by Alicia Fabel
No one spoke. Elion opened a hand reflexively when Annessa held out the key. She dropped it onto his palm, trying hard not to remember how that hand had felt in hers.
Pushing down the ache in her chest, Annessa turned abruptly toward Axton. “Thanks for getting rid of my shadow problem—even though I have a feeling you guys are to blame for that somehow. Not that any of you will explain what’s going on since it’s easier to pretend like I’m an idiot.” She sucked in a breath. “So let me know where to send your wisp once I get my shadow back. And have a great life.”
Annessa pivoted on her heel and headed around the house.
“Wait,” Sam called. “Let us take you home at least—make sure you’re okay.”
Elion cleared his throat. “Samara’s right.”
“I’m not going home,” Annessa replied, unwilling to look back. “I’ve got another job to get to.”
“We can take you,” Elion persisted. “Or pick you up after?”
Annessa waved over her shoulder without slowing. “I’m good.” She had enough trouble waiting for her when she got home every day. The last thing she needed was more following her there.
2
Nessa threw him one last glare before she walked away. Elion was sure he’d never get to see the pale blue starbursts of her eyes again, and he wished he could look at them a little longer. Even if they did flash with resentment for him. Her sandy-colored ponytail swung back and forth against her tense shoulder blades. Elion held himself in place, so he didn’t chase after her, wrap his arms around her slender frame, and see to it that no one ever came after her again. She had no idea how much danger she was in. Admittedly, that’s because he hadn’t told her. But even if he could, he didn’t know how.
“My wisp will keep an eye on her,” Axton assured.
“Which is all well and good until the bender who tagged Nessa tries calling his wisp in for an update,” said Samara. “And when it doesn’t report in, what do you think will happen then?”
“I don’t think this wisp left Annessa much,” Axton replied. “I get a feeling it was supposed to wait and report in when it learned something specific.”
“How long?” Elion needed to know how long that thing had been with Ness, how long he’d had no idea that they were watching her.
“Best guess?” Axton tapped the shadowbox in his pocket. “About a year.”
“Then she was right,” Elion said. “It was here because of me.”
“You don’t know that for sure,” Axton argued.
Elion gave him a look. “So she just happened to get tagged by a Phyton’s wisp at the same time I screwed up her timeline?”
“Okay, yeah. It’s probably not a coincidence,” Axton relented. “But that means they’re watching for you.” He looked up and down the beach. “We need to get back to the Academy.”
“I’m not leaving,” Elion said. “You guys should head back, though.”
“I’m staying with you.” Samara folded her arms. She barely came up to Elion’s chin, and beside Axton, she looked downright tiny. Even so, Elion knew neither of them would be able to make her leave.
“When’s that team getting here?” asked Axton, clearly realizing the same thing.
“Mom screamed something like ‘First thing in the morning,’ right before we were out of range,” Elion said.
Axton shoved his hands in his pockets. “We’ll go back together.”
“No one is going to abduct me tonight,” Elion insisted. “If you two get on the next flight out, you can make it back in time for your weapons midterm.”
“And face your mother in the ring, knowing we left you out here without backup?” Axton shook his head. “I’d rather keep my pretty face intact, thanks.”
Elion hooked a hand over his shoulder and massaged the knotted muscles there. He dropped his head back to stare at the darkening sky. He shouldn’t feel like an old man, but he did.
“How will you arrange a trade with the Phyton?” asked Axton.
“They’re not going to hand over her shadow,” Elion replied. “They’ll deny any knowledge of Annessa, and then ask why we think they’re interested in her.”
“We can’t very well explain that,” concluded Axton. “Not with the Academy denying that the Legends have been reborn.”
“The Phyton know,” Elion said. “If they’re watching Ness, they’re already hunting Legends and trying to find out which ones are already at the Academy.”
Elion spotted a lone star. He and Annessa used to compete to see who would find the first one. He’d sat with her under those stars looking for any hint that she was a daughter of the arts, but she was ungifted. So as far as the Academy was concerned, her safety was not their problem. He disagreed.
