What Hides in the Shadows

The forest below Abella was a sea of white and green, interspersed by rocky outcroppings and the occasional river. From her current altitude, she could actually see distortions in the land at the boundaries along the barrier. It was like looking through a haze of rippling hot air as the land attempted to fold and bend itself properly into shape before lining up with the rest of the world.

Unfortunately, it also meant that she wasn’t sure how far away the barrier was. Sometimes it would look less than a mile, but would then distort and reappear dozens of miles out.

“Does it always do that?” she asked. Emery, who had chased her down and begged to tag along, was perched on her shoulder. He clung to her for dear life, his tiny hands wrapped up in her hair.

“I’ve never been this high, big sister,” he replied. While her interactions with the imp had been few, he had come to the conclusion that because they were both made of stone, they must be related. She had been hard-pressed to correct him, and he really was adorable. “The winds are too strong for my wings.”

“Ah.” She was disappointed. When she had taken Mike’s phone, she had flown in a random direction and was now wondering if she had picked the worst direction to go. Still, it was interesting to be over such a large swath of land without the immediate tug of guardianship pulling her back. For the first time in over a century, she really felt like she could stretch her wings. It occurred to her now that she could have probably accomplished such a thing in the greenhouse. She had always been too nervous to leave the house unprotected.

And yet, here she was, over a thousand miles away. It was no longer the house that she cared about, but the man who served it. She couldn’t wrap her head around her own feelings about him right now. He was family, but also something more. Maybe there wasn’t a word that existed for the relationship that they had.

She definitely didn’t know where she stood with Velvet. The sensation of cold metal pressed against the nape of her neck had made a lasting impression as she simmered with her face buried deep in the snow. Velvet had been far stronger and faster than Abella expected. Even when the Arachne had finally gotten the upper hand, she chose to flee rather than take it.

Abella wasn’t worried about the sword. She still had a trick up her sleeve that would have easily turned the tide on that particular fight. Instead, she was worried about why Velvet had been so quick to dismiss their fight, to flee into the woods.

No, worried was the wrong word for it. She had gone over the incident in her mind all night as she circled the cabin. Abella wanted to believe that this trip and Velvet’s behavior was a ruse, an attempt to lure them all into a false sense of security. She had gone over a number of elaborate plots in her mind where the Arachne would inevitably find a way to kill and eat the others, and maybe even take over the house somehow.

Instead, her mental search for answers had revealed only one truth that she couldn’t deny: Abella’s hate for the Arachne had blinded her to other possibilities. When Velvet spoke about wanting to be seen as something more than a monster, it was the exact same desire Abella had held in her own heart for decades. The two of them were more alike than Abella cared to admit, and their fight had really been her own fault.

At some point, she assumed that Velvet would tell Mike what had happened. She wasn’t sure she could handle the look of disappointment she would get from him. He was the single most important part of her world right now, and all she wanted was for him to be safe.

“Are you okay, big sister?” Emery’s voice snapped her out of her funk.

“I’m fine.” It was a lie, but what did the imp know?

“I think the boundary is coming up soon.” He pointed ahead at what looked like a gap in the trees. The air rippled above it. “The Caretaker’s phone should work soon.”

“Great.” She didn’t bother conveying any enthusiasm. The main reason she had come out here was to build up some positive karma for the inevitable fallout to come over what had happened the previous night. She was sure that things were fine at home, and—

Just short of the edge of the boundary, the air suddenly vanished from beneath her wings and she dropped out of the sky. Bands of crimson light sprouted from the air behind her, wrapping around her ankles and yanking her back. Crying out in surprise, she tumbled over a hundred feet before the bands released her legs. Realizing she was on a collision course with the ground, she spread her wings wide and was able to generate enough lift that she pulled up at the last second, trimming off the tops of the pines below.

Emery tumbled from her shoulders and disappeared into the forest. She fared only slightly better as she crashed through the trees, splintering branches as she tumbled through them. Folding her wings in to protect her body, she slapped her tail into a thick pine to alter her trajectory at the last second and crashed into a shallow stream. The ice exploded as she came to a halt.

