Walking Shadow (The Darkworld Series Book 2) (23 page)

o what are we all doing here?” said Howard.

We stood like a group thrown together by accident: me, Claudia, Leo, Cyrus, a surly-looking Howard, and an even surlier-looking Berenice. None of us had a clue why the fortune-teller wanted to talk to us here, of all places, in a deserted field midway between Blackstone and Crowley. Hills were on either side of us, and the only sign of human life was an abandoned farmer’s cottage just visible behind a patch of trees. I couldn’t help looking around anxiously, expecting the doppelganger to appear.

Leo, Claudia, and I had told her everything the moment we’d arrived at her stall in Blackstone. I could hardly believe so much had happened since the last time we’d seen her―though I didn’t exactly make a habit of visiting, knowing how maddeningly cryptic she could be―but approaching her tent had felt oddly like coming home.

The usual sign was displayed outside:
Madame Persephone, fortune-teller
. That couldn’t be her real name, I thought. It was another alias, like Aunt Eve. If you could change your appearance at will, you could pretend to be several people at once. For all I knew, she was, and anyone I saw might be her in disguise.

Good job it isn’t a common gift. I’d never be able to trust anyone.

Berenice, Howard, and Cyrus had met us there, the former two looking displeased. Of course, since the fortune-teller hadn’t said
why
it was so urgent that we meet, it had taken a lot of coaxing on Cyrus’s part to get Howard and Berenice to come out. But the fortune-teller had only needed to look at them and say, in her quietest voice, “Come with me,” and they obeyed. She must have used Influence, because I’d never known Berenice so compliant―she didn’t even complain when we then had to trek across fields for nearly an hour, because she didn’t want us using magic where anyone could see, or the Venantium could apprehend us.

Thinking about it, maybe she had us all under some kind of spell. No one asked any questions as we followed her, and it wasn’t until we stopped, in the middle of a deserted field, that the spell seemed to break.

She faced us, looking from one to another. “I have something useful to teach you. Something that might save your lives.”

She had our attention now, even Berenice’s.

“What?” said Howard.

The fortune-teller gestured to the field around her. At once the Darkworld responded; the hairs on my arms rose. Tears in the universe opened all around us, like the world was merely made of fabric, the dark underside exposed.

“If a demon were to appear, right here, right now, any one of you could die. In fact, it’s likely that the person it chooses as its host would perish instantly.”

A chill swept through the group. I knew each of us was wondering the same thing: out of the group, who would the demon pick as its first victim? Would it be Claudia, or Berenice, or Howard, who was always up for a fight? Or would the demon choose mild-mannered Cyrus―or Leo?

I recoiled from the thought, and from the accompanying cold feeling that I was the only one the demon couldn’t choose, because I was immune to possession.

“It could be any of you.” I could tell the fortune-teller chose her words with care. “I called you here because your lives are in danger from something far deadlier than the average shadow-beast. You need to be able to defend yourselves―and with more than just fire and light. If a true demon appears, there is a way to repel it from your mind. Don’t use this lightly, because if misplaced, it can go horribly wrong. But I think you have all demonstrated that you possess the… maturity not to misuse this skill.” I didn’t miss her eyes flicker towards Howard for a moment.

“You sound like my old Chemistry teacher,” said Howard. He still didn’t look impressed.

The fortune-teller ignored him. “If a ghoul has managed to get past the Venantium’s Barrier, then there is someone to be feared in this very area. You are the only people to my knowledge who do not have the Venantium’s protection. Therefore, you will need to learn to defend yourselves.”

“So get on with it already,” said Berenice. “It’s bloody freezing out here.”

The fortune-teller looked at her sharply. She looked so imposing with her intense storm-grey eyes and her billowing black coat and wild fair hair that even Berenice seemed cowed. She lowered her gaze.

“To conjure a demon-proof shield―that is your goal. At first you’ll only be able to keep shadow-beasts at bay, but with practise, you’ll be able to repel all but the highest demons.”

“Is that possible?” said Cyrus. “I know about the Venantium’s shields―our guardian used to tell us we’d learn if we joined up, but he never taught us anything about them.”

“It is possible,” said the fortune-teller, “but it isn’t taught lightly.”

She spread her arms wide, and the darkness between the gaps seemed to shift all around her. Then with one sweep of her right hand, a swathe of darkness moved to form a curtain in front of her. Somehow both black as night and semi-transparent, the shield surrounded her like a cloak.

Even Howard and Berenice looked impressed. “Can we try?” said Howard.

“You might not get it the first time,” the fortune-teller warned. “But the basic gist is this. You need to imagine the Darkworld as like a long sheet of fabric, all around us.”

Since this was what I’d been thinking anyway, I didn’t have any trouble. But when it came to taking the shadows and using them to form a shield, this was where I fell down. It was like trying to keep a firm grip on a block of ice―which was more or less exactly how it felt. The darkness radiated cold, and even I could feel it sapping away at my energy. Berenice started moaning that her hands were going blue, and it was more noticeable than ever that I was the only person who wasn’t shivering.

Why do I need to learn this anyway?
It wasn’t as though I needed to conjure a shield to be safe from demons.

Maybe she wants me to keep the others safe,
I thought. You could use the shield on as many people as you liked―and make it stronger by combining forces. That made sense.

Not that any of us had made much progress. Leo was the first to get the hang of grasping the darkness, but the shield never stayed in place for long; like a nebulous living creature, it slithered out of the grasp. Leo swore as the shield dropped.

At that moment, Cyrus succeeded in dragging the shadows around him in a whirlwind of black and grey, but again, as if swept aside by the wind buffeting the grass, the shield dissipated.

