Shadow Demons (8 page)

A single headlight rushed toward the school. All I could do was stand and stare as Jackson jumped off his motorcycle and ran up to me. He grabbed my shoulders, his eyes wide.

“Are you okay?” he said, looking from me to the broken door. “What happened?”

A tear rolled down my cheek. I couldn’t stop shaking. “The crow witch,” I said. “She came back for me.”

Fear filled his eyes. He pulled off his leather jacket and wrapped it around my shoulders. “Where is she? Is she still here?”

“I don’t know what happened,” I said. My brain struggled to make sense of it all. “I was waiting out here alone because this guy kicked me out, and then there was the crow. It flew straight at me. I didn’t know what to do.”

I was rambling. I couldn’t think straight. My heart still pulsed with fear.

Jackson ran a hand through his hair and looked around. He stepped around the broken door and his jaw fell open.

“What?” I asked, moving beside him.

The bird lay completely still in the grass. I gasped. Had I killed it?

Jackson walked slowly over to the bird, then carefully poked it with the tip of his boot. I clutched his jacket close around my body, ready to make a run for it if the thing flew toward me. Instead, the second his foot hit its wing, the black bird disintegrated into a puff of ash.

I shook my head, not understanding.

Jackson turned to me. “This wasn’t the crow witch,” he said. He crouched down beside the ash and rubbed some between his fingers.

“It was,” I said. “You didn’t see it, Jackson. It had the same claws and the same red eyes.”

I sat down on the grass, unable to hold myself up any longer.

“I believe you,” he said. “But this bird wasn’t a witch. It was an illusion.”

I stared at the pile of ashes and shook my head. “An illusion? What do you mean?”

“I mean someone created an exact copy of the crow witch and sent it after you,” he said.

“Why?” I said. “Who would do such a thing?”

“That’s a good question.” Jackson stood and turned away from me, his hands curling into tight fists. “I’m going to kill her.”

I walked toward him. “Kill who?” I said. “Jackson? Do you know who did this?”

Jackson shook his head and turned back to me. “No,” he said. “I just meant that when we figure out who is messing with you, I’m going to have a few choice words for them. Tell me again exactly what happened.”

I couldn’t shake the feeling that he was hiding something from me. Did he know more than he was telling me?

I started from the beginning and told him about the attack.

“When I first saw it flying toward me, the crow looked so real,” I said. “And my necklace…”

My voice caught in my throat. My necklace. I looked to the discarded bag by the curb. Was my necklace even in there? If my cell phone was gone, what if…?

I ran over to the pile of clothes on the ground, Jackson following close behind me. My uniform, cheer sneakers and a bunch of random practice clothes were jumbled together. I searched through them like a mad woman. I searched every pocket, every inch of the discarded duffel bag. It had to be there.

I never should have taken it off. Screw the rules of the competition. I should have known better.

“Harper?” Jackson grabbed my arm. He sank into the grass beside me. “Slow down, wait. What were you saying about your necklace?”

Panic filled my entire being. I slumped over, letting my body rest against his.

“My necklace,” I said. “It’s gone.”

“What do you mean it’s gone?” Jackson asked.

“I had to take it off to cheer,” I said. “They told me it was part of the rules, so I wrapped it in my t-shirt and put it in the duffel bag.”

I tore through the pile again, close to completely freaking out.

“Harper.” Jackson said my name softly, putting his hand on top of mine. “Calm down. It’s going to be okay.”

“How can you say that?” I asked. I felt sick to my stomach. “Someone’s trying to kill me and now I’ve lost the only thing that can keep me safe.”

Jackson scooted the bag closer and started going through it piece by piece.

I stood and stepped away. “I never should have taken it off in the first place,” I said. “Screw the stupid rules. I should have known better. Without that necklace, I’m completely helpless. I don’t even know how to protect myself.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” he said, folding my t-shirts up and putting them back inside the bag. “Besides, illusions like this are harmless. Someone was just trying to scare you.”

“Well it worked,” I snapped. “And what about last night? If you hadn’t been there…”

My hand flew to my neck. My necklace hadn’t worked last night even when I was wearing it. I looked toward the pile of ashes on the ground. “Illusions can’t hurt me,” I repeated.

“No,” Jackson said. “They’re basically harmless. A stupid party trick.”

“So an illusion wouldn’t make Aerden come to protect me,” I said.

Jackson stared up at me. “What are you getting at?”

“Last night,” I said, sitting next to him. “We were attacked with magic, but Aerden didn’t come to help me. I worried about it all last night, thinking maybe something was wrong with our connection. But what if the witch last night wasn’t real? What if it was just an illusion, like this?”

Jackson’s eyes darkened. “I never thought about it.”

