Chasing Shadow (Shadow Puppeteer) (12 page)

“A piece of advice kid, next time you hear music, don’t follow it to the source.” There was no bitterness to his lecturing tone. “How old are you?”

I stiffened. There was that age thing again.

“Older than I look,” I said.

He looked up at the sky and I followed his upward gaze.

“Tell me, do you ever feel like you’re being followed?” he asked.

The thunderous clap of wings followed by hundreds of black crows into the sky. Their swarming bodies shadowed the streets. The cawing was chaotic.

“They must have nests up there,” a woman beside me said. She lifted her shopping bag over her head, but nothing more than a few black feathers rained down on us.

I plucked one of the longer feathers from the sidewalk and swirled it between my fingers.

This is a bad omen.

The thought surprised me. What did I know about omens?

The crows swooped lower, gliding along the walls and whacking their bodies against anything that stuck out. Two cameras crashed to the street, but that didn’t convince anyone to move inside. Tourists kept taking photos and traffic stopped.

I glanced back at the vagabond, but he was gone.

My money was to be spent another day. I didn’t want to remain in the city a second longer.

I
t was easier to relax with the light streaming in through the thin bandana fabric. The breeze was comfortably cool and the forest was full of natural sounds that were far more soothing than the town. I relaxed by the weight of the encyclopedia on my stomach, rising with every breath I took.

There was nothing in the book on a murder of crows, but it did mention that a crow meant death. A doppelganger meant the same thing to the person who sees their own, but I had seen Starr’s. That meant bad luck was coming my way. There was a great deal on music.

Music was the heart of everything magical. Music was powerful, and it made me wonder what World Congress was hiding by restricting it.

The vagabond said that I wasn’t supposed to hear it. Did that mean he was trying to trap someone, a particular creature sensitive to the call of music?

Even in the quiet of the forest, that song played in my head, drawing me farther into my thoughts. I closed my eyes for just a moment, but when I opened them again, the tree house was plunged into darkness. My mind spun with images from my nightmare; black crows swarming the sky and friends who walked the earth dead in one form and alive in another.

The universe was trying to tell me something.

I grabbed the matches and lit the candles on the trunk. The little flames gave a great deal of light, pushing the shadows back where they belonged. To keep from focusing on the shadows, I pulled my duffle bag into my lap and started going through the clothes for the rave.

I removed a short pleated skirt made from neck ties, very risqué for this society. The neck ties all had such vastly different designs that it was both ugly and beautiful. I fished out a pink filmy sleeveless shirt and pulled it on. Having so much skin exposed usually rattled me, but tonight was another chance to do something unusual. Under rave lights the weird coloring on my arm wouldn’t be noticeable.

I stared at my stone colored arm with indecision. It wasn’t like it was much paler than the rest of me, but the difference was apparent. It was more alabaster than natural pale. The black stripes were noticeable, so I pulled on a pink and white fingerless glove that went all the way up to my elbow and tied it with a leather string to make sure it didn’t fall off.

There wasn’t time to sew a small pouch for a blade and money so I used a tiny purse. I grabbed a sweater and slid out the trap door, making sure it was closed behind me. I wasn’t comfortable sneaking around after last night, but it was all woods from here to Starr’s house. If Rex was watching, he’d probably cut me off and order me back into the tree house. Since he wasn’t around, I assumed he was with his pack.

I picked up my pace and made it to the high walls surrounding Starr’s property just as headlights came down the road. The heavy foliage deflected the light, but I cautiously stayed low. My curiosity grew when the gates opened. I stayed hunched and along the wall as I made it to the front of the house.

There were no motion lights on this side of the house so I remained well hidden. Three men lingered in the driveway and one of them was Mayor Righthart. Apparently the mayor had no special privilege to be out past curfew either if he was hiding in the dark.

In the silence, orangish-red lights flared. They were smoking! Getting caught smoking could land a person in jail. I wish I had my video camera.

“The Reincarta left a note on the body of a public official saying they have a necromancer, a genuine Shadow Puppeteer. Do you want extra security for your daughter?” the taller figure asked.