“What the fuck was that?” She stood up and shook the water off of her wings. “Emery? Can you hear me?”

There was no answer from the imp. Grumbling, she splashed her way out of the stream. Broken branches littered the forest floor, and she contemplated them for a moment. She frowned, realizing that she had forgotten something.

The phone! Gasping, she ran back to the stream and stumbled in. It took her almost a minute to find Mike’s phone beneath the water. It was supposed to be waterproof, but the giant crack on the screen wasn’t a good sign.

“Merde!” She tried to power it on, but it was no use. It had broken in the crash, and water was leaking from the case.

Abella stomped out of the stream toward the trees, determined to find Emery. As she walked, her path was blocked by the thick branches of the trees, so she was forced to walk around, calling Emery’s name as she went.

“Big sister!” When Emery finally replied, it sounded like he was above her. Abella saw that he had gotten caught up in a thick cluster of branches. His wings were spread wide by forked limbs, and he was upside down.

The tree was thin, so she clobbered it with her tail. The trunk split, and she pushed on it until it crashed to the ground with Emery safely on top. The branches snapped beneath her feet as she made her way to his side and untangled him.

“Was that the barrier?” she asked, referring to the energy that had blocked her flight.

“It was not,” Emery replied. “I’ve visited the barrier many times, but it has never prevented anyone from leaving.”

She narrowed her eyes at the imp. “You sure?”

He nodded lamely. “I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

Abella groaned. “I was afraid you would say that. Come, let us walk this time. It will be less traumatic.”

They navigated the difficult foliage for almost half an hour before coming to a break in the tree line. It was a short field, maybe a hundred feet across. As she neared the edge, she could feel the distinct tingle caused by passing through the barrier. It wasn’t until she was almost through that she felt the air harden and resist her forward movement.

“Interesting.” She motioned for Emery to stay back and then shoved her way forward. At first, the air felt like it was stretching in an attempt to hold her in place. However, she made it far enough that the crimson bands of light manifested and wrapped themselves across her body. The magic stank of blood and copper, and she allowed it to push her back in place.

“This is troubling,” Emery declared from his place on a rock.

Abella looked at him in exasperation. “You don’t say?”

“I ... just did say.” The imp was fidgeting now. “Perhaps we shouldn’t mess with it?”

She debated trying to push her way through, but if it had been able to resist her while flying, it was likely she would do no better down here. Using her feet as giant scoops, she dug through the snow until she found a rock the size of a basketball and hurled it forward. It passed through the boundary without an issue, and the crimson bands failed to appear.

“Targets living creatures, including me.” Abella frowned. This was the sort of thing that Yuki needed to see, for it was far outside of her experience. Her kind was largely magic resistant because her body was made of living stone. The fact that the spell recognized her as alive spoke volumes of the caster’s skillset.

Looking up at the sky, she wondered how high it went. She beckoned to Emery to follow her and then took off. Once she was above the treeline, she tried to fly out of the boundary at an angle, only to see the crimson bands reappear. Since she was skirting the edges, the pull wasn’t as violent this time, allowing her to adjust course and stay aloft.

“Do you suppose it goes all the way around?” she asked Emery. The imp was close enough to land on her shoulder.

“That would be unlikely,” he said. “I imagine it would take an incredibly powerful sorcerer to accomplish such a thing, and they would still need time to set it up.”

Abella frowned, her thoughts immediately going to the Society and Amir. How had they known they would be here? If they did, it could only mean that someone on the inside had informed them of their trip. If such a thing had taken so long to set up, then the Arachne were the only option. But if that was the case, then why would Velvet let her go last night?

It had to be something else. She needed to stop clinging to the idea that the Arachne were up to something because now it was blinding her to other possibilities. As for the Society’s involvement, that didn’t make a lick of sense either.

