The Shadow Project

by Cecilia Dominic

Of course, I immediately regretted my actions when the plane took off, and my old friend, airsickness, took over. It's not good for a Fae to be disconnected from the earth or the things she loved. Yes, I loved the silly cat. I regretted deleting the photos, and then we had to run for a connection in Edinburgh, so I didn't have time to recover them before the second flight took off.

  It appeared that not only could I not trust my perceptions—my judgment had become questionable as well. What other dangers lay ahead of me, and how could I possibly prepare for them? And how could I do so with an overly concerned psychologist sitting next to me? The Fae didn't do therapy, no matter how much we might have needed it.

  Some people complain about not being able to sleep on planes. I have the opposite problem—I can't stay awake. Thankfully I was seated next to Selene and in first-class, so I didn't have to worry about anyone taking advantage of my semi-comatose state on either flight. When the shoreline disappeared behind us, sleep crashed over me in a foggy wave.

  "Is she okay?" someone asked at one point from behind us.

  "Yes," Selene said, "she has terrible motion sickness and took something. It's better this way."

  Thankful for her coming up with a plausible lie, I drifted back off before I could respond. I fell into dreams in which the roar of the jet's engines provided a constant bass line to my panicked running from…what? What chased me? I couldn't see anything. I ran in the dark, the unnatural scraping noise a disorienting soundtrack to my terror. I only knew that something chased me, and I was without my guardian.

  I woke when the wheels touched down, the several feet of synthetic materials separating me from my beloved earth still too much to bear, but I gritted my teeth and forced my eyes to open.

  "Good nap?" Selene chirped. How did she look so awake and alert?

  I felt like I'd been running for the several hours I'd been out, so I only shook my head.

  She patted my hand. "Are you all right?"

  "As right as I'm going to be. When can we get off this thing?"

  "Soon."

  I pulled out my phone and went into the Deleted Photos folder, but it was empty. I refused to cry over it. Perhaps it was a sign I needed this trip to get my head and heart back in alignment with what I truly needed to do—promote the Fae agenda and earn my way back into Faerie.

  With Selene's help, I stumbled off the plane and gradually came to more awareness as we walked through a giant terminal, down a long escalator, and onto a strange little train. Then up a long escalator. Did this place have an end?

  "Who's meeting us, again?" I asked when we emerged into the arrivals welcome area.

  "A couple of representatives from the CPDC," she replied. "But they're not going to be obvious."

  I chuckled. "They're not trying to be obvious, but they are, at least to me." I lowered my voice. "There's a large cat shifter and, oh lovely, a gargoyle, waiting for us by the glass case." Their energy stood out among the humans around us. Just my luck, I’d encounter two gargoyle-types in the same week. So much for them being rare.

  I led the way since I had seniority in our little group without Gabriel and Max there.

  "Doctor, ah, Renee River?" the shifter asked. He looked me over with his golden gaze. As with many shifters, his facial features as a human echoed his creature nature, and he gave me a wide, toothy grin. With his tawny golden-brown hair, he'd be lovely when changed. I was also surprised how young he was, barely over two human decades. When he reached out to shake my hand, his motion and the way his muscles moved under his suit said he kept in shape in both forms.

  "That's me," I said and attempted to return his smile, but his companion's glower cast a shadow over my efforts. "And you are…?"

  "Corey McLendon," he said. "I'm on the security team for your group. And this is Doctor Lawrence Gordon, one of our scientists."

  "Charmed," Doctor Lawrence Gordon, who obviously wasn't, said. His slate gray eyes took in every inch of my appearance under elegantly shaped dark brows. He didn't hold out a hand as his companion had, nor did I proffer mine.

  Selene cleared her throat. I supposed I needed to do introductions.

  "Right, this is Doctor Selene Rial, the head of their mental health unit." At least I thought that's what she was.

  "Close enough," she murmured. She shook hands with the two members of our welcoming committee.

  "Corey, Doctor River seems to have had a rough trip," Lawrence said. "Perhaps I should take her for some refreshment in Piedmont Park so she can recover."

