Claimed by Shadows (Kissed by Shadows Series, Book 3)

by Lola StVil

  Loom smiles back and drops the force field. He steps into Kane’s embrace.

  “Now,” Kane shouts as he keeps his grip on Loom.

  Pest pulls a small box out of his pocket and throws it. Loom struggles against Kane’s grip. Kane pulls his sword out and slices the box in half in midair. A red powder fills the air and Loom’s enchantment breaks. The shimmer around us vanishes, and Quinn is Loom again.

  Loom raises his hand to snap his fingers.

  “Kane, look out,” Regal shouts.

  He doesn’t have to stop him, because, at that moment, Pest swings the piece of broken pallet he’s picked up and cracks Loom on the side of the head with it.

  Loom’s eyes close, and his knees buckle. Kane lets go of him, and he drops to the floor. Kane stares at Pest, shock clear on his face.

  “What? I picked up a few things over the years.” Pest smiles.

  Kane just shakes his head, an admiring look on his face. He crosses to the cage and opens the door, freeing us all.

  “How did you know it was a trick? I knew it was Loom and even I was convinced it was Quinn standing there,” Saudia says.

  “Pest figured it out,” Kane says as Pest comes over to us.

  “How did you know?” I ask him.

  “I’ve studied the magic of Tricksters before. The shimmer they use to disguise things is deadly to birds. So, when a bird flew in and then panicked and left, I figured there was probably something there that it could see and we couldn’t. I told Kane my theory, and he rolled with it,” Pest explains.

  “But how did you tell him what your plan was? You only whispered to him for a few seconds,” I say.

  “There wasn’t a plan as such; we were winging it, something I’m extremely uncomfortable with. I just knew we had to find some way to get the Truce onto Quinn and see what was really going on. Truce is that red powder you all saw. It breaks enchantments,” Pest says proudly.

  “And you knew he’d have it?” Tracey asks Kane.

  Kane nods.

  “Of course he did. I never leave home without it,” Pest says proudly.

  There’s so much I want to say, but I don’t have the words right now. A moan comes from Loom. He’s starting to stir, saving me from trying to make sense of my thoughts.

  “Grab him and throw him in the cage. Get the information we need,” I say.

  “Gladly,” Regal sneers.

  He crosses to Loom’s side. Kane follows him, and they hoist Loom up between them and carry him to the cage. They throw him inside and slam the door shut.

  “Wait,” Loom says, the panic on his face clear to see. “You’re supposed to be the good guys. You don’t hurt people. And you certainly don’t kill them. Right?”

  I step closer to the cage, and Loom shrinks back against the bars.

  “You’re pathetic, but as you were so quick to point out earlier, you chose your side. It turns out it was the wrong one. And yeah, we’re the good guys, but sometimes, the good guys have to do bad things for the greater good,” I sneer at him.

  I turn back to the team.

  “Do whatever it takes to make him talk,” I say.

  I look away from Loom, and my eyes meet Kane’s for the first time since our argument. There’s so much to say, but we don’t need words. The look that passes between us says it all. I can see the emotions rolling through him. He really thought he had lost me, and I can see the torment the thought of losing me would have brought him.

  I felt the same mixture of torment when I thought I’d lost him to Quinn, and I feel the same overwhelming relief as he stands in front of me. Our argument seems stupid now, inconsequential. I’ll never leave him, and I know at that moment that he’ll never leave me either.

  We stand that way, looking deep into each other’s eyes, wanting each other, needing each other. Then Kane steps forward and wraps me in his arms. I hold him so tightly I fear his ribs might break, but he doesn’t complain. He drops his head onto my shoulder and breathes in the scent of my hair.

  The embrace says everything he wants to say to me, and although he doesn’t speak, I hear every word.

  I whisper into his ear, “Yeah. Me too.”

  Kane and I step apart after what feels like a lifetime. It has been long enough that the rest of the team looks uncomfortable. Langston looks away quickly as my eye accidentally meets hers. She clears her throat.