“You killed that witch,” I said. “But then she just disappeared. What if she turned to ash? We never thought to even look for ashes.”

“Here,” Jackson said. He held a closed fist out to me.

Confused, I held out my hand. He dropped my necklace into my open palm with a smile.

Relief flooded through me and tears began to fall. I threw my arms around his neck. “Thank you,”I said.

“It was stuck in one of your socks,” he said with a laugh.

I laughed and swiped at the tears on my cheek, feeling silly. “Jackson, are you sure you don’t know who-“

Behind us, Mrs. King emerged from the building. “Oh my god, what happened here?”

She ran through the door and her eyes locked on my face. Her hand rose up to her mouth as she looked from me to the broken door and back.

“Everything is okay,” I called to her. I had no idea how I was going to handle this situation. The last thing I wanted the Order to know was that I had someone scaring the crap out of me with illusions. Still, I couldn’t even think of a lie good enough to cover the fact that I’d ripped a door from its hinges. “I just got scared and over-reacted. Any chance you could help me fix the door?”

Mrs. King eyed me suspiciously as she walked toward us. “You got scared and tore the door off the building? What’s really going on here, Harper?”

I didn’t like the dark look that crossed her face as she stared at Jackson. Surely she didn’t think he would do anything to hurt me?

“Seriously, everything is fine,” I said. “Except the door.”

“I don’t know what’s going on between the two of you, but if you hurt her-“

“He didn’t hurt me,” I said. “He was just late picking me up and I thought someone was out here. I just scared myself for nothing. It’s all just a big mess. Can we please fix it and move on?”

I fidgeted. I needed her to let this go. If I had to explain about the fake crow and the ghouls and everything, I knew this whole thing would get blown way out of proportion.

“You promise you’re okay?” she asked.

“I’m fine,” I said, using every ounce of my own willpower to keep my voice steady. “But do you mind if I run back into the gym for a few minutes? I need to see if I left my cell phone in there.”

“Sure,” she said. “I’ll stay here and try to get this door back into place.”

Most of the lights inside were turned off, so I conjured a small orb of light to guide me through the darkness.

I rushed over to my locker, entered my combination and pulled it open. I half-expected to see my cell phone laying there, forgotten, but my locker was empty. Not even a scrap of paper or a stray item of clothing.

My heart sank.

When I came back out of the gym, the door was almost back to normal. Mrs. King had her hands on one of the largest dents in the side.

“Not there?” Mrs. King asked, twisting the metal back into place with just her fingertips.

I shook my head. Someone must have stolen it from my locker earlier when I was cheering. They didn’t want me to be able to call for help. Who was messing with me?

And what did Jackson know that he wasn’t telling me?

“What is it?” Mrs. King asked. She stepped closer and put her hand on my arm. “Harper? What’s wrong? I’m sure I can talk to Mrs. Shadowford about getting you a new cell phone if that’s the problem. Don’t worry about it.”

Don’t worry. Easy for her to say. At this point, the cell phone was the least of my worries.

“Why don’t we head back to my car?” she said. “I’ll take you home.”

“That’s okay,” I said. “I was going to ride with Jackson.”

She studied my face and must have misread my tear-stained cheeks. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” she said. “I’m going to take you home. You and Jackson can hang out some other time.”

Jackson’s eyes met mine with a question. I shrugged. We’d have to talk about the illusions some other night. Maybe later, he’d actually be ready to tell me the truth about what he knew. For now, I just wanted to go home and crawl into bed.

I walked with Mrs. King to her car. As I got into the passenger seat, I saw Jackson lean down and grab a handful of ash from the ground. He drew it up into a tight fist, then threw it violently to the ground.

I crawled out of bed the next morning, my body aching from the strain of the performance yesterday. I splashed cold water on my face, then stood staring at the diamond earring laying in the soap dish.

Was there any connection to all these things? The earring in the spell book room. The creepy guy in black. The witch in the woods. The fake crow attack at the gym. How were they all connected?
Was the whole world against me? Or were all of these recent attacks related?

I didn’t have much time to think about it before a knock on my door pulled me away from the bathroom.

I was only halfway across the room when the door swung open.

I smiled. Zara stood in the doorway. She was dressed in head-to-toe cotton-candy pink. Her white-blonde fell across her shoulders.

“Hi Zara,” I said, giving her a huge hug.

“Are you ready to get started?” she asked. I’d missed her sweet, soft voice.

“Right now?” I asked. She certainly didn’t waste any time. “Didn’t you just get here? Don’t you need to unpack or anything?”

“No,” she said. “My things are already situated in my room.”

I glanced at the clock on my bedside table. “It’s only eight in the morning. How long have you been here?”