  The thought of taking off my shoes and digging my toes into some grass, or better yet, the boggy edge of a lake almost made me salivate with desire, but I shook my head.

  "I'm fine, but thank you for the offer." I glared at the gargoyle, hoping he'd get the hint I didn't need his help.

  "Are you sure?" Corey asked. "We were warned that your needs may be, um, different." He looked at his companion, and I had a suspicion as to who had played the expert.

  The assumption, while correct, made the irritation I'd kept at bay explode in my chest. "I'll let you know what I do and don't need."

  "Perhaps it would be better if we were to go to our hotel," Selene, ever the peacemaker, put in. "Freshen up, you know. Are there plans for dinner?"

  "Yes, we're housing you at the Crowne Plaza Perimeter," Corey, who looked relieved to address Selene, said. "It has some nice areas for walking, and it's close to a train station should you want to venture into town…"

  I noted that the designation of Atlanta as a "town" seemed to fit the understated way the Southerners communicated. Selene chatted with Corey and Doctor Gordon, leaving me the odd Fae out yet again. I supposed I should be accustomed to it, but my little explosion had activated all my nerves, and I wanted to scream until I could reach a green space and hug a tree or something. All right, I didn't know what I wanted, and that meant I didn't know how to ask. Or, I didn't want to throw a Fae-fit and be sent home.

  Right, ticket back to Faerie. I took a deep breath, again counting to ten in Fae time, which amounted to four, but it was enough.

  I smiled at Corey, but without any extra Fae charm. "Do you know how long it is to get to our hotel?"

  "About half an hour, ma'am."

  His pronunciation of ma'am threw me with its two distinct syllables hung together with a 'y' in the middle. No "mums" here.

  "That's pretty much the distance to anywhere in the city outside of rush hour," he added and checked his watch. "But y'all should have enough time to rest up before dinner."

  I doubted he knew what my resting up needs would be, but I nodded. We picked up my bag, went to a waiting car, and drove into the city.

  Although I should have felt confident in my sophistication as a Fae, with each passing mile and tall building, my confidence waned. By the time we arrived at the hotel, I didn't know if I could play this game. But what other choice did I have?

  I could do one thing—I dropped my bags off in my room and headed downstairs for a walk, hopefully without the not-so-charming Doctor Lawrence Gordon.

  7

  I spotted Dr. Gordon on the middle level of the three-tiered lobby. He sat at one of the tables and had a glass of red wine and a laptop in front of him. My choices—another elevator ride or walk right past him. Although I hated elevators—being encased in a metal box is one of the Fae's worst nightmares—I tolerated the trip to the ground floor, where doors led outside. The hotel had a lovely courtyard with paths leading into a wooded area, and so I followed the song of the trees, different from home. For one thing, these were younger and less numerous. Also, they wore their early spring buds whereas the ones at home—I mean in Scotland—still worked to get the sap moving and shake off the end of winter. When I walked into the woods, such as they were since I could still hear the road noise beyond, the trees rustled in excitement.

  “Welcome, sister,” they chorused. “Welcome to our home.”

  I kicked some of the mulch out of the way, removed my shoes, and sighed with bliss wh
en my feet met the cool red clay earth. That was what I needed, not the company of a gargoyle or the too-cheerful Selene, who practically quivered with forced friendliness toward me. I'd be more comfortable if she'd allow her true feelings to show. I suspected she and Gabriel had had some conversations about how to "handle" me, whatever that meant.

  A cool breeze, a reminder that it was still early in the season, made the leaves dance with a thousand shades of green, and the scent of early flowers teased my nose. I decided to follow it, and not necessarily on the path, but as it turned out, there wasn't enough space off the path to walk, so I stayed on the mulch. The ground softened under my feet, and with each step, my strength increased. I attempted to bless a sapling that appeared to be struggling, and while her star-shaped leaves perked up slightly, I couldn't reach my full power to heal her completely.

  "I am sorry, little one," I told her.

  “I appreciate the strength you've given me. I hope it will be enough.”

