Shadows (12 page)

Jess hustled Eve out of Theory and into Gucci, two stores down. ‘Dibs on the over-the-knee boots!’ Eve exclaimed. Jess gave an exaggerated huff of exasperation. But they both knew the dibs rules and how important they were. They were best friends. They couldn’t show up at school looking like twins. That would be ridiculous.

‘Isn’t that streak of patent leather the best touch?’ a college-age sales girl asked when Eve approached the boot on display. The girl had really short red hair – so light it was almost blonde – and a million freckles. On her, they worked somehow. She looked as cute as a pixie.

‘Completely makes them,’ Eve agreed. The boots were all black, but of three different textures – leather, patent leather and stretch leather. Of course, they weren’t on sale. Why was the stuff you wanted most never on sale?

‘I lust for them,’ the sales girl admitted. ‘But I think I’m too short to pull them off. Want to try them? You’re a six and a half, right?’

‘You’re good,’ Eve told her.

The girl winked. ‘I know my shoes. This is like working in heaven!’ She headed off for the boots.

Jess appeared next to Eve. ‘Yay! You’re in the zone!’

And it was true. For a few minutes Eve had fully entered the shopping zone, with no thoughts of anything but boots in her head. Delightful!

‘So are you going to get—?’ Jess began.

A long, high-pitched shriek interrupted her. The sound made all the little hairs on Eve’s arms and the back of her neck rise. The sales girl – the pixie – had
collapsed on the floor, Eve’s big boot box beside her. She was writhing in pain, both hands gripping her head.

‘Call nine-one-one, Keaton,’ the store manager barked in the direction of another sales assistant as he rushed over to the girl on the ground. ‘Sammi, are you OK?’ he asked, kneeling beside her.

Sammi opened her eyes and stared blankly up at the manager, as if she didn’t know him. Or didn’t even see him.

Then her eyes rolled towards Eve. They looked bright with fever, even though they’d been fine just two minutes before. And she saw Eve. Eve could feel it.

‘The demons – they’re here! In the shadows,’ Sammi wailed. She didn’t take her eyes off Eve. ‘You
know
it! You know it! The demons are here with us!’

‘Demons again,’ Eve said.

She and Jess were sitting in the sun, on the wrought-iron bench in front of the hardware store. Spiffy, the store cat, strolled out and wove a figure-eight between Eve’s ankles. Eve pulled the cat up onto her lap. She really needed some soft and cuddly right now.

‘Yeah …’ Jess’s voice trailed off. She tickled Spiffy on the black splotch of fur under her chin.

Eve tried to take comfort in the cat’s warm, purring presence. It helped a little, but deep down, she felt cold. ‘It can’t be a coincidence. Everyone can’t suddenly just be talking about shadows and demons for no reason. Megan, Rose, Belinda, Shanna’s mom, and now even the girl in Gucci!’

‘And you,’ Jess added.

‘Yes, and me. Except I did more than talking yesterday. I maybe killed one,’ Eve said. She wished she had
another couple of cats and maybe a big furry dog for this conversation. ‘You know what? The shopping trip’s over.’

Jess looked as if she might protest, so Eve held up her hand. ‘Another person raving about demons makes our research with Luke extra important. I’m going to call him and give him an update.’

‘You’re right,’ Jess admitted. ‘When I saw that girl screaming on the floor … I couldn’t stop thinking about Rose. That was so horrible at the nurse’s office. I’m going to call and see how she is.’ She pulled her cell out of her purse.

Eve grabbed her iPhone and called Luke. He didn’t even seem surprised when she told him about the incident at Gucci. She got the feeling that he was being a little more honest with himself about the whole maybe-demons situation than she and Jess were. She couldn’t speak for her best friend, but Eve knew in her heart that stress-reducing shopping trips were no match for shooting lightning at people who attacked you. She was beginning to wonder if she’d ever be able to enjoy a mindless afternoon of boutiquing again.

By the time she got off the phone, Jess was done with her call too.

‘Good news. At least maybe good news,’ Eve told her.
‘Luke’s father caught him online researching Deepdene, and he thought it was cool that Luke was into the history of the town, so he gave him this diary that the last minister kept. Luke says it has stuff about shadows, demons and smoke – and about secrets hidden in the church. He really only skimmed it, but he thinks that the secrets have something to do with the demons. With stopping them, I mean. We’re supposed to meet him tonight at the church.’