“I’ll report in about the Phyton.” Axton headed for the door. “The guild teams need to watch their backs if those snakes are hunting too.”
Elion stopped him. “I’ll make the call. There’s something I need to discuss with my father.”
Annessa shoved the janitor’s cart into the closet. She’d moved slower than normal because of her distracted thoughts. It was almost midnight. On her way out, she slipped into the company breakroom to grab the last stale donut from the box on the counter. It was better than having to make instant noodles when she got home. She tossed the box into the trashcan, and the wisp caught her attention.
“Am I supposed to feed you or something?”
The shadow didn’t react.
Annessa pinched off some of the pastry and tossed it onto the patch of darkness. The wisp swerved out of the way. It poked at a tiny crescent shadow cast by the crumbs and then turned to look at her strangely.
“I take that as a no.” She sighed. Brilliant move. Now she had to clean up another mess before she could leave.
She grabbed a few paper towels from the dispenser and scooped up the crumbs. Once she had them all, she wadded the paper towel and aimed for the basket. It hit the rim, teetered, and fell toward the floor. Before it hit, the wisp reached out and caught the paper’s shadow. The crumpled wad floated in the air, attached to the darkness. After a moment, the wisp tossed the shadow into the basket. The paper towel followed.
“Nice shot.” Annessa high-fived the wisp’s upraised hand, where it rested against the wall. It jolted like she’d surprised it and then it shrank into shadow position. She laughed once. It seemed Axton’s wisp was bashful.
On the walk home, the angle of streetlights made the shadow stretch far over the sand. Annessa tried to watch it from the corner of her eye and couldn’t help but stare. It reminded her of when she got a haircut and then forgot about it until she walked past a mirror. Axton’s wisp caught her staring and spread its arms out as if to say, “What?”
“Do you have a name?”
It lengthened, curling and bending across the sand. Wisp, it spelled in swooping letters.
That wasn’t very creative. “Do you like being called that?”
Wisp snapped back into person shape and shrugged. It stopped responding to her after that. Too late, Annessa realized a little old man was walking his teacup poodle toward her. She’d seen him walking in the middle of the night before. The man eyed her suspiciously. Probably because she’d been chatting to her shadow like a lunatic. A moment later, the man made an abrupt turn down a side street.
“You’re going to get me arrested on suspicion of drugs,” Annessa mumbled to Wisp.
Wisp remained the perfect semblance of a shadow for the rest of the walk home.
Annessa steeled herself and unlocked the front door. Aunt Jess was asleep in the recliner. She almost looked like her old self with her eyes closed. Suddenly, exhaustion overwhelmed Annessa. She’d been on her feet all day, but it was more than that—more complete. Maybe it would’ve been better if she’d landed on the patio. It definitely would’ve been easier than facing every day trapped in a house with her broken aunt.
Jess shivered in her sleep, and Annessa immediately regretted her thoughts. Her aunt h
ad left everything behind to come to Florida. So Annessa didn’t have to leave her school and friends after her mom died. Now it was Annessa’s turn to sacrifice for Aunt Jess. Which is exactly what it had felt like to watch everyone she knew head off to college while she stayed behind and canceled her life plans. Stepping over a creaky floorboard, Annessa crept up to Jess and draped an afghan over her. At one time, they’d looked like twins. But in recent months, Jess had lost her sun-kissed glow and had become a haggard version of her former self. Her eyes were once the blue of a cloudless sky, but they’d dulled as if a storm had passed in front of them. She’d sit for hours staring blankly at the walls and floor.
Jess’s eyes flew open. “Who were you with?”
“Aunt Jess?” Annessa squatted down. “Can you hear me?”
Jess tipped her head. A section of limp hair slipped free and fell between her watery blue eyes. “I always hear you. You never shut up. Even when I ignore you.”
Annessa was not sure how to process that statement or if her aunt knew what she was saying.
“Who was it?” Jess persisted.
