Souls

by Kahilah Harry

  “Some call them shadow creatures. They are shadows that creep up when you least expect it, and they try to consume you.”

  Goosebumps spread up my arms. “How can they be destroyed?” My question came out as a whisper.

  “The only way that we know how to destroy it so far is with light. The one thing we don’t have anymore. We lost it fighting Caspian’s followers.” He stopped talking, and his jaw ticked. He was pissed. “I really hope we don’t encounter them,” Dmitri continued, his voice low. His eyes darted around, then relaxed just as quickly. I followed his eyes and didn’t see or hear anything. Maybe he was just cautious.

  The moon was in the middle of the sky, and the night gave me a chilly, creepy vibe. The only real sound came from the waterfall below us, my loud feet, and my occasional huffing as we climbed. The moon helped give us some light, along with a glowing yellow path, even though I was probably the only one who needed the sources of light. Dmitri suddenly stopped, and a small smile grew on his face. Confused, I looked up to see what he was looking at but saw nothing.

  “Do you guys see that?” Dmitri asked in a hushed tone.

  I looked again at where his attention was but still saw nothing. “See what?” I squinted at the dark clouds in the sky. That couldn’t be what he was talking about, could it? They were just clouds. Rita and Axel gasped, making me even more confused.

  “You won’t be able to see it quite yet, Meadow, but keep looking at where the dark clouds are gathering.”

  I kept staring, and after a minute, I gasped as well. Something glowed as the clouds moved, unveiling an obsidian-colored temple. There seemed to be a red color on it as well, but it was so far away, at the top of the mountain, and I had to squint a little to fully see it. It glittered even in the darkness, making it a little easier to see.

  “That’s our destination right there. We’re high enough for a glimpse of it, but still a couple of days away,” Dmitri said. I was in awe of the temple’s beauty and didn’t take my eyes away from it until the dark clouds moved again, concealing the temple. Seeing that made me more excited than I had been for days.

  It gave me hope that I could actually make it there. We kept walking through the dark, up the steep mountain. Every now and then, I glanced at Dmitri, and he was always tense. I didn’t think he ever relaxed. He was always ready for a fight.

  Dmitri’s arm shot out, and I ran into it before I could stop myself. The path blinked and then disappeared. There was a waterfall right below us and a vast ravine between us and the mountain’s other side. A loud, shrill rasp made me jump and move closer to Dmitri.

  “The shadow creature is coming,” Dmitri spoke, eyes narrowing as he looked in the direction the sound came from.

  “Axel, Rita, one of you guys, take my pack. Meadow needs to get on my back. I also need one of you to jump across to make sure it’s clear on that side.”

  “I’ll gladly go first,” Rita spoke up, walking past us to the open space. Dmitri and Axel backed up, and I followed. She stepped backward and crouched, putting her head down. Her head popped back up quickly, eyes glowing violet. She started running and yelled as she did, launching herself off the edge. She landed on the other side on both feet, crouching and throwing her arms up like she’d achieved a perfect landing in long jump. “It’s clear!” Her voice traveled to our side.

  “Now it’s our turn.” Dmitri reached to grab me, but a small gust of wind blew me back.

  Axel launched himself in the air, shouting as he soared. He landed on the other side and rolled as soon as his feet touched the ground.

  Dmitri cursed at Axel’s unexpected action but didn’t dwell on it as he turned to me.

  “Ready?”

  I shifted my weight on my feet and crossed my arms, looking at where Axel and Rita were, gauging the distance from where I was.

  “You’ll be fine.”

  I looked at him when he spoke and then back at the water. The fall had to be at least one hundred feet with pure water at the bottom. I trembled at the thought of drowning again.

  Dmitri stepped in front of me, his body heat warming me. “Hey.” His voice was low as he slid a finger underneath my chin, guiding my face toward him. “Trust me?”

  “I do,” I whispered back, afraid my normal voice would crack from all the emotions. His touch sent a shiver down my spine and gave me goosebumps.

  “It’s here,” he whispered.

  Next thing I knew, I was on his back, and we were floating in the air.

