Shadow Walkers (24 page)

With her dueler powers still growing and with what she assumed to be a mage Chain unlocked, Allison couldn’t help but replay the words she heard only minutes ago.

You are the strongest Walker
, the stranger had told her. Allison didn’t believe it at first, because she didn’t truly believe in herself. She lacked true power, and didn’t have the ability to do anything spectacular. Before this battle, she didn’t think she could even protect her friends properly, let alone her family name.

But now, Allison felt like she could do anything.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Allison

For a few minutes, Allison stood alone in the empty corridor. She was finally starting to panic when two large cracks suddenly appeared on the walls to her sides. Both walls slide to the side, opening up to reveal some type of passageway behind them. Hector runs into the room from the right passageway, and Isaac comes from the left. Allison’s nerves immediately settle down and she exhales deeply.

“You guys are okay!” Allison says as she runs towards Hector. She throws her arms around her friend and hugs him tightly.

“Yeah. We were freed from that stupid trap as soon as you touched that crystal.” Hector says.

Allison pulls away and looks at him with a confused expression. “Wait, how do you know what happened?”

“For some reason we snapped out of our trances a little bit after you left.” Isaac says.

“Then the imposters led us to these passageways.” Hector adds with a grin on his face. “We didn’t know which one would lead to you, so we split up so that at least one of us would be able to help you out. I ended up running into a dead end, but the wall just so happened to be see through.”

“So you saw me fight him?” Allison says looking at the ground. She didn’t like the idea that her friends had helplessly watched her die. But Hector laughs, and for some reason it cheers her up.

“Yeah, you got your butt whooped.” He says. Allison punches him in the shoulder, causing him to laugh even harder. Isaac laughs as well, and at that point even she couldn’t hold it back. Allison shamelessly laughs at herself with her teammates. Hector gets a straight face and shakes his head. “I was screaming the entire time, trying to root for you. I started crying when you went down, and then… well, what you did was amazing. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.”

“You did a good job, Allison.” Isaac says as he puts a hand on her shoulder. “You’re more than deserving of your family name.”

Allison felt as if she had just broken out of the shell that’s kept herself confined in for the past eight years. It was hard for her to be cynical and hard boiled after such a happy reunion with her friends. After dying and coming back to life, she could finally see the little things for what they were worth- and that included her friends. For the first time in a long time, Allison smiles. It was the same smile she used to give to her mother, not the half-hearted one she would use to hide behind.

Isaac steps away from Allison and walks towards the wall that Gerald stood in front of only minutes ago.“This is where the gate is, right?” He asks.

Allison nods. “How did you know?”

Isaac holds his hand up in the air. Allison quickly notices that Lydia’s ring was firmly placed on his finger, right next to a platinum ring. “This thing just gives me a hunch. Now let’s see…”

Isaac holds out his fist, his ring finger pointed directly at where Gerald was trying to destroy the gate. A black beam then emits from the ring and heads straight towards the invisible gate. Upon contact, the gate of the Pit suddenly becomes visible. Allison takes note that there were two bars horizontally connecting the hinges of the two doors. Though as Isaac mends to the door more bars begin to form in the same fashion, vertically and horizontally, until there were about two-hundred bars in total. And after that, two chains form over the bars, acting as further protection for the gate. The black beam stops coming from the ring.

“That’s crazy.” Isaac says.

“What?” Hector asks. Allison rolls her eyes. She didn’t understand how her teammate could be so oblivious to something right in front of him.

“There were only two of those bars left to guard the gate, when there are now over a hundred, and some chains to top it off.” Isaac says. “Gerald was probably only seconds away from breaking the gate open. If Nick didn’t freeze all of those Void back in the Pit, we wouldn’t have been able to get in here so quickly. And if it weren’t for Allison seeing through that stupid trap, we never would have been able to stop Gerald.”

“Damn, I’m really slacking this round.” Hector says. “I’m pretty sure my wolf did absolutely nothing for us.”