“Let’s find out for sure,” she said, then climbed even higher. The edge of her wing grazed the barrier, creating an eerie red smear in the air. The visual made it easy for Abella to track its path. The miles passed by beneath her and a feeling of dread settled in her gut. The magical barrier had been placed just outside the boundaries of the land. It had clearly been built long before Eulalie had come for help. Had it even been intended for them, or were they just unlucky?

The sun reached its zenith and then began its descent toward the horizon. Abella had covered almost a hundred miles and failed to find any part of the barrier that would allow her through. The land wasn’t perfectly circular, and the boundary had been tailored to fit. Should she keep going all the way around and confirm there was no exit, or would it be better to head back now and let everyone know?

Deciding to err on the side of caution, Abella performed a tight spiral and headed back toward the cabin. If she kept going like this, she wouldn’t be home until tomorrow. If something was going to come for them, it would likely come tonight when everyone was sleeping.

“Big sister!” Emery leaned forward enough that she could just see his head and arms. He pointed down below at a clearing, and she saw a dark figure sitting on a rock in the shadow of a giant conifer.

She knew better than to land. If that creature was alone, it likely wouldn’t be an issue, but what had happened to Pierre immediately came to mind.

A powerful force swatted her out of the air, causing her to tumble. She grabbed onto Emery and cradled him against her chest as they fell. As the tree line neared, she extended her wings once more and got another thirty feet before something grabbed her by the legs.

“Tell the others,” she whispered to Emery as she hurled him over the tree line. The imp’s wings opened just above the trees, and then she saw no more as she crashed into the ground.

Two hard falls in one day had left her body sore. She did a quick damage assessment and frowned when she realized her left wing had cracked. It wasn’t as bad as the time rocks got dropped on her, but she would have to be careful. Wrapping her wings around her body, she rolled over and scowled at the dark, inky tendrils that had clutched her ankle.

“I apologize for the rough greeting.” The voice sounded like a man, but it had a hollow timbre to it, as if he was speaking into a gourd. “But it seems that this was the only way to get your attention.”

“Who are you?” she asked while scanning the trees. His voice seemed to come from multiple places at once, but there was no sign of him. She couldn’t hear his movements or even his heartbeat.

“I’ve never seen one of your kind so close before.” The voice sounded like it was right in her ear, but nobody was there.

“You can come closer if you want.” She rolled over and contemplated the tendrils holding her feet. They weren’t actually tendrils, but a collection of shadows. She tried to cut them with her claws, but her fingers passed harmlessly over them. “Maybe quit being a pussy and show yourself.”

“I doubt that you would like what you see.” A dark shadow appeared next to a tree, but when she looked at it, it flickered and vanished. It reappeared to her left, leaning out from behind another tree. “I must say, you are the first of your kind that I have had the pleasure of meeting. You ... are a gargoyle, yes?”

Abella shook her head, refusing to answer. If he was just going to wander circles around her while asking questions, she had no interest in appeasing his curiosity.

“I find you strangely beautiful. You look just human enough that I can see the appeal.” He was much closer now, and she caught sight of a clawed hand gripping the bark of a pine. “This man you travel with, does he accept you?”

She feigned looking away, but was keeping watch from the corner of her eye. The shadow kept moving between the trees, but now she could hear the subtle shift of a branch or the crunching of snow. Her best guess was that he was teleporting between the trees.

“I saw what happened to you last night. With the Arachne.”

Abella turned her attention toward the shadow. “And? So what?”

“You are right to fear her.” The shadow chuckled, and then spoke from behind her. “But there are far scarier things in these woods.”

“I’m not afraid of her.” That much was true. Her only fear was for Mike’s safety, and this asshole was rapidly climbing her list of potential threats.

“It was quite beautiful, seeing the two of you in your danse macabre. I held my breath, wondering which of you would win out in the end. I must admit, I was disappointed to see that she was in possession of that wretched blade.” He spat his words out in anger, and the nearby trees quivered as if in fear. “But no matter.”

“I was worried that you were going to kill me,” Abella told him. “And now I know you plan to do so by talking me to death.”

“You are alive for two reasons. The first being that I am curious about you. A powerful creature in the thrall of such a simple man. The others are not as interesting to me as a creature made of stone.

