Chasing Shadow (Shadow Puppeteer) (16 page)

The tiny presences scattered when a larger presence charged outward. It threw me backwards with its energy. My stomach roll and my chest tighten. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move.

That thing was angry. I was angry too.

I pushed my shields back up, but even with them in place, I could feel its hunger drawing over me as if it were licking my skin. It made me want to vomit. I shook with its internal energy. It was trying to imprint its emotions on me and there wasn’t room in my body for so much hatred.

A light popped and glass snowed down, clinking on the floor around me. It brought mild relief for my eyes and the blown light made the shadows stronger. Still, they weren’t as aggressive as that big one milling just outside the walls of this prison. Another light burst further down and then another, until the shadows were thick in the corners.

It would be easier to think if the music were off. I’d feel confident if I had a weapon, but so far my only threat was something between the veils of this world and the other. That might be a good thing, considering the best weapon I could find was a pencil.

Starr didn’t have an aura I could follow, so I was stuck checking every room. I hoped it wouldn’t take long to find her. I underestimated the Free-String Walkers creepiness.

She was real and she walked into one of these rooms. I just needed to find her.

S
tarr sat in the seventh room I check. Instead of a blackboard in this room, there was a giant screen. The rapidly flashing images didn’t make sense. She sat farther back in the room where the light didn’t quite reach.

It made my stomach ache to see her lying over her desk as if someone let her fall forward. All those perfect blond curls washed over the flat surface of her desk and her arms hung loosely to the side. With less caution, I approached her desk.

The memory of Starr with the knife shoved in her mouth froze me. There was a lot of blood pouring down her jaw. I couldn’t get a good look at her when she stood in my closest. My hand shook when I reached for her hair and pulled the curly strands back.

A ghastly cut separated the flesh on her left cheek into two bloody slices. Starr’s eyes stared onward at nothing. She looked dead. I put two fingers against her neck to feel for a pulse, but there wasn’t one. Maybe her soul wasn’t currently in the body? I had no idea how it worked with the Free-String Walkers.

I needed her mobile. There was no way I’d be able to carry her over the wall, let alone fight anyone who tried to stop us. I also needed a weapon.

“It’s safer here in the doll house… sit. Wait. Dream.”

The voice in my head was metallic, smooth, silvery and new. It wasn’t anything like the prerecorded tape playing along with the music, though it did have an after ring like the machinery in the background.

My control was sinking fast under the lull of that voice. I blinked, barely missing the larger shadow that fluttered weightless onto the teacher’s desk. It was sickening how the darkness sucked inward and pushed out bone and flesh. The clothing and hair were last and I realized it was one of the chicks from the rave that Starr was with at the bar.

Her skin didn’t fit right on her body and when I lowered my shields, I could see why. Her human skin was an illusion. What was underneath that vibrancy couldn’t be explained. Her skin looked painfully wrinkled as if burnt. I let my shields form again and found her illusion was easier to deal with.

Her lips were as pink as cherry blossoms. It matched her off the shoulder pink dress that barely covered her thighs. The bottom of the dress was bunched and looked like carnations. Her skin was white as snow and covered with glitter that caught the remaining light. It made her sparkle. Her beauty was almost enchanting.

What drew my attention was the leather belt around her waist with a number of prehistoric looking knives tucked into it. Strapped over her shoulder was a wicked wooden bow gun about the size of my forearm. I was still new at gauging species, but I could tell she was a faerie. I couldn’t tell which court she served, Seelie or Unseelie.

“Apparently you’re still alive,” she yelled over the music.

I stared at her, which would have given her ample time to attack me. What an idiot I was for waiting. Neither of us moved. I ached for vengeance. I wanted someone to switch the screeching machinery and prerecording off for a chance to clear my thoughts.

“World Congress controls the spirits now, but their necromancer is old and needs replacement. He sleeps as we speak or I wouldn’t be able to slip into the building.”

“You came to get Starr?” I yelled back. It hurt to yell. The force resonated up my spine and through my skull. I was surprised my eardrums weren’t bleeding.

