by Holly Hook
“Alyssa!” Xavier shouted. “You can’t go after him.”
He didn’t understand. His father wasn’t out there with Thoreau the Abnormal Hunter. It wouldn’t be hard for him to figure out where Dad worked if the cops were at my house. They’d surrender that information to him and I didn’t know how long I’d been out.
I smelled the air. Musty, but with a tiny hint of freshness. It was early night on the surface, dewy and just beginning to cool. I could go out. The smell got stronger the farther I ran down the underground mall. A large set of stone stairs ascended far ahead. People moved to the side with cloth shopping bags.
“Alyssa!” Xavier shouted again.
The stairs were easy. I didn’t get out of breath. I never did, always having to fake it during soccer practice. Xavier’s cries got farther behind as I took them two at a time. I must look like a blur to everyone in the mall. The fresh smell got stronger. There was an exit up here.
I emerged into another hallway and found another long corridor, but there was a ladder here that went up into carved stone. The smell wafted down from that. I climbed into the dark and my vision kicked in, turning the rungs and the tan walls gray and sharp as I left the light below. A trapdoor let in tiny slivers of moonlight up above. I rammed it open with a loud bang, not caring for a moment if anyone saw, and emerged into the night.
Just to make sure Xavier couldn’t follow that quickly I slammed the trapdoor shut and straightened up in a dark alley. The light was just enough to let my color vision return, but the details stayed as sharp around me as ever. The reek of garbage and something worse made me wrinkle my nose as I tried to figure out where the heck I was.
But there was no time for that. The alley had an exit onto a busy street far ahead and a fence on the other end. I caught the shadow of a guy leaning against another Dumpster and smelled the alcohol in his blood even from a hundred feet away. That was always the worst smell. On the other side of me was a tall chain-link fence. The top of the ATC Tower, where the mayor’s office and the city hall were supposed to be, poked over the other buildings. I was within blocks of the place. Downtown. That meant Dad’s office was close, too. I just had to find Shetford Avenue.
Xavier’s footfalls echoed from below. He was still giving chase. I wasn’t sure if his magic would let him find me unless I used his card again, but for now he needed to stay away. Dad might be at the office still. There was a good chance Thoreau wouldn’t storm into a large building to take him away because people would notice. Right?
So I went for the fence, running faster than I allowed myself at any games. Only the drunk guy must be able to see me. A cat jumped down from a trash can and I jumped for the fence, grabbing on with my shoes and hauling myself over.
Behind me, the trapdoor snapped open.
I didn’t stop.
The alley behind the fence was even darker than the first, but that wasn’t an issue for me. Everything snapped to gray sharpness again and I wove around more trash cans, boxes of forgotten things and even an old, broken-down car that smelled like it belonged to the drunk guy. Xavier rattled the chain link fence way back but didn’t dare call out to me again. We were out in the Normal world now, where I so desperately wanted to belong and which had turned against me in a moment. The shadows had to protect us now.
I emerged onto a narrow street and the ATC Tower loomed larger now, complete with the same red letters glowing over the top floor. I slowed to a quick run as the ATC glowed in red twenty stories above like a bloody eye that was looking over Cumberland. I hadn't paid attention to it before.
I had tried to stab the mayor. That was awesome.
But I couldn’t think about that now. Dad’s building was on the other side of the skyscraper and if I wanted to get there in a decent amount of time I needed to stay out of sight while I ran. A girl moving at the pace of a blur would get noticed in the city, so I stayed away from the street lamps and stuck to the dark side where most women were supposed to be scared to walk. I could probably defend myself against anyone waiting to spring a trap but if I didn’t have to, the better.
I came to an intersection and stopped, waiting for the light to turn, and crossed, forcing myself to walk. A police car was parked at a diner and the lights were on inside. It was packed full of people. I could smell the food and the food that people had eaten. It was everywhere in the city. It was no wonder Dad hated working here, but the owner of Ganges Insurance had offered him too good of a deal to pass up.
I left the diner behind, trying not to walk too fast. More people walked past—all Normals looking down at cell phones, walking dogs and herding children. Couples holding hands. Businesspeople in suits heading for their cars. I felt like I had stepped between worlds. These people had no idea about the network below their feet. There were too many people out for me to run.
And at last, after twenty minutes of forcing myself to walk slowly, I passed the bank that marked the corner of Sherwood and 5th. This was the street Ganges Insurance was on. It was a smaller building, only about ten stories, that Dad's work shared with a few others including a bank, and the digital clock mounted over the double doors told me it was eight forty-five. Dad was supposed to get out at nine today. That meant he was still here unless something had happened and he'd seen the news.
I had left my cell phone at home. They might have found his number in it.
I broke into a run, closing the final distance between me and the building. I yanked open the door and ran inside the lobby. Marge, the door lady, was standing there next to some leather chairs as if this were a hotel. I'd seen her a few times.
“Are you looking for your father?” she asked in a tone that said things were completely normal. I was relieved to hear that. She must not have heard the news yet.
“Yes,” I said. “I have a question for him. Did he leave?”
