keening almost, vibrating inside the building. Its intensity increased, getting louder and louder as if a swarm of bees were flooding up the stairs and into the hallway outside her door.
Then everything went silent. Dead silent.
A long second passed. Then someone knocked on her door. Once. Twice. A moment later, the Shade’s voice said, “We know you’re in there.”
Chloe swallowed hard. They had to do something. The wards wouldn’t keep the Shade out of the apartment for long, not if he took it in his head to get through them.
A door slammed down the hallway, followed by Greta’s piercing voice. “I don’t know how the hell the two of you got in here or what’s going on with the freaky noises. But if you’re not out of here in ten seconds, I’m calling the cops—”
The Shade murmured something, too quiet to hear.
“Oh, I’d like to see that.” A familiar voice said. Jessica.
Chloe charged toward the door. She had to put a stop to this.
Keshari dove in front of her, blocking her way. “You’re not going out there alone. Where’s my wand and atomizer?”
“It’s me he’s after. You have to stay here. It’s safer.” Chloe moved to push Keshari out of the way, but stopped. No. What she needed to do for once was stop and think. To be the kind of witch and friend Keshari thought she was. Besides, she could use Keshari’s help. “Devlin put your wand and atomizer back in your jacket.”
“Great. There has to be a way out of this.” Keshari stepped to one side, grabbed her jacket off the arm of the couch, and tossed it on.
Chloe scanned the room. The jar of sand. It could amplify her power, though the Shade’s skills and strength would still far outweigh hers…She clenched her hands. No negative thoughts. She could do this. She had to.
She snagged the jar and tucked it into her hoodie’s extra-large pocket. “We’ve taken Devlin’s cure, so that will help. But we still don’t stand a chance against him in a test of sheer magic. We’re going to have to bluff our way out of this.”
“Make him think we have more power than we do, yes?”
“Exactly. I’ll strike hard and fast. When I say, now, I’ll need you to channel as much energy as you can into the jar to give me a boost. If that doesn’t drive him off, use your spray and run. But first, I’m going to try to talk our way out of this.”
“Sounds good.” Keshari gaze darted to the door. “Should we leave it open, in case we need to retreat?”
“Good idea. If we get separated, I’ll meet you at the lake.”
Eiowell! A cat’s yowl pierced the air.
A shudder ran up Chloe’s spine. She glanced at Keshari. “Time to get going.”
Taking a deep breath, she flung the door open and stepped out with Keshari an inch behind.
The Shade stood in the middle of the hallway with Jessica. One of Juliet’s cats was pinned under the tip of his staff, struggling to get free. Greta glared at him from a few yards away.
“We wouldn’t want the wee puss to escape and get hit by a car, now would we?” the Shade said. His gaze lingered on Greta, then he slowly turned to face Ch
loe, a languid set of movements that made everything around him fall still for a moment. “Ah, there you are, lovely as ever.”
Juliet flew out from her apartment. “What’s going on?”
The Shade’s eyes remained on Chloe, but he tucked the staff into the crook of his arm, bent down, and picked up the cat. “Such a pretty creature.”
Sweat beaded along Chloe’s upper lip, her pulse pounding hard. “Put the cat down.”
“As you wish.” An amused smile played on the Shade’s lips as he gently handed the cat to Juliet. His voice deepened and took on a rhythmic cadence that reminded Chloe uncomfortably of Athena leading one of their nightly chants. “I have always wondered what it would be like to be a cat. Haven’t you?”
Juliet beamed at him. “I can’t imagine anything more wonderful.”
Greta wrinkled her nose. “Litterboxes. Canned tuna. Sounds disgusting to me.”
“I’m with you.” Jessica grimaced.
The Shade gripped his staff in two hands and smiled at Juliet. “It’s possible. More easily done than you might think.”
“Really?” Her wide blue eyes took on a distant look. She smiled dazedly.