  “So, if you’re finished, I’ve erected a shield around the cage so the lovely Loom won’t be able to attack us. He’s not so quick to talk though, even though his pathetic little life depends on it,” she says.

  I walk over to the cage with Kane at my side. I stare down at Loom, and he looks back at me.

  “Look, I know you think you’re all scary and shit, but the truth is, Quinn is way scarier than you guys, and if I talk, she’ll kill me,” he says.

  “I thought I made it clear we’ll do the same,” I say coldly.

  “But I don’t believe you would do that. The good guys don’t torture and kill people,” Loom says.

  I’m done with him. After what he did, he deserves to die, and if we didn’t need information from him, I really think I could kill him right now and feel very little remorse.

  “Okay,” I say, pretending I’m mulling over his words.

  I’m not. I already know exactly what to do to get him talking.

  “You think Quinn is scarier than us. I get that. But remember, when Quinn found you, she didn’t try to torture anything out of you. She made you a deal instead.”

  Loom nods, his greedy smile back in place. His beady eyes sparkle.

  “So what deal are you offering?” he asks.

  “I don’t work that way, Loom. You see, I might not be as scary as Quinn. However, I’m more committed to my cause than she is because I’m willing to do this to get you to talk,” I say.

  I raise my hand and fire into his foot. He screams as the shot hits its mark and blood begins pouring from the open wound.

  “You have until the count of three to start talking, or the next one takes off the whole leg,” I say.

  I can feel all eyes on me. I refuse to look away from Loom. Kane squeezes my hand, but I don’t look at him. I’m not sure if the squeeze is a warning or a show of support. I don’t care. I’m done playing nice.

  “Okay. Okay. I’ll talk,” Loom says, holding his foot. “But only if you heal me.”

  “If we’re happy with the information you give us, then we’ll heal you after you talk,” I say.

  Loom knows I mean business now. All of the wicked glee has left him, and he looks decidedly miserable.

  “I’ll need some paper and a pen to draw you a map,” he says, his tone defeated.

  Pest hands me a small notepad and a pen.

  “Where do you keep all of the stuff you lug around, Pest?” I say, shaking my head.

  Pest shrugs.

  “It’s always best to be prepared,” he says.

  He’ll get no arguments from me on that one. We’re only all here and alive now because Pest came prepared.

  I take the notepad and the pen and hand it to Loom through the bars. He takes them and spends the next few minutes scrawling on the top sheet of paper in silence. When he’s done, he beckons to me. I don’t move.

  Loom rolls his eyes.

  “The cage has a shield around it. My magic won’t be able to harm you. Either come close enough that I can explain this to you or go there none the wiser and die. At this point, I don’t care which option you choose.”

  I glance at Kane, who shrugs, and I step closer.

  “The only entrance into Vulture Valley is through the Mutubu Forest,” Loom says. “The forest looks harmless enough. Pretty even. But don’t be fooled. That forest is alive with danger, and one wrong step and someone will end up dead.”

  He pauses and points to the map.

  “This is where you’ll enter the forest. And this is a nice, even path that you’ll be tempted to follow. Don’t. It leads to certain death. Instead, you
need to follow these steps.

  “Walk beneath the branches that form an arch. Count your steps once you’re clear of the arch. In exactly twenty-three steps, you’ll come across what looks like a small, grassy clearing. The ground beneath the grass is quicksand. It’s not very wide—just jump over it. Don’t attempt to fly or teleport; you’ll be killed instantly.

  “Once you’re over the quicksand, you’ll be surrounded by charred trees. At the fourth one on the left, cut into the trees. Walk forward five paces and go right. Then you’ll come to a rocky valley. Don’t be tempted to walk through the valley. Climb onto the rocks and make your way along the top of them.

  “At the other end, turn right again and count thirty-seven paces. You’ll come out at a beautiful tree covered with cherry blossoms. The blossoms are highly poisonous to the touch, the branches overhang to the ground, and the path alongside the tree is coated in a poison that will drain your powers for good.