Marge looked at the clock hanging above her desk. “Not yet,” she said. “If he did, he took the back door, but I've never heard of him doing that. He should just be getting wrapped up. I'm sure they won't mind if you head up.”
I nodded to her, waved, and ran for the elevator as relief coursed through me. A woman who smelled like McDonald's stepped out and I got in, hit the button, and rode up to the top floor.
I knew something was wrong when the eight above the doors lit up. Dad worked on the tenth and already I could smell that fresh, night air was pouring into the building from above.
Something was very, very wrong.
Every muscle in my body tensed and I found myself searching for a weapon, any weapon that I could use when the elevator doors opened. I knew the right decision was to press the button to go back down to the ground floor, to where people were still moving around and breathing, but Dad might be up here. Or had been up here. I had taken too long getting out here, lying on that mat for an hour or two healing. Now anything might have happened to Dad. I had led them to him.
The elevator stopped and the fresh air smell got stronger. A breeze blew against the doors and I could hear it even before they came open with a ding.
It was dark on the Ganges Insurance floor. The hallway stretched in front of me and glass littered the carpet everywhere. The doors to the offices were all flung open. Someone had dropped a cell phone and the smell of coffee was in the air.
I stepped into the elevator doors to make sure they didn’t close on me. Not a single light was on anywhere, leaving me with my gray vision. Even the phone on the floor was dead. Only a tiny bit of city light poured in through the window at the end of the hall. The city itself looked like it was in another world.
I inhaled.
No blood. These people had been gone for a long time. Either that or they were dead. I’d heard Dad tell me that we weren’t supposed to be able to smell dead blood—just the fresh variety had a scent. I knew it was true because the stuff he brought home from the Red Cross was bland and had almost no smell.
I wanted to call out for Dad, but the air up here was cold. Too cold. So inst
ead, I stepped into the hallway.
Another step, and another. The cell phone lay at my feet, screen shattered. I wondered who or what had come through here and broken everything. I glanced into the first office and saw that even the laptop screen had shattered, leaving jagged edges. Whoever owned the office had a picture of their kids on their desk, complete with cracked glass. Why break pictures of peoples’ kids? All these people were Normals except for Dad. Thoreau didn’t want anything to do with them.
Did he?
Things like this weren’t supposed to happen in a civilized society.
And why didn’t Marge downstairs know about this?
Dad’s office was at the end of the hall. The place was empty and the cold was sharp, almost like it wanted to lash out. It wrapped around my skin. I had never been that sensitive to cold, not since I was two, but there was something uncomfortable about this. There wasn’t a single body anywhere on the floor and no dried blood, either. People had left their things on their desks. Purses. Phones. Even an open lunch with ravioli that looked like it had been sitting there and drying for a few hours.
This had happened a while ago.
“Dad?” I gave myself away, calling for him, but panic seized me and I had no choice. “Dad? Are you still here? Please answer me.”
Silence. Something fizzled from his office.
I broke into a run, every sense sharpening further. The faint smell of smoke invaded my nostrils, an acrid burn that I wanted to gag on.
I tried to smell the air again, but no other scent gave anything away. The chill in the air got deeper as if something were taking all the life out of the air.
I didn’t like this. Something was going on that I had never dealt with before.
“Dad?” I asked, but my voice came out hoarse as if whatever was in here was taking the life out of me, too. I sounded like someone who’d been floating in ice water for an hour. His office was at the end of the hall. It was the last door. I’d been here once when he forgot his phone and didn’t want to make me sit out in the daylight while he came back in to get it.
I stepped over a fallen chair. Someone had vaulted out of an office. The cold got deeper. I blinked and for a second, dark pulses felt like they were running through me.
I wanted to run. I had never felt dread like this before.
Dad’s office door was closed. I paused there and my breath spiraled in front of my face.
I had to do it before I lost my courage. I took my foot and I kicked the door open.
The lock snapped and the door swung inward, showing nothing but darkness beyond. The cold washed over me, worse than ever, dropping to something that didn't belong on Earth. I could make out nothing in the room except for a bizarre swishing noise.
Terror spiked through me and I jumped back, almost tripping over the chair.
A huge shadow bled out of Dad’s office.
It took me a second to register what it was—a robed figure, draped in black with nothing but darkness underneath its hood. My vision didn’t lie to me. Even though a Normal wouldn’t see a thing in this office, it was obvious to me that there was literally nothing under that robe and hood but a shadow. A gloved hand reached out for me and the creature took a step closer, robes swishing. Another breath spiraled out of me as if this creature were drawing it out.
It was hopeless. I was going to die and Dad was already gone. The thoughts polluted my mind, making me want to sink to my knees and give up. I deserved it because I stabbed the Assistant Mayor in the stomach, because I was a monster and a sin and a blemish on society like they all said.
I hit the wall, my leg tangled in the chair. The gloved hand drew nearer, just inches away. I couldn’t move. I was transfixed and hopeless. This creature wasn’t just physical darkness. It was darkness of the soul. It was going to drag me down into a nightmare I couldn’t imagine. Something terrible would happen when it touched me.
A low, mournful grown came from underneath the creature's hood.