“No one, Aunt Jess.” Annessa stood, and Jess grabbed her arm. “I’m going to get you some water. Your lips have cracked again.” But she paused while her head spun.
“Who?” Jess leaned forward, eyes narrowed intently. “Who were you with?”
“I was alone,” Annessa told her. “I clean the city offices after everyone leaves for the day.”
“Liar.”
“It’s the truth.” Annessa didn’t know why Jess was fixated on this topic. An ache throbbed behind one eye. “Do you feel okay, Aunt Jess?”
“Stop calling me that,” Jess snarled.
“Okay,” Annessa said gently. “What should I call you?”
“Nothing.” Jess’s lip curled with contempt. “I don’t want your irritating voice to utter one word except the name of who took your shadow.”
The hair on the back of Annessa’s neck prickled. She glanced down unconsciously and was surprised to see that she was shadowless. Again. So much for her stand-in. When she looked back up, Jess’s eyes bled at the corners. Annessa reached for her phone to call 9-1-1, but remembered it hadn’t survived the fall. She hurried to grab a cloth from the kitchen drawer. Her mind raced. They didn’t have a landline or a car. The busses had stopped running for the night. How was she going to get Jess to the hospital? Annessa turned on the tap and took shallow breaths while she waited for the water to warm.
She put a hand to her head. Why was it so hard to think? Her cheeks flushed. Her fingers were cold, even while she ran the rag beneath the steaming tap. It was the same way she’d felt on the beach after Axton had removed her leech problem… Ah.
Annessa’s brain connected the dots. Sam had said a person couldn’t live long without a shadow. Although, no one had thought to mention what a miserable death it would be. Or how fast it happened. Annessa closed her eyes. She had to figure out how to get Aunt Jess some help before she keeled over.
The neighbors.
Annessa turned to let Jess know she was going to run next door and jumped. Her aunt had followed her into the kitchen.
“Tell me who,” Jess howled.
Annessa swallowed hard. Aunt Jess’s feet hovered above the yellow linoleum.
3
Elion disconnected his final call of the night with his dad. He wandered out to the balcony and stood beside Axton. At least Samara had fallen asleep. One of them needed to be firing on all cylinders when the sun came up.
“Did you get them to agree?” Axton asked.
“Dad did. Mom’s still against it.”
“Then what are you going to do?”
“Hope that she gets over it,” Elion replied.
Axton chuckled. “You have balls. Your mother terrifies me.”
“She’s not the only one who terrifies you,” Elion observed. “When are you going to ask Samara out?”
Axton darted a look behind them as if saying her name might have summoned her. “That is not what we are talking about. We are talking about your mother and what she’s going to do to us when we get back.”
“You’ll be fine. It’s me she’ll blame.” Elion flicked sand off the railing. “As always.”
“Maybe because you don’t listen any better now that you’re one of her students than you did when you were just her little boy.”
“Because I won’t fall in line,” Elion translated.
“You have to admit she’s been right about a thing or two.”
Elion groaned. “Yeah, and she reminds me as often as she can.”
“Maybe it’s time you try things her way for a change.” Axton hurried on before Elion could point out yet again how wrong that could go. “It could be different this time. You could be the difference.”
“Sure, and maybe my mother will start baking cookies and handing out compliments.”
Axton started to laugh and then frowned. A streak of darkness hurdled across the sand through the moonlight.
“Is that your wisp headed for us?” Elion asked.
“Yes.”
It wouldn’t leave Ness without reason. Elion vaulted down the steps and took off down the beach, following the route to her house that he knew so well.
Annessa pressed up against the cabinets, inching her way to the door.
“Where are you going?” taunted Jess, although Annessa wasn’t so sure it was actually her aunt. The evil-floating-entity act made her think not.
“Where’s Aunt Jess?”
Not-Jess grinned. “Gone.”
“What does that mean?” Annessa’s chest rose and fell.
Not-Jess ignored the question. “If you tell me the name of your Legend friend, I won’t break both your arms.”
