Shadow Walker (Revenant’s Series Book 1)

by Elissa Daye

  Chapter 25

  At this point, there were several choices of portals to explore. Imagining one spot on the map, she teleported there easily. When she looked up, she sucked in her breath. Grand Boulevard. It had been a lifetime since she’d been there. The last time was when she had seen the Phantom of the Opera at the Fox Theatre. Walking down the sidewalk, the marquee to the theatre lit up every inch of the night around her.

  The vortex of the portal could be felt from where she stood, and she was immediately drawn to the alley behind the theatre. Lyssa tried not to stand out from the crowd of people gathering for the next show as she cut into the alley quickly. Turning to make sure she was not being followed, Lyssa continued down the alley. Strong energy threatened the stillness around her when she reached a dumpster past the theatre doors that exited into the alley.

  Moving behind the dumpster, she put a hand out to feel for the portal. When a blast of cold air hit her, Lyssa knew it was right in front of her. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and walked into it. At once, her body was sucked through a long wind tunnel as she crossed through to the other side. This time, moving through, it took much longer than the first portal. As she reached the other side, she was standing in an alley, much like the one she had just left, with only one exit. Yanking her hood down lower, she walked slowly down the alley to the exit in front of her. When Lyssa turned the corner, she saw that this was definitely a different area of the Land of the Shadows. Before Lyssa advanced any further, she brought out her wand to create the energy cloak that blocked her trail from the shadows.

  No roads presented in front of her, only blackened waterways that were covered in boats shaped much like gondolas. Some were moving on their own accord, while others were being steered by shadows gripping oars that moved eerily in the water. There were buildings on either side of the waterways and bridges joining one area to the next. This was very reminiscent of Venice, but the buildings were much more modern, with their sharp edges and glass that jutted out almost threateningly to the air around it. Here, there were no black ashes falling around her, just black clouds that circulated like mini tornadoes around the tops of the buildings. Every once in a while, flashes of light slammed through one cloud to another, making her think that some of the shadows were fighting within the menacing masses of air as if they were trapped within while clawing their way out with every bit of force they had. Had those clouds carried up shadows through the eye of a tornado? How many were trapped within the masses?

  Lyssa had to keep moving, for she feared that those tornadoes would move at any moment and catch more prey within the eye of their storms. Perhaps that was why the shadows were moving farther away from this area. These shadows were certainly more corporeal than the last. She could see the muscles moving through the blackness as they maneuvered their boats through the gentle current of the river. Their shapes were defined all the way from their heads down to their toes in a seamless fashion. Yes, these shadows were more advanced than any of the ones they had ever encountered.

  All the boats seemed to be navigating in the same direction. If she wanted to find more information, she would have to follow them, and since she did not think swimming was an option, she would have to find a boat that was unoccupied. Waiting for the next boat to pass, she kept her head down and faded into the background of the building behind her.

  When she finally saw a boat drifting down the river with no occupant, she moved closer to the water. The gondola was a few inches away from the edge of the dock when she leaned over the edge and reached for it. The current was strong, pulling the boat so forcefully that she had to pull hard to get it to line up with the dock. She climbed inside of it and grabbed onto both sides until the bobbing waves settled beneath her. Lyssa did not want to fall into the water, for there was no telling what lay in its depths.

  Reaching for the oars attached to the sides of the boat, she began to steer through the murky waters, following the boats in front of her as she continued to look back up at the clouds circling over her. Lyssa felt the air moving behind her and saw the tail of a smaller tornado moving closer to the water. She sliced the oars through the water as fast as she could to get away from the cloud, but as she looked back, she realized that it had touched down and was moving back up into the sky. Her first thoughts had been correct, for the tornado had sucked up a handful of shadows from the boats behind her. Lyssa heard screams that she imagined were much like the shrieks of a haunting banshee as the tornado-like clouds continued to transport the black essences upward.

  The aftermath of the wind made the waves of the river shake her boat so hard; she thought it would capsize. Lyssa threw the oars inside the boat and clung to the sides so hard; she could see the whites of her knuckles. She was lucky that the tornadoes left as quickly as they came. Looking up to the sky, she took a deep calming breath, for the waters had stilled. She pulled out the oars once more and paddled faster than before, attempting to put distance between her and those clouds.

  The boat moved faster, and when she made it to the end of the stream, it branched off into another. The current in this stream was highly accelerated, so less rowing was required. She used the oars to steer her way down the new stream. When she saw shadows docking their boats up ahead, she knew there had to be some kind of meeting place near here.

  As the boat neared the dock, it seemed to know to stop. Lyssa couldn’t help thinking how bizarre this was but had to remind herself that this world was powered with a magic that was completely different than her own. The rules of her world probably did not apply to this one. Climbing onto the dock, she quickly dodged to the side of the closest building. The shadows were moving down the path between two buildings farther down. It was imperative that she be careful not to get too close to them, so while her instincts wanted to race after them, logic replaced them. She walked slowly with her head turned to the ground and as quietly as her feet would move her. Lyssa remembered to turn around ever so slowly to see if any other shadows followed her, but since the tornadoes had eaten a few of the ones behind her earlier, there were no shadows there. It would be safe to continue.

