Shadow Walkers (8 page)

“Wait up!” He shouts as he follows the boy outside. He approaches the kid in sunglasses as he shakes his head. “Why would you do that for a complete stranger? Is this some type of setup?” He jogs to keep up with the kid’s pace.

The other kid laughs lightly. “If it was, you’d be walking right into it by following me.” He turns to look at Hector. “You’re not very smart.”

Hector almost stops walking out of shock at the stranger’s insult. He gives a short laugh of his own. “Wow. Super generous but also super rude, weird combo. Anyways, you still haven’t explained yourself. Who just throws fifty dollars away on a stranger?”

The kid stops walking. Hector walks ahead a couple of paces but reels back to face the stranger.

“You’re going to keep following me no matter what I say.” The mystery man says flatly.

Hector ponders his statement. He
was
pretty bored, and he didn’t have anything else to do. “You got that right.” He says with a grin.

The kid sighs, and for some reason a smile stretches across his face. He sticks out his hand awkwardly. “Name’s Damon.”

Hector stares at the outstretched hand before him. A familiar feeling blooms in his stomach, and it reminds him of all of his previous mistakes. Letting his emotions out wasn’t something that ever worked well for him, but there was no way that he could just ignore the sudden connection he had made with this boy.

“Name’s Hector. Nice to meet you, you jerk.”

Damon’s smile widens. “Well, Hector, it’s great to formally greet my stalker.” He pauses and stares Hector down.“If you want, you can come with me to get a haircut.”

Hector’s hand runs through his long curls. “What’s wrong with my hair?”

Damon laughs. “I meant to get
my
haircut, but I guess I can get you one too if you want.” He looks down at the ground and shakes his head. “Look, I’m kind of in a hurry.” He pauses again, and Hector knows the boy is contemplating on what to say next. His face has the same confident look on it that all of the boys at school had when they flirted with the girls. “So you wanna come with or not?”

Hector knew that he shouldn’t trust a complete stranger. He knew that he should have went home and gotten some rest. And above all else, he knew that he was letting his feelings get the better of him.

But he also knew that he was meant to meet this boy.

He puts the shadow sugar the boy bought for him into his jacket pocket. He should just forget about this boy and go home, that would be the smart thing for him to do. Instead Hector shrugs, with a smile painted across his face. “What do you think?”

Chapter Eight

Hector

Of all the things Hector could do in life, getting his hair cut with a complete stranger wasn’t something that he ever planned on doing. Though he wasn’t regretting the decision after he ran his hand through his freshly cut hair. After their short introduction to each other, Damon led him to a barber shop in the Pit, where the two of them both received crewcuts. And Hector was already starting to fall in love with his new look. Short hair felt so much more relaxing than having bangs bouncing all over his face.

As the two of them wander aimlessly through the streets of the Pit, Hector starts to feel anxious. “I need to be headed back soon. I should be getting rest for my training tomorrow.”

Damon’s lips quiver slightly. “You’re a part of the Guard?”

Hector raises his eyebrows. He didn’t get why Damon seemed shocked, but it didn’t really matter to him. “Yeah, just signed up yesterday. I found out that I’m a Tracker, which is pretty cool I guess.” He looks at his new friend. “What about you?”

Damon scratches the back of his head, his lips still shaking slightly. “I’m not a member of the Guard. I can’t join.”

Hector cocks his head to the side. “Why not? Any Walker can join the Guard if they want.”

Damon shakes his head. “No, I mean I literally can’t. It wouldn’t be allowed. I shouldn’t even be here.” He speaks louder and louder as his explanation goes on.

Hector feels taken aback by the sudden change in attitude. “Are you a criminal or something?”

Damon manages a laugh. “I guess you could say that, but it wouldn’t be in the way that you’re thinking. I just… look I shouldn’t be here. I’m sorry for talking to you.” He picks up his pace, and starts jogging away from Hector.

“Wait!” Hector shouts. He starts running to catch up with Damon. The two boys run past citizens of the Pit, twisting through the crowds and turning down the crowded streets. Hector yells at Damon to stop running, but the boy doesn’t listen. Hector chases the boy relentlessly, not caring what the people around them think of the situation. Luckily for Hector, the two turn onto an empty street. Damon suddenly stops in the middle of the sidewalk.

“Can’t you take a hint?” He shouts. “Go away Hector.”

Hector folds his arms across his chest. “Why should I? Don’t you think it’d be rude of me to just leave after you did those favors for me?”

Damon sneers. “You’re acting like I haven’t been rude to you at all. I can’t get along with people like you. Just go. Leave me alone.”

For some reason, the words sting Hector. He barely knew this boy, but at the same time he felt like he’s known him for years. He shakes his head in defiance. “I’m not leaving until you explain what the hell is going on with you. I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable, I just thought I was getting some vibes from you.”