Annessa slipped a hand into the drawer behind her and wrapped her fingers around the first thing she touched—a meat mallet. “Legend? You mean like Marie Antoinette?”
Not-Jess narrowed her bloodstained eyes.
“Elvis?” Annessa leaped at her, swinging the mallet.
Not-Jess floated backward and easily avoided it. Just a little farther and Annessa might be able to make it past her and out the back door. She chucked the heavy implement. Unfortunately, it did not fly as straight as a basketball. The mallet barely nicked Not-Jess’s arm. Annessa dashed for the back door anyway. Not-Jess let out an inhuman hiss. Annessa’s fingertips grazed the doorknob just as Not-Jess grabbed her ponytail and yanked her back.
The force knocked Annessa off her feet. She went down, but Not-Jess held her up by a fistful of hair. Annessa cried out as hair ripped from her scalp. Her feet flailed, trying to find purchase as the door crashed open behind her. Not-Jess’s eyes flicked up, and then a vicious smile twisted her peeling lips. She tossed Annessa aside. Annessa’s head cracked against a cupboard. Darkness overtook her vision and then flickering white patches appeared.
“Legend,” cooed Not-Jess, sounding very distant.
“Ness?” It was Elion. “You are not welcome here. Return to your afterlife.”
“I’d rather not. It’s not a very pleasant place for someone like me.”
“Who conjured you?” Elion demanded.
“Someone who promised I wouldn’t have to go back if I did one job for them.”
“Spy on the girl?” Elion guessed.
“No.”
Annessa’s sight cleared. She blinked to make sure the inky patch beside her wasn’t a figment of her imagination. The shadow twisted to peer back at her. Axton’s wisp was back. It pointed, and Annessa looked up to see that Not-Jess had the mallet behind her back. Annessa choked on a warning. The sound caught Elion’s attention, and it was the perfect opportunity for Not-Jess. She swung the mallet for Elion’s head. Before it made contact, Elion threw up his hands, and everything around them froze. Well, almost everything. The clock, the breeze through the door, and even the sound of the ocean all cut off. Not-Jess only slowed, though. Elion ducked under her arm and hurried to Annessa.
&nbs
p; “What’s happening?”
“I need to get you out of here.” He looped an arm around her middle and hoisted her to her feet.
Annessa wobbled.
“I’ve got you.” He half-carried her toward the door.
Not-Jess’s hand still hung in the air, mid-swing, but her bloodshot eyes watched them. Her lips parted. A low growl built to a shriek in her chest. Then Not-Jess’s eyes rolled back, and she collapsed. Everything jarred back into real time.
“Aunt Jess?” Annessa stumbled, but Elion tugged her on.
“We have to go,” he said.
They didn’t make it out the door before a kitchen knife soared past Annessa’s head and embedded in the doorframe. Only, there was no one there to throw a knife. Sam appeared in the doorway then, breathing hard. She glared at the space behind them.
“Enough,” Sam said with more authority than Annessa had ever seen from her. “You are not welcome here. Return to your afterlife.”
The words were the same that Elion had used, but when they left Sam’s mouth, the room crackled with electricity. There was a clap of static charges meeting, and then everything went quiet and still.
Annessa locked eyes with Sam. “That was a ghost, wasn’t it?”
Sam nodded. “Other people like me call them revenants.”
Twisting in Elion’s hold, Annessa took in her aunt’s crumpled form. One arm was flung out to the side. The other was somewhere beneath her. Annessa couldn’t see her face. She couldn’t tell if her chest was rising and falling. “Is it gone now?”
“Yes, but—”
“We need to call an ambulance.” Annessa struggled to free herself from Elion but he held on. “Let me go. I need to help her.”
“Ness,” he said, and in that one word, what was left of her heart disintegrated. Her legs gave out, and Elion sank to the floor with her. It felt like the oxygen in the room had been sucked out. No matter how many times she pulled in air, she couldn’t catch her breath.
