Chasing Shadows (43 page)

Thinking back to what had been going through my mind in the moments before, I realized I had no idea how I had done it. I could feel my face twist with shock and confusion as my thoughts led me back to that moment when our souls collided.

His eyes slit with worry and he demanded, “What is it?”

“I have absolutely no idea how I did it. I literally have no clue how I knew what I was doing. I’m so sorry; I could have easily harmed you and would have had no idea how to fix it . . . ” The weight of my naivete seemed to bury me alive.

He heard the sincerity in my apology because his face softened and he pulled me in for the most reassuring hug. His hands rubbed my back as I tried to take long, deep breaths. I let him soothe me for a few moments.

Chimes from my phone pricked at my ears, and I sighed heavily. “I guess they are probably wondering when I’m going to be there.” I brushed my teeth in the bathroom, gave Sebastian a kiss, and headed out.

My Bug was cold and took a moment to warm up. I used that moment to reply to the texts that had gathered on my phone and to get directions to where I was actually going. Warm air finally blasted through the vents. With a deep breath, I put the car in reverse and pulled out of the driveway. It was actually happening; my plan was happening.

Twenty minutes later, with a full moon rising in the night sky, I arrived at my destination. I climbed out my car and stared at the small farmhouse in front of me. It was quaint and slowly being taken over by vines as weather continued to destroy the outside. My body was shaking with anticipation, and I had to stop and take deep breaths. The vials I needed were in my jacket pocket, and I slowly clambered up the creaking front steps. I raised my hand and was about to knock when the door was yanked open. Two figures stood in the doorway: Luke and Mrs. Summer.

We hiked for hours. Our shoes were coated with mud and twigs, while our clothes were being scraped and clawed by underbrush and low-hanging branches. Fog had settled over the entire area, making the long trek far more eerie and foreboding. Owls hooted, mice scurried at our scent, and deer snapped branches as they hurried back to their resting places for the night. I was told we couldn’t bring flashlights or lanterns, so that meant the only thing to light our way was the big moon in the sky.

Shivers tingled down my spine. It was getting colder by the second, and I was wondering with an undeniable amount of frustration when we were going to be in the clear. However, soon I didn’t have to wonder anymore. Mrs. Summer stopped abruptly and I trampled into her. Now that we had finally stopped, I noticed how much my legs were protesting in burning pain.

Fingers snapped in front of my face and I jerked upright. “Sorry, wasn’t paying attention.”

Luke rolled his eyes.

“This is where I open up the portal, so this is where you drink the potion and transform. I will be gone the second my chanting is done, so you had better hurry up and do what you need to do. I do not want to be around this place once it’s open.” Mrs. Summer had brought a few of her own things in a small pack. She knelt down and was pulling things out as she spoke to us.

I drew back the hood of the black cloak that Luke had given me. He pulled out a knife and gave himself a small cut on his hand. The vial filled with his blood rather quickly, and I began to mix it with the rest of the potion. “How will we get back?” My thoughts kept going back to how we were going to get out once we had gotten Clamora.

“I will give you something that will open a portal on their side. It will only last for about fifteen seconds, so you will all have to jump back through rather quickly. Once it is closed, it cannot be reopened.” Mrs. Summer said the last part in a stern tone, but there was a sense of caring in her words that was much more delicate than the woman herself.

Luke took a deep breath. “So we have to be extra quick but slow enough so they won’t be able to follow us out?”

She nodded her response as she began to mix things together.

“Should be easy enough.” He shrugged and leaned against a tree.

Mrs. Summer worked quickly with various objects that I had never seen before; something told me that only people who were half-bloods were familiar with them. The vial in my hand was warm and smelled of something odd, like oranges mixed with dirt and blood. I had to wait until she gave me instructions or the go-ahead to take it and begin the spell. Anticipation wove in and out of my muscles, making me bounce in place.

“Okay, I’m just about finished. This won’t take you directly to their world, just to the place you use to gain access. There are too many dimensions to jump through in order for you to get there, and I can’t get you directly there without creating suspicion.” Mrs. Summer paused and shifted around. “Take that now, and listen while I give you the rest of my instructions.”

I nodded and put the vial to my lips. It was sticky and bitter; there was no taste of oranges, no taste of blood, only dirt and something very wrong. Pain stabbed at my chest, and I doubled over. Stomach acid crept up into my throat. I bit it back down and took deep breaths. Every inch of my body burned, as if my cells were fighting off something that wasn’t supposed to be in my body. My veins stung like they were poisoned, and I wanted to tear my skin off and run away from it. Then, just as quickly as it all happened, it was over. A dull ache in my muscles was all that remained.

Gasps came from both Luke and Mrs. Summer. “What? What is it?” I started to panic. What if it hadn’t worked? Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and gathered the courage to look down. A whoosh of air came out of my mouth, but it didn’t quite register that it had. My body was glowing in a black mist. The only thing that seemed normal to me was the fact that my skin was still its normal pallor. I stared at my hands and arms as they continued to change. The normal overly purple color of my veins was gone. They were now navy blue, so dark that they were almost black. But that wasn’t the odd part about it; they glowed, as if the blood that was in them was being illuminated by a black light. Nothing in the grimoire had told me anything about the transformation my body would undergo. I had to know if they saw what I saw, “Am I . . . am I glowing to you guys?”

Both of their heads snapped back in confusion. Luke shook his head, and Mrs. Summer just stared at me like I had lost it.

“I take it that you guys don’t see it . . . ” I trailed off, letting them understand I was still wondering if they saw what I saw.