My senses sharpened. I wanted to get out of here and live. The only thing in my reach was the chair, so I ducked as the shadow closed its hand where my shoulder had been a second before. The thing paused for a second. It wasn't fast. I had that advantage.
I lifted the chair like a lion tamer keeping its prisoner back. The shadow faced me and lumbered forward, making the frigid air wrap around me. I wanted to drop the chair. There was no getting out of here and no point if everyone in the city was looking for me and I was destined to go to the Center sooner or later. I was--
No. I had to fight.
“Back!” I lunged and rammed the chair into the creature's chest. I expected the robe to billow and collapse, but I struck what felt like a solid body. Another groan came from under the hood, to where no face showed through, and it came off its feet as I let out a war cry and rammed it against the window on the end of the hall. Rage pumped through me but this time I grabbed onto it, not caring what I did to this thing. It wasn't like the Assistant Mayor. This was a real monster, something even worse than me.
“Where is my father?” I shouted, scared at the depth of my voice.
The creature flailed against the chair, reaching for me and missing by inches. I shoved the chair into its chest harder, pinning it against the glass. Frost spread from where the creature touched it, turning Cumberland beyond into a wintry wasteland.
“Where is he?” I glanced at his office to my right. His chair was pushed in like he had left his desk in no hurry but his monitor was broken like the others, as if this thing had sucked all the electricity out of the room to manifest. “What did you do to him?”
The hooded shadow groaned like it was trying to tell me something through a swollen mouth and a cut tongue. Nice image. It reached for me again, shaking under its sleeves like it was fighting with itself. I brought the chair back towards me just an inch and waited, just two seconds, for it to try to form words, but I'd made a mistake. The thing lunged for me again.
I screamed with rage and rammed the chair into it once more, throwing it against the glass.
And this time, the frosty surface shattered, letting in the night wind and air that was warm compared to this.
The shadow thing fell through, billowing in the wind like it was going to fly, but gravity won. I dropped the chair and watched as it floated for just a second, then plunged down towards the street below. Somewhere, an ambulance siren went off as if coming to its rescue.
It made no sound as it fell, as if it were a nightmare that was fading away. I ran to the window and looked over, careful to keep my head away from the busted glass, just in time to see the shadow thing hit the ground.
Its robe splayed out on the sidewalk far below, next to where a man was walking five dogs. All five of the dogs went crazy and barked at where the shadow lay while the man stood there, mouth falling open and staring at the thing. A poodle whimpered and hid behind the man's legs, where it proceeded to pee on the concrete.
I hated being able to see so well in the dark sometimes.
I couldn't breathe. I could only stare at the ink blot on the street below. A taxi stopped and another guy got out, edging closer to the unmoving shadow.
And then it blurred, turning into a puddle of ink on the sidewalk. The dark puddle shrunk away from the approaching shoes and retracted into the cracks in the sidewalk. I could do nothing but watch as the liquid darkness shrunk into the crevices, squeezed itself into the ground, and vanished.
Chapter Four
Xavier got there two minutes later. The elevator dinged and I caught his wood smoke scent before it even opened. I left Dad's office after finding no evidence of foul play or whatever they called it and waited for the doors to open.
They did, slowly. Xavier stood there in his trench coat, leaning forward. He had his fist closed like he was ready to call more fire.
"You there, Alyssa?" he asked.
I wanted to correct him--my name was Rosyln now and I wasn't that girl anymore--but Dad was still missing and I did
n't care about much besides that. "I'm here in one piece."
First, he sighed.
Then he got his bearings and took a step forward, kicking a fallen chair out of the way.
"Why did you do that?" he asked. "Sorry. I know why. But why didn't you listen to me first before you ran up here? People might have seen you. That will get the authorities called on you very fast, believe me. I was worried sick."
"Since when did you become my guardian?" I asked.
He didn't say anything at first. "About two hours ago," he said. "Well, not really your guardian, but keeping you safe is something I can't mess around with. If you pull up your right sleeve, you'll see your mark."
I opened my mouth to say something else, but then it sunk in.
"Excuse me?" I asked. "I didn't ask for this." I held up my right arm and pulled my sleeve down to expose the pale skin underneath.
Then I saw it: a pair of magenta, crossed swords, about two inches high and shining with the same color on Xavier's business card.
"What does this mean?" I asked.
"We're bound," Xavier said. He cleared his throat. "Together."
I about lost it again. I had been stalked, kidnapped and now I was bound to this guy that I barely knew without my okay. This was not cool. Xavier stood there, leaning against a door frame like he was waiting for my reaction. The anger inside was growing stronger as if something I'd repressed my whole life was finally allowed to come to the surface.
But I couldn't hurt him. I wouldn't. It felt wrong. And besides, Xavier had still saved my hide.
"I expected that," Xavier said. "I deserved that. I deserved more, actually. It's just that...War Mages have to be bound to another Abnormal when they start fighting. It's tradition. Elsina the Seer did the rite. You might have seen the chalk circle around your table when you woke up. I let her mark you without you knowing. It was wrong, but things are desperate right now and we both need this."