  When she made it down the walkway in front of her, she saw an area that looked much like a garden with many different sculptures. She walked closer and saw that the shadows were gathered around a black orb in the middle of the courtyard below her. The garden surrounded the courtyard like an old amphitheater. The grass near her was gray, and some of the flowers around her sprouted black petals, while others were shades of grey. When she bent to pick up a flower, it shriveled under her touch. She moved quickly away from it, hoping that the shadows had not noticed the flower reacting to her touch. Her energy had pulsed through to the petal itself and caused a reaction that she had not expected.

  Continuing down the path, she did her best to mimic their floating movement. Lyssa felt she was failing miserably, but it became clear that they were too absorbed in what they were doing to notice her. Lyssa moved on to another area of the garden because something was pulling her closer. When she passed through a wrought iron gate, she almost gasped aloud. This garden was covered in black marble statues that were unlike any that she had seen before. These were statues of people, all in different defensive poses, with a horrific look of terror carved deeply into each face. One could not imitate this emotion; any carving would pale in comparison to the reality of an actual human terror. That was when she realized that these statues were souls lost to the shadow world.

  When the first echoing thoughts were floating on the wind, she was the only one who seemed to notice. Please help, let us go, get us out of here. The messages played a bittersweet symphony in her head, but since she knew the shadows would feel her if she acted, Lyssa held herself back. There was no way she could defend herself against all of the shadows gathered in the courtyard behind her. She vowed to come back to free them when she had figured out how to combat the evil magic created from the obsidian orbs below. Not on
e of them was Lana, and Lyssa had started to feel like she would never find her soul to set her free. Lana was more than likely lost to their world.

  Lyssa looked down at her feet when she felt the rocks moving underneath them. Mixed among the white rocks below were tiny obsidian fragments that were apparently picking up her living energy. She reached down, picked up a few of these black stones, and quickly pocketed them. They started to bounce around inside her pockets, so she put a hand inside and held them still. If she could find something to destroy these rocks, perhaps they could destroy the orbs that powered the demon shadows that fed on their world. She quickly teleported out of the world and found herself safely ensconced in her room once more.

  After placing the rocks on the dresser, she sat on her bed to reflect on what she had learned tonight. Every portal led to a different place, and not all of these places were friendly to the shadows, as the tornadoes had clearly devoured some of them in front of her. One thing had remained consistent. The shadows were drawn to the mysterious obsidian orbs in their world. They gained power from them and used the energy from trapped souls to continuously send power into these orbs. These small rocks seem to be made from the same substance. They still moved every once in a while, making small rocking motions against the grain of the wood.

  She stifled a yawn and stretched her arms. Lyssa would wait until morning to explore the composition of the rocks and find what elements might break them. She needed sleep. Tracking the shadows after working all day as a student and Guardian would take its toll if she didn’t take care of herself. Lyssa lay down on her bed and tried to fall asleep, but ended up tossing and turning for most of the night. When she did finally fall asleep, her dreams were plagued with shadows and light as they fought for control over the one person she still held dear.

  Chapter 26

  Lyssa had decided not to tell Julius about her journey through the portal the night before. She wanted to learn more about the rocks she had gathered before she handed them over. Her morning had been spent testing different liquid compositions on them, but nothing seemed to work. Water made them bounce higher in the air. She tried rubbing alcohol, peroxide, cough syrup, and anything she could pull out of the medicine cabinet. When those did not work, she pulled chemicals found in cleansers. None of that worked to break down the rocks either; in fact, all it did was shine the rocks so that they gleamed wickedly at her.

  It was then that she decided to sneak into the chemistry lab at school. After teleporting there, she ran through so many chemicals that she lost track of which ones and how many she had used. All she knew was that none of them seemed to work. When she heard footsteps outside the door, she quickly returned to her room.

  Lyssa went to the kitchen and pulled down a pan to set them in. Then she turned on the oven to the highest setting and slid the pan inside. She turned on the oven light so that she could keep an eye out for any reaction to the heat. She must have sat by the oven for an hour before she decided to pull them out. When she pulled the pan out, the rocks were unchanged. As she moved her fingers over them, she was surprised to find no heat emanating from them. Lyssa took a chance and touched one of the rocks, only to discover that it was freezing cold. How bizarre.

  Next, Lyssa placed the pan in the freezer to see what kind of effect the cold would have on them. She carefully piled other frozen foods around them to hide them from Jackson. Part of her wanted to tell him everything she had learned, but she did not want to add to his stress right now. He was in the middle of designing costumes for his first show and was under a lot of stress. Throw in his duties with the Watch Tower, and he was stretched way beyond most people’s limits.

