I walked to the bar and looked around. Leif was not there either, that I could see. I went over to a dark corner and took a chance. I pulled the shadows over me.
All the people and their colors were a bit distracting. I hadn't been in the shadows with this many people before. It was disorienting. I could see the reds and greens and oranges, but I didn't see the beautiful blue I was looking for. I stayed in the shadows and left the tavern.
The cold was bitter in the shadows, but I stayed where I was and looked around. I was alone outside on the sidewalk. I didn't know where to go. I didn't know where to look. "Leif, I whispered, "where are you?"
No one answered me. Not that I expected anyone too. I dropped the shadows then dragged myself back to my car, got in, and sat there. I was wracking my brain, trying to think of any place Leif could be when I realized there was a yellow sticky note on my dashboard. I jerked it off and brought it up to my face so I could see it in the dim light from the posts outside. It read: old high school.
That was it. It was not in Leif's handwriting. It was written in strong block letters that indicated to me it was a guys writing. I pondered whether or not I should go back to the Inn and wait for the others or go to the school and check it out myself.
Well, if I went back and waited for the others, I could be waiting all night, but if I went by myself, who knows what I would be walking into? There really wasn't any option, I had to go and go right then. If Leif was there, I had to help him. I couldn't just wait.
I decided not to drive over. It was only one block away, and I didn't want to announce my coming. My decision made, I got out of the car and walked to the back of the school. It was an old three-story brick building. It hadn't been used in a while that I could tell. It was a mess. Several windows were out, either by time or well-aimed rocks. There was decay and rot everywhere. It was spooky.
I crept up the broken and cracked walkway to the front doors where I decided not to jump into the shadows. If they discovered me, I could always phase then, but right now I would have the element of surprise. If I phased now, if there were trackers inside, they would know instantly I was there. So my plan was to sneak in, see if Leif was there, and if so, rescue him. If not, sneak back out unnoticed. It was the best I could come up with on such short notice. It would have to do.
I slowly pulled open the door, trying to make it as silent as possible. It was an old door and I could see it making all those creepy groaning noises giving me away. Surprise of surprises, it open silently. I sent a quick thank you up then crept in on tippy toes.
I heard a scurrying sound down at my feet then I felt something small cross over the top of my shoe. I covered my mouth fast and rough, as I so wanted to scream. It was a rat. I just knew it was. Ew, ew, ew!
It was dark and shadowy and it smelled like wet dirt inside. I stopped where I was and listened. I couldn't hear anything over the sound of my frantically beating heart. What am I doing here? I was being an idiot there by myself, that's what I was doing there.
I took a deep breath and let it out slow and silent. I needed to calm down; slow my heart down a bit, as I wasn't leaving until I knew whether Leif was there or not. I steadied myself and began to creep forward again. I passed empty classrooms on each side. I peeked in each one, but they were empty of everything but trash and various gross stuff, I assumed from animals. Yuck.
Out of nowhere a hand came around and covered my mouth. "Don't scream." My heart stopped and I felt it drop down to my feet with all my blood as I realized who that hand belonged to. Aiden had finally resurfaced. Of course.
I phased immediately. Not that it did me any good. He already had hold of me. My point was to draw all the trackers in the area to this place. I knew Gavin and Austin were trackers and would be waiting for the feel of someone phasing. They would come.
Aiden shook me once and said, "Stop it!" Then he jostled me down the hallway, up a flight of stairs, and into the first room we came to.
It was dark. I couldn't see anything. Aiden turned on a small battery operated lantern and set in down on the floor next to the door. It sent out a blue glow. I looked around. The windows were covered with what looked like trash bags. I didn't know if this was to help keep out the cold or if it was to hide the light. It didn't really matter to me.
My eyes teared up at the sight of Leif, gagged and bound to a wooden chair in the far corner of the room. I went to rush over to him, only to be brought abruptly to a stop. I had forgotten Aiden still had a hold of me. "Let go!" I said, and tried to jerk my arm out of his hold.