  The dark beauty of the night magnified the mountains and the water. The wind was harsh this high up in the air, striking my face with slaps that stung. I couldn’t understand how he was making it to the other side with the momentum he had, but we continued to move in the air.

  The other side was getting clearer the closer we got, and we were almost there when suddenly, we lurched downward. The action ripped my breath away, yet my scream escaped, and my heart dropped when we started falling. We were almost one with the water, and my scream grew shrill when something dark wrapped around Dmitri’s ankle.

  “What is that?” I screamed, almost hyperventilating.

  “Hold on!” he shouted, and I locked my legs around his waist as soon as we jerked to the side, slamming into the rocky wall by the waterfall. He let out a groan and clawed at the mountain to get a grip, but he started slipping. He let out a curse as we fell again.

  “Dmitri!” I screamed, clinging to him so tightly, I was probably choking him. The fall was long, and some water from the waterfall hit my face on the way down. My scream continued, and I closed my eyes when it was evident that we were going into the water. I prepared myself for the freezing cold. Nothing happened. My body jolted to a stop, and my eyes snapped open. Dmitri hovered, with his arms spread over the rushing water. The torrent crashed against the mountains, spraying mist in my face.

  “What is happening?” I whispered breathlessly in Dmitri’s ear. I wanted to scream out of fear, out of shock, scream for everything that had happened to me since I started the journey. Scream for Dax, scream for what was to come, scream out of frustration. Everything.

  “The shadow creature has found us. You might want to hold on even tighter.” The words barely left Dmitri’s mouth when we were yanked upward.

  I held on for dear life, and my eyes almost left their sockets when I saw that we were being held up in the air by a literal shadow. It was pure black, something I could see even in nighttime. It somehow made that raspy, shrill noise with no discernible mouth.

  A shadow in the shape of a human body. Dmitri raised his arms slowly, the shadow’s hand around his neck not seeming to affect him, and his hand curled. Something dark moved in the corner of my eye, and one of the trees tucked in the mountainside shook loose from the crumbling rock. Dmitri flicked two fingers to the left, and the tree rammed into the shadow. It howled and let go of Dmitri. We fell, and the air around us contorted. Everything disappeared for a second and then came back, the ground underneath us.

  We landed so hard, a cloud of dust and grass exploded on impact. I coughed and waved a hand in front of my face. The shrill rasp rang in the air, and I covered my ears, the ringing was almost painful. When I hopped back up, Dmitri was already on his feet, fighting the shadow creature. The creature swiped at him, and Dmitri ducked, punching it in the chest area. It threw its arm out, smacking Dmitri backward through the air. He disappeared—and then reappeared on the shadow’s back.

  “Meadow!”

  My eyes flew up to Dmitri.

  “You need to use your pendant!” he yelled, pointing my way.

  “What do you mean?” I cautiously glanced at the shadow creature as I backed up to make sure I wasn’t in its reach. Dmitri was struggling to keep the shadow creature in his grasp as it thrashed.

  “Your pendant is the only source of light we have to use to destroy this creature!” he yelled, and at the same time, was knocked backward off the creature. It screeched and went after him.

  I grabbed my pendan
t, trying to figure out how to use it. The only other time I ever did something was when Caspian tried to attack me and grab it.

  “Do it now, Meadow!” Dmitri’s muffled voice came from somewhere behind the creature. How? I couldn’t understand what he wanted me to do with my pendant. The shadow creature tossed him in the air, and I yelled in frustration and fear. I immediately regretted it when the shadow creature turned to me. The obsidian creature became shapeless until arms started reaching for me. I was frozen in place.

  The shadow creature grabbed my arm, the contact sending a chill up my spine.

  I screamed. The creature stopped growling and slowly brought its faceless head close to me until I could feel the coolness it radiated. I didn’t know where Dmitri was, and I couldn’t hear anything besides my breathing and the creature’s. Seconds passed while I maintained a staring contest with a creature that didn’t even have eyes.

