by Elissa Daye
“Right. Well, uhm….” Logan cleared his throat.
“What Logan wanted to say was that the Craven has been siphoning energy from unsuspecting people for some time now. Their favorite places to gather are public places.”
“What, like ball games?” Serena’s voice seemed strained as well. Lyssa was sure she didn’t relish the idea that an innocent had died for no good reason. Their eyes met, and Lyssa acknowledged her emotions with a small nod.
“Yes. Restaurants, grocery stores, and movie theaters…basically, any place that a lot of people gather and are preoccupied. The Craven enter these places with their wands hidden under trench coats and wait for discord to erupt around them. Before long, people start pushing their carts like they’re in the Indy 500, disregarding the people around them.”
Lyssa could see the picture in her head. She’d been in a few grocery stores like that before, where people glared at anyone intruding in their space as if they had no right to be in their way. Lyssa had always thought the way she felt was in direct relation to the empathic abilities she carried inside herself, but hearing that these people were being corrupted made sense.
“The energy festers like an infected wound in front of them, and they siphon it directly into the crystals they carry with them. These crystals, when charged, are used in rituals to open more portals for the shadows to enter their world.” Hunter tossed a rock on the table. “They look like this one, but it’s only a facsimile of the originals. Their relationship with the shadows seems to be more than symbiotic. It allows them to create a vortex of energy around here.”
“This is damaging.” Serena shook her head in disgust, her red hair bouncing in reflex. “Any vortex of this magnitude could one day split the world in half. The line between good and evil will never be the same. These damn things will rip our world apart.”
“We must continue to strive for balance. We need to find a way to weaken both the Craven and the shadows before they rip our world apart.”
Julius and Hunter exchanged glances, which told her that something was not right at all. “What are you holding back, Hunter?” She hated the accusation in her voice.
Hunter looked over at Lyssa and Jackson. “I’m afraid your city may be in trouble.”
Jackson and Lyssa exchanged glances.
“So what exactly are they up to, Julius? What makes this different?” Lyssa suddenly worried that Lana might be in danger. She had kept up with Lana the best that she could with her hectic schedule, but it seemed like she hadn’t talked to her for a little while. Guilt ate at her conscience, and Lyssa knew she would have to make it a point to check in with her soon.
“As you know, the shadows are always present. The Guardians are only concerned when there are too many present in any one area. In your town, the Craven near you seems to be summoning them forward at a faster rate than other areas. The Guardians have known there are many cells of the Craven. Hunter and Logan are infiltrating this cell to see what they can learn. These shadows are not just seeping from the ground slowly, as they are in other places. There has to be a new portal somewhere.”
“What do you suggest, Julius?” Logan asked him. Logan had always seemed so innocent, but the fire burning in his eyes right then showed exactly the opposite.
“First, we find them.” Julius looked over at her, and she knew that he was waiting for her to say something.
“I can do that. I’ve done it before. I can show you where they were the last time I saw them, but what are we going to do when we find them?”
Hunter looked extremely concerned. It was clear that he did not want her to put herself at risk. Anyone looking at him could tell he was fighting a battle with himself. At least he knew how she felt for a change. He put himself in this kind of danger every single day.
Lyssa took a deep breath. “I can do this, Hunter.”
“If I lose her again….”
“Hunter, stop. This is bigger than all of us.”
Lyssa stood up and reached over to the globe in front of them. She remembered the night when she had used her animal guide to help her find the shadows. When she looked down, the globe displayed a city map, and she pointed to where the warehouse was located on Main Street. “Here. But they are not there at the moment. The last time I tried, it was later in the evening, if you recall. It’s still early.”
“Is that where the portal is?” Julius stood and walked over to the map.
“No.” Somehow, she just knew that the portal had to be somewhere else. “The Craven had summoned one shadow there, but for some reason, I still think that’s not where they are all coming in. I know I can find it. Give me a few minutes.” Lyssa had been practicing all those long hours for this very thing. All she had to do was give it a chance. The answer would come.
Putting her hands at both ends of the map of the city, she kept each one just an inch away from the surface. Her fingertips roamed all over the map on the globe as she waited to feel the warm energy she usually felt when she was locating the shadows. This time it would be more difficult because she was looking for a portal that would probably only give off residual energy.
“Here.” A faint tingling feeling had passed from the map to her fingertips. There was some kind of vortex…this had to be it.
“We move.”
Lyssa could see the place she wanted to move to in the forefront of her mind. Closing her eyes, she willed her body to move through time and space. In an instant, she was standing at the entrance to a graveyard with the other four.
“Figures,” muttered Logan.
Jackson covered a laugh with a cough, and Lyssa jabbed him in the side with her elbow. She put a hand on Logan’s shoulder. Logan was younger than her. While he had more training with the Watch Tower, he still felt very much like a younger brother. The idea of him attempting to join the Craven to spy behind the scenes nibbled on her conscience. They might eat him alive. She didn’t like Hunter attempting it either, but she knew if it were her choice to do the same, Hunter would not be able to keep her from it. They each had to do what was necessary to protect the world.
