Uniquely Unwelcome (The Shadow World)

by Brandy Nacole

I decide to make my move before they head for the hotel and someone sees them. My plan won’t work unless everyone else is left out.

  I walk up closer to them; their backs are all turned from me. They’re more worried about the alley in front of them instead of what’s behind them.

  Deciding not to waste any more time, I jump the one in the back. Pouncing on his back like a cat. He swings around, swinging my legs into the others. Now I have all their attention. I keep fighting, throwing a punch here and a kick there. I’m not planning on coming out of this although I put on a good act.

  Finally the funky-looking wolf fairy smacks me across the face, sending me flying into a building. He may be weird looking but he sure is strong. I pretend to go limp from the hit. I relax my body, closing my eyes, making sure not to blink or move them too much.

  One of the Chimeras tells the others in a hoarse voice to pick me up. I stay alert just in case they decide to go ahead and kill me. That would totally screw everything up.

  Two of them are carrying me. One has my legs and the other has my hands. Not a way I prefer to be carried considering my back is dragging the ground along with every piece of trash, glass, and rocks in our path. It will make escaping a bit easier though.

  I can feel one of them step down before my back hit’s the edge of a walk way. My body screams out in pain but I remain immobile. They lug me through the quiet town in silence.

  Finally we reach a boat, where I’m tossed in like a sack of taters. Maybe this was a bad idea. By the time we get to wherever we’re going, I’m going to be so banged up and bruised I won’t be able to put up a fight.

  We ride in the boat for a while. The only sound slicing through the quiet night is the water slapping up against the boat. Once we hit land my stomach is churning from the boat rocking. I hope I don’t get sick. Imagine their surprise if I was to just jump up puking.

  I’m grabbed by the same two that had me before. I can tell from the scaly hands of one and the claw like grasp of the other. I dare open my eyes just a slit to see where we are. My head is propped up on my left arm so all I see is the lake behind us.

  Making a move that could cost me; I let my head drop back and droop between my arms. Focusing on the path before me and not the rocks lying in wait to connect with my head, I see nothing but snow sloping up a mountain side.

  Apparently my head move goes unnoticed; I’m not being thrown to the ground and pummeled. Now that I have seen the path in front of us, I want to pick my head back up to ensure I keep it. But I know something like that would be noticed. Gravity pulling my head down makes sense, it being lifted back up not so much.

  I relax my head completely, allowing it to sway back and forth; this gives me a chance to dodge the big rocks without alerting anyone.

  Before long we are halfway up the mountain. I can see an outcropping coming up, the ring leader already there waiting on the others. As we get closer my heart starts slamming in my chest. This is it. I know it is I can feel it. The power on this mountain is strong. The little hairs on my body stand straight up.

  As soon as I can see over the outcropping, I’m tossed onto the ledge. I don’t land hard but jeez they could be gentler with me. There should be some sort of kidnapping handbook that teaches manners when holding someone hostage, or better yet, dragging them up a mountainside.

  My heads is lying with my right cheek on the ground. I keep my left eye closed as I peek through my right eye. That’s when I see it, a shimmer in the mountainside, like a doorway.

  “You guys watch her. I’m going to tell the master we are here.” The mangled-up wolf gives the others a severe look, or what I perceive as a severe look, who can tell? Then he walks through the shimmer, disappearing to the other side.

  Now I have to act fast. I only have a small window of time before wolf boy comes back, possible bringing an entourage. There’s one Chimera standing by my head, two behind me, and the other one is standing by the shimmer. I’m not too worried about him, so I implement my plan to take out the other three first.

  Grabbing the one by my head on the leg, I yank him down while spinning up to connect my leg with the other two. One of them falls off the ledge and down the mountainside he goes. The other one catches himself, landing on the ledge. The Chimera that was by my head is now lying on the ground but is quickly making a comeback.

  With no time to spare, I shift, taking flight into the air while there’s still time. Before I’m out of reach, the Chimera standing by the shimmer jumps up and plucks a feather from my tail. Ouch! That freaking hurt. Here’s a tip: don’t ever pluck a feather from a bird, it really ticks them off. If I wasn’t trying to escape with my life, I would so go back and pluck his eyes out.