“No, we don’t.” Luke was entirely breathless. I had never seen him like that. He was always cool and calm, like the eye of the storm.

“Okay, so did it work?” I demanded.

“Yes, it did. And you look . . . beautiful.” His cheeks flushed.

“Uh, thanks?” My voice felt oddly thick, and I didn’t want to acknowledge that he thought I made a beautiful evil entity. “Okay, so what are the rest of our instructions?” I looked at Mrs. Summer then and listened carefully to every word she said.

We ran quickly through the darkened forest. The portal she had made dropped us in a different dimension, but still in a highly wooded area. There was no moon, no stars, only darkness. Luke said that we were only a mile out from the entrance to the world of the shadows, but we had to hurry. I only had two hours until the potion faded away. My breath was coming out in pants while my heart hammered relentlessly in my chest. It was difficult for me to keep up with him. His blood in my body made my vampire abilities weak. The only good thing that came out of the spell was that the glow only I could see lit the way around me.

Luke stopped suddenly and peered straight ahead. A small flash of red flickered about forty feet in front of us, and something hummed at the back of my mind. He looked at me and nodded once. Before we left Mrs. Summer’s house we had sat down and he explained a few things to me. Now was the time those things were going to come into play. I pulled the hood of the black cloak up, drawing my face back into the shadows, and I stood up straight, giving myself an air of sophisticated cockiness. He led the way, walking at a normal pace.

Bright red shot up in front of us. It was blinding in an unpleasant way. Evil screamed from within the light, and the closer we got to it, the more I felt dirty and wanted to run away. We couldn’t turn back now, though. The guard was stamping his foot impatiently as Luke spoke to him. Stamp, stamp, stamp. Each time his foot flopped down on the dampened ground it grated at my nerves. My eyes twitched and I glared at his foot. A heavy grunt from the man made me look up at his face. He must have been an attractive man once, when he was human, anyway. Thick fingers gestured for me to come forward. I took a few steps closer and stared up at him.

He was tall, over six feet, and thick. Muscles strained out from every angle. Black veins bulged in his forehead and neck. How odd, I thought. The u da yv la dv were still capable of being frustrated. Too bad they were the evil minions of Hades and wanted to destroy my world. His eyeless sockets crinkled and stared at me hard. Then I realized that during the rant inside my head, he had talked to me, probably even asked a question. All I could do was shrug.

“You don’t know?” He demanded quite angrily.

“Wasn’t paying attention.” I shrugged, again.

“Luke! Why did you bring this insolent little . . .” he looked me up and down in an aggressive way, thinking of the right word to use, no doubt, “ . . . girl here?”

“I already explained it to you, Markine. She was recently turned, by me, and it is protocol. Is it not?” Luke glared at the guy.

He nodded once.

So whoever had turned Luke must have been a pretty big deal if he could shut this big guy up. “Now are you going to let us through? Or are you still trying to be an ass in order to show off?” His voice was snide and his eyes flashed blacker than obsidian.

“I . . . I wasn’t trying to . . . ” Markine stammered back and forced his head down.

“No you weren’t. Now let us through.”

“Yes, sir.” With his head still cast downward, he pulled a ceremonial-looking knife from his back pocket and made a small slit in his wrist. Black goo dripped out onto a small design that had been carved into the dirt. I didn’t have time to think more on the situation because the red light flashed up and around us. My cloak flew out around me from what felt like a small blast. Taking a deep breath, I looked over my shoulder and followed Luke down into a world that I was going to have to destroy.

Chapter 21

Heat. There was so much heat. The glow from my skin cast light so my eyes didn’t take long to adjust to the world around us. Stone and dirt created tunnels and busy walkways. Shadows were everywhere, in every form that they could to take. My spine itched and the humming in the back of my mind tickled at me. Luke didn’t take long to get moving. We didn’t have much time left; we had to hurry.

Tunnels wound through corridors, branching off in dozens of different directions. It would have been easy for me to get lost if I had tried to get in here by myself. Crystallized columns hung from the high carved-out ceilings in the larger rooms, where more people were gathered in groups.
They aren’t technically people
, I thought to myself. Luke had veered off to the left in a dimly lit tunnel, again. I hurried after him.

We wound through an underground maze of tunnels that had been carved out of marble, granite, and a stone that I had never seen before. It wasn’t obsidian, but it was definitely black. However smooth it looked, it was extremely porous. I reached out to touch it, but Luke looked back and shook his head at me. Clenching my hand into a tight fist, I dropped it by my side and kept my eyes directed on him as we continued our journey.

Even with my eyes trained on him, I couldn’t help but see the beauty in the architecture that was around us. Everything was lit by crystals that gave off a soft humming glow. I hadn’t noticed it at first, but the farther in we went, the more I realized that the crystalline columns in the large rooms were actually acting as chandeliers. We were passing through one more large open room, and as we walked through it I recognized the setup. They were all preparing for war; they were preparing to fight against us. My heart sank deep in my stomach. The u da yv la dv had far greater numbers than we did. The reality of the situation weighed heavily on me.

Luke hung a right, into a dark tunnel. This one was different from the others that we had passed through. It led down a heavily sloping slant, and the ground was wet with what I assumed was water; I didn’t really want to know if it was anything else. There were very few crystal lights, and it twisted and turned at sharp angles. After a few minutes, we passed by dozens of huge metal doors. None of them had windows, and most of them were guarded by large hooded figures. Curiosity made me want to ask who or what was hidden behind the protected doors, but instinct told me to keep my mouth shut. Every so often one of the guards would nod at Luke as we passed by. He didn’t acknowledge a single one of them until we came to the end of the hall.