The bee-like vibration once again reverberated in the hallway, pitching higher and higher as the Shade stroked his hand down his staff.
“This is not good,” Keshari whispered in Chloe’s ear.
Chloe slipped her hand into her pocket. Fingers tightening around the jar, waiting for the right moment to pull her bluff.
Greta growled. “Enough with this creepy mumbo-jumbo. I want everyone out of here. Now!”
Without taking his eyes off Juliet, the Shade held up a hand to shush Greta. “Be quiet, wench.”
Greta glared at him. “Don’t give me orders. This is my home.”
“Greta,” Chloe said softly. “Go back into your apartment. Please. I’ll take care of this.”
“Fuck you,” Greta snarled.
The Shade stepped closer to Juliet. “You would like her to be silent, wouldn’t you?”
Juliet nodded. “Yes, please.”
“No, Juliet.” Chloe’s voice rasped. “Don’t encourage him.”
The Shade spun on his heels and in a few swift strides he was nose-to-nose with Greta. He leaned against this staff, glanced leisurely over his shoulder at Chloe and smirked. “Some are simpler than others.”
“Stop it!” Chloe shouted.
His free hand clamped Greta’s face. Her eyes bulged, but she seemed unable to move. The Shade’s magic screeched in the air, a whining hornet’s nest of power. “Leave us,” he crooned. “Fill your bathtub. Kneel in the water, then…”
The air went out of Chloe’s lungs. Water. Silence. Drowning.
“Now!” she shouted to Keshari. She yanked the jar from her pocket. Taking a deep breath, she pulled up the full force of her magic and channeled it into the jar. Focusing again, she entwined that magic with Keshari’s, and released it all at once.
A blinding flash of energy exploded outward from the jar, streaking toward the Shade. He let go of Greta, wheeled, and deflected the blast with his staff.
The energy splintered into razor-sharp pieces, then knifed around the hallway like a saw-toothed tornado. The floor shook. The air squealed. Lightbulbs shattered. Windows exploded. A side table flew around the hall and smashed against a wall. Debris sliced Jessica’s face and arms, tossing her screaming to the floor. The cat streaked toward the staircase. Juliet and Keshari dropped down, hands over their heads as if an earthquake had hit. Chloe stumbled back against a wall, the jar tumbling from her shaking fingers.
“Stop!” the Shade bellowed.
The tornado of debris froze in place. Motionless pieces of lightbulb, splintered table, droplets of blood, shards of window glass, all hanging suspended in midair. Even the air itself was unmoving.
The Shade strode toward Chloe, cutting a path through the immobilized debris with furious sweeps of his staff. His gaze trapped hers.
She squared her shoulders and refused to look away. Then his power hit her, jackhammering against her forehead, screaming to be let in, an unrelenting force… She slammed her eyes shut, gritted her teeth and struggled to drive him back. Blood trickled from her nose and down onto her lips. Its coppery tang filled her mouth. Her heart, lungs, throat…every inch of her screamed from the very real the possibility of his magic breaking through her resistance and the cure’s protection, of it reaching her brain.
She collapsed to her knees, her face and body slick with blood and sweat. Still his magic pummeled her skull. Flashes of darkness and light pulsed before her eyes. She gripped her head with her hands, the agony overwhelming. She couldn’t hold out much longer—
The Shade’s magic released her, quick as turning off a light switch.
All around her the room came back to life, bits of lightbulb, wood, glass…everything that had hung suspended in the air now rained down. Even droplets of blood splattered them all.
Jessica scuttled toward the staircase.
“We have to do something,” Keshari said, her voice quaking.
Chloe’s head throbbed. Her mind spun. She could barely think, let alone be rational.
The Shade strolled to where the jar of mandala sand had rolled. He nudged it with the end of his staff. “Blessed sand and crystals. Interesting.” He smiled at Chloe. “I give you credit for an innovative bluff. With my guidance you could go far.” He swept his hand, indicating the destruction left behind from the tornado of energy. “But presently you’re untrained. A danger to yourself—and even more so, a danger to your friends and family. Shall I demonstrate further?”
