Shadow's Edge (13 page)

N
i
nete
e
n

Y
ou are so abnormal!” Brooke tossed a throw pillow at Caroline's head. It was Friday night after another
Wildcat victory, and we were in Brooke's basement.

It had been another uneventful game. Glensouth High's football team looked like a Pee Wee park district squad practicing for an intramural game. The final score was like 52–3. Needless to say, Alex and teammates practically killed them. I think five guys got carried off the field on stretchers.

It horrified and fascinated me at the same time as I watched opposing player after player lying on the field, clutching an arm or leg or knee or whatever.

My dad found me after the game and said, “You hang on to that Alex, Leah. He's gonna be a superstar.” I smiled and wondered what he would think if I told him that Superstar Quarterback's dad was destroying a
sceach.
And how fast he would use a few four-letter words.

But, evil father or not, Alex was still … my Alex.

“What? He's kind of hot, dontcha think?” Caroline was saying to Brooke, laughing. Her face began to grow a light shade of pink. She turned to me, eyes dancing. “Leah, don't you think he's just a little cute?”

“Sorry, Caroline. I'm going to have to go with Brooke on this one. No, I don't think Phil Collins is cute.”
I smiled.

“Told you. I think you're demented.” Brooke cocked her head at Caroline. She sat back on the couch, her blond hair fanning around her shoulders.

“Well, who
do
you think is cute?” Alex whispered in my ear.

I turned to him and grinned. “You,” I said, poking him in the ribs.

He leaned forward to whisper in my ear again. I held my breath as I waited for his hot breath against my face. “Good,” he said. He pulled back and smiled at me. I grinned, happy to get out of the house and forget about Slade, the Other Realm, and
sceach
destruction for awhile.

Even if his dad knew more than he should.

“Ew! Get a room,
please
!” Kristen said from the other couch, rolling her eyes before fixing them on me, silently saying
I hate you, wish you were dead, and would throw you into the fiery dark Glancaugh pit of destruction if I knew about it.

Okay, maybe that last part was mine.

“Will you please turn off this horrible movie?” Troy said from the floor. He was sprawled across the carpet, covering nearly every square inch. He rolled over onto his side, his massive stomach jiggling. “Brooke, please. Turn on something else, honey.” He pointed to the television. “
Legally Blonde
has to be the worst movie ever made.”

“Blasphemy!” Brooke shrieked, and kicked at Troy's blobby figure on the floor.

“Whatever, Homecoming Queen.” Troy grabbed
her ankle.

“Get off,” Brooke said, pulling her foot back. “Besides, I haven't even been nominated.”

“Yet,” Caroline added. She turned to me. “Brooke's life will be complete when she's elected Queen of the Homecoming Festivities.” She looked at Brooke. “Right?”

“Very funny.” Brooke made a face and grabbed the remote control, pretending to be concentrating very hard on the digital channel guide.

“If you don't win, are you going to say, ‘It's an honor just to be nominated?'” I laughed.

“Well, it
is
—” Brooke stopped quickly and closed
her mouth.

“Ha ha!” We all laughed as Alex pointed at her. “Gotcha!” he said.

“Speaking of Homecoming, what are you going to dress up as, Leah?” Caroline asked.

My face grew hot as I stumbled over my answer. “Well—I—not sure—if going—uh.” Truth was, I'd just found out last week that Homecoming existed, that it was a dance, that the date this year was Halloween, and that it was a costume party. But that was just from a poster I'd seen. I sort of assumed Alex and I would go together, but he hadn't officially asked me or anything. I bit my lip and shrugged my shoulders, not daring to look at him.

“You're not going to make me go alone, are you?” Alex whispered.

I turned toward him, our faces inches from one another. “Really?” I said as my mouth twisted into a
half smile.

“Sorry I haven't properly asked you yet, but I guess I just figured it was unspoken or something.” Although he was smiling, his eyes were soft, as though his confidence was slightly lowered.

My half smile turned into a full grin. “I'd love to,” I whispered to him.

“So now that you've got that all figured out, let's
discuss important details, Leah. Like what are you going to dress up as?” Caroline impatiently tapped her foot on the ground.

“Still need to figure that out,” I said, shrugging.

“Still need to figure that out,” Kristen mocked under her breath.

Everyone pretended not to hear her, but I poked Alex in the ribs. “What is her deal?” I whispered to him.

Alex shrugged. “Not sure. I mean, we used to go out, but that was a million years ago.”

Ah. So that's it.

“How long ago?” I asked.

He shrugged again. “Like two months.”

I widened my eyes and raised my eyebrows.

“Yeah, yeah. Right before you. Whatever. Forget about her.” Alex kissed me on the cheek. His hot breath brushed against my ear, and I did. Forget about Kristen, that is.

Not to mention forget about All Créatúir, Light
and Dark.

“Excited for the dance?” he whispered. A buzz traveled across my body and down into my stomach.

“Mmm-hmmm,” I murmured, my pulse quickening. I was sure he heard how loudly my heart was beating.

“Don't worry. I'll help you since you're new to this whole Homecoming thing. I'm sure you're nervous, so you don't have to pretend to be confident about it.” Alex's lips brushed against my earlobe.

My body reacted one way to his touch, and my mind reacted another way to his words.

While I physically melted further into him, my brain was repeating Ben's words:
You're tougher than you think.

I knew if I didn't intercept my thoughts, they would echo and grow larger in importance. “So what are you dressing up as for Homecoming?”

He smiled at me. “A gladiator.”

An image of Russell Crowe flashed across my brain. “That's good.” I nodded.