“I was
sent
to get you out of here,” she said. I didn’t like the way she looked at me, like I stood between her and dinner. “But, you’re not my primary reason for agreeing to this.”

This was ridiculous. We had to yell at each other over all the sounds. My head was pounding and my dry throat was starting to hurt more.

“Let me make this clear, I’m not your friend. I’m doing a favor to get a favor in return,” she assured.

I shrugged. It was the same as a handshake. We both knew where we stood.

In heels, she was as a little shorter than Starr. I wondered if Starr was short in her other life. Was she a faerie?

The faerie pulled a pouch from her decorative belt and dipped her fingers into it. She came back with a substance that was dark in nature like wet soil and shoved it up Starr’s nose. She then leaned down and whispered in her ear.

Starr sat up. Her unfocused eyes stared at nothing. The faerie leaned down again and whispered in her ear and Starr stood. She was moving, but there was nothing inside her to process the given orders.

As much as I hate admitting it, I wasn’t feeling optimistic about any of this. At least the problem with carrying Starr was temporarily solved.

“Are you ready to go?” the faerie asked. She didn’t wait for an answer as she started towards the door.

“I need a weapon,” I said.

If she heard me, she didn’t respond as she led Starr out of the room and into the hall. A quick glance around provided no weapons, and I didn’t want them to get too far ahead. If she was my ticket out of here, I would play by her rules until I was free.

Starr turned the corner and I had to jog to catch up. The movement didn’t help my head. The two of them were really making tracks.

When I caught up, I again pressed the issue. “There’s something on the other side of these walls. I need a better weapon. Give me one of your knives.”

I know she heard me this time, but she didn’t answer. We stopped in front of the double doors and the presence grew stronger.

“I need a weapon,” I repeated.

She pulled a knife from her side and tossed it with vigor at the door. It dug into the wood inches from where I stood. I didn’t give her the satisfaction of complaining. Instead, I grabbed the handle and yanked it out of the hold. It felt heavy, but it wasn’t metallic like what I was use to. Even the handle was carved bone.

“I’m going to break this down. When I do, prepare to run towards the doorway which is a straight path from here,” she ordered.

“Wait, there’s something waiting on the other side,” I said.

She tilted her head and that small movement made the particles that connected like skin, skitter unconnected. It gave me a glimpse into the veil of her real being and that was frightening.

“I will deal with whatever comes. When the wall falls, run towards the entrance or stay for the beast. I have what I came for,” she said.

I glanced over her shoulder at Starr. The slumped manner in which she stood reminded me of the doppelganger. Her split cheek didn’t help matters, but she didn’t move outside the orders given her.

“Okay,” I gritted my teeth as I spoke. “Run for the doorway.”

I took a step back, ready for her to break down the wall.

“Belen!”

The scream was distant and quick, but I was sure I heard my name. I held my breath and waited for it to call again. When it didn’t, I grew anxious.

“Did you hear that?” I asked.

The answer was on the faerie’s face. She was listening as intently as I was. We both held our breath. We didn’t have to wait long. Someone called my name again.

“Rex?” The minute I recognized his voice, I felt his energy.

It had to do with that unspeakable pull he had on me. Just thinking of him, I could smell the forest. His aura was as hot as his temper.

“It might be a trap,” she said.

I didn’t have to lower my shields to feel that violent force prowling outside the brick walls. The machine growled. It was a painful mix of sounds like steam being released from a high pressure valve and metal grinding. Every hair on my body rose in response. It knew Rex was here. Like the Free-String Walkers, it too wasn’t a natural creation, but unlike them, I could feel the soul within, running it.

“Rex, it’s coming for you!” I screamed, but I barely heard myself over the noise.

There was no way he heard me, I knew that much as I swung my attention to the faerie. Her mouth twitched with a smile.

“Help me,” I ordered.

“It will be safer for us once they’re fighting. Maybe we’ll survive this.”

She wasn’t going to help. I took a deep breath, pulled back my fist and slammed it into the wood. The solidness vibrated up my arm and through my already aching skull. The wood shattered around my knuckles, but there was a metal door behind it. I flexed my fingers to make sure they weren’t broken. My knuckles were bloody and starting to swell, but my fingers opened and closed without too much grief.