“It really didn’t.” Allison says. “But you tried, so you can get bonus points for effort.”

“Shut it, Marxon.” Hector says before giving Allison a playful push.

The three of them laugh, but it quickly dies down. There was something that was obviously missing from their group dynamic, and Allison was sure that all of them felt it.

“C’mon guys, let’s get back to the Pit. We need to check up on Nick.” She says.

Isaac nods and holds his hand out. “Alright guys, grab on. We can’t relax until the mission is officially over.”

Hector and Allison both grab on to their captain, the three of them finally ready to return to the Pit and deal with the aftermath of their tiring mission.

* * *

Allison sits patiently in the waiting room of the hospital where Nick was being held. Minutes pass with nothing but silence to fill them. Nobody said a word, but it was obvious that everyone was feeling angsty as they waited for their captain to return. Damon occasionally puts a hand on Hector’s shoulder to comfort him, which makes Allison cheer up a little. After everything that’s happened to them, and especially knowing of the things that were to come, her group deserved a little happiness. And Allison could tell that, for whatever reason, Damon made Hector happy.

Isaac finally walks into the room. Everybody looks up in alarm, ready to hear the worse case scenario.

“He should be fine.” Isaac says flatly. “He’s out cold right now, and probably will be for a few weeks. He almost used up all of his energy. Using your first Chain can never deplete all of your energy, but he used both of his Chains simultaneously and ended up on the brink of death. Thankfully, the doctors managed to restore his energy quickly enough to keep him kicking.”

Everybody let’s out a sigh of relief. Allison looks at her captain with curious eyes. “And my dad?”

“He and the other Council members are fine too. Axus received the worst wounds out of the three, but he’s a quick healer. Your father says to be at home later- he wants to talk with you. And later tonight there will be a gathering in front of the Council building to celebrate and announce some things. Oh, and Damon- welcome to the Pit.”

Damon smiles. Hector playfully punches the Void in his leg. “I told you they would follow through with their deal. Now we just need to set up your room at my house, maybe even take a quick tour of the Pit.”

“Go ahead.” Isaac says. “Just make sure you’re both there for the celebration later tonight. It starts at nine o’clock sharp.”

Allison stands up and stretches. “Well now that I know Nick’s okay, I think I’m going to go home and take a nap or something.”

“Okay, but I better see the three of you later.” Isaac says. “I’ll have to hear Marcus’ mouth again if all of you don’t make an appearance.”

Allison walks over to the shadow of one of the desks in the room. She waves her teammates goodbye before jumping through the shadow. It now felt strange jumping through the Shadow Realm, knowing of the strange mysteries that it contained. When she emerges she is once again standing in her kitchen.

For the first time in a week, Allison was safe at home.

“Allison!” Her little brother Calvin screams as he jumps away from the kitchen table. “Allison you’re back!” He wraps his arms around her waist.

“That’s right buddy. I’m guessing you want me to tell you all about my adventure.”

“Please?” He asks looking up at her with pleading eyes. She laughs and pats her brothers head.

“Alright, but let me get something to eat first.”

Her grandmother smiles as she puts down a pot. She rushes out of the room and yells for Allison’s Aunt Kayla and Uncle James. Allison sits down at the kitchen table, as does her younger brother. He starts to beg her to ‘spill the beans’ about her mission. She laughs at her little brother’s innocence and tells him to wait for the rest of the family to arrive. When the rest of them do sit down at the table they all have looks of excitement on their faces. Allison smiles, prepared to tell her family all about her stressful adventure.

And, once again, her father would have to wait for his turn to hear.

* * *

A few hours after arriving at home, Allison is once again sitting down at her kitchen table, drinking a cup of orange juice. That’s when her father shadow jumps into the room.