They kept their voices low, but I could hear them just fine as I pressed closer to the side of the gate out of their sight.

“If they had a necromancer they would have used it already and a Shadow Puppeteer doesn’t exist,” Righthart said. His tone was oily. “But just in case, pull Starr out of school.”

“What about the girls on the list?” The second unknown suit asked.

“The Reincarta haven’t found the one. World Congress wants us to continue the job,” Righthart said.

“I’ll give the order,” the first man promised.

Mayor Righthart stayed in the cover a moment longer as the two men got into their cart. The gate rattled open and I took off along the wall to the back of the house where our climbing tree stood. The lights didn’t touch the wall where I hid, too shook up to push my hair from my face. The cart with its two passengers hummed down the road with their ominous orders.

I was up the tree in seconds, watching the tail end of the cart’s light disappear around the corner. The wind swayed the branches around me making the leaves brush together, but despite the noise, I was sure I heard the door shut behind Righthart. I moved down the branch ready to jump into the yard when the motion light came on. I clutched the tree and waited for gunfire, but none came. There were no guards in the backyard, but that didn’t slow my rapid heartbeat. This was not the first time I almost leaped before I looked.

After a few minutes the lights went dark again, making the world that much lonelier. Without a watch I couldn’t tell what time it was, but it felt late. Every window on this side of the house was dark. I’d spend the entire night worried about Starr if she left without me, but I couldn’t wait for her in the tree. It was getting cold and I couldn’t leave until I knew she wasn’t there.

It’s been years since I last tried to move objects with my mind. I had to focus on the density and texture of the object I wanted to move. I cupped my hand as if I were holding a light bulb, feeling its hollow bulb and cold tip. The metaphysical association worked because the connection was there and the dark bulb immediately came to light.

My palm grew uncomfortably hot. It was a sheer burning heat that threatened to singe my skin. I crushed the air before the pressure became too much and the bulb burst in its socket. Dark pigments of glass rained down into the flower garden.

I rubbed my palm against my skirt happy to have that heat lifted. The fact that it worked gave me confidence. I managed to shatter three more bulbs before the heat the energy produced grew overwhelming. I was sweating despite the cold air.

There were still a few bulbs left, but before I could shatter them Starr’s window opened. Her black skirt was short and her legs deathly pale. I watched her climb down the terrace. She must have turned the electricity off from the inside.

I jumped into the yard, relieved to see her. She kept her back turned and I slowed my approach, afraid she’d turn around and it would be the doppelganger.

“Starr?”

Her movements were slow, but it was her. Her blue eyes were eclipsed by her dilated pupils.

“Did you already take something tonight?” I asked. I took a step towards her and she stepped back. I was offended. “You don’t think I’d hurt you do you?”

Her reaction hurt more than anything Amber had done to humiliate me.

“I’m supposed to be at the rave right now and I’m taking back my invite. You’re not coming with me,” she said.

It felt more than a retraction of the invite. It felt like she let me go as a friend. I couldn’t help but wonder if this had something to do with not meeting me after school. She was distracted this morning, but it wasn’t nearly as alarming as now.

“What is going on with you? What are you on?” I asked.

Starr’s delicately manicured eyebrow rose. “I should have kept you a job. Instead, I actually started feeling something towards you. Out of respect, I’ll warn you that I changed sides. You need to get off the island before it’s too late.”

The house shadowed the yard, blocking the moonlight this close to the wall so anyone looking out wouldn’t see us. Starr raised a nervous hand to her neck. I followed that movement and she immediately dropped her hand from where she was rubbing.

I couldn’t keep the hurt from my tone. “Our friendship was a job to you?”

“You don’t get it, do you? World Congress always knew about the supposed Reincarta daughter. They made drones like me for every school, looking for this child. We’re supposed to forget our old lives and live for their needs. What happens once they get what they want? Will they return me to death?” Starr said.

Her anger was so heartfelt and sudden, yet her body was empty of emotion. I stood there feeling like the clumsy, gawky friend I was. It ached to hear her refer to me as a job when I saw her as the sister I always wanted. Something keen to chest pain made it difficult to breath. Her mouth was moving, but I only caught the tail end of what she said.