Zara giggled and it filled the room with a tinkling of laughter. I instantly felt better about everything that had been happening. Zara was here. She would help keep me safe.

“I’ve been here for about half an hour,” she said. “But it only took about ten minutes to get here from D.C., silly.”

I looked at her, puzzled. Ten minutes? That wasn’t possible. It was at least a twelve hour drive. Even if she flew here, it would have taken her two hours to get to Peachville from the airport.

“What do you mean?”

Zara pressed her lips together and shook her head. “The Peachville Order keeps way too many secrets from their Prima Futura,” she said. “I promise I’ll show you how I got here so quickly when we make a trip to my mother’s house later this week, but for now, we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

“We’re going to your mother’s house?” I asked, surprised. Zara’s mother was a High Priestess in the Order of Shadows. Getting invited to their house was a pretty big deal.

Zara nodded. “Didn’t anyone tell you? Now that your confirmation is complete, you’re ready for the next step in your initiation as Prima,” she said. “The Heritage Ritual is very special, and my mother suggested you come to Washington so she can preside over the ritual. She very much liked you when she was here. She sees great potential in you.”

I swallowed. Another ceremony. On one hand, it would be great to get another power boost like I saw with the confirmation. On the other hand, it was one step closer to being Prima. “Great,” I said, trying to seem enthusiastic.

“But we can talk more about that later,” Zara said. “Today, your training begins. What would you like to work on first? Memory spells, enchantments, transfiguration?”

“Defense,” I said.

Zara stared at me with a surprised look on her face. “Defense? That’s not as much fun as some of the other types of magic.”

“I want to learn how to keep my focus even in battle.”

“Battle?” she laughed. “You say that like you’re expecting to go to war at any moment.”

She was laughing, but that was exactly how I felt. I was extremely disappointed in how I reacted during the last couple of attacks. Illusion or not, I should have been able to stand up for myself.

“I can teach you a few defensive spells,” Zara said. “But to be honest, I think you have handled yourself extremely well when it comes to everything you’ve been through here in Peachville.”

“Thanks,” I said, but I didn’t feel like I’d done all that much. For the most part, I’d gotten lucky or had a lot of help. I wanted to be able to protect myself even if I didn’t have Aerden or Jackson there to stand up for me.

“Harper, I know it seems like you’ve been in danger ever since you first came here,” she said. “But I can assure you the life of a typical Prima is not like this. Once you’ve settled in after your final initiation, you’ll see that life as Prima is a lot of fun and extremely rewarding. Now that the crows are gone from this area, I hardly think you’ll have to worry about fighting anymore.”

I cleared my throat. She didn’t understand what I was dealing with here. “I’d still like to learn,” I said. “Just in case.”

Zara sighed. “Very well,” she said. “Let’s go out to the woods and get started, shall we?”

We walked together toward the ritual circle.

“Some of these spells are a bit advanced for your level,” she said.

“I can do it,” I said.

“We’ll see,” she said. “Some of this magic is beyond what most futures learn.”

“Most futures don’t have their lives threatened on a daily basis,” I said.

Zara ignored my comment and started her lesson. “First, in order to defend herself, a witch needs to understand the idea of shielding,” she said. “A shield is exactly what it sounds like. A barrier between you and whatever’s coming toward you.”

Zara motioned for me to stay put while she walked several feet away, then stood facing me across the clearing.

“Throw a fireball directly toward me,” she said. “And don’t hold back.”

I closed my eyes and focused my energy deep inside my core. When I opened them again, I was fully connected to my own power. I lifted my hands together and created a ball of fire between them. I pulled my right hand back slightly, then pushed the flame straight out in front of me. It flew toward Zara with decent speed behind it.

For a second, I thought it was going to hit her. She didn’t look concerned in the least, but she didn’t seem to be doing anything either. Then, at the last second, just before the fireball hit her, she lifted both of her hands in front of her body. The fireball smashed up against what seemed to be an invisible wall of some sort. Flame shot out to the sides, then dissipated completely.

“A shield absorbs whatever crashes into it,” she said. “Fire. Ice. Poison. Most of these things can be absorbed by a normal shield. There is a catch, however.”

Zara held her palms out toward me, and at first, I couldn’t see what she was trying to show me. Then, I noticed a glittery substance on her skin.

“What’s that?”

“The essence of the shield,” she said. “I put it out in front of my body using my own magic. My own core. The further out the shield extends from my body, the more of my essence it consumes. Almost all shields consume large quantities of magic. And some of whatever the opposing witch threw at you will become absorbed into the shield, which means it will also be absorbed into you. When it’s just us sparring like this, it’s relatively harmless. I don’t mind absorbing a tiny bit of your magic into my body, because you’re like me. A good witch with good energy. On the other hand, however, when you’re fighting an evil witch, like the crow, absorbing some of her energy means taking in some of her hatred and bitterness.”

