Forest of Lost Souls

by K. R. Thompson

  Stay at the edge of the shields…

  “Not happening,” I grumbled as another push came, even weaker than the last.

  If this was the big bad wolf of the Forest of Lost Souls, it wasn’t bad at all. Come to think of it, I didn’t even feel the heavy weight in the atmosphere the way I did on the opposite side of the shields. What if the forest really wasn’t as bad as everyone thought it was?

  What if Logan and Victor hadn’t been exiled to their deaths…only been trapped here with some sort of weak, formless shadow as their guardian, waiting for someone to get them out?

  That thought gave me a renewed strength that started me climbing up, easily ignoring the light pushes of the shadow as it tried again and again, only to get weaker and weaker. It gave up whispering, only giving light nudges occasionally, as if it had run out of energy to do anything more.

  And that was a good thing, because it was a steep climb and there were loose rocks everywhere. The shadow was behind me, as if it had decided to give up trying to stop me and was along for the company now instead.

  “So why are you here?” I huffed as we went along.

  Nothing. Not so much as a whisper.

  I glanced over my shoulder to make sure it was still there. It was, moving like a ghost over the rocks I had to scramble to get around. I could make out a head, arms, legs, and a torso, as if it had chosen to use the form of a human now, instead of the shapeless darkness it had been before.

  “And how did you know my name?”

  I looked over at it again to notice it had completely stopped moving with that question. Apparently, it didn’t want to answer me, so I took another step, eyes still locked on it when it lifted its arm suddenly.

  The warning came a split second too late. My foot caught a loose rock that sent me flying backward, tumbling end over end toward the bottom of the mountain.

  While adrenaline pumped through my body as I flailed, trying to stop, a small part of my brain registered the pain that was radiating through me every second I came into contact with the rocks.

  Whenever I did manage to stop rolling, things were going to be hurt. Lots of things.

  Darkness wrapped around me. I realized that while the shadow didn’t have enough energy left to stop me from falling, it was trying to ease the blows as I tumbled.

  At last, I stopped moving. The flood of adrenaline was replaced with excruciating pain that radiated along every nerve in my body as I lay there.

  I felt the light pressure of the shadow as it slowly moved off of me.

  Thank you, I tried to say, but the words never made it past my lips before I blacked out.

  A face appeared at the small glass in the door. Victor was there, a leering grin twisting his lips.

  “Look out the window.” His voice was muted through the thick steel, but I heard it all the same. Then his face disappeared.

  “I’d give anything to wipe that smile off your face,” I muttered as I walked stiffly across the room. My left leg was swollen so much it felt like it weighed a zillion pounds.

  Ever since Toad escaped, they’d been taking their frustrations out on me. It started with questions first, and then, when I’d either refuse to answer them or give them a handful of lies, they would resort to fists, then kicks when I fell to the ground.

  This last time someone had used my leg like a trampoline. While they hadn’t broken it, they’d come really close. The only thing that had stopped them was the arrival of the woman—the one I knew was actually in charge.

  “That’s enough!” And that was all it had taken for every ounce of fight to leave the three men beating me up. Scratch that. It hadn’t been three men. It had been two thugs…and Victor.

  They’d moved me to a different room after that. One a great deal cleaner than the other. I suppose it was her way of apologizing for being in charge of such a rough crew.

  She’d come into my room sometime later with painkillers and cold compresses—all of which I’d refused.

  “If you’d only tell us what you know, things would be so much easier for you,” she had said, sitting in the chair in the corner, a respectable distance from me.

  “I won’t help you kill my friends,” I’d said, my teeth gritting partially from pain, the rest from anger.

  She’d looked shocked. “We don’t kill shifters.”

  “Tell that to everyone who saw the four bodies lying on the ground in pools of blood after your last attack,” I said, closing my eyes.

  “I am sorry for your losses. Never did I tell my people to kill. My instructions were for them to find the Yokai at Earth House and bring him or her to me. That was all.”

  At the mention of Claire, my eyes sprang open. My reaction didn’t go unnoticed.

  “So it’s true. There is a Yokai in Imperium after all this time,” she said, lip curling up in a small smile. “She was correct.”

  I pursed my lips, refusing to say a word.

  Her voice was calm as she leaned forward, eyes fixed on me. “There is something I’m going to tell you, Logan. Something that not many here know, but it might explain why I want into Imperium. You see, my name is Lauren Rhys. I was once a student at Shifter’s University—one of its paying students.”

  That caught me off-guard, but the shock was short-lived. There had been humans and shifters at the university for years. This explained how she knew the names of the different dorms. It didn’t quite explain how she knew about one of the rarest shapeshifters in our history, but still…

  “I don’t hold any ill will toward shifters, save one. It only took that one to strip everything that mattered away from me. But once we have the Yokai, I’ll have the power to settle that score, and all will be as it should. While you may or may not believe me, I will give you this promise. Once I have taken my revenge for what I have lost, the Watch will no longer attack. Once upon a time, there was a peace that had grown between your people and mine. Perhaps, once justice has been given, there will be again. I won’t pressure you into helping my cause. There is another who has entered the forest. It is possible he or she will be more willing to cooperate.”