“Which leads me to the second reason. I believe that you are ... unhappy with your current situation.” The shadow’s voice was now like honeyed smoke drifting through her mind. Hidden beneath his dulcet tones was a line of discord so subtle that she almost didn’t hear it. It was the sound of untruths and treachery, of someone trying to get their way. She wondered if he was using a spell to sweeten his words like candy, unaware that she had no taste for sugar. “I bring this up because I feel a certain kinship with those who wish to better their situation. You see, the world is no longer the oasis it used to be for ... beings of our disposition.”

Abella tilted her head while pondering his words. “It was you who brought the Nirumbi, wasn’t it?”

“Guilty.” She could almost hear his smile. “They’ve been locked away underground for so long now, forced to feed on each other and whatever they could find. When I found them, they were quick to bargain with me.”

“Bargain for what?”

His voice was now above her. When she looked up into the trees, all she could see were a pair of blazing eyes. He was backlit by the fading light of day, so little else was visible.

“I am building a new world, Abella. A place where creatures like us can be free to be ourselves. No hiding away from the men in white coats. No curious humans. This place could be our oasis, a land that we can call our own.”

“You are offering me ... real estate? To betray my Caretaker?” She sighed in disgust. “I was honestly expecting something better. I decline.”

He shook his head. “I offer far more than real estate. This is a legacy. This man of yours, how long is he truly expected to live? Whatever he offers you will be gone in a matter of decades, but this?” He gestured at the woods around them. “I wish to build a paradise that will be here long after humans cease to walk this world. Caretakers come and go, but this place will be my legacy. And perhaps yours, too.”

Abella frowned. “You don’t even know me, but wish to share centuries with me?”

“We have a lot in common.” He crouched down and steepled his hands together. His fingers were tipped with claws. “Shunned by mankind. Immortal, in our own way. How many years of blinding loneliness have you experienced? Nights spent with naught but the stars to keep you company? I once went over a decade without speaking to another living being, and I wonder if you’ve done the same.”

Abella tightened her lips. In fact, she had. After being abandoned by the clan, she had spent years in absolute silence with only the birds to keep her company. On occasion, she hid herself at street level in the city just so she could close her eyes and pretend to be part of the conversations of people as they walked past.

“How many men have tried to kill you?” he continued. “How many times have you heard the ominous cocking of a gun, or the ringing of steel being drawn, just because you looked different? Ever been hunted? I have.”

She shook her head, trying to shut him out. There had been a few close calls with the Order, times she had flown until her wings ached from exertion. They had no way of knowing if she was a threat, and she found it hard to blame them. While her clan had been content to remain in the shadows, others of her kind had made sport of terrifying peasants in the countryside.

“You looked so peaceful when you were flying. Almost like an angel.” He stood up and waved his arms around. “The sky above would be your paradise. I could even have the little people build you a home, a place for you alone. And while it may seem empty at first, I would dedicate myself to bringing others like you here. Creatures that are misunderstood, that have been vilified by history. This new world would be ours alone, and we could ride out the rest of eternity without a care in the world.”

“I knew someone who tried something similar.” Abella scowled, remembering Emily’s efforts to populate the house. “Your intentions may be good, but I question your methods.”

“On this, we agree. You cannot make an omelette without first cracking some eggs.” He chuckled, and the trees trembled. “For example, the Arachne is a problem that deserves to be cracked, don’t you agree?”

“What would you have of me?” she asked, curious what he would say. The offer to deal with Velvet was obviously tailored for her, and she could detect an undercurrent of untruth to it.

“I couldn’t ask you to turn on the others,” he said. “It would be too hard, they are your friends. But maybe I could open the barrier and you could just ... leave for a few days. Make it that much easier for me to finish what I started.”

“And what of the Caretaker?” she asked.

“You still feel for him, and I understand.” He reached down and touched her hair with a bony claw. His cowl shifted, and she thought she saw horns inside. “But does he feel the same about you? I had hoped to avoid the Caretaker’s involvement, but now that he is here, he is another egg that needs cracking.”

