The Covenant of Shadows Collection

by Kade Cook

  A loud throaty caw startles her intense trance, and she stumbles backward, glancing up at the bird. “Ah, you bugger.”

  A low gurgle rumbles in its throat.

  She eyes it. It sounds like laughter to her. The bird is actually laughing at her. Gabrian is convinced of it. “Hey, that wasn’t funny, you scared me,” she says, glancing at her fingers, the strange phenomenon molding back to the formation of her hand into its original design.

  Hearing the discontent in Gabrian’s voice, Theo scolds the newcomer with loud shrieks, a warning that he is done with his preening and is now paying attention. A bright flare of gold dances across the large bird as he fluffs his feathers. The memory of Kaleb’s transformation in the woods plays through her mind. The old ones, she hears her mind’s voice whisper. The Alakai. The ones who can shift and shape their form into the beast that lies beneath the human facade.

  “I wonder.” Gabrian peers at the bird, its large size, and its ability to laugh at her. “Kaleb, is that you?”

  The large bird squawks at her and rushes to the sky.

  “Well, that didn’t work out very well, did it, Theo?” she says, looking at the remaining bird. He only clicks at her, following up with a consoling coo.

  She goes back to trying to replicate the change again, this time concentrating on the remembered shape and length. In a breath, her fingers string out, long and slender, coated with a silvery jagged edge of a feather.

  “Well, I have turned into a vampire, an ice mage, a death watcher, and a fire wielder. I guess there is no reason why I can’t be an Alakai shifter as well.”

  A slightly hysterical giggle escapes her. “Now won’t this be a hoot.” Knowing she has to keep this one under wraps. Being able to shift is labeled right up there with being a vampire, hunted and condemned for what they are by the Realm. Maybe her being nominated to take the place of the Silver Mage might be a great time for her to make some changes in how the Realms treat things. Look at Kaleb. He is one of the sweetest people she has come to know here in the Realm.

  There has to be a way to make a difference, a change is possible—that is, if she can hide this long enough to finish her training. She has to talk to Kaleb, to make him understand that she harbors no ill will toward him and what he is. But how? He has made himself busy since the strange visions during meditation that morning. Clearly, he is avoiding her. There must be another way to make him understand things, but to get to him is nearly impossible with the Guardians forming a barrier on the edge of her lawn.

  Biting her lip, she paces the deck, the black bird watching her in silence, turning every time she gets close to where he is to keep an eye on her. “Hmm.” She stops. “Wait a minute.” She looks up at the second-floor windows. “The room. It must have something that will help. I am sure of it,” she shouts, loud enough to startle Theo into flight, and heads back into the house for answers.

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Orbs, Amulets, and Midnight Joggers

  Launching through the house, Gabrian bounds up the stairs to reach her bedroom. Her heart quickens from an anxious fear that the secret room is gone. As if on cue, the wall fades out, and the opening dissolves into fruition. Wasting no time, she enters and slips to the right where the little wooden desk awaits her return—a few of the flickering orbs brighten and chase her along the way. Gabrian pulls out the small chair and settles into it, riffling through the notebooks. Only the names of the Fellowships are present.

  “Well, it cannot be just a figment of my imagination. I have heard the whispers of the old ones, surely there has to be something on them. I can’t be the only one to have witnessed the transformation.”

  She lifts from the chair and stalks to the mocking wall of books. Running her fingers along their spines, she tries to read the etchings, what they contain, but mostly, she finds books on Realm policies, territories, and a few large maps. These books come out easily for her, and their words are bold as can be, demanding to be read.

  “Boring,” she sings, placing them back into the wall. “Aw, come on, I know some stuff,” she growls at the room. “Can’t you throw me a bone?” A rattle echoes from the little desk. She peeks over her shoulder to the sound. One of the drawers on the left side is open, a soft flickering light beaming from inside. “That is strange, I am sure that wasn’t open before.