  Flying on I pick up speed, heading straight into the heart of Nuuk. I land on top of the hotel and change back into my human form. Crap I’m naked. Didn’t really think that through did I? I should have brought up some clothes before I left earlier but I didn’t. Now what am I going to do?

  I crouch down, trying to cover as much as I can, not that anyone can see me, but still. After a few moments of wasting time over my awkwardness, I decide to woman up. Breaking the lock on the roof access door, I descend the stairs. Thankfully I don’t meet anyone on my way down. Once at the bottom, I peek around the corner to scope the hallway out. The lights are flickering but I see no one roaming around. I take a step into the hall and notice the carpets damp. Ignoring the idea of what could have caused that, I move on.

  I meet a woman once I’m almost to my room. Holding my head high I never meet her eyes but know she’s looking at me shocked. Who walks around naked down the hall of a hotel in the middle of the night? A few scenarios come to mind, and I can only imagine what the woman is thinking.

  I go to open my door but it’s locked. Figures. I knock really hard on the door, hoping Danika is inside. Within a few short breaths the door knob jiggles then the door is flung open. Coy stands on the other side of the entryway ready to yell at me but he quickly loses his aggravation.

  Grabbing a hold of me, he yanks me inside, shutting the door. Instead of being a proper gentleman, he just stands there and gawks at me. He doesn’t bother hiding it. I know sometimes it’s hard to think but he could have grabbed me a towel or something instead of just standing there. But what can I expect really? He was raised in a dungeon where manners were nonexistent. I’m sure if his mother had raised him, the first thing he would have done was covered me up. Then again maybe not, he is a guy after all.

  “Enjoying the show?” I place my hands on my hips, giving him the ‘uh-huh that’s right I’m naked but you could give me some respect’ glare.

  Jolting himself out of his daze, he runs into the bathroom and brings me back a towel. Well I say towel but it’s more like a cloth that mice have probably made their home. The amount of holes in it is proof of that.

  Waving him off, I walk over to my bag getting my own clothes. He’s already seen me naked so why try to hide under a piece of worn out cloth that wouldn’t hide the freckle on my butt let alone anything else.

  Once my clothes are on, Coy is finally out of his stupor and ready to lecture. “Where have you been? You said you were going to get newspapers. That was five hours ago Racquel. Do you realize how crazy worried we have been? Danika and the Elders are doing a tracking spell on you as we speak.”

  “Where are they?” I need to rally everyone together, no need to tell my story a dozen times. Plus, we need to set a plan into motion.

  “They’re down the hall, why?”

  Without a word, I walk past him and out the door. I know he’s going to follow me so I don’t bother to tell him to come along.

  I walk down the hall to the Elders room. Not even bothering to knock, I just open the door. Everyone looks up as I enter, luckily Ethan’s there, and that’s when a million questions go flying through the air. I let them all rant for a minute, then throw my hand up to stop them.

  “I know where they are.”

  “Where who are?
” Danika has her hands crossed over her chest. She looks mad but I can tell she’s relieved too.

  I give them the rundown of where I was, which let me tell you is not easy. I kept getting interrupted with comments like ‘are you crazy’ and ‘Racquel are you insane.’ When I’m finally able to finish, everyone just looks at me. Not really the reaction I was going for. I was thinking more along the lines of running to grab weapons and out the door we go.

  “Hello, did y’all hear what I said?”

  Eldrida rises from her seat, walking over to me with her hands crossed in front of her. “We heard you my dear but I’m more worried about you and why you would take such dramatic measures to find this place? Within time we could have found the location without the risk.”

  Now it’s my turn to rant and rave. Just when I thought everyone would be pleased to know that this is all almost over, that after all our hard work, we had found the place, I get scolded. Really?

  “You think your magic-that didn’t seem to be doing the trick-and searching all over the world while being chased by Chimera is working? I know what I did was a little extreme but at least I got results.”