Aiden grabbed my other arm and turned me to face him. "We have an exchange to discuss first. After we come to an agreement then you can set him free."
"I'm not making any agreement with you." I was trying to be brave, but I knew I hadn't pulled it off. Aiden smiled at me and shook his head slowly. I kept looking over at Leif. I was desperate to go to him. His eyes were closed, but I was making enough noise to wake him if he was just asleep.
"What's wrong with him?" I asked accusingly.
"Nothing, he is only asleep."
"No, he's not. What did you do to him?" Leif didn't look beat up or anything. He did look like he was sleeping.
"Truly, little one, he is only asleep. He will wake soon." Aiden sounded as if he was trying to console me. I was so confused.
"Why are you doing this?" His hard grip on my arms lessened but not enough for me to really break his hold. He considered me for a moment.
"This is who I am," he said simply.
"No, this is what you do, Aiden. It is not who you are. Don't you understand the difference?" I wasn't mocking him. I could see there was good in him. I could see his unhappiness. "Why, Aiden?"
"My orders are to bring you to Acadia. That is what I plan to do." His eyes were so hard, almost empty. He was resigned.
"What then? What happens to me then, Aiden?" If I was as much of a threat as Leif believed, then the only option was for me to be killed. I didn't see any other option.
"I don't know," he said. His eyes wavered for a moment.
"You're lying. You know exactly what will happen to me. I will be dead. Is that what you want?" I didn't hold back. I wanted him to say it. I wanted him to realize what he was doing by trying to do his 'job'. "What if I am this lost princess? Then I am the rightful ruler of Acadia. Will you be the destruction of your queen?"
Aiden looked me straight in the eye and said as plain as day, "You may be the lost princess, but you will never be the ruler of Acadia." Nothing I said had made a difference to Aiden. I hadn't made any headway. Aiden was just as set as he ever was on taking me to his King. I wanted to be angry, but frankly I was just sad for both of us.
"You agree to come to Acadia without a fight, right now, and I will let your friend go. That's the deal. If you don't agree, I will take you to Acadia, fight or not. And your friend, well, we'll just say he may not make it at all." His intentions were clear.
I looked over at Leif. He was awake, wide awake, and had obviously been listening for a while, it seemed as he was shaking his head furiously back and forth at me.
I didn't know what to say or how to say that I was going to agree to Aiden's terms. That showed how far I had come. I was willing to face a future, what little I may still have, without Leif, only because I knew he would survive. I was not willing to face a future knowing I had been the cause of his death. Did that make me weak? Maybe. But I was going to save him anyway. Whether he liked it or not.
I turned to give my agreement to Aiden, only to watch the note of awareness flash across his face. Both Aiden and Leif came to immediate attention. Aiden shoved me away from him then phased into the shadows. I jumped to my feet and hurried over to Leif. I had just untied his gag when he growled at me, "Phase into the shadows! They are not all with us!"
I hesitated for a moment, not wanting to leave him in the open.
"Do it now!" he whispered angrily at me. I did as he asked, but I took him with me. I pulled the shadows over us
both and continued to work on the ropes that still bound him to the chair. It was all I could think to do. I was not leaving him.
Chapter Fourteen
Showdown
As soon as I had untied Leif, he and I edged into the corner, Leif hovering protectively over me. Since I had the gift of Shadow Sight, I watched as seven Shadow Walkers, one after another, snuck into the room with us. I didn't know if I knew any of them, as they were all dressed as Aiden had been when I first saw him. Aiden was pressed up tight against the wall. His eyes were closed.
"What's Aiden doing?" I whispered to Leif.
"I don't know, I can't see him."
Oops, I had forgotten about that. So, I tried to explain to him what Aiden was doing, "Well, he kinda looks like he's asleep. He's standing against the wall, his eyes are shut, but I don't know, he looks like he's concentrating on something."
Leif nodded at me and said, "He's feeling the air. Trying to figure out who has come in. We all put off a different… He paused, I assume to figure out how to explain it to me. Then he just shrugged his shoulders and said, "...feel to the air. You can see the colors of people, but the trackers, we can feel the colors."