  Edging closer, Gabrian sees one of the little orbs trapped inside, flittering around the small wooden frame. She pulls the drawer open to set the little light free, and it sprints out, but then drops back inside and buzzes around a small wooden box. Reaching in, she gathers it into her hands and sets it on top of the desk. She tries to open it, but it will not budge, even with her strength. Obviously, there are no easy roads in this room. Everything has to be earned to gain access.

  The little orb scurries in front of her and blinks frantically. “You want my attention, do you?” she asks and follows it back to the open drawer to another, smaller notebook inside.

  Retrieving it, she sets it down in front of her, and the orb lights the top of the notebook. ‘Window of Souls’ is scribbled on the cover. Flipping open the leather binding, Gabrian smiles. All the words, much like the boring political books, are there for her viewing, but this she highly doubts will be anything but not boring.

  Page after page, she eats up the lesson. It is an instruction manual of sorts to a thing called the Window of Souls—an amulet fashioned centuries ago by someone called William Theron. It has the ability to transport the user from this room to anywhere in the world without leaving a magical trail. And then return again with no one the wiser.

  “This is crazy wicked,” Gabrian chimes out to the gathering orbs hovering around her, making the lighting more than perfect for reading the entire thing. She grins, reaching for the box, eager to see if she has entry to the treasure it holds within. Pinching her fingers on the corners, she lifts, and with a click, it gives way. Access granted.

  This is a beautifully strange looking thing, she thinks as she lifts it gently out of its holding. Two different sized metal ovals made of what looks like white gold are pinned together at the top and bottom of each center, sporting a dark leather strap on opposite sides of the connector pin. The large ring one is more of an oval and the smaller resembles the shape of an eye. The center of the eye is a sleek topaz stone. She flips it over to see the other side. It is brighter with a long dark strip of black running through the center of it muck like that of a tiger’s eye.

  “Now this is some seriously cool stuff,” Gabrian hums, running her fingers across the cool smooth metal. Her eyes pinch and her mouth turns upward impishly. “If I am not allowed to leave on foot, then this may just do the trick. I hope.”

  Dropping her eyes to the amulet, she leafs through the small book once more to run over the exact instructions of how this thing operates. To return to the room, the eye must point outward to see. To leave the room, it must look inward to your soul.

  “Okay, so—” She slips the leather strap over her head and lifts the amulet. “Where do I want to go?” she says, flipping the eye to face inward, and holds her breath as the amulet drops to rest against her chest.

  In a blink her body is gone, torn from the room, and rushes into the dark of night in the next—thrown into a mess of bushes that have no love for her exposed arms. “Bugger, ouch,” she grumbles, rubbing her arms as thorns slice at her. Her eyes lift, scanning her surroundings. “It worked, wicked,” she cheers but then replaces her tone with a growl. “But, where am I?” She pulls herself up out of the brush and looks around. “This definitely does not look like Kaleb’s, crap. Who knows where in the Realm I landed?”

  A continual slap on the asphalt grows louder, causing Gabrian to slouch back down near the unsympathetic branches. She is not supposed to be out, and getting caught—well, not an option right now. She is on a mission, even if she has no idea where she is. She slinks down farther as the slaps get nearer. Crap, they are coming this way, bugger, bugger. Hide, you have to hide, her
mind screams.

  Gabrian’s internal mechanics kick in and finds their way to the surface. Her flesh begins to fade and consume the clothing on her back into a mere ripple of melded air. A cloak of the thorny branches wind around her airy form and coddle her, camouflaging any trace of her. She watches the jogger draw near, grateful for the Magik override of her inner instincts, and thankful those rotten thorns are not ripping into her flesh.

  Legs stride in front of her, and she gasps—Kaleb—and sucks her breath back in, hoping he didn’t hear her. His motions waver, and he sniffs at the air as he slows to scout the darkness. Pressing his eyes to study the shadows, a strange grin curls his lips, but he continues his course, turning to the right and into the night.