As far as graveyards went, this one was not particularly exceptional. For the most part, it was peaceful. Lyssa never understood why people thought they would find spirits crossing from one end of a cemetery to the other because spirits were more attached to places that they had frequented when they were living. How many people liked to spend their time on Earth at a cemetery? Perhaps a caretaker or gravedigger here or there, but very few others would want to reside within its walls. People were usually just spooked by the idea that there were bodies buried beneath their feet. She always laughed any time she saw a paranormal investigation group trying to find paranormal activity near graves, for they often left with no evidence of paranormal activity at all.
The road that led into the cemetery was only one lane. To the right was a caretaker’s house that was used as a sort of guard station during the day. The person who took care of this place took pride in the work done there. The grass was well tended with its green blades having just been trimmed. The sweet cucumber smell of the grass pollen permeated the air. The trees that she could see from the entrance were healthy, and each sported a fair amount of leaves for late spring.
They walked down the winding road that separated the graves from one side to the other. When Lyssa felt energy pulling her, she led the group to the back corner of the western side of the graveyard. There were several unmarked tombstones in this area, which she found slightly unusual. Were these bodies that had been relinquished to the county coroner? When Lyssa gazed at the grave farthest away from the road, she felt a chill go up her spine. While the rest of the grass had appeared green in the cemetery, the color of this grass ranged from yellow to light brown. The tree three feet away from the gravestone was unlike any of the other trees. Having no leaves at all, the way that it twisted and turned toward the sky made it appear
like a deadly hand grasping for…what, she could only guess. Her guide, Jephilia, was standing next to the tree and pointing at the headstone of the grave. Lyssa gestured to the others to stay where they were as she walked over to find out what else she could tell her.
“Be careful, Lyssa. The portal is open and active. The shadows can emerge at any point. If you choose to enter the portal, I cannot guarantee your safety. I’m unable to follow you there. You may not be able to return if you are caught. I can sense that so many uncertainties lay within its depths. Be careful.”
“Thank you, Jephilia. You know we must go. We need to find out as much as we can about their world so that we may protect ours. We have daylight on our side.”
Jephilia nodded at her before disappearing. Her guide had done her job for now, as there was no way she would be able to stop Lyssa from entering. Jephilia understood her better than she understood herself sometimes.
“Jephilia says to be careful. The shadows can come at any time. If we are sensed, the shadows will be doing whatever they can to stop us from escaping. We’ll have to be ready to teleport out at any time.”
When she walked closer to the gravestone, she could feel that the air was colder right behind the headstone than anywhere else around it. She closed her eyes and concentrated on opening her third eye. When she opened her eyes, she could see a large circle of energy that was swarming in front of her. This was the portal, for it was only visible to magical eyes. Lyssa turned to look at the others and gestured for them to come closer.
“Do you see that?”
“I feel it more than I see it,” Jackson answered her.
Lyssa could see a slight shiver go through Logan. “We have to go in, don’t we?”
Julius answered for her. “It’s inevitable, Logan. We have to see what we are up against. If the shadows gain their power from the Land of the Shadows, then we must see for ourselves what is fueling them.”
“Actually, Julius, I think that since Hunter and Logan are trying to find a way into the Craven, perhaps they should sit the rest of this mission out,” Serena suggested.
“She’s right.” Lyssa could not help but agree with her.
Clearly, it did not earn her points with Hunter at the moment. His eyes showed that he was not very happy with her words. “What if you need me?”
“Hunter, if I need you, you will know.” She was sure of that, more than she had been in a long time. He would hear her if she called out for him.
“Fine. But we’re waiting here until you come out.”
Lyssa was relieved when they agreed that only four of them would be entering the portal. She felt shivers go up her spine as she got closer to the entrance, and while part of her courage was failing, she knew she had to go through it. Closing her eyes, she stepped forward. As she walked through the portal, Lyssa could feel the space around her changing drastically, almost as if she went from one season to the other within seconds. Their world was all sunshine and light breezes, but inside the portal, it was almost like a frigid wind was roaring around her. When she made it through the portal, the climate evened out. She waited for the others to step in behind her.
“What is this, a cave?”
“I don’t know, Serena. It’s so dark in here that it’s hard to see anything. Should we light our wands?” Lyssa really did not like the pitch black around them. Being able to see would be a lot easier if they could light a wand to make their way through this place.
“I don’t trust it,” Jackson interjected.
“Agreed. We’ll have to wait for our eyes to adjust. From here, we will need to mind speak. If anyone is watching this area, they could hear us,” Julius answered.
Lyssa wanted to add that if there was anything in this place, chances were they could already see them, as their eyes were made for this darkness. This seemed pointless to point that out, though. Besides, she could not feel any shadows near them.