  My breathing slowed, and I took one slow step backward. The raspy cry hit my ears, almost deafening, and my heart pounded again as the creature grew. My poor heart. It lunged at me. I covered my face and energy left me, a blue light shooting out of the pendant, almost blinding, and hit the shadow creature. It shrieked along with me, so loud my ears started ringing. I couldn’t move. So much energy poured out of me and the light grew, spreading until it ripped the creature into pieces. Gone.

  The light retreated into my pendant with enough force to knock me backward to the ground. My head was pounding, and it made me lightheaded, my ears ringing so loudly I didn’t know Dmitri was yelling until he came into my line of vision. His mouth was moving, eyes frantic, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying. I blinked a few times to get the dots out of my vision and rubbed my ears, shaking my head to unclog them. Was he trying to say something?

  “What?” I asked, tilting my head to hear what he was trying to say.

  “Get up!” The words reached my ears, and he held out a hand for me, and I grabbed it. He yanked me up, and I looked around, trying to understand what had happened, and he snapped his fingers in front of my face.

  “Hey, hey, we need to go. Let’s go, hop on.” He tapped his back, and I jumped on without hesitation, this time tucking my face into his shoulder. I felt him jump and the wind hitting against me, but I didn’t lift my head until I felt his body dip from landing. I lifted my head, and Axel and Rita were rushing toward us.

  “Are you guys okay?” Axel asked, looking at us and across the mountain, eyes wild.

  “I’m okay, I’m okay,” I huffed as I hopped off of Dmitri’s back.

  “I’m good,” Dmitri answered him, eyes also cautious and looking around.

  “How did you do that?” Rita asked, looking at Dmitri and me.

  He looked at me, and I glanced down at my pendant, stroking it slowly. I was still trying to figure out how my pendant gave off the light myself. Augustus’ words about putting protection in it came to mind.

  “I don’t really know,” I answered, still stroking it. Axel and Rita looked at me with weird looks on their faces, glancing at my neck where the pendant lay.

  “How do you not know? It’s your necklace,” Rita asked, scrunching her dark brows.

  “My pendant gave off the light when I screamed, and I don’t know how it did that, sorry.” I dropped my hand from my pendant so I could stop drawing attention to it.

  They both looked at Dmitri, and he shrugged. Strange that Dmitri wouldn’t have an answer, since he was the one telling me to use the pendant, so he should’ve known.

  “Did Augustus alter the pendant when you visited him?” Axel asked, eyes glancing between my face and my neck.

  “Only gave me a powder to protect me.”

  Axel nodded, but Rita narrowed her eyes at me, not saying a word.

  “We need to leave now,” Dmitri spoke.

  I took in a deep breath and started walking with the others, looking out for the yellow path. After a few minutes of walking, it appeared. We all walked for a while in silence, and the sun finally started rising, the sky slowly changing from dark blue to a bright red. My body was so tired, I needed to rest for a second.

  “Hey, can we stop somewhere so I can rest and eat and drink some water?” I asked, slowing down. They all slowed, and Dmitri glanced back at me. He didn’t respond as quickly as I wanted, so I spoke again. “I need to use the bathroom. I know you guys probably don’t have to do any of those things, but I’m human at the moment, so…” I finished, dragging my feet obnoxiously to catch their attention.

  Dmitri sighed and glanced at Axel and Rita. “We’re so close to making it up to the top of the mountain, and it’s only going to be one more day. Can all of those things not wait?” He asked, not looking at me anymore as he continued to walk.

  I gawked at his back. Did he not understand how the human body worked? It wouldn’t slow us down that much. “No, this can’t wait. I need to do this now.” I rolled my eyes and stopped walking altogether. The others stopped as well.

  “Fine.” Dmitri made his way back to where I was standing. We looked for some type of shelter and found a cave.

  “Let’s rest here.” Dmitri dropped his pack, and Axel and Rita followed suit. Dmitri walked over to where I was sitting and dropped a sleeping bag in my lap while they got comfortable. I thanked him, and he nodded, walking back to his spot. We ate whatever was edible in their packs, and I chugged water until I was satisfied. I took care of my personal necessities and got comfortable in my sleeping bag but couldn’t sleep.

  I didn’t know what it was, but I had a feeling. Every time I closed my eyes, a sliver of chill went up my chest and forced my eyes open.