Eve realized that she’d been talking and talking, and Jess hadn’t said anything. Not a ‘Wow’ or a ‘Really?’ Not even a ‘Hmmm.’ That was
so
not Jess.

A tingle of worry shot up Eve’s back. ‘What did Rose say?’ she asked.

‘She wasn’t home,’ Jess said. She reached over and pulled Spiffy onto her own lap.

Eve waited. There had to be more, but she didn’t want to push.

‘I talked to Rose’s mom, though. She said she was just leaving for Ridgewood. Rose was checked in there last night.’ Jess tightened her arms around Spiffy. The cat wriggled away and stalked back into the store.

Ridgewood. The psychiatric hospital where Megan and Shanna’s mom were.

Eve fought to keep her voice steady. ‘Jess, what’s happening to our town? It’s like there’s some horrible infection.’

Jess nodded. ‘An infection of demons.’

At least there’s a full moon
, Eve thought as she and Jess walked towards the church that evening. There were no streetlights in Deepdene except on Main Street, so the area around the church would’ve been pitch black without the silvery moonlight.

‘I’m glad there’s a full moon,’ Jess said, wrapping her arms around herself.

Eve smiled. She and Jess did that a lot – thought the same thing at almost the same time. They’d come up with the word ‘telefriendic’ to describe it.

There’s one bad thing about the moonlight, though
, Eve decided. The bright moon created shadows everywhere. Eve didn’t like walking through the shadows – not after Megan, and Shanna’s mom, and Belinda and Rose,
and
the pixie girl from Gucci had all been gibbering about them – but she couldn’t very well weave back and forth across the street just to stay out of the shadows. Well, she
could
. But she wasn’t going to let her anxiety control her to that degree.

They rounded the corner of Medway and Elm, and
Jess hesitated. ‘Couldn’t we go on Washington instead? I hate walking by Creepy House at night.’

‘It’ll take longer …’ Eve shifted from foot to foot. She didn’t like standing still. It made her feel as if the shadows were moving towards her. Sneaking up on her. About to envelop her.

‘You’re right,’ Jess said. ‘Let’s just go this way. It’s not like Creepy comes out – ever.’ They began walking again.

Creepy’s real name was Veronica Martin, but every single kid in Deepdene had been calling her ‘Creepy’ for so long that even the parents called her that now. She hadn’t been out of her big, crumbling-down house for as long as Eve could remember. She got everything delivered, and when a delivery came, she slid an envelope of money under the door. No one Eve and Jess’s age had ever seen her. Jess’s grandmother had, though. She and Creepy were supposed to have been debutantes together.

‘Megan’s mom can’t wait for Creepy to go to a nice – a very, very nice – retirement home,’ Jess commented. ‘She hates how the Creepy House ruins the look of the street. Makes it hard to get people to pay a lot for the other houses. She was ecstatic when Mal’s family did all that work on their place.’

Eve had to admit she was pretty happy Mal had moved into town herself. She reached out and ran her fingers along the privacy hedge that ran around Veronica Martin’s property, rustling the leaves and tiny branches as she went. The hedge was overgrown, completely neglected.
Nothing like Mal’s hedge
, Eve thought.

She took her hand away, but the hedge continued rustling.

Eve frowned, watching the branches. Definite rustling. Well, there was a tiny breeze. Maybe that was why.

But now the hedge was shaking. There was no way a breeze could be causing that kind of movement.

‘Jess—’ Eve began. But before she could even get the words out, a thin white hand burst through the hedge and grabbed her wrist.

Eve let out a yelp of shock. She tried to pull away, but the grasping fingers were locked tight around her wrist. She peered through the leaves and branches. A pair of rheumy eyes stared back. Creepy.

‘Stay out of the shadows,’ Creepy rasped. Her voice sounded thick and rough, as if she hadn’t spoken for years. ‘They’re in the shadows.’

Eve jerked her wrist away, and Creepy’s fingers slid
off, leaving scratches on the back of her hand. ‘Let’s get out of here!’ she cried.

‘The demons,’ Creepy screeched after them as they raced down the street. ‘The demons!’

Eve and Jess didn’t stop running until they’d turned onto Marigold Lane, where the church was. Eve could see the spire jutting up in front of the full moon. Gasping for breath, they slowed to a walk – a fast walk. Only one block to go.

‘I should have worn my cheerleading sneakers,’ Jess said, huffing a little.

