He glanced over his shoulder at her.
“Like you did.”
How did he know that this version of her was the same woman he’d just met on the street? Some instinct or insight granted to him by the Shadowkin dwelling inside him? Probably.
He turned back to the wall.
“You were the last straw. After you wouldn’t talk to me, I decided there was nothing I could do about the shadow things, so I came back here. See, they’re strong enough to come out now. They’re hungry for our world, and if I can’t send them back, I have to let them out. There’s nothing else I can do. I’m like an egg, and it’s time for them—” He broke off, doubled over, grimaced in pain. “—to hatch.”
He straightened, threw his arms wide, and screamed. Dark clawed hands emerged from his body, followed by heads, shoulders, torsos…. As the Shadowkin tore themselves free from the man’s body – a man whose name Lori had never learned, she realized – he faded a bit more, as if the Shadowkin were leeching away his life, his very existence, as they departed their temporary host.
Unable to do anything to help the poor man, Lori turned and left, moving as fast as her injuries permitted. She was frightened by the prospect of what the Shadowkin would do to her once they had fully emerged, but she was also filled with despair. She knew now what she’d done to upset the Balance, but she also knew that if she’d originally stopped and listened to the man’s question, it would’ve made no difference. Either way, he’d returned here, to the place where the Shadowkin had entered him, to release them. The creatures had clawed their way out of him – just as they were doing now – and began roaming around town, feeding, growing in strength over the course of a week until they were strong enough to start causing some real damage. And there was nothing she could’ve done to stop it. For all their efforts at manipulating her, for all the lives it had cost, the Cabal had failed – and so had she. Everything would happen the same way it had before, and in the end the Intercessor would appear and destroy Oakmont before the Balance between Shadow and the