Almost five minutes had passed before she could see where she was stepping. They were moving down what appeared to be either a tunnel or a long, narrow cave. After walking for a few minutes, she could see a dim light coming from ahead.
Do you see the light? She turned toward Julius.
Yes. We’ll need to be very careful here. He nodded his head toward the light, and they gathered together. From there on, she did not want to be the one in the lead. As far as she was concerned, the other two were more prepared for an attack than she was, for her strengths were identifying and understanding energy around her. It was a natural ability for her. Julius took the lead, and Serena took the flank, leaving her and Jackson in the middle.
When they turned the corner, they were staring at what looked like an old subway entrance. Did this world have a subway? Lyssa felt slightly intrigued. She wondered what else could be here. They walked down the tunnel until they found concrete stairs leading up to the world above them. She couldn’t get over the bizarre nature of entering a portal that took them underneath their world, only to be heading up to somewhere that none of them really knew.
Julius turned toward her. What do you sense ahead of us?
Quiet. Solitude. No shadows at the moment. We should be safe.
Lyssa closed her eyes and made herself focus hard on the stairs ahead of them. They climbed up the stairs quietly with their wands at the ready. When they could see out of the stairway into the world, they gazed over the top of the stairs.
The sight that met their eyes was entirely unexpected. The land resembled a metropolitan area, much like any city Lyssa had seen before. Some of the buildings were slightly demolished, others were completely intact, but no sign of life permeated the area. Black ashes rained down on the world, making it look very much like a snow globe with tarnished flakes. The lack of color made it seem as if the whole world had never discovered Technicolor. Everything in the Land of Shadows was cast in shades of gray, ranging from white all the way to black.
Jackson looked over at Julius. Are we going up there?
Lyssa was glad that Jackson had asked the question so that she did not have to. They were just sitting there, and she could not sense anything, but waiting for something to happen did not seem very smart. Why chance fate? After all, they were as much a target hiding in this stairwell as they would be above ground.
Julius looked at her. What do you feel up there?
Closing her eyes, Lyssa shut out all the static around her. Once again, she tried to see if she felt any energy up there that she should consider a threat. At the moment, we are shadow free. If we wait here in one spot for too long, they may sense us. We need to keep moving.
Julius was the first to climb the last step up from the subway. They followed closely behind him. There would always be safety in numbers, especially in a world they had never been in before. Continuing carefully, they traveled a few blocks before they heard the cries. Someone down here was in considerable pain. While they were intruders to this world, it was still not in their nature to let anyone suffer needlessly.
Lyssa pulled a pencil and a piece of paper out of the small backpack and started sketching quickly. She drew all the buildings around them and put the pencil down. Running her fingers over the drawings, she knew that she had pinpointed where the cries were coming from when she touched the tallest building on the other side of the street. All the practice that she been forced to do in the past few weeks made it easier to trust her instincts.
There. That building. We’ll need to go quickly. It doesn’t sound like we have much time if we’re going to help.
The others were in agreement with her. They moved quickly across the street, not really watching where they were going, because all of the cars were old, rusted, and definitely not moving an inch. Every once in a while, they saw the black shadow of a bird fly across the sky, but the shadow people were nowhere to be found. Did that mean that they were above ground? Would it be considered above ground, if
they had just come up from somewhere that had been under them in their world? Was this Land of the Shadows really underneath the ground they walked on or was it a dimension somewhere else? Lyssa wondered why no one had ventured here before. She decided now was as good a time as any to ask.
Are we the first to travel here?
Through that portal, yes. Others have been through other portals, but few have lived to tell what they have seen. Julius refused to look at her.
Are you freaking kidding me? So what you’re saying is we may not return? Jackson shook his head in disbelief.
If Lyssa keeps her shadow detection going, we should be fine, Jackson. So, please let her focus. It could mean the difference between life and death.
Hunter must have known what they were getting into down here before they had left. That explained the darkened expression on his face when they had moved closer to the portal. She had learned another lesson today, though: always ask for more details before she followed Julius anywhere. As far as leaders went, Julius needed a lot of work.
Lyssa realized her thoughts were wandering, and once again tried to focus on the task at hand. They had just entered the building and could hear the screams from the bottom of the stairs. The Guardians climbed up one step at a time and stopped on the third floor when Julius put a hand up to listen for the screams again. When they heard them this time, they realized there was more than one of them coming from the fourth floor just above them. They climbed the last flight of stairs leading to the fourth floor.
The door opened to a large open space. Lyssa had almost expected to see a hallway leading to other doors they would have to maneuver through. When she glanced across the room, a dozen people were sitting on the floor against the back wall, except they were no longer people…they were not corporeal at all. Their images were projections of what they must have looked like in life, and it was easy to see through them. They were the same gray color as the rest of this world. Each one seemed to be plagued by some horror that she could not see. Nothing seemed to be physically holding them in place except a long black string of smoke that acted as a spiritual anchor that locked them to the ground, like a dark black chain of smoke attached to them.