  “Crawl beneath the tree, avoiding the blossoms, and you’ll come to a stark place that looks like it stretches out forever. A single rock sits at the start of it. Tap the rock three times and say this exact phrase: ‘I’m not afraid of the Vultures.’

  “A river will appear before you. There will be one bridge. Get across the bridge, and you’re in.”

  “Sounds easy enough then,” Perry jokes.

  Loom hands the map to me through the bars of the cage.

  “Don’t lose that, because, without it, you have no chance,” he says.

  “Maybe we’ve got good memories,” Perry says.

  “Maybe you have, but that won’t help you without the map,” Loom replies.

  “Why?” I ask.

  “Because the Mutubu Forest moves around. One day, it might be in Rome, the next day, Singapore, the next, Canberra. You get the point?”

  I nod.

  “The forest is protected by a shimmer so that humans can’t see it, but they seem to sense the danger and stay clear of it all the same. Only Shadows can see the entrance to the Mutubu Forest, and even they can only see it at dawn.

  “Many Shadows have searched the globe trying to stumble across the entrance. To my knowledge, very few have been lucky enough—or unlucky enough, as the case may be—to actually be in the right place at the right time.

  “The entrance can take many forms: sometimes a door to a bar, sometimes a gate into a meadow. But it will be the only thing that could appear as an entrance to something, so you’ll know the way in,” Loom says.

  “Okay. So how do we know where it’ll be on the day we want to go there?” I ask.

  “See that symbol at the bottom of the map?” Loom asks.

  I look down and nod. The symbol is a complex arrangement of curved lines. I mistook it for a doodle at first glance.

  “To be transported to the entrance to the Mutubu Forest, anyone who is willing to go in there must place a drop of blood on that symbol at the same time as each other, and they’ll be taken to the entrance. The symbol will only work if it’s drawn by someone who has been in the Mutubu Forest and lived to tell the tale. So, memorizing it and attempting to draw it yourselves won’t work,” he says.

  For someone who didn’t want to talk, he’s giving us a lot of information now. He reminds me of Pest (if Pest were evil and twisted) in that once he gets going on a subject, there’s no stopping him.

  “Oh,” he adds, his voiced tinged with amusement. “You might want to say your goodbyes before you get in Vulture Valley. I almost died in there more than once, and that was before the Seeker before you died and made the place all the more dangerous.”

  I feel my palm twitch at his mocking words, but I hold back. Hurting him after getting the information would be putting myself on a very slippery slope. One I have no intention of riding.

  I turn to Regal.

  “Heal his foot,” I say.

  Regal does as I ask, and I turn to Langston.

  “How long will the shield hold?” I ask her.

  “Until someone with magic comes and undoes it,” she says. “He can’t open the cage from the inside anyway, and this place is so remote I’d be amazed if anyone heard him screaming.”

  I give Loom one final look.

  “If you’re lying about this, I swear we will come back here and kill you,” I say.

  “If I were lying, none of you would live to come back here and kill me,” he says. “Which is why I’ve told you the truth. So you can come back and release me when it’s done.”

  I shrug and turn away from him.

  “Maybe we will, maybe we won’t,” I call back.

  We leave the warehouse to the sounds of Loom’s protests.

  As we come down outside of the loft, Pest touches my arm.

  “Most of what he said sounds viable, but I’d like to do some of my own research on this before you go running off there. I have a few textbooks that I think could confirm or deny what he’s told us about the Mutubu Forest,” Pest says. “I could go and get them and come back here.”

  “Great. Thanks, Pest,” I say.

  I kind of believe Loom; he has the perfect motivation for us getting through the Mutubu Forest alive as we are the only people who can free him, but I’ll feel better if Pest can confirm some of it.

  Pest disappears, and the rest of us walk into the loft. Sadie is sitting waiting for us, and she jumps to her feet when we enter.

  “Any luck with Loom?” she asks. “I’ve been so worried about you all. Update me.”

  Regal steps closer to her.

  “Here’s an update for you, lady. You suck at being a mother. If you didn’t, my sister would still be alive,” he rages at Sadie.

  Sadie looks taken aback for a second, and then she too gets angry.