  "As do I."

  With insecurity and sadness weighing on my soul, I walked downhill toward the sound of running water and found a stream—manmade but still lovely. I crouched at the edge and placed my hand in it, allowing the cool, clear liquid to flow through my fingers. Again, bliss, even if the water was being forced into its path. The brook babbled its welcome, too, and I murmured back to it. Since it had been constructed by people, it lacked a dryad or guardian spirit, and it was happy to have a Fae to converse with. It told me of its path through pipes underground and the stream-bed here, and while it lacked fish, it did have frogs that came to visit and sing on its banks.

  I was so intent on listening to the chatter of the water that I didn't notice the intruder until it bumped into me and sent me sprawling into the stream. I leapt up and turned, looking for whoever had dared to attack me, but I saw no one. Dread spread through my gut—was this the same creature who'd invaded my cottage? How had it gotten here?

  I reached for the Fae talisman, which I'd kept in my pocket, but the trees rustled a warning—“Don't bring it out.”

  "All right," I said and instead spread my hands in front of me. Water dripped from my sleeves, and the cold dirt on my pants wet my knees, but I drew energy from water and earth. I didn't think I could battle an unseen foe, so I instead cobbled together a shield. It wouldn't withstand much, but I hoped my attacker, if they were even still in the area, wouldn't know that. Their method had shown a lack of knowledge of the Fae. Pushing us into water or toward the earth would strengthen, not hurt, us.

  I trudged up the path to the hotel, alert for any change in the feeling of the air or sound. A still gray form made my heart catch in my throat before I realized its color was too light for it to be Sir Raleigh, and he didn't have a bushy tail as this creature did. I knelt by the squirrel, which, as with the waxwing, barely breathed, its energy drained. I placed a hand over it, drew from the earth again, and whispered healing to it. It scampered off, and I staggered to my feet, bracing myself against a tree so I could catch my breath.

  No, I didn't have my full strength here, and a sense of vulnerability overwhelmed me before I could gather myself.

  I am a Fae princess. I have resources they don't know about.

  But would those be enough?

  As I made my way back to the hotel, I planned my strategy. I'd feel our hosts out for any threats that had been made or may otherwise exist, and if I had to use my Fae charm, so be it. That was one good thing about Gabriel and Max not being there—they wouldn't be able to scold me for misuse of my powers.

  No, the situation at the stream had told me that I needed to use whatever advantage I had.

  Before I could change, a knock sounded at my door. I looked through the peephole to see my reluctant travel companion, whose room was next to mine.

  "Are you all right?" Selene asked when I opened the door. She took in my bedraggled appearance, her blue eyes wide. "What happened?"

  I stuck my hands in my pockets and attempted a casual lean against the doorframe, but the heavy hotel door whacked my bottom and almost knocked me into the hall. Not graceful. With a sigh, I opened the door and beckoned her to enter.

  "What are you doing here?" I asked. Could she be connected with the strange being who had taken an interest in me?

  She rubbed her eyes. "I sometimes get a sense when something's not right. I hope you, of all creatures, can understand."

  "That's pretty vague. And no, things are not all right. In fact, something attacked me while I was walking outside."

  "What? Where?" If she was lying, she was good at it. I couldn't sense any sort of deception coming from her, and I was typically accurate, although I could be fooled. I didn't necessarily trust my perceptions in my current state.

  "By the stream. Something tried to knock me in. Thankfully they didn't realize that whatever they could do, that wasn't going to harm me."

  "Because you're a creature of water and earth."

  So you think. "Something like that."

  "Did you see them?"

  "No, it was like the thing at my cottage yesterday. Invisible." And, most disturbingly, it had drawn strength from a living thing.

  "That's odd." She looked around the room. "Is everything okay here?"

  "As far as I can tell." I wasn't about to let on that I couldn't feel the thing coming, whatever it was, so I went with one of the dumb questions I'd heard the humans ask each other. "How's your room?"

  The diamond on her left ring finger sparkled when she crossed her arms. "It's fine. A hotel room. Sort of lonely."