That actually made quite a bit of sense. It also explained how the Shadow Walkers could walk around in the shadows without bumping into each other. They could feel each other. I wondered if they could feel everyone.
A flash of color caught my eye. "Someone is still just outside the door," I whispered to Leif. I could not see who it was, but I could see their color edging around the doorframe. It actually looked a bit like Gavin's base color of reddish orange. I moved so I could get a peek around the door and I was so thankful to see it was all of the other rebels, Gavin, Austin, and Leigha.
The unknown group of Shadow Walkers had encircled the room, and in effect, Leif and me. Aiden was outside the circle. He must have still been taking inventory, as he hadn't moved a muscle since he had taken up his position against the wall. I took a firm hold of Leif's hand and maneuvered us further in to the room. I wanted to get a hand on our entire group so we could see each other and communicate a plan on how to get out of this mess. We were severely outnumbered.
"Stay here, I'll be right back," I whispered to Leif as I tried to let go of his hand. He didn't cooperate with me. He instead hung on tightly, not allowing me to leave him behind. I gave him a frown so he could see my unhappiness. He just smiled back at me, the jerk!
I heaved a silent sigh and led him carefully through the group of Shadow Walkers without incident. Gavin was first up. Without warning, I grabbed his arm, put his hand on my shoulder and kept moving forward. If my popping into his line of sight surprised him, he didn't show it. He just took up position next to me.
Austin was a different story. When I grabbed his hand, he immediately jerked it out of my grip. I will assume it was instinctual. He then stood statue still like I couldn't see him. I looked back to see both Gavin and Leif openly grinning. I shook my head and took a firm grasp onto Austin's arm. I gave him a jerk of my own in order to get his attention. When our eyes locked together, he nodded his head once and took up position next to Gavin, his hand on my other shoulder.
I had to look funny, with my entourage of people hanging off me. At least no one else could see us. Leigha was still outside the door, hovering around in the hallway. I led us up to her and pulled her into our group. Her eyes widened in surprise, but she recovered quickly, and also took up position next to the others.
I wanted to head right out of the school and to safety. With everyone touching me, we could all now see one another. Trying to keep us silent, I jerked my head in the direction of the stairs and headed for it. As we made our way past the classroom door, all the others were filing out and directly into us. Gavin and Austin were both lost in the shuffle of shadowed bodies, losing their connection with me and in effect the others in our group. I watched in dismay as they were pushed backward and away from us.
I was tired of this game. I simply unshadowed, much to Leif's dismay. He phased out of the shadows as well and jumped on top of me, pushing me to the ground, and covering as much of me as he could with his body. I hated it when he did that. Aside from it hurting not just my body but my pride as well, it left him completely open. Unless I was mistaken, he didn't have immortality as a gift any more than I did. "Get off!" I yelled.
"You stay down," he yelled right back at me. Leif put his big hand in the center of my chest and pushed me back down to the floor when I tried to sit up. I sat there for a moment too shocked to move. Enough was enough.
Before I could do anything more, Aiden phased out of the shadows with us and sauntered confidently over to me. He knelt down in front of us. Leif pushed me further into the hard ground in his agitation.
"I can't help you now, little one," Aiden said with a sad smile. "It's too late." I knew he was talking about my friends. What would happen to everyone?
I watched, as if choreographed, each Shadow Walker phased out. I looked around at everyone there. There were exactly thirteen Shadow Walkers there, me included, poised for battle in the broken down, dirty hallway of the old high school.
I wasn't really poised for battle. I was hoping to figure out a way to bolt out of there. After I looked at Austin and Gavin's faces though, I realized that plan wouldn't work. They were too intent on fighting to run away, stubborn male pride and all that. I think they were actually excited for a fight.
I held up my hands, palms out, in a gesture of peace, looked at everyone in the hallway and said, "This doesn't need to happen. There has to be another way." One of the Shadow Guard took a step forward, shook off his hood, and said, "You are to be retrieved. That is all that can happen here."