Without letting go of his staff, the Shade swooped to where Juliet huddled, grabbed her by the throat, and yanked her up until her feet dangled in the air.
Juliet thrashed against his grip, gasping like a fish out of water.
“No,” Chloe shrieked. She stumbled to her feet. “I’ll go with you. I’ll do whatever you want. Just let her go.”
“You’ve made a choice to shun me. Now others will suffer because of your action. Friends. Family. Strangers. People you’ve met. People you’ve never known. Animals.” His smile widened into a grin. “And mark my word, they will suffer, long and painfully without the luxury of death—all in your name. Until I decide to let you join us again.”
The Shade lowered Juliet until the balls of her feet touched the floor. Then he craned to one side, looking at Keshari.
Chloe scrambled in front of Keshari, blocking his view. “Don’t even think about it.”
He laughed. “You are brave.” His eyebrows raised. “And a dark one at heart. Two things I very much admire.”
Her hands clenched into fists. “I’m not into dark magic. You can’t tempt me, either.”
“I don’t need to. You already took that path long before you joined the Circle.”
Keshari was on her feet, hand on Chloe’s arm. “What’s he talking about?”
“He’s talking bullshit.”
The Shade’s gaze went back to Keshari. “Don’t let this one fool you. She has walked in the valley of shadows.”
“I have not!” But a dark memory that few except her family and the High Council should have known pushed its way into her throbbing head:
A week or maybe two after that night at the Vice-Chancellors house, the night she’d gone to the hospital with her parents, she’d snuck into the boy’s hospital room. Tubes ran into him and out. So much plastic. White sheets. White walls. His pale face.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered to the boy. “I wish it had been me.”
She touched his hand. His tiny, cold fingers.
Taking a deep breath, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a slender bottle of oil. She’d found the recipe for it inside a locked drawer in her dad’s office, in a Book of Shadows, so ancient the ink was faded and th
e pages crumbling. The potion wasn’t exactly right for the boy’s condition, but it was powerful and the closest she could find. It was worth a try.
The oil warmed in her hand, heating further when she pressed her palm against the boy’s cool forehead. As she said the incantation, the spell crawled over her skin, its power primordial and shadowy. The room filled with the stench of rotting flesh and pus-green haze—
The door to the boy’s room fanned open and the Vice-Chancellor’s wife walked in. She screamed, a shrill piercing sound that brought Chloe’s parents and a half-dozen High Council members racing to see what had happened.
Chloe jolted out of the memory. It had been sheer luck that the Council members had been able to reverse what she’d set in motion.
The Shade grinned at her. “Yes, I’m aware of that occasion and a great deal more.” He winked. “Don’t worry. I am a kind judge of character.” He cleared his throat and tilted his head toward Greta’s apartment door. “You might want to check on that other friend of yours, though I suspect you’re too late.”
Greta. The bathtub. Drowning.
Chloe gasped. Not that!
She took off at a run. She’d never been inside Greta’s apartment before. It was larger than she’d expected. Living room. Kitchen. Study. Where was the bathroom?
On the far side of the bedroom, she found it. Greta knelt in the overflowing tub. Her head was under the water. Bubbles streamed from her mouth, rising to the surface. Chloe grabbed her by the hair, yanking her head up and out of the water. Keshari had Greta by the armpits, helping Chloe haul her from the tub.
Greta fell on all fours, coughing and spewing water. Suddenly, she stopped. Her gaze darted to the bathtub, then up at Chloe. “You tried to drown me!”
“No. That’s not what happened.”
Greta scuttled away from her, backing into a narrow space beside the toilet. “Get out of here. I’ll kill you, I will.”
Keshari edged toward her, holding out her hand. “It is okay. You are all right now.”