  “How do you know there is someone else in there? How did you know I was in there for that matter?”

  “Each time someone enters through the shields, our witch feels the magic change,” she said with a shrug. “She’s been right twice so far. It’s a safe bet that someone else is in there now. The headmistress has gotten rather heavy-handed with her punishments as of late.”

  “You can say that again,” I muttered under my breath.

  Her eyes narrowed, and she chewed on her bottom lip for a moment before speaking again. “Had I not needed your help, I wouldn’t have risked sending someone in after you. The same goes for Victor. The ones trapped inside have been fighting to find a way out for quite some time, and the magic they were pulling from you two might have given them the power they needed to survive longer.”

  She was talking about the shadow like it was worth more than a living soul—my living soul to be exact. I felt my anger come alive. “So you’re willing to sacrifice anyone or anything, so long as you get what you want. What are you going to do? Set that thing in the forest loose on the university so it can finish us all off?”

  Silence hung between us. When she finally spoke, her voice was calm, but her eyes held a faraway look. “The ‘it’ you are referring to once attended that university, too. Even though he would have a reason more than any other to hate the ones within its walls, I find it unlikely he’d do as you are suggesting.”

  You weren’t the one in there with that thing, lady, I argued silently.

  The memory gone, she continued, “I am willing to sacrifice whatever it takes. There are times in life the cost may be great. This is such a time. If it takes my life…” She’d glanced at me, then. “Or other people’s lives…it makes no difference.”

  Without waiting for me to reply, she’d left. I’d spent the next hour or so mulling over the bits of information I’d been g
iven. Reluctantly, I’d taken one of the painkillers and swallowed the water she’d left on a tray.

  Then Victor had shown up in all his glory…and everything Lauren Rhys said evaporated the instant I peered out the window.

  My throat constricted, suddenly going dry, while I watched Claire’s foster brother shove Toad along in front of him, the boy’s arms twisted behind him at an angle that made my own ache. Blake marched him toward Christopher, who stood a few feet away from my window, hands clasped easily behind his back.

  “No.” I twined my fingers into the metal grate that protected the glass from my fist, and pulled as hard as I could. “No, no, no, no…”

  I caught a glimpse of the silver blade hidden in Christopher’s hand. This wasn’t going to be good at all. The kid didn’t look as if Blake had beaten him up—only captured him and brought him back.

  Because I sent him to Shifter’s to tell Claire where I was. He’s back here now because of me. This is my fault.

  “Shift! Get away,” I yelled, letting go of the grate to smash my hand into it as hard as I could. Maybe if I could get their attention, it would give him enough of a chance to break free and escape.

  Christopher turned and stared directly at me, a dark smile on his face that told me this whole show was being performed specifically for my benefit.

  I slammed my fists into the metal grate over and over as he turned and took that single step toward Toad.

  What happened next was like a silent movie. I watched the knife go into the kid, then Christopher turned and stared at my window again, laughing, blood dripping from the blade in his hand.

  To his credit, the expression on Blake’s face was one of complete horror as Toad fell to the ground. Whatever the traitor had been expecting from bringing the young shapeshifter here, this hadn’t been it.

  You’ll pay. You’ll both pay. Fury roiled through me, hotter than ever before, and I hadn’t even noticed my dragon was royally pissed off, too, until the smoke filling the room began to sting my eyes.

  “It’s about time you showed up,” I hissed. I shifted and sent a stream of fire at the wall that made the grate on the window turn a fiery red.

  Once I was satisfied that flames were licking every single inch of the wall, I whirled and smacked into it with my tail, not caring I was smashing everything in this small room to bits that was not dragon-appropriate.

  Another smack of my tail broke through to the outer wall. I sent one last blast of fire to the bricks separating me from the outside, then shoved my way through the hot clay, ignoring the chunks that bounced off my nose while I pushed through.

  Christopher was no longer smiling. If anything, he looked like a statue, frozen as he watched me come closer. I wanted to tell him what I thought about him, about the Watch and their cause, and about the boy whose life he had just snuffed out, but dragon words seemed much more appropriate, so I took a deep breath and let loose a shriek that would have cleared a medieval village in a matter of seconds.

  The sound was enough to break Christopher’s trance. He ran, knife falling to the ground.

  I’m definitely not finished with you…

  I took a deep breath, and blasted fire after him that followed him through the front door.

  Then I turned my sights to Blake—to the one I’d trusted to keep Claire safe.

  He’d run in the opposite direction. I caught a glimpse of him before he vanished into the underbrush at the side of the building.

  I was just getting ready to launch into the sky, to unleash hell on everything in sight, when a small movement caught my eye.

  Toad lifted his hand, just the slightest bit, but then it fell back to the ground when he felt me approach.

  “You’re a dragon…very cool,” he managed in short, rasping breaths.

  Blood was pooling beneath him, dark and ominous. He was still alive, but who knew for how much longer if I didn’t do something to get him help.

  I nudged him with my nose, hoping he’d understand it to mean I was going to do my best and I was sorry I’d gotten him into this mess, then I gently gathered him up, taking care not to grab him too tightly with my claws, and flew into the sky.