  “How dare you talk to me like that? What makes you think for even a second, I won’t rip your lungs out, boy?” Sadie snaps.

  It’s rare that Sadie loses her temper, and I feel a sense of dread about what’s going to happen. Regal stands glaring at Sadie, her words not putting him off at all.

  “Yeah, why not kill another one of us? It seems to be your thing,” Regal snaps.

  “Regal…” Langston starts, putting her hand on Regal’s arm.

  “He’s not wrong though, is he? Quinn spent all her life trying to make you proud of her, but she was never good enough for you, was she?” Saudia puts in.

  “Saudia, stay out of this,” Tracey pleads with her.

  I haven’t taken my eyes off Sadie, and I feel a wash of relief as the anger leaves her and her shoulders slump. She looks defeated now, and her voice shakes when she speaks again.

  “You think I don’t know what a bad mother I am? You think I don’t hate myself for…”

  Sadie’s voice trails off as the emotion overwhelms her. She looks at Kane, the raw pain on her face clear to see. Kane shifts uncomfortably, looking down at his feet. He’s not sure what to say or do.

  I’m not either. On the one hand, I remember Sadie as someone who was always there for me growing up, almost like a second mother to me. She believed in me, and she inspired me. But then I think of how she’s treated her own children. The way she treated Quinn was appalling, and don’t even get me started on what she did to Kane.

  “Let’s all just calm down. We have a few hours before dawn. We need to figure out a plan. Or get some rest. Or do pretty much anything except spend them arguing,” Perry says.

  I feel some of the tension leave the air as Regal looks away from Sadie and sits down.

  “You’re right,” he says to Perry.

  Pest comes back in then.

  “Okay, I got the books, and…”

  He stops, and his eyes settle on Sadie. His face lights up, and he shifts the textbooks in his arms so that he can run one hand through his hair.

  “Oh. Sadie. Hi. How are you? You look nice,” Pest splutters out.

  The tension in the air is back, but this time, it feels different. It’s all coming from Pest, who is acting really strangely.

 
; Perry laughs and turns to Pest.

  “You sound like someone who had a one-night stand and then decided they wanted to marry the girl,” he laughs.

  Pest beams bright red and Sadie coughs awkwardly.

  “He’s right, Pest. Jeez, it was just a kiss. And I’m guessing my mother here was so off her face she doesn’t even remember it,” Kane snaps.

  I feel my jaw drop. Sadie and Pest? I look at Kane, and he shrugs. Pest goes an even deeper shade of red. Sadie laughs.

  “I was pretty damn drunk. I can’t believe we kissed. What must you think of me, Pest? Anyway, I’ve been meaning to thank you for getting me home safely that night. So, thanks,” she says.

  Pest nods but he’s hurt by her words. I think Perry was right on the money. Pest wanted more.

  Pest realizes everyone is still watching him, and he gets ahold of himself. He crosses to the coffee table and sets down the large books.

  “We need to go through these and look for any mention of the Mutubu Forest, just to see if any of it matches what Loom told us,” he says.

  Everyone begins to sit down around the table and starts reaching for the books. I go to join them, but Sadie stops me.

  “Can you all spare Atlas for a few moments? I need to talk to her,” she says.

  Pest nods but he doesn’t meet her eye. I follow Sadie up to the roof. We stand with our elbows resting on the wall, looking out over the city, and I catch her up on everything that happened with Loom.

  She takes it all in, and when I’m done, she sighs.

  “I’m beginning to think Quinn is so far gone, she’ll never come back to us,” she says finally.

  “Me too. Look, Sadie, this is kind of awkward. I know Quinn’s your daughter, and I do want to help her, but if it comes down to it, I won’t let her hurt anyone else on this team. If I have to kill her to stop that from happening, I will, and I hope you can make your peace with that.”

  Sadie nods.

  “I don’t like it, but I understand that it might be necessary. Quinn chose her side, and you have to do what you have to do,” she replies.

  I can’t help wondering how she feels about it. I know she was an awful mother to Quinn, but I still think, deep down, she loves her.