“So you would kill him?”

He sighed. “Humans are unpredictable. Perhaps he and I will speak and come to an arrangement. I would even lie on your behalf and explain that I trapped you outside. This place could be here waiting for you after he dies many years from now, he would never have to know.”

Abella frowned. This guy was laying it on thick. Why did he need her to leave so bad? What was she missing?

“And if you can’t come to an agreement?” she asked.

“I think you know the answer. I shouldn’t have to say it.” He almost sounded sad. “I can’t make any guarantees. I have my own goals to pursue, and I won’t be stopped.”

“Why even attack the cabin in the first place? Why not just walk up and knock? This place was meant to be a refuge, why not just ask to be included?”

“I have ... bad blood with one of the occupants. It wouldn’t have worked.”

“Yet here you are, trying to get me to turn on my family?” She could feel a fire building inside of her chest. “To get me to simply walk away? How could you ever trust someone willing to do that to the ones they love?”

“You love no one!” His voice was magnified, and the shadows all around her twisted about. “You think because he doesn’t look at you with disgust that you are actually loved? Do you think he actually values you? Thinks of you as an equal? You fill a need, and nothing more.”

She thought back to how Mike had held her hand in the forest. The times she had fought for him, and the times he had fought for them. He had bought her a tablet to watch movies so she wouldn’t get bored, had visited her on the roof just to say hi. Whenever he dropped by for a chat, he didn’t see a monster or a guard dog. He saw her as a person.

It was the way Velvet wanted to be treated, and Abella already had it. She would be damned if she gave it up.

“Do you have an asshole?” she asked. “Because that’s where you can stick your offer.”

Those crimson eyes flashed, and the figure vanished. When he next spoke, his voice came from all around her.

“We could have made this work,” he told her in a whisper. “I could have used a powerful ally such as you. In your final moments, I want you to know that I intend to rip your beloved human to shreds and feed him to the Nirumbi.”

Before Abella could react, he snapped his fingers. The shadows tightened around her legs and yanked her through the forest. She crashed through the foliage with gradually increasing speed. The shadows were like giant elastic bands that somehow yanked harder the further she traveled. She managed to sit up just as she crashed through a copse of trees and then skidded out onto the icy surface of a small lake.

The shadows were gone now. She coasted nearly sixty feet from the shore, her wings spread wide in an attempt to distribute her weight. Beneath her, the ice groaned in protest.

“Asshole,” she muttered. Even if the ice broke, the cold was no danger to her, and she didn’t need to breathe. It would take her some time, but she could make it back to shore. With her current energy levels, she could spend a few days at the bottom of the lake before she was in any real danger.

Beneath the ice, something moved. She looked down, then used her hand to rub away the snow, revealing a clear window into the murky depths. Instead of darkness, she was treated to the sight of scales shifting against the other side. The scales slid beneath the surface, their patterns shifting until an eye the size of her head opened. The pupil narrowed in the light of day, then focused on her.

“Merde.”

When the ice shattered, she felt thick coils wrap around her body as she was dragged into the cold depths below.

The temperature in the house was dropping, and Beth wondered if it would get cold enough to need a fire in the fireplace. The house relied on hot water registers down by the floor, but without Naia or her spring, there would be no way to heat the whole house.

When Beth stepped into the kitchen, there was a noticeable chill in the air. The cupboards were all open as if someone had gone rummaging through them, and the basement door was closed. She closed all of the cupboards, then rubbed at her arms. The hair on the back of her neck was standing up, and she didn’t know why.

“Hey.” Lily stepped into the kitchen from the dining room and hopped up to sit on the counter with her legs crossed.

“Well? Is she okay?” Beth had asked Lily to check on Tink, seeing as dreams were her domain.

Lily nodded. “It’s a sleep spell. She’s currently trapped in a dream, but a far better one now that I’ve made a few tweaks. You would be absolutely astonished at the shit inside that goblin’s head. It’s like MC Escher got drunk with the Marquis de Sade! Anyway, it’s not something I can easily break, which is worrisome. The process itself could hurt her.”