  “You could have also gotten yourself killed. Then what would we have done? We would have wasted more time trying to find you. Did you ever think about that?” Eldrida says.

  “I did think about that actually but I also thought about all those lives hanging in the balance. The one’s we set out to save. Remember them? What we were doing wasn’t cutting it. I know what I did was crazy but so is everything else. So let’s just move past what I did and continue on with what I found out.” A moment passes by where everyone’s watching Eldrida and I stare one another down. I never thought I would be arguing like this with Eldrida.

  Ethan rises from his chair, clearing his throat. “She’s right. What’s done is done, so let’s just move on and figure out our next move.”

  Eldrida shakes her head and then joins the others at the table. Where did they get a table? The closest thing to a table in my room is a lopsided dresser.

  “So where’s Jared?” I ask looking around the room.

  Right on cue the door opens, and in pops his arrogant face. “Miss me?” Ugh. Vampire hearing is so annoying. Sometimes it’s useful but for the most part it’s inconvenient. I’m just glad I can tune mine out.

  Danika gives Jared the run-down while the rest of us discuss strategy. Even though everyone has looked past my so called ignorance for the time being, there is one downside that can’t be overlooked.

  “Even though we know where they’re hiding, they also know we are coming now. So instead of having the upper hand of surprise, we are going to have to be vigilant.” Eldrida pulls up a map of Nuuk and the surrounding mountains on her iPad. That’s one thing I can say about the Coven, they may live in the middle of nowhere and still revere to their natural abilities and survival tactics, they spare no expense when it comes to technology and travel leisure.

  “I think we should approach the mountain from two different sides.” Ethan points at the map.

  I shake my head, “That won’t work. There’s only one entrance so even if we do split up, we still meet at the top entrance. It’s best if we stick together.”

  Eldrida nods in agreement. “She’s right. If we stick together, we can use all our resources to fight them off. Splitting up would only weaken us as a group.”

  After a few hours of strategic planning, the plan is set and I’m ready to bust down a shimmering door but Eldrida has other plans. “You need to rest, Racquel. We all do. This is going to be a major battle, one that we cannot face while we are dragged down by fatigue.”

  Our plan is to meet up in the Elders room before dawn, which is only a few hours away. Really I don’t see what a few hours of rest will do but everyone had agreed with Eldrida.

  Danika keeps a close eye on me, fearing I may take off to fight the bad guys myself. She even goes to the extreme of switching me beds so she is between me and the door. I guess I really did scare her.

  Lying in bed, on top of blanket Eldrida gave me, all I can think about is seeing Addie again. I know deep down in my soul that she is still alive. And even if my death is to meet me tomorrow, I will see Addie before that happens. I must see my sister again.

  Chapter Twenty Three

  I get caught up in my dreams, but for once it’s a happy time from my past. I’m laughing on the bed with Addie back home and living in a time where everything is okay. I sense Danika trying to rouse me from sleep but I fight her off. I don’t want to leave this happy dream.

  Then Danika shouts, “Do you want to go save your sister or not?”

  The light bulb flicks on and I’m out of bed, dressing faster than I ever have before and out the door before Danika can turn to follow. Running down the hall to catch up with me, she’s right behind me as I enter the Elder’s room. Everyone else is there, and ready.

  I still have worries about Coy but he refuses to stay behind. Eldrida and Laveda had a talk with him last night about the dangers of him going but he refused to wait. If it were up to me, I would tie him to the bed, tell him I’m sorry, and then bring his brother back safely.

  Everyone gears up with weapons. Where those came from I have no idea. I’m guessing the Elders had them brought in sometime during the night.

  I ditch the crummy weapons I brought for the more effective ones before me. Placing several knife holders on me, one on my ankle, my arms, and my back, I load up, then strap a pouch to my thigh, filled with stars.

  Eldrida brings out a small case, a look of resolve on her face. She walks over to Coy, opening the case and bringing out a hand gun. “Even though I do not believe in violence, there are times when we must protect ourselves in extreme measures.” She hands the pistol to Coy, which I am internally grateful for. With no magic or unnatural strength, he’s going to need something to keep the monsters at bay.