  “The cave, come to ussss, the cave.”

  I shot up. Who…? I looked around, but everyone else was sleeping.

  “Come to ussss.”

  I quietly slipped out of my sleeping bag and stood, making sure they were still sleeping. I needed to explore the cave. They were calling out to me. I crept to the back of the cave to explore.

  25

  I should’ve trusted my gut. Though the cave was calling to me, I had a gut feeling that I shouldn’t follow it. I didn’t listen. If I had, I wouldn’t be stuck in this position.

  “Don’t say a word,” he hissed in my ear, a hand clamped over my mouth. How on earth could I say a word when his hand was preventing me from saying anything? How did he even find me? I thrashed and tried to elbow him in the chest, but he had a steel grip on me.

  “Are you going to scream if I let you go?” he asked, and I shook my head. He slowly let go of my face, and I passed an arm over my mouth to wipe off his scent. I turned and faced him, fists curled at my sides. He had the most arrogant smirk on his face and winked at me, his blue eyes sparkling with mischief.

  “Caspian, let me leave,” I said through gritted teeth. I was disappointed that the stabbing and the blast from my pendant did nothing to him. He looked as if he came straight off a runway.

  “Or what? You’ll blast me with your little necklace?” He chuckled to himself as if he’d told the best joke ever.

  “The blast that knocked you out cold?” I retorted, tilting my head to the side and crossing my arms.

  His lips pressed together, and his brows dipped for a second before a grin spread on his face. “That’s the only time it will ever happen, so don’t push your luck.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Okay, but can I leave?” I asked, taking a cautious step back, hoping he wouldn’t notice.

  His eyes narrowed and he grabbed my arm, yanking me to his side. “Absolutely not. You’re not getting your memories back. Plus, you’re great bait so I can get to Dmitri and kill him instead of you,” he said nonchalantly.

  “Why do you want to kill Dmitri?” I wondered as he tugged me along through the dim cave.

  “Because we have a long history. He ruined my life.”

  I scoffed. “Okay, so what are you going to do with me then?” I asked. We obviously had some kind of history that made him feel this much hatred for me, but I couldn�
�t think of what it could possibly be.

  He stopped walking and faced me, his goofy face changing to a serious one. “My boss wants you,” he answered simply. I waited for more, but that was it. He said nothing else and continued walking, a hand secured around my wrist.

  “That doesn’t really answer my question, Caspian.”

  “You talk too much. Don’t be annoying, Meadow.” He flashed me a confusing grin; I couldn’t keep up with his mood swings. “Ah, here we are.” Caspian halted, letting go of my wrist.

  “Where are we?” I asked, trying to look over his shoulder. He was blocking the entrance, so I couldn’t see anything.

  “Are you sure you really want to see?” He glanced over his shoulder at me with a sly smirk.

  I raised my arms at his question, giving him a dirty look. “Yes, I do.” I pushed him out of the way. Why was he still wearing that dumb cloak? I shook my head and walked through the entrance. “Oh my god!” I stumbled backward, hitting my back on Caspian’s hard chest. My hand flew to cover my pounding heart. Fear coursed through my body, breaking my tough act.

  “See, this is why I asked if you really wanted to see. I knew you weren’t prepared.” Caspian’s words caressed my ear in a whisper and he gripped my arm. He was right. I wasn’t prepared at all for it.

  “So, this is where you’re hiding your army?” I breathed, eyes flitting around the large space. There were at least a hundred men and women combined, down below on the ground. Some were shivering and tucked into corners, the others roamed around aimlessly. All of them were wearing black suits.

  “Yes. They are my creations. I brought them here myself.”

  I looked at him in horror as he grinned and rubbed his hands together.

  “I know you’re not about to take all the credit for my work now, are you?” A new voice came out of nowhere to my left, and my jaw dropped when Donatella walked down the rocky steps that I just noticed. She wore an all-yellow tracksuit and long green nails. Her hair was no longer blonde. It was highlighter-blue, bone straight into a shoulder-length bob. The black booted heels she wore made her tower over me.