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Old Ones and Feathers

  After watching Kaleb turn in the darkness, Gabrian cannot stop herself from launching out of the bushes and following him. This is what she went AWOL for. There is no turning back now. She needs to talk to him. He is her friend, and she does not care what he is. She just wants to know the truth about what he is—what she is. Catching him unexpectedly is the only way so he does not have time to make up a story to cover his tracks.

  Not wanting to be seen, curious if he is out and about for a reason—to change—she keeps the cloak of invisibility wrapped around her form and bounds after him. A large sign with Cadillac Mountain in bold print announces where she is.

  The soft pattering of feet heads up the steep slope, so up, up she follows, keeping a safe distance behind. A low guttural growl rumbles in the darkness ahead of her as he gains speed, leaving her behind. His legs shift, muscles engaging as he pushes his body continually upward. Gritting her teeth, Gabrian draws on her own inner strength, and tears into the side of the mountain trek, trying not to lose sight of him, but she is losing ground. The harder she runs, the faster he gets. If she were a true Zephyr Air Mage, she could have just made a portal like Vaeda does and appeared at the top of the mountain, obviously where he is headed, but she has no knowledge in how it all works and is a little frightened to try.

  The Window of Souls Magik that brought her here has a manual. One hundred percent different story. So, for now, she is going to have to tough it out the old-fashioned way. Sweat and tears, and luckily, being supernatural does come with some perks. So onward and upward it is. Reaching the peak of the mountain, there is no sign of Kaleb. He left her in the dust easily a half mile back. Catching her breath, she searches the darkness for any clue as to where he is just as the sky opens up and releases its bounty.

  Great, just great, she growls, and in retort, the sky rumbles back a loud clap of thunder to keep her in check. Her skin tingles and the back of her neck buzzes, feeling an abundance of electricity building in the clouds nearby. The night lights up as the first strike of lightning lunges forth a few miles away, making Gabrian shiver with energy.

  The storm looks like it might move this way, so she needs to find her friend and quickly. Another loud roar echoes around her, but this time, it comes from a different source. It’s the large malformed shape of her friend as he runs toward the edge of the cliff and jumps—arms wide and outstretched.

  Gabrian’s throat closes in, stifling her scream. She rushes across the opening and falls to her knees, peering over the edge just as a fan of large feathery wings soar up from the depths of the cliff, releasing an ear piercing screak of freedom, then veers left to glide low just over the treetops. Still cloaked in her invisible armour, Gabrian watches the giant bird glide and stretch out the golden shimmer of its wildness, the untamed feral need to be let loose. She smiles, knowing how he feels.

  She sets herself down on the edge, letting her feet dangle over the side, and watches her friend breathe under the shroud of darkness and storm. With a few more passes over the mountain top, he opts to return, gliding to the left of her among the clutch of thick bushes. The guttural growl as he transforms back into his human form meshes with the next roll of thunder, making his change seem otherworldly.

  Gathering her courage, she lets go of the invisibility cloak as he emerges from the bushes and announces her presence. “Hello, Kaleb.”

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  I, Mother Earth

  Kaleb turns quickly at the sound of the familiar voice. His aura switches from green to yellow once more. Having left his clothes in the bushes just beside her, he stands before her in all his glory. Gabrian wonders if he will run, but where would he go? She knows him. A terrifying thought grabs hold of her. What if he decides to destroy her because of what she knows, what she has witnessed? Maybe I didn’t quite think this thing completely through.

  A cold tingle on her chest reminds her she has an option if things turn ugly—The Window of Souls. She can disappear at any sign of aggression. So, she decides to see the plan through.

  Kaleb’s aura fades from gold to green as he glances her way. “Huh, so you saw that, did you?” he simply says, sauntering to the bushes, unbothered by his nakedness.

  Gabrian remains seated on the ground, her arms hugging her knees. “Yup,” she says, not really knowing what else to say. She watches him retrieve his clothes, captivated by his machine-like build, every muscle tone and responsive to his movements.

  “So, how did I do?” He chuckles.