Everyone who knew me, including Aiden, blanched visibly at the word retrieve. I think I had made my feelings quite known on that score. I took a deep calming breath, got to my feet, and said as calmly as I could while still yelling, "I will not be retrieved, dammit! For Pete's sake!" I wanted to throttle him. I actually took a threatening step toward the offending boy, and yes, he was just a pimply faced boy. He couldn't have been more than my own age. He was tall, but lanky and skinny, with a head full of chocolate colored hair, and bright blue eyes.
Leif grabbed me around the waist before I reach him though. The boy gave a nervous laugh and took a step back. Then he was silent again like the rest. I wasn't ready to let him off the hook yet so I asked him directly, "What happens once I am taken back to Acadia?" This was the question Aiden had so far been unwilling to discuss. Aiden and I both knew the answer, but I wondered if this boy did.
"Nothing, you are just to be questioned, of course." He gave me a look that said, "What did you expect?" Truthfully, from the reaction I had gotten earlier from Aiden, I expected to be executed as quickly, painfully, and as secretly as possible.
I cocked up a questioning eyebrow at him. I had learned this look from Leif. "Really? How naïve are you?"
He just gave me a grouchy face, pulled his hood back over his head, crossed his arms, and actually harrumphed at me, effectively ending our discussion.
From beside us one of the Shadow Guards came up behind Leigha and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her tight up against him. She didn't yelp, screech, or make any real noise of protest. Except for her valiant, useless struggle, I wouldn't have known at all had I not caught the movement out of the corner of my eye and turned to watch. "Hey, let her go!" I demanded.
I watched helplessly as pandemonium broke out with that one unwise move of the Shadow Guard. Gavin burst into action in Leigha's defense. He looked incensed that anyone would actually go after Leigha. It was just so sweet. If I wasn't in danger myself, I may have stood there and watched the outcome.
Gavin threw a punch right into the face of the Shadow Guard holding Leigha. He wasn't even the hand-to-hand combat guy. He was the weapons guy. Then he pulled Leigha up against his body as the other Shadow Guards came to their comrade's defense. Austin jumped into the fray, trying to cover Gavin's ba
ck from anyone trying to interfere, but all the other Shadow Guards swarmed over them like locusts to a field. They didn't have any real chance of winning.
Aiden, who had been watching the melee like me, suddenly jerked me out of Leif's grasp, threw me over his shoulder, and phased us into the shadows. He wasn't running, or even walking. He was just standing there in the shadows watching the others.
His shoulder was biting into my stomach and making me nauseous. I tried to think of something that would help me out in this situation, but all I could think was that Austin hadn't covered this situation yet in our training. I grabbed a fistful of Aiden's hair and yanked as hard as I could.
Aiden slammed his big beefy hand down on my butt and said, "Stop it." It didn't hurt all that much, but it was just so humiliating. It would serve him right if I threw up all over him. But I hated to throw up. Ick.
I kicked my feet as hard as I could and screamed for all I was worth. Sadly, it didn't have any effect on Aiden. I watched as Leif phased into the shadows with us. His beautiful color was a beacon in the dark. As soon as he was within touching distance I bucked up, reached my arm out as far as it would go, and grabbed out to touch him.
As soon as we touched and I popped into his sight, he yanked my arm, hard. I heard a loud and very audible popping sound and felt the shuddering jolt as my shoulder was yanked brutally out of socket. I screamed in anguish. Aiden, either from the sound of my scream or from the pull from Leif, instantly let go of me and I slipped off his shoulder and onto Leif, who took my weight without staggering or letting me fall. He did clamp a hand over my mouth to stop the sound of my cries of pain.
I tried to stop the sounds from coming out, I really did, but my arm felt as if it was on fire, it hurt so badly. My arm lay uselessly at my side. I couldn't really move it. It just hung there limply. That was scary all by itself.
Shadow Dancer Boxed Set Page 14