‘It’s sacrilege to wear them for anything other than cheering,’ Eve reminded her. ‘Isn’t that the first rule of cheer?’

‘Oh, right.’ Jess smiled. ‘Guess we’ll have to go shopping again and get me some regular old exercise sneakers.’

‘Yeah.’ Eve wished they were shopping right that moment. On Main Street there would still be people around. On Main Street, there were old-fashioned streetlights, and all those twinkly fairy lights in the trees. Here the only light came from scattered windows in the houses – houses that felt like they were miles back from the street.

That’s why the shadows feel thicker
, Eve told herself,
trying to forget how Katy had said that it was getting darker earlier when they’d been window shopping. Had Katy been seeing shadows that day? Was that why she thought it was darker?

It’s always darker off Main Street
, Eve thought.
That’s why it’s darker now. That’s the only reason.
Except that didn’t explain why the shadows looked like they were moving; twining around her ankles the way Spiffy had in front of the hardware store; reaching out from shrubs and trees, like Creepy’s fingers.

She glanced at Jess. Was Jess seeing what she was seeing? Eve didn’t want to ask. If Jess didn’t think the shadows were moving like they were alive, then there was no need to freak her out by mentioning it. Jess seemed to have her eyes locked on the church. Good idea. Eve focused her gaze on the church too, and kept putting one foot in front of the other. Soon they’d be safe inside.

But the shadows were sticky. Eve wasn’t quite sure what that even meant, but it was the only word that came to her mind: sticky. As if they were made of thick black treacle or something. Walking through them got harder with every step. And the shadows – they were
murmuring
.

No
, Eve decided. The murmuring – all hisses and
low moans – was in her mind. Her imagination had jumped on the crazy train.
Whoo! Whoo! Less than a block to go, psycho chick
, she told herself, struggling to get her brain under control.

But the murmuring continued. It deepened, grew louder, and Eve realized she was able to make out words – ‘
skin
’, ‘
soul
’, ‘
death
’, ‘
agony
’. The words became sentences that painted images so gruesome they took Eve’s breath away. ‘
First we take your mother’s skin, then drink her blood, then suck the marrow from her bones. Then we drink her soul and your mother becomes one with us—
’

And then Jess screamed.

Eve whipped her head towards her friend. Jess was frantically clawing the air in front of her. ‘Get off her! Leave her alone! Mom!’ Tears streamed down her face.

She’s seeing it – what they’re saying
, Eve realized. Laughter, deep and evil, snaked through her mind.

‘Jess, it’s OK,’ she cried, taking her friend’s hand.

‘Mommy,’ Jess sobbed.

‘Jess, your mom’s not there. It’s in your head. It’s only in your head!’ Eve exclaimed.

Jess screamed again, her knees buckling under her. All Eve could do was wrap one arm around her, and
half pull, half drag her down the street. They had to get to the church. To Luke.

‘
Ah, the skin is so soft and sweet. But not as sweet as yours will be
,’ the voices in Eve’s head thundered. ‘
We’ll savour yours. We’ll eat it slowly, while you continue breathing, while you stare up at us. Your screams will be our music
.’

She kept her eyes on the church doors, the hundreds of gargoyles staring down at her as she hauled Jess closer.

‘Stop, please, please,’ Jess was whimpering. Eve hugged her tighter and began talking nonstop. Maybe it would distract Jess from whatever she was seeing. Maybe it would block the voices from Eve’s head.

‘Almost there, Jess. Almost there. None of this is real.’ The voices laughed again. ‘None of this is real,’ Eve repeated. ‘We’re here, Jess. We’re in the church courtyard.’

The church courtyard, which was filled with shadows. Writhing, slithering shadows, heavy around Eve’s feet. Trying to trip her, to pull her down.

‘The door’s right here. We’ll be inside in one second. Just one second, Jess!’ Eve stretched out her hand, keeping one arm locked around Jess’s waist. She grabbed the cold metal handle of one of the church’s
double doors; the gargoyle perched on the handle gazed back at her, its eyes gleaming in the moonlight.

‘Almost there,’ Eve gasped. She yanked the door open and pushed Jess inside.

‘Noooo!’ Jess screamed. ‘They’re inside!’

‘Jess, open your eyes!’ Eve begged.

‘You’re OK, Jess. Everything is OK,’ Luke told her, his voice calm and steady.

They stood on either side of Jess just inside the dimly lit, peaceful church. Jess had the backs of her hands pressed against her eyes, protecting them.