Damon’s lips curl up slightly, as if he was going to laugh, but it quickly fades to a scowl. “It’s not like that, you idiot. I just can’t talk to you. I shouldn’t. I mean how could I just trust people like you?”

Again Hector feels a stinging sensation in his chest. “Damon, I’m not sure what you’re talking about, but if there is anyone you can trust, it’s me.”

“You say that, but you don’t even know anything about me. If I tell you why we can’t talk anymore you’re going to change your mind about me and run screaming to the Council. I just don’t belong here.”

Hector looks down at his feet. He knew more than anyone what not belonging felt like. He looks at the boy in front of him. Maybe he really was meant to run into this boy. He had more of a connection with this stranger than any other kid in the Pit.

“Look- if I tell you a secret, will you tell me what’s going on with you?” Hector asks.

“It depends on how good of a secret it is.”

Hector weighs the situation carefully, and decides that he has nothing to lose. “Look, just today I found out that I don’t really belong here either. I’m a Shadow Walker, but I’m also half Invert.”

Hector waits for the boy to show some sign of disgust. But instead he smiles. “An Invert, huh? I guess that is pretty big. But at least you’re half Walker. That keeps you safe here in the Pit.”

Hector feels intrigued by the way Damon speaks. He wasn’t just calling Hector a Walker, he was actively pointing out the boys race. “Why’d you say it like that? You make it sound like I’m different than anyone else here. Besides the obvious reasons of course.”

Damon looks directly at Hector as his hand slowly moves upward and grabs his sunglasses. He takes them off and reveals tightly shut eyes. Hector laughs.

“What are you doing?” He asks. But before he can further mock the situation, Damon opens his eyes. Hector can only stare in shock.

Damon’s face is void of any emotion when he speaks. “Well, you gonna turn me in?” Hector stands completely still as the boy’s purple eyes stare him down.

“You’re a- a-” Hector says, unable to properly form his words.

Damon sighs. “Yes, I’m a Void.” He lets his eyes linger with Hector’s for a little longer then he closes them again. When he opens them back up, they’re a bright blue. So bright in fact that Hector can’t help but feel as if he was staring up at the morning sky. Damon looks down and rubs his eyes as if he was trying to wipe tears away. “And I’m also half human. That’s why I can change my eye color at will. And also why my hair isn’t purple.”

Hector stares in disbelief into Damon’s eyes. Fear- fear is what he should have been feeling. But where fear should have been, Hector only felt a rising curiosity. “Why are you here in the Pit?”

“I’m not an enemy.” Damon says as he holds his hands up defensively. “I promise you. I know that I’m a Void, but I wouldn’t have told you that if I was your enemy. Not here in the middle of the Pit, surrounded by Shadow Walkers.”

Hector shakes his head. “Then why are you here?” A thought clicks in Hector’s head, bringing his mind back to the conversation he had with Isaac and Allison. “You’re the Void that Valus was talking about.”

Damon looks at Hector with fire in his eyes. “Don’t speak of Valus. I hate that man.” He pauses for a moments and relaxes his otherwise stiff figure. “I’m leaving. I understand completely if you tell the Council that I’m here now. I hope you can figure out that whole Invert thing in your spare time.” Damon begins walking down the street again, but Hector grabs his arm before the gap between them widens too much.

Hector couldn’t let Damon leave. He needed answers. He needed to know why Damon was here in the Pit. But more importantly, he couldn’t let Damon walk into the streets of the Pit to be discovered by another Walker. There was no way Damon would get away alive if a trained Walker found him. He locks eyes with the boy from the Void. They stare at eachother for a few short seconds before Hector shoots him a wicked grin.

“You don’t have to leave. Just follow me. I promise that I won’t bug you anymore until we get somewhere a little safer.”

Surprisingly, Damon doesn’t talk back. No questions, no complaints. He only looks solemnly at the ground as he follows Hector back towards the young Walkers home.

* * *

“Ok, get talking.” Hector says as he sits down on one of the couches in his living room. After changing into some pajama pants and a t-shirt, his nerves were finally starting to settle down from. His house was much more peaceful than the populated streets of the Pit.

Damon jabs his spoon into the ice cream Hector brought him. “Ask a specific question and I’ll answer it.”

Hector takes a bite of his own ice cream as he stretches his legs out onto the couch He decides to start with the most obvious of questions. “Why are you here?”

Damon groans. “It’s not a fun story.”

Hector grins. “Are they ever?”