Marcus Marxon walks over with his usual confidence and takes the seat across from his daughter. They stare at eachother for a moment, just taking in the other’s presence. Allison lets her father initiate the conversation. “Isaac briefed me on everything that your team went through. He was especially thorough when explaining your role in the mission. All I can say is that I am proud to call you my daughter.”

Allison doesn’t thank her father for his praise. In fact, she doesn’t even feel the least bit pleased to hear those words come out of his mouth. A week ago she probably would have felt relief over her father’s approval, but after everything that she’s went through over the past week, she felt too independent to care about his opinion on her.
Especially
after what she learned at the castle.

“What happened to my mother?” Allison asks flatly.

Marcus looks at his daughter and cocks his head. “What a strange subject to jump to. Don’t you want to tell me about the mission yourself? Surely there must be something that you’re dying to tell me.”

“No.” Allison says. She bites her tongue, unsure of whether or not she was prepared to open this can of worms. But with nothing else to lose, she decides to go with it. “My mother is dead, isn’t she?” She asks bluntly.

Her father cringes. He obviously wasn’t expecting his daughter to say such things. “Who told you that?”

“It happened while I was in the Shadow Realm. Someone told me that you’re a liar, and that I should know the truth about you before I put my faith in our family name. So how did she die? Why have you been lying to me for eight years?”

“Allison, I didn’t raise you to talk to me so casually. Just because you have showed some potential, don’t think that you can just go and make any situation yours. Do you understand?”

“I don’t care how you raised me!” Allison half shouts in an attempt to make herself clear without disturbing the rest of her family. “I’m not your prize anymore dad, I can think for myself! I don’t care about impressing you, or even listening to what you have to say. And I don’t need your help anymore- I’ll become stronger than you all on my own. This pride in our family name that you talk about… it’s just an excuse to gloat about your own power and the things you consider yours! But I’m not going to be a part of that anymore, I’m going to honor the Marxon name in a different way. Whether you appreciate it or not.”

Her father’s face contorts as if somebody had just punched him. But then he grins- something that seemed foreign on the man’s face. “If your mother were still alive, she would smile upon seeing you act like this.”

“So she
is
dead.” Allison whispers. She didn’t want to hear the confirmation, but she needed to know the truth. All that she cared about anymore was the truth.

“Yes, but the rest of the mystery I’ll leave for you to figure out.” Her father pauses, then wipes his forehead clear of sweat. “You’re finally ready to leave the nest and fly off on your own path. But don’t get confused Allison- no matter which way you choose to act, whether you hate me or love me, I am still the head of the Marxon family. Until you defeat me in a duel and inherit the role of leader in this family, you can never properly show respect to the Marxon name. And you’ve still got a long ways to go before you can even consider taking me on.”

If anybody else had heard those words come from her father’s mouth, they may have thought that he was just playfully teasing Allison. But she knew her father well enough to know that he was openly challenging her to take him on in battle. And she also knew that everything he said was the truth. She could never be head of the family without first defeating her father. She was well aware that, at her current strength, she wouldn’t be any match for a Council member. But the battle was inevitable, as taking her father’s place has been her ambition ever since she was a little kid. And it was the one thing that her mother looked forward to in life.

“Then I’ll just have to defeat you. I don’t see any problems there.” Allison says with more confidence than she thought possible. To prove that she firmly believes in what she was saying, she holds out her hand. Her father looks at her in disbelief, then smiles. It was the sincerest of smiles Allison had ever seen him use, but it was still filled with that same malicious intent she was used to.

The two of them shake hands, and her father chuckles. “Okay Allison, from this point on- we’re rivals. If you think I’ll go easy on you for anything, then you’re going to be in for one hell of a ride. If a rookie like you thinks that the situations you’ve been through are enough to let you have such big talk with a Council member, then you need to prepare for a reality check. The roads ahead will only get tougher for you and your little friends, especially that Void boy. The Queen of the Void herself is regaining her strength as we speak. Do you really think that you’re ready to deal with the likes of her?”