Beth sighed. At least Tink would get better, whatever the problem was. She rubbed her arms again. “It wasn’t even this cold outside,” she grumbled. “How the fuck is it so cold in here?”

“I have one idea.” Lily pointed at the door to the basement, which was now open. Beth inhaled sharply at the realization that the door had opened itself. “Maybe whatever got out of the Vault is sapping the energy out of here? Exorcist Barbie does a similar trick before she manifests, right?”

“I guess, but—Tick Tock!” Beth ran over to the kitchen table and picked up the large backpack that was sitting in a chair. She was relieved that the mimic had made the transition with them.

“Hey there, little clock.” Lily approached and playfully tugged at one of the zippers. When she let go, the zipper undid itself, making the flap look like a grinning mouth. “You still carrying precious cargo?”

“Let me check,” Beth said, then stuck her hand into the bag. Her fingers closed on the edge of the Grimoire and she let out a sigh of relief. “Go ahead and keep it,” she said, then zipped the bag shut. She slid the bag onto her shoulders and the straps adjusted themselves.

“Looks like he’s got a crush on you,” Lily teased. “Maybe you can introduce him to that suitcase you’ve got. Do you think magic luggage likes to fuck? Instead of tops and bottoms, they could be ins and outs.”

Beth ignored Lily, but her cheeks burned with embarrassment. Maybe it was time to store her collection somewhere else since everyone seemed to know about it. Not that she had even really looked at it since moving in. Her monster infatuation was currently well fed.

At the top of the stairs, an icy gust of air blasted her hair away from her face. She covered her eyes and closed the door.

“Guess I’m getting my coat,” she told Lily, then ran to her room to get it. When she came back, Lily was wearing a colander on her head and holding a spatula.

“What are you doing?” Beth asked.

“Isn’t this what you wear to fight the monster in the basement?” Lily stuck out her tongue, and Beth laughed. It helped lighten her mood immensely, and she pulled out her phone to snap a picture. Maybe she would make a photo book of how fucked up her week had been and look at it fondly while being absolutely tanked on wine.

They opened the door and stared at the looming darkness. The bottom of the stairs wasn’t visible, so Beth went to get a flashlight from the kitchen. When she returned, she clicked the light on and sighed.

“I don’t remember this many steps,” she said.

“Nope.” Lily looked at Beth, then took the colander off her head and threw it down the stairs. They could hear the colander crashing against the concrete steps for quite some time before it finally went quiet.

“I hate this.” Beth started down the stairs, but Lily grabbed her by the shoulder and stepped ahead.

“I can take a punch far better than you can.” She winked at Beth. “And a bullet, a knife, a back-handed compliment...”

Beth playfully kicked at the succubus, and then the two of them started their descent. The house wall, which usually terminated only a couple of feet down, continued onward as if it had been stretched out to accommodate the new length of the stairs. After they had gone down for a minute, Beth turned to look back and frowned at how tiny the basement door looked.

“We’re gonna have to climb back up these stairs,” she mentioned. “At what point do we decide this is a bad idea?”

“When something tries to eat us.”

“That’s not very funny,” Beth replied.

“And I’m not laughing.” Lily looked over her shoulder. “Can you feel that shift in pressure? That’s nothing friendly.”

Beth shivered. Maybe she should have brought someone else with them, but who?

“Also keep in mind that Tink was down here unconscious. Kisa brought her back not that long ago, so this is new. If something is putting together a trap for us, it’s probably tired.”

“It almost sounds like you’re trying to make me feel better.”

“Is it working?”

Beth nodded. “A bit.”

“Good.” They kept going for a few more minutes before something shiny reflected the light from the flashlight. It was the colander, now covered in dents.

“Well, at least Sofia can make us pasta when she gets back,” Beth quipped. “Maybe if you’re good, I’ll convince her to make you some devil’s food cake.”

“Now you’re trying to make me feel better.” Lily picked up the colander and studied it.