  “Logan?” Hadley looked astonished when I showed up on her doorstep, covered in blood, with a dying kid in my arms. “What…how…”

  “Never mind all that. I need your help.” I pushed past her and took Toad inside, straight to the kitchen table, where I laid him down, shoving everything that was in the way to the floor.

  Once I’d gotten my bearings on where I was, I’d headed straight toward the nearest hospital, but I’d known within seconds I wouldn’t make it in time. From the position of my claw around his chest, I could feel his heart…and it was getting slower with each beat. He was bleeding out.

  “I’m not a doctor, Logan. I don’t know what to do to fix this,” Hadley said, her hands holding her head, as if she was hoping this was a nightmare she would soon wake from. She began pacing back and forth.

  “Magic,” I suggested. “He’s a shifter, and he’s lost a lot of blood. Is there any spell that will slow down the blood until we can get him into an ambulance?”

  She’d already gone to the cabinets, and was pulling out bags of herbs and a first aid kit. “I think I can slow it down with this. Go call 911 and get them on their way.”

  I made the call. When I came back, she’d already pulled his shirt up and packed the herbs into the hole in his skin. She clamped a chunk of gauze on it, and was keeping pressure on it in hopes of keeping him alive.

  Toad’s eyelids fluttered. “Hurts,” he muttered. “You weigh too much. Get off.”

  “Hey, man,” I said, coming around the side of the table so he would know I was there. “You’re going to be all right.”

  His face contorted with pain. “Don’t know…have to tell you in case,” he managed.

  “Whatever it is, it can wait. We’ve got help on the way,” I said, hoping to ease him into relaxing.

  “No, asshole. Listen,” he said in a sharp voice that reminded me this kid was used to being on the streets. There was something he needed to say, and he knew how to get my attention. “I came back…to tell you. Claire…Claire’s in the forest. She went in for you.”

  The shock of that news hit me as if the kid had punched me, and I stumbled back a step.

  Claire had somehow made it in? And now she was trapped in there with that shadow. And worse, the Watch knew she was in there. What would happen if they figured out she was the Yokai they had been trying to find?

  “Logan… Logan…” Hadley’s voice finally cut through the fog in my head. It was followed by the scream of a siren that became louder each second. “You need to go find Claire. Somehow you made it out, so now you have to go get her. I can take care of things here.”

  When I didn’t move fast enough, her voice rose. “Go now! You aren’t the only one who loves her, Logan Fairmont. I mean it. If anything happens to Claire while you’re standing there thinking things over, I swear I’ll kill you.”

  “Better listen… I think she’ll do it,” Toad whispered.

  When I reached the door, I looked over my shoulder one last time at the boy lying on the kitchen table and the young witch who had blood up to her elbows. I sent them every silent, hopeful wish I had, then I left, sneaking around the corner of the house to the vacant lot. I shot up into the air, red and white flashing lights in my peripheral vision as the ambulance pulled into Hadley’s driveway.

  I was near the road where Victor had brought me through within minutes. I landed, then shifted back and walked to the shields, noticing that the heavy, forbidding feeling was as strong as ever.

  Please let this work, I prayed as I pushed closer to the shield, my hand outstretched. It was still wet, covered in Toad’s blood. The instant I touched it, I felt the magic shift and widen.

  As soon as I came through the other side, my dragon took over, shoving my human self below the surface.

  Claire…where would you go to f
ind me? I wondered, looking around at the familiar surroundings before my eyes settled on the ledge near the top of the mountain. Everything in my gut told me that was where she would be. It was where she would have known I’d be.

  I was just about to fly up when I saw the one thing I’d hoped to never see again.

  The shadow was there, and it wasn’t far away. I knew it was watching me, so I sent it a warning, a long stream of smoke from my nostrils to let it know I wasn’t happy about seeing it there.

  I expected to feel the drain of magic as it fed off me again, but surprisingly, I didn’t. I kept one eye on it as I stretched my wings, preparing to fly.

  Then it charged at me and I took a step back, blasting fire at it in hopes of keeping it at bay. The flames went through it, but it did stop.

  I watched it warily, wings stretching out again.

  Again it charged, so I sent more fire its way and it stopped.

  This is too weird. It’s like it doesn’t want me to go up there. Maybe it’s because it doesn’t want me to get to Claire. That thought made me more determined to get past it.

  I stretched out my wings and ignored it when it came at me again. The instant my body left the ground I felt a sudden drain on my human side that sent me straight back, crashing to the ground.

  When I stood up, smoke was billowing out of my nose and I was ready to scorch it, regardless of the fact that I knew I wouldn’t harm it in the least.

  Then it did something I didn’t expect. The shapeless dark wisp took on the shape of a human shadow and it gestured toward me, as if it wanted me to follow.

  As quickly as it transformed, it changed back, as if it didn’t have enough power to hold that form longer than the barest of seconds.

  As I watched, it moved away and then moved closer, then moved away and then closer. Back and forth.

  It does want me to follow it, I thought, taking the steps to do exactly that before I had a chance to think it through.

  I kept one eye on the shadow that was moving slowly and deliberately in front of me, and the other peeled for a small red fox that was here…somewhere.