“Did that hurt?” she asked. And in the same breath, purred, “I hope so.”

“There’s a slate of metal between these thin boards,” she said. “World Congress knows you’re human enough not be able to scale these high walls, but your non-human enough to have an unearthly strength.”

“No time to converse,” I snapped.

I couldn’t hear what was happening on the other side of the wall with the music screeching and machines grinding. I could feel Rex’s distress through the haze of machinery messing with my empathy fields. The fight was violent and it was close. I was growing impatient.

“You’ll be over there by yourself for a few seconds,” she said. She locked her arm around my waist. “If you move from where I put you, I won’t come looking for you when I leave. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“Good,” she hissed.

I was airborne for a second and then my feet touched solid ground in front of high intensity light bulbs. My skin started to burn under the immense heat. I raised a hand to block the light, but I couldn’t see around it. It was like facing the sun.

“Don’t move!” She yelled, as two of the large lights came crashing down.

G
lass scattered over the cement floor as a portion of the room plunged into shadow. My eyes swam with dots, but I caught movement just beyond. It was big, whatever it was, and the little light that caught its metal hide made it shimmer.

I stood right in brilliant lighting, but its attention was on something just beyond my sight. It whacked over two more lights in order to get what it was after. There were three blurs now and one of them was thrown into the remaining light stands.

The head was massive, but so was the blood splattered jaw. I fingered the blade, feeling the pain in my knuckles. It had to be a werewolf, but it wasn’t Rex’s aura. I took a step towards it, very aware that its clawed foot was nearly the length of my head.

“Amber?”

It opened its eyes and gave a small whine. Her fur glistened with blood. She opened her soulful brown eyes and looked up at me with heavy eyebrows that spoke volumes. Between our connections, I felt her worry. She didn’t want to die.

I wasn’t as cautious as I should be approaching her. She whined again when I kneeled down beside her. There was so much blood matting her brown fur.

“Amber,” my throat constricted. “I can’t heal you, but I can ease your pain.”

She quieted, but those brown eyes watched me. It took a lot of control not to shake as I slid my hand onto her side. The fur was thick, but familiar, like a family pet. She heart beat rapidly and her body heat slid into my fingers, comforting me while I tried comforting her.

I learned this trick a long time ago. It had everything to do with empathy. I could feel what others felt, but I could also push my feelings back into them. That’s what I needed to do now. I pushed my feelings into her.

I repeated to myself how great I felt. I focused on every little piece of me that was spry and ready to take on the day. I had to close off the tiny bit of pain I felt in my knuckles in order to trade these feelings and to pull her feelings into me. Her fear was different from mine. She wanted to destroy the cause, while I wanted to run from it. Her world was metallic like blood, while mine was watery and cold like snow.

Rather stiffly, she lifted her head and licked my wrist. It was the first thank you I’d ever gotten from her.

“Ugly creature,” the faerie said.

I turned in time to see the faerie lift her bow. Amber growled and pulled herself up, but I was already on my feet, pushing the bow upward. The arrow released from its gauge, flying into the darkness. My heart stopped. If that arrow hit Rex—

“Why save this female? She’s only going to breed.”

“She’s not our enemy,” I said.

Our conversation was stalled by the war just beyond the perimeter of light. Amber’s attention followed then she darted back into battle. Tension built in my chest for Rex and her. They weren’t fairing very well.

The shadowy figure moved close enough to the circle of light that the silver spines on its back reflected light. It was bigger than Amber in wolf form. I could only imagine who was winning.

“I’ve seen machines like that before. We need to go, right now,” the faerie said.

“I can’t leave Rex and Amber here to die.”

“I can’t leave without you,” the faerie hissed.

Our weapons wouldn’t dent its armor. There had to be a better way to protect Amber and Rex. The smallest of the battling group was tossed into the wall and the second smallest followed. I watched as one metal paw slid into the remaining light. Those claws were deadly.