  Ethan only takes one small blade. I know Ethan’s tough and all but one knife? Seriously? “Don’t you think you’re going to need more than that?”

  “I figure I’ll be in wolf form most of the time anyway. I can’t use weapons with my claws.” True. Okay so I didn’t think that through. Am I having a brain lapse or am I just too wrapped up in seeing my sister that I’m overlooking small but important things?

  Once we are ready to go, we head out to the lake. Nuuk is a fishing town, so even though the sun has only been visible for a short while, the harbor is already packed with boats, fisherman, and buyers. Boats pass by, horns blaring. Fishermen are tossing their catches of the morning to be weighed and sold. Butchers are lined up on the sidewalk chopping up fresh fish, while eager customers scope out their choices.

  Last night this place was quiet as a grave. No one was around to witness me being dragged onto a boat by freaky-looking creatures. That made it easier for the Chimeras to go unseen but what are we going to do now? I had planned on borrowing a boat, hoping to bring it back loaded with freed captives instead of fresh fish.

  “How are we going to get across the lake? I can always fly but what about you guys?”

  “I’ll go down to the office and see if they have any boats to rent.” Hanalei says walking down toward the Marina. It’s about time she starts doing something. Up to now, she just let everyone else take charge.

  While standing there I scope out the mountain. Now that I know where to look, the shimmer stands out like mud on a white shirt. Except for now there’s a red tint to the shimmer when yesterday it was clear, looking just like the snow around it.

  I walk over to Eldrida, pointing up to the top of the mountain, “Why is there red around the doorway?”

  Eldrida had been watching Hanalei walk down to the Marina but now she looks up to the mountain. “She’s put a protective block over the door.” She gives me a wicked smile. “But that won’t stop us.”

  I hope not. I would hate to have gone through all this trouble to be stopped by some magic shield. I rub my head at the memory of being dragged u
p the mountainside. If Eldrida is confident that they can break the barrier, then so am I.

  A few moments later Hanalei returns. “The boat master said there’s no charter going to Mount Sermitsiaq. There are no boats to rent either.”

  Ethan throws his hand in the air in frustration. “Now what?”

  “No worries, follow me.” Eldrida walks back to her cars and gets in, the rest of us follow suit. Before long we are out of town and at the edge of the lake, or as Danika corrected, a cove off the Davis Strait.

  Standing at the edge of the water, I see the same obstacle as before: no way across the water. Then Eldrida places her hands out, saying something so low I can’t hear it. I spike up my hearing just in time to hear her say, “let us cross.”

  Then a path forms above the water made out of logs. “Ready?”

  I look at Eldrida questioningly. “Ready for what?”

  “To cross of course,” She says gesturing to the logs lined up on the water’s surface.

  I’m not afraid of the water, skin and clothes dry. But I don’t want to get wet considering its sub-zero temps and we have to climb a mountain covered in snow and ice. Getting wet is the last thing I want right now.

  “That’s alright, I’ll fly.” I turn to Danika contemplating where to strip down. She just shakes her head. “If we have to cross it, you’re crossing it.”

  “Oh I’ll be crossing it alright, in the sky.”

  Danika puts her hands on her hips. With an amused look, she shakes her head saying, “No, you’re crossing like the rest of us.”

  I turn back to Eldrida. “There aren’t even enough logs.” Lined up in a row are nine logs. I’m no expert on this but I’m going to say we need at least a thousand more logs.

  “It’s perfectly fine. Once the last person steps off the log in the back, it will come up to the front. This way our bridge doesn’t get destroyed by any boats.”

  I wonder what the boat captains will think if they see eight people crossing the water on logs. Love to see their faces.

  Taking a deep breath, we begin our water-crossing track. Coy is behind me, with Ethan in front. Danika and the Elders are bringing up the rear. I warn both Coy and Ethan that if either one of them go down, they better not drag me in too. Although truth be told, if I go down someone’s going with me.