  Her face flushes in an immediate awareness that she is staring at her friend’s naked body, and he is trying to say something to her. “What?” She hides her eyes, looking away while Kaleb pulls on his loose pants and shirt.

  “How did I do?” he repeats. “I have been trying to perfect my dives among the treetops and since I have a feeling you watched the entire show, how did I do?”

  He is not mad. Not even a hint of anger or fear resonates from him. Wicked. “You were—incredible.”

  He pulls the white shirt over his head and smooths it over his ripped muscles hugging his midsection. Then gathers his shoes and saunters over to her. She peeks up at him, checking to make sure he is clothed, then returns her stare as he drops down in front of her and slips on his shoes. They sit in silence for a moment while Kaleb watches her face contort, trying to find words deemed appropriate. He laughs out loud, watching her pick at the grass beside her, still quietly contemplating.

  “You might as well just come out and say what you want to say before your head explodes.”

  She has seen all that he is, but she hesitates for a moment. “Are you a shapeshifter?”

  His sweet smile broadens. He nods his head and turns to gaze out into the night, watching the storm change course for the moment. “I guess you can call it that,” he starts. “I am a descendant of an old clan. The one that is only whispered amongst the Fellowships.”

  “The Alakai?”

  His brow crooks at the mention of the name. “So, you have heard of them?”

  “I was told a little, but the story I heard was that all of the Old Ones were extinct.”

  He smiles again. The moon slips out from behind Gabrian, catching in Kaleb’s eyes. The centers change, lit with a haunting glow around his irises, much like that of an animal when caught in the light at night. “That is what we hope everyone believes.”

  Her eyes lift. “We?”

  “There are just a handful of us left.” He runs his hands through his brown messy hair. “But we remain in control and hidden among the others.”

  “Are the stories true that you are worse than the vampires?” Gabrian wonders if her candidness is too much as a slight wave of gold runs through his naturally calm green aura.

  “Let me guess, this story was told to you by a certain vampire or a Borrower?”

  Unsure she wants to reveal her source, she lowers her eyes and shakes her head. She will not tell him it was her Uncle Ty who told her about them, she will not have him looked upon with unkind eyes by one of the Elders. She pretends she cannot remember who told her just that she remembers hearing the story somewhere in her journeys.

  The gold flecks dissolve from his aura as he inhales a deep br
eath. “Our existence has been the blame for so many innocents being mangled and desiccated for centuries. I will admit our feeding habits do sometimes get a little heated at times but only in the frenzy of the kill.

  Gabrian gasps at this. Kaleb quickly reaches out and places a tender hand on her shoulder. “Relax, it’s not what it sounds like. We do not hunt people like the legends say. We hunt like who we are—natural predators. We are brothers with nature and hunt as other wild things do,” he says, with a grin, then lets it drop. “But accidents have happened.”

  Gabrian sits quietly as she learns a different side of the tale, seeing the sadness creep into Kaleb’s eyes.

  “The stories quickly spread, and the incidents became a scapegoat for those who would use it for their own discrepancies. Feverish killing benders were tainted and blamed on our animalistic nature. Soon after, we became hunted by those who twisted the minds of the people naïve and scared enough to believe them.

  “Many of us were hunted down and destroyed by the Peace Keepers. Whole communities were obliterated. The rest of us went into hiding, pulling in our inner beast and learning to contain it, vowing never to show our true selves to anyone, and only allowing our Magik to manifest in complete secrecy. Very few could see what we were.”

  “That explains a few things.”

  He chuckles at her words. “It does, does it?

  “Yes,” she hums. “I saw you. I followed you into the woods a few days ago.”

  Kaleb’s brow twists, his mouth curving into an impish grin.

  “Only to tell you I was healed, that is all.”

  “Mm, hm,” he teases.

  “Anyway, I watched you shift in the darkness. I thought about leaving, but I couldn’t. I had never witnessed anything like it, so I stayed.” Gabrian hugs her knees a little more. “I tried to keep myself hidden, but I felt as if you looked right at me.”