“Everybody okay down there?” Mrs. Nelson called from upstairs.

“Yes, Mom. We're fine,” Brooke shouted.

“You kids need anything? I'm about to run out for drinks with the girls.”

“No thanks. We're good!” Brooke said. She turned back to us. “She's been so lonely lately, since Gregg is always working on the stadium construction.” She stared at me, but I pretended to be extremely interested in the stitching on my jeans pocket. She looked over at Alex. “You know how it is.”

Alex nodded and stretched his arms above his head. “Yeah, my dad's been working a ton on that project.”

My comfy, safe moment gone, I shifted uncomfortably on the couch, but Alex just pulled me tighter.

“I can't wait for it to be done soon, so … never mind.” Brooke snapped her head up. “Lindsay!” she called
across the room. “Stop messing around and put on some decent music!”

Lindsay broke apart from making out with one of the football players. Her orange tan was streaked across her face, presumably melting under the heat of the fluorescent lighting in the basement and her make-out partner sweating all over her. “What? Oh, okay.” She fiddled with the iPod dock and turned back to Sweaty Football Man as a song came blaring out of the speaker behind Alex and me.

“Jesus Christ!” Alex jumped.

“Whoops! Sorry,” Lindsay said in a singsong voice, pausing again to turn the volume down. I watched as a hoggle—a Dark Créatúir that was sort of a dwarf ogre—hopped up on Lindsay's shoulder, waved his hands around until he formed a large air bubble, and shot it into her mouth just as she leaned back to start making out with Sweaty Football Man again.

“Oh!” she said and covered her mouth. “I—
hic
—have the—
hic
—cups!” She sputtered through her words as she hiccupped. The hoggle grunted and laughed as Lindsay gasped for breath.

“Just hold your breath,” Caroline called to her.
She stood up next to Brooke and smoothed her long white shirt down over her hips. “You guys want anything from upst—”

A knock came from one of the windows of the walkout basement.

We all craned our necks toward the window, but it was too dark to see anything from the couch.

Brooke squinted and took a step toward the door. “Who's out there?”

Suddenly, a figure moved from behind the window.

A familiar figure. Tattooed. Dark, shaggy hair. Piercing eyes.

Slade.

“There's some juvenile delinquent jail man outside!” Brooke shrieked.

“What?” Troy and Alex started to rise and, presumably, go beat the hell out of Slade.

I shot up. “I think that's my sister's boyfriend, Slade. He's probably here to give me a message.” I hurled myself over a bewildered Alex and jogged toward the door. “I'll just be a second.”

I could see Slade's smirking face in the shadows of the patio outside Brooke's basement door. He walked backward and sat down against the stone wall of landscaping. His eyes seemed to glow in the twinkling lights on
the deck.

I carefully closed the patio door behind me. I didn't have to turn around to know that everyone inside had their noses pressed against the glass like kids at a toy store.

I walked over to Slade and folded my arms across
my chest.

“What?” I said, and tapped my foot.

He didn't say anything, just met my eyes and curled his lips upward.

“Seriously, what? Nice to see you're not in costume anymore, Teen Wolf,” I said.

“Shaman,” he hissed at me, reaching up and running a hand through his long, dark hair.

“Okay, fine.” I turned back toward the house. “If that's all, I'll be—”

“So I hear you've been asking about the Four Treasures,” Slade said.

“Don't worry about it. I've got it covered. I had a good talk with Myrddin and I'll definitely find them. It's all good.”

After meeting with Myrddin, I'd found some information online about the Four Treasures. It was from a book called
Ancient Lost Myths and Folklore
:

The Four Treasures: Stone of Fal, the Sword of Nuada, the Spear of Destiny, Dagda's Cauldron. Stone of Fal was reported to come from Falias. It would discern the rightful king, according to the legend, by crying out whenever the king touched it. The Sword of Nuada, from Findias, was the most powerful sword and could never be resisted. The Spear of Destiny came from Gorias. It was used to fight against Balor. Anyone, mortal or ethereal, who dared battle against it perished. And Dagda's Cauldron: coming from Murias, the cauldron was bottomless, providing food to an infinite army.

At least I knew, now, what exactly the Four Treasures were. But it wasn't as if I just could just traipse down to “Fal” and pick me up one of those swords. Yet it was not the time or place to discuss that with Slade.

I took a step toward him. “I will talk to you later,” I said, keeping my voice to a whisper and trying to make my body language nonchalant. The last thing I needed was Alex busting out here, thinking I was upset, and having to deal with the whole Normal Awesome Boyfriend vs. Scary Freaky Dark Wolf Man situation.

Slade shook his head, moonlight bouncing off his chiseled white cheekbones. He stood up, unfolding in front of me like a beanstalk. “And what of the construction site? I've been following you. I know you've seen it. I know you heard the screams of the Créatúir as the humans cut into the
sceach.
”

“What about it?” I said.

“You are not stupid. Why do you think the Fomoriians have returned?”

I stepped backward a bit. “I don't think a bunch of construction guys just summoned ancient demons that they didn't know existed. Sorry.” I glanced nervously at the house. Everyone inside immediately pretended they weren't just totally spying on me.

“There's been a slow leak of glamour, of power, of magic, out of our realms, Shaman,” Slade continued. “Our world is getting smaller. And it's not our doing.” He took a step forward and locked eyes with me. “It's going to disappear, Leah. You must see it to understand.” The pupils in his eyes dilated and glinted.

I felt myself begin to falter; to feel dizzy, to begin to be swept away.

Rhea
,
my inner voice whispered.