“The stakes are the same, but the benefits are better. We’ve been through a lot and I feel obligated to let you know about the danger you’re in,” she said.

I didn’t care that her warning was out of obligation or guilt, she was dismissing me. I wanted to scream. First Sable, then Rex and now Starr. My head was spinning.

“I need to get out of here before they come looking for me,” she said, but she didn’t move. Instead, she stood staring at me with such coldness in her eyes that I hardly recognized her. “World Congress has your number. I can’t lie about you anymore. I can’t stop what’s coming and I can’t protect you.”

“Protect me?” I swayed against the terrace, grateful for its solidness. Everyone had a funny way of protecting me

“I’m much older than you,” Starr said. “My body isn’t, but my soul is.”

“So you’re a Free-String Walker, then?” I asked. After meeting Draken, I suspected as much, but Starr was so much like all the other teens our age.

Starr’s sideways smirk was unfamiliar. Everything in her manner was unfamiliar to me. This was not the careless, free spirited Starr that I grew up with who was a little slow on important matters and never took anything to heart. I couldn’t read her, but I could see her age in her eyes.

“Things are different now, Belen McKnight.” I wasn’t use to hearing my full name on her lips. It felt like I was in trouble. “My purposes were selfish at first, but I did start to pity you. It’s funny that pity can become love and love can become resentment. In this body’s limits, I’ve felt human, but this body isn’t real. I’m nothing, but a puppet.”

She was glaring at me, waiting for me to say something, but I had no idea what she wanted me to say. I pressed the heels of my palms against my cheek, smearing my tears. The pressure in my ribcage was building. This felt so unreal.

Worst of all, I was defeated. A sharp pain pulsed in my temples making it hard to focus.

“Is it possible to feel more tortured here on earth than in the spirit realm? Being solid again doesn’t wipe out the past. It doesn’t make the future better when you are still harboring fears from another lifetime. I don’t want to be a spy and I don’t want to be your friend, but I can’t help that I am drawn to you. Your spirit reminds me so much of the underworld,” she said.

I shattered with every word she spoke. The hole it left was getting bigger and darker. I just couldn’t take this, but she wouldn’t shut up and I couldn’t get myself to speak.

She was this white silhouette despite the lack of light. Her pale skin made her appear as though she glowed, due to her lack of an aura. Her eyes, despite the blue, were dark and hideous on her face. She wasn’t real, but she talked like she was.

Starr’s sharp smile softened. “I got even with Amber for you. I set up the cans so they would explode. I had to ask the faeries for help, and they were willing, seeing as I use to be favored in the Unseelie Court. I would have killed her if she had done anything else to you.”

This last confession balled my sorrow into tight anger. “Stop talking. Don’t say anything else.”

“I need your pardon before I leave,” she said.

Her entire being rested on what I would say. Her words left me dumbfounded.

“A pardon? You want me to forgive you?” Eventually I could forgive her. Despite my anger, I loved her like family.

She pushed her narrow shoulders back, but didn’t answer. I was growing tired, the coldness was unbearable. My lower jaw shuddered and my kneecaps started to ache, making it uncomfortable to stand. I hugged myself for warmth as my mind fought for the best case scenario.

“At least get me off this island and away from everyone who knows me here,” I said.

“It’s not that easy. I’m leaving the island right now before Sonya knows of my betrayal to her. Whatever happens, don’t come looking for me.”

There was that name again. I definitely didn’t like this woman and I was growing weary of this pointless conversation. Starr wasn’t going to help me. I had to take this matter in my own hands. There was a small tin box under my bed almost enough money to buy a ticket off the island. I was willing to barter for the balance.

I barely crossed the yard before I heard a surprised squeak and spun around. A woman in tight red spandex held Starr’s jaw. The knife in her free hand was pressed with the tip inside Starr’s mouth. Starr gurgled and thick blood rolled over her bottom lip. It wasn’t fair. Free-String Walkers shouldn’t bleed like humans.