Damon smiles half heartedly, and looks up at the ceiling fan as he talks. “My mother is the Queen of the Void herself, and I am the youngest of her three children. Us three kids are her most prized possessions, as we are her own flesh and blood. But even though I’m a Void, I never liked the rest of my kind. I hate how bloodthirsty the rest of them are. Growing up, I never felt the urge to kill, and I resented my peers for the violent acts they committed. And I knew it was only because of my human blood that I felt this way. It helped me realize how messed up the rest of the Void are. But I had no other choice but to grow up in the Void, always going along with whatever they told me to do- until I ran away.”

Hector places his bowl of ice cream down on the table. “You ran away from the other Void? How in the world did you manage that?”

Damon shrugs. “I just came here to the Pit. I knew the other Void wouldn’t follow me here because of how dangerous it was for them to come directly to the Pit. They won’t come here and risk dying just to find me. And because of my human blood, I can suppress my Void powers to the point of not being detectable by your trackers. Here in the Pit, I’m safe.”

“Yeah, well Valus kind of warned the Guard that a Void was here in the Pit. They might not be able to detect you, but they’re going to try their hardest to find you. Do you have some type of backup plan?”

“Don’t really have any ideas so far.” Damon says. He puts his ice cream down as well and locks eyes with Hector. “What are you going to do if they find out you know about me and decided not to tell them? Walkers and Void aren’t supposed to get along, nobody will see things as easily as you do.”

Hector shrugs. “If worse comes to worse I’ll probably just get executed right alongside you.”

Damon looks down at the floor. When he speaks, Hector can barely hear a word he says. “Why would you risk your life for a stranger.”

“Because I don’t think that you’re a bad guy.” Hector responds without hesitation. “You might be a Void, but I’m an Invert. When it comes down to it, neither of us belong here in the Pit. We’ve got too much in common for me to let you go. Especially if the Void are trying to bring you back to their side.”

Damon’s eyes light up as he sits up straight on the couch. “Yeah. I would prefer to go to the human world to get away from all of this, but it’s too easy for the Void to find me there. Not enough protection from the Walkers. Maybe one day that won’t be an issue though.”

Hector looks at Damon with suspicious eyes. Hector can’t shake the feeling that the Void before him was holding out on important information. “What is that supposed to mean?”

Damon shakes his head. “It’s mainly just hopeful wishing. If I could make things work out the way that I want them to, then one day the Void might all be exterminated. Then I could go to the human world in peace.”

Hector throws his head back and laughs. “Yeah right. There are way too many Void for them to be exterminated. Plus if they’re all hiding in the Void just like the Inverts hide away in Eros, there isn’t any way that the Walkers could kill every single Void.”

“It’s funny that you of all people say that, Hector. The Void have a lot of weaknesses, it just so happens that the Walkers and Inverts are currently incapable of acting on them.”

Hector sits up straight as he stares at the Void boy. “Is there something that you aren’t telling me about the Void? Like why they’re suddenly ready to wipe us all out, or why you think it’s possible to destroy them completely?”

Damon bites his lip and closes his eyes. “I ran away to get away from the Void, that’s true. But… I really did it because of what they’re planning. You see, the Void want to kill off all of the Walkers and the Inverts. I didn’t want to be a part of their plan, and to be entirely honest, I came to the Pit to forewarn the Walkers about what would happen. But I don’t know the whole plan, just bits and pieces. As it stands right now, I can’t tell the Council anything that would ensure that my life stays safe. I’d need to spy on the Queen some more before I try to approach them.”

“The Queen of the Void.” Hector whispers in wonder. “According to the history books, your mother is a pretty scary woman. Why is she suddenly trying to wage war on us?”

“After her battle with Lydia Walker and Serena three hundred years ago, my mother’s power has been pretty much a small fraction of what it used to be. Her strength is now returning to how it was long ago, but she’s still rather weak. She’s currently strong enough to pull off this plan of hers, but not yet strong enough to defend herself.”

Hector gazes off in amazement. “So she wants to wipe us out now before we have an opportunity to kill her in her weakened state. This is all finally starting to make sense.”

Damon nods. “I came here because I want to help the Walkers survive whatever she’s plotting. I need the Walkers and the Inverts alive to have any hope of stopping my mother.”

“And how do you plan on doing that, assuming that we do survive?”

“The Walkers and the Inverts would need to join forces and storm the Void, and together they would need to take out the Queen before her full power returns. If the Queen dies, all of the Void die. Her life is the string that connects all of us. That’s the only reason she doesn’t show her face outside of the Void- it’s not worth risking the lives of her people.”

Hector nods. “She’s a smart lady then. But honestly, I don’t know how I feel about your plan. History books make it seem like the Queen is unstoppable. And even if we stood a chance at beating her in battle, I don’t see how we would get to her in the first place. Walkers can’t travel to the Void. And on top of that, I don’t think the Inverts or the Council would buy into this plan.”