  After leaving the rocks in the freezer, she went to the library to do some more work for the Watch Tower. The hours spent trying to find these portals and shadows were becoming monotonous. She was thankful that Julius had sent her through the portals. It gave her something else to focus on, making her duties a little more interesting.

  Lyssa ran her finger over the locket around her neck and let it fall back into place. Things always had to be complicated, didn’t they? Nothing in life had ever been easy. From the moment she was born into this world, she’d had to learn to fight for her life. Sometimes she just got tired of the battle. She wanted the simplest answer to make life smooth like a glass pond…no ripples, no waves, just peace. Lyssa had thought she was achieving it several months before, but pebbles interrupted the stillness, and there was no calming the movement of the rings across the surface.

  She pushed her thoughts away. They did not belong there. There was probably a better time and place for them. Much like Hunter, she had a job to do, and nothing and no one else should interrupt that.

  Lyssa spent another hour working on cataloging her findings before she headed back home and went to the kitchen to check on the rocks. When she pulled them out of the freezer, they’d had the opposite reaction in the freezer. Puddles were pooling around the bottom of the freezer because the rocks had started to heat up the air around them. She removed them carefully from the freezer and set them on the counter to her right. Within moments the oozing rocks hardened into flat stones.

  Lyssa pulled out a kitchen mallet from the drawer and started to smash at them. When she looked to see if they were damaged, she could see that they were unaffected. “Seriously?”

  Lyssa picked them up and put them in her pocket, then headed back to her room. What else could she try? She pulled out her backpack of magical items and placed them one at a time on the dresser in front of her. She put each object near the rocks to see if there were any reactions. Amethyst? No reaction. Quartz crystal. Nothing. When she put the rose quartz near them, the stones hummed disturbingly. Lyssa pulled the stone away and looked at it, puzzled. What was it about this rose quartz that made these rocks respond in such a way? Rose quartz wasn’t particularly powerful. She used it when she wanted to feel peace and love surround her. They brought her happiness. “Wait a minute…that’s it!”

  Lyssa put the rose quartz in her hand in front of her and imagined the calmest, warmest, fuzziest thoughts possible. She was having trouble bringing those close to the surface, possibly due to the melancholy that she was feeling. Lyssa had to do something if she wanted to prove her theory. Opening her thoughts, she put her hand on her locket. Hunter?

  Lyssa? Are you all right? It had taken a moment for him to answer, but clearly, he did not want to push her further away.

  I’m fine. It’s just…well, I love you. This was hard to say at first, but she felt that she needed to say it, needed to believe that the feelings they had for each other could still be there, even after all this time.

  I love you, always and forever. She felt the peace and love flow through her from his locket. It made her smile, and she sent the warm tingly feelings into the rose quartz. When she felt it vibrating loudly in her hand, she channeled it into a pink orb of light in front of her. She sent the orb crashing into the rock and watched as it shattered into dust around her.

  “Really? That’s it? Love? Peace, happy thoughts? That would annihilate the power that feeds these monsters?” Lyssa put the rose quartz back into her bag, then picked up the other rock and made her way back to the Watch Tower library. When she saw that the room was empty, she went in search of Julius to share her findings with him.

  He was in the atrium at the back of the house. Lyssa nodded at him to get his attention, and he quickly finished the task he was working on so that he could meet her in the library. He came into the room moments after she had entered it.

  “We’ll need some privacy.”

  Julius made the same precautions that he had before. “What did you find?”

  “I went into a different portal last night, the one in St. Louis. I found the shadows pulling energy from another orb, just like the last portal. There were souls trapped there too, but they were frozen in statue-like forms. Near those souls, I found smaller bits of
the rock that the orbs are made of. It looks very much like obsidian to me.” She pulled the rock out of her pocket and pushed it to him.

  “Interesting.”

  “It gets better. I tried to use everything I could find against these rocks. It doesn’t respond to chemicals, to heat, or to cold.”

  “Did you find anything that it did respond to?”

  Lyssa pulled out the rose quartz from her bag and placed it near the rock. Julius almost jumped out of his seat as the black stone shot as fast as it could in the opposite direction of the quartz. “What in the world?”

  “It hates rose quartz, and do you know why?”

  He blew air out of his mouth as he tried to contemplate what made rose quartz such an adversary to the obsidian. “Not off the top of my head.”

  “These rocks deal very much in energy. They siphon energy, store energy, give off energy. The energy that feeds them is the despair, negativity, depression, and darkest thoughts of others. When you think about it, rose quartz stores the polar opposite. These stones are storing peace, tranquility, and the most powerful feeling of all. Love.”

  Lyssa had learned about these rocks from Lana’s coven. While completely unobtrusive to most people, the restorative nature of the rocks was quite powerful. Lyssa wondered if Lana had figured out the connection of these rocks to the shadows. Was that why the Craven had killed her? Because Lana had found a natural cure to their dark cancer?