  Was she admitting her own sadness to draw me out? If so, it wasn't going to work.

  "Don't you have family or friends here?"

  She looked at me, her brows drawn in a quizzical manner. "I do, but I haven't reached out to them yet. My life before lycanthropy and after it seems like two separate phases. Two different me’s, even. I don't know that they'd understand."

  I nodded. I felt the same about my time before and after exile—true Fae versus having to assimilate with humans. Now the uncomfortable thought crept in that maybe I had more in common with people than with my kind.

  "Look, I know you're trying to be friendly, but can we get to the important stuff?" I asked. My wet clothes had started to chafe, the water in them now devoid of healing power.

  "Yes, of course." She looked disappointed. "What do you need?"

  Now that felt more like a human/Fae interaction. Some of the tension left my shoulders. "I think that whatever attacked me today and yesterday is connected to what we're here to do. It has to be. Do you know of something that draws energy from small animals? Is there some sort of local legend here?"

  "No, not that I can think of. Small animals?"

  I told her about the bird and the squirrel.

  "That's horrible!" She scowled, the ferocious expression giving me a hint of the lycanthrope underneath. "And I agree with you—it must be connected. The timing is too coincidental."

  "Right, and with that in mind, I don't know who to trust."

  She paused and placed one hand under her chin and propped up that arm with the other one. "Do you trust me, Reine?"

  "I just said I don't know who to trust," I snapped. "Why should I trust you? You don't like me. You didn't want me along. And if you're concerned, it's because of Gabriel."

  "And you're surprised by this?" She gestured to me. "The first time I saw you, you were kissing Gabriel to get him in trouble. With me. And we weren't even dating yet. Why should I like a troublemaker like you?"

  "Why, indeed," I responded, allowing a wry tone to creep into the words. She had a point, although I chose instead to focus on the fact she'd called me a creature a few minutes before.

  "But liking doesn't necessarily have anything to do with trusting," she said. "And if you're being attacked by some strange being, you need people around you that you can trust, especially here." She rubbed her arms, although the room temperature hadn't changed. "Something feels off about all this. Can't you detect
it?"

  "Yes." And I did. I had even before she’d said anything. "But I don't know what."

  "Then we need to stick together," she said. "I'm not sure what to expect at dinner tonight, and I need to know you have my back."

  Ugh, she wanted to tie my fate to hers. "I agree with you to a point," I said, choosing my words carefully. "Why don't we start with agreeing to watch out for each other, and then we can proceed to mutually agreed-upon sacrifice if necessary?"

  She looked at me for a long moment, then nodded. "I can live with that."

  "Right," I said, sensing she continued to be disappointed but fine with letting her be. "Can you advise me on what to wear? I've not been to a fancy human dinner in several decades, and Atlanta seems a more casual place."

  "Sure, let me know when you've cleaned up, and I'll come back over."

  With that, she left. I felt like I'd scored some sort of victory, but over who or what I didn't know. One thing I was certain of—I needed to discover the true story, and fast.

  Adorned in the light blue gown Selene had helped me choose—and no, the irony that I wore my mother's favorite color didn't escape me—I descended to the lobby in the metal box. Every time the door opened on the way down, I held my breath, not sure who or what, seen or unseen, would get on with me. So far it was only a couple of tourists and some businesspeople who chatted about what was nearby. I had no idea what a Cheesecake Factory was, only that it apparently manufactured things that weren't cheesecake.

  When I walked into the lobby, I looked around, both for my party and for anything that seemed amiss. After the earlier incident by the creek, the strange man’s warning in the airport to pay attention played in my mind on repeat. I hadn't been aware enough of my surroundings, but how did a Fae prepare for something they couldn't sense coming?

  The energy of Corey the cat shifter and Lawrence Gordon the gargoyle led me to where they waited, near the end of the second level overlooking the restaurant and doors to outside below. I felt exposed rather than comforted by the wall of glass and the trees outside, but neither of them appeared perturbed, so I smoothed my expression into one of polite interest.