“I didn’t ask for this dog,” I said feeling defensive.
“We don’t always ask for the things we are responsible for,” said Lochlan.
Callie just sat there in silence, taking everything in. She was the least impacted by everything, but that didn’t mean things were easy for her. We were all here on Lochlan’s charity and in the short time we’ve been here, we had sorely abused his generosity.
“Let’s start with the wall. Having most of it missing isn’t the best security measure,” said Lochlan.
“Can’t you just snap up some magical mojo and it’s fixed?” I asked.
“Not exactly,” he said. “I can adjust the wards, but it won’t do anything to prevent anyone and anything from seeing in. Give me a few minutes.”
We waited in silence until Lochlan came back with Zander trailing behind him.
“I wouldn’t have him out smoking alone and he’s old enough to know better,” said Lochlan.
“Now that Lochlan is back, let me explain what happened when I took off after the Crimson Fiend,” said Sterling. “We all know that with him alive, the chances of him starting a new reign of terror is likely. Sorry Marty, but that man is evil.”
“You won’t hear me argue. I know that more than anyone,” I said.
“Why now? If he’s been around the past five years, then why is he just now approaching. Do you know what he may want with you?” asked Sterling.
“I wish I did. He’s not a patient person, but he can’t be in the best of shape after burning in a fire. He doesn’t even look like a person anymore. You all remember the shadow mage that was asking around about the missing necklace and grimoire?” I asked.
“Yes, but we never found him,” said Sterling.
“When I saw my father, he was covered with moving runes. The shadows didn’t so much cling to him, as I first assumed. Looking back at what I saw, the shadows were almost like they were living beings. I think he’s the same shadow mage that was involved in those other two cases.”
“That may very well be the case. I’d like to add in what I found from tracking your father. I believe there is a link with these shadows,” said Sterling.
“When I left Lochlan’s house, I circled around to where his scent was the strongest. At first, my bear refused to track it. It’s one of the few times that I’ve had to fight him. He doesn’t like the smell. It’s a mixture of blood, death, and corruption. Don’t even ask how I can smell corruption.”
“That pretty much sums up my father.”
All joking aside, such a unique signature meant we’d be able to spot him or in this case smell him when he was near. It was slightly reassuring to hear that we’d have some advanced warning if he was lurking. That might be the only thing that gives us a chance to survive an encounter.
“So you were able to track him by scent?” I asked. “Where is he now?”
“I found him in a basement of an ancient and nearly collapsed house. I found no sign of him besides his scent, but I did find something I can’t explain. The place felt wrong, off somehow.”
Sterling looked uncomfortable admitting that. And it was the first time I’d heard him admit to feeling off or even wrong about something. Despite his earlier freak out that took out the wall, he was normally very even tempered, especially for a were bear. Feeling odd about anything implied it got to him and affected him.
“It was darker than I expected and several times, I thought I saw moving shadows out of the corner of my eye.”
“I know something,” said Zander. “It’s an old legend and one most people haven’t heard that deals with the shadow creatures.”
“The Sisterhood had them, so they aren’t exactly the stuff of legend,” I said feeling irritated by Zander’s interruption.
“How does a child know about an ancient legend?” asked Lochlan.
Zander rolled his eyes, but none of us bothered to explain why he had this knowledge. One bit of drama at a time. And Zander was a whole boatload of drama.
“Unlike the Sisterhood, their creatures aren’t true shadow creatures, obviously,” said Zander
“I beg to differ. The bruises and scrapes we both got visiting those crazy seers mean something real attacked us,” I said.
“As I was saying before Marty decided her comment was more important, those aren’t true shadow creatures.”
I was gonna slap the brat.
“True shadow creatures would have killed us on the spot based on what I was told. Those were nothing like real ones and they were more like projections,” he said.
“Come on Zander, how do you project a shadow?” I asked.
“Marty, just let him explain,” said Sterling.
“The legend of the shadow creatures is from two thousand years ago. During this time, a mass slaughter of animals and wide-spread kidnappings occurred, but the enforcers and even the guild leaders couldn’t find out why or how this was happening. The people kidnapped had nothing in common and were taken at random.”
“Why haven’t I heard of this?” asked Lochlan. “I’m old enough that my grandparents were alive during this time.”
“You wouldn’t know because people aren’t talking about it, obviously. So there’s nothing in history books. My grandparents compared it to a monster under the bed. That if you believe in it, think of it and speak of it, it makes it real. If you don’t talk about it or acknowledge it, then it doesn’t exist and can’t hurt you.”
“That’s pretty dumb,” I said.
“Well, it worked until now, but why do you think it’s connected to what I saw?” asked Sterling.
“It shouldn’t be, but let me tell you my story and you all can decide if there’s a link. My grandparents were some of the