“What a waste of time,” snarled Howard, blowing on his hands to warm them up.

We stayed there a good few hours. Neither Howard nor Berenice made much progress; perhaps the Darkworld could sense their impatience and refused to cooperate. Claudia managed to get a hold on the shadows on one occasion, but the biting coldness forced her to let go. Cyrus and Leo, however, were almost on a level of the fortune-teller by the end of the day. I watched in awe as the two brothers stood back to back and almost conducted the flow of shadowy smoke around them. Both had ice slivers in their hair by the time they dropped the shield.

As for me, I might not have felt the cold, but it didn’t mean I was any good at manipulating the Darkworld. I was beginning to think of it as a personality all in itself. It certainly moved like a living thing. Though I supposed that it
was
mostly made up of spirits, which were living, if not in the conventional way.

I tried shutting my eyes to focus better, but all that happened was that Berenice walked into me, possibly on purpose.

“Hey!” she waved a hand in front of my face. “These aren’t meditation classes, you know.”

“I know that. I don’t see you doing any better.”

She snorted. “Come on, I thought you were the supreme magic-user.”

“News flash? I’m not,” I said. Whatever she thought was far off the mark.

“Stop arguing,” the fortune-teller said, from where she stood watching, her hands buried in the pockets of her long black coat. “You’d do well to remember that you are on the same side―all of you. Fighting amongst ourselves is the worst thing we can do.”

“Sure,” said Berenice. “Whatever.”

But when I looked at her, she didn’t give me her usual glare. She returned to conjuring shields without another word. Sometimes I wondered what was going on in her head.

The fortune-teller stopped us when the sun began to sink over the hilltops, turning the yellow grass to gold.

“That’s enough for now.”

To my surprise, she escorted us all back to Blackstone.
She must be worried,
I thought, uneasy at the thought that something could unsettle even the fortune-teller. After the Skele-Ghoul had appeared on campus, though, nowhere felt safe.

We said goodbye to Howard, Berenice, and Cyrus in town, and the four of us began the walk back to campus along the country road.

“I have a question,” Leo said to the fortune-teller. “How much do you know about what’s going on? You’re acting like you knew this would happen.”

“I have always known that the Venantium’s defences are not as faultless as they like to assume. There are cracks in the shield, if you know where to look―and no one knows that more than the members themselves.”

“What, you think there’s a traitor?” said Claudia.

“I believe the person responsible for the recent events is someone who knows the Venantium very well, whether they be a current member or a former one. But as to
who
… I cannot tell. There was a time when I knew every face that entered the gateway to the Venantium, but times change. They need more help than ever, and as much as they might try to deny it, they are only strong together. The Barrier hangs upon a balance, and if it tips, ever so slightly, we might be lost to the Darkworld.”

“So you’re saying the demons might overpower the Barrier?”

The fortune-teller shook her head, deep sadness etched on her deceptively fair face. I had often been given reason to suspect that she was far older than she looked, and if ever eyes looked old, it was now.

“The demons cannot take our world alone. As always, it is humans who we have reason to fear the most. This sorcerer is meddling with the very fabric of the Darkworld.”

“Through making those Skele-Ghoul things?” said Leo.

“I fear that they are only the beginning. There is some information which is kept concealed for a reason, even from most
venators
. Mr Melmoth knew that as well as anyone, but…”

“Stop talking in circles,” said Leo, his voice unexpectedly sharp. “I know you know more about Melmoth than you’re letting on. Even his journal doesn’t give much away. What was he looking for? What’s this Death Child? It’s no normal ghoul.”

“That
,”
said the fortune-teller, “is precisely what we should be afraid of. I
believe
the Death Child is a shape-shifting ghoul, but the fact that it is still present after I have spent the past two months searching with every method I have at my disposal proves that its summoner is no common sorcerer. Ghouls do not usually have a will of their own.”

“And do you think this Death Child killed Melmoth and the vampires as well?” said Leo.

“I do not know. I haven’t gathered enough information to be sure of a connection… but I do not believe in coincidence.”

“Well, you
are
technically a fortune-teller,” said Leo.

At that moment, we passed the ruins of the old Blackstone house. As usual, my eyes were drawn unwillingly to the stark black remains. Rooms had collapsed in on themselves, and the house leaned slightly to the left, its rotting frame barely supporting what was left of the upstairs floor.

The fortune-teller paused in front of the ruin. She wore that pensive, sad expression again, and shook her head. Then she carried on walking, giving no explanation.

We reached the foot of the hill and began the steady climb towards campus. The woods waited for us, and I found myself looking uneasily around as we stepped under cover of the sprawling trees. The image of the dismembered harpy was still fresh in my memory.

But we met no one. It seemed almost too quiet. On the path, I could usually hear singing and talking from campus, and there were always joggers and the occasional questing patrol of Role-Playing Society members on the path. It was like we were totally alone.

Then I heard laughter. Not the drunken laughter of students, but a quiet titter.

The Darkworld stirred around me and the pendant burned against my chest. I could sense a presence nearby that was tuned into the Darkworld―and that it wasn’t human. I stiffened at almost exactly the same moment as the fortune-teller whispered, “It’s here.”

“Shit,” said Claudia, as a girl stepped out from behind a tree.

She was my double; not merely someone who looked a bit like me, but my
exact double.
She even wore the same clothes as I did, like in the dream. Her tangled dark brown hair framed her pale face, and her violet eyes were shadowed, the result of sleepless nights.

That was the only difference. Her eyes were those of a demon.

“Holy shit,” said Leo, looking at the girl in horror.

The fortune-teller faced the doppelganger, calmly. “What do you want?” she asked.