“Would your hands still look glittery?”

“No.” Zara smiled. “Good question, though. Most witches are different in what their true essence looks like. The darker the witch, the darker their magic will appear even outside of their bodies. With a witch like the crow, my hands would possibly look charred and blackened.”

“So what does glitter tell you about me?”

“That you’re pure and good,” she said. “And very powerful.”

Zara stepped toward me and showed me the correct stance for casting a shield spell. She placed her feet firmly on the ground, one foot slightly in front of the other to give her stability and strength. Her hands came up in front of her body, one hand placed above the other in a straight line. I copied her movements, palms out.

“Your shield is an extension of yourself,” she said. “So in order to create a strong shield, you must feel the core of your magic deep within, then let it travel out through your arms, to your palms and out. When you’ve properly got a shield up, you’ll be able to see it glittering in the air in front of you.”

“I couldn’t see a shield in front of you earlier,” I said.

“That’s because every witch can only see her own essence when it takes the form of a shield. You can see your own shield, but no one else will be able to see it.” She stepped back to her spot across the clearing. “The key is to create a shield just big enough to deflect whatever is coming your way. If it’s a fireball, then your shield should be just bigger than the fireball is. That way, you conserve power instead of creating a huge shield that’s much larger than the item you’re defending against.”

“Does this mean you’re going to throw a fireball at me now?”

Zara laughed. “I’ll let you practice your shield a couple of times first,” she said. “Let me know when you think you’ve got it.”

Both nervous and excited, I took my stance. I connected to my core power deep inside, then imagined it flowing down through my arms and out into my palms. I thrust my hands forward, then felt a cool rush of energy as a small shield extended out in front of me.

I laughed and pulled back, staring at my hands. The shield had been completely transparent, but shimmery. It looked like a type of flat force-field that formed a perfect circle around my hands.

I took my stance again, and concentrated more power through my hands, creating a larger shield in front of my body. I could tell what Zara meant about it being an energy drain. To hold a shield like that for a long time would take enormous power and concentration.

Just when I thought I couldn’t hold it much longer, I saw Zara conjure a white ball of bright light. I had no idea whether the light would hurt or even what it was made of, but I wasn’t taking any chances. I kept the shield up with everything I had as she threw the light toward me. I flinched as the light zoomed toward my head, but watched in amazement as it struck my shield and dissipated.

What Zara had said about the energy of the other person’s spell being absorbed into your own body made more sense now. A pulsing adrenaline rushed through my hands and into my body. I could feel the impact of the ball of light long after it had disappeared.

I let the shield drop and took a deep breath. I felt like I needed to sit down for a minute. It wasn’t so much that I was physically tired. It was just that I felt drained and slightly light-headed.

“Beautiful shield for a first timer,” Zara said.

I plopped down onto the dry, crunchy leaves. “I see what you mean about it being hard to sustain, though.”

“You’ll get better at it,” she said. Instead of sitting next to me on the ground, Zara sat down in mid-air, like a little floating genie. Her long white-blonde hair blew back as a gust of wind rushed into the clearing. Zara lifted her face toward the wind and closed her eyes. She looked so beautiful and peaceful.

“I can feel your energy inside of me,” I said. “It’s like a little hum or something.”

She smiled. “It only lasts a little while, but it’s kind of funny, isn’t it? It’s like getting to see a side of a person you’d never normally see.”

I immediately thought of Jackson. I wondered what it would feel like to absorb some of his magical energy. I had a feeling it wouldn’t be nearly as light and happy as Zara’s.

“What was it you threw at me, anyway?”

“Just light,” she said. “Totally harmless, of course.”

“What if it had been a fireball or something dangerous?” I asked. “Would it have hurt at all?”

“What you would feel wouldn’t exactly be pain,” she said. She looked off to the left, as if trying to figure out the words to describe it. “It’s more like an uneasiness that comes over you. Like your body knows that energy now flowing through your hands was meant to harm you. It’s hard to explain.”

“Can we try one?”

“A fireball?” She looked at me like I’d lost my marbles. “Absolutely not. This is only your first day of learning to shield. I’m not going to risk hurting you and having the entire local council freak out on me.”

I laughed and rolled my eyes. “Fine. What are some of the other ways to defend myself, then?”

For the rest of the afternoon, Zara taught me various types of shields and protection spells. She taught me ways to deflect dangerous magic and to detect when someone was close by hiding in the shadows. By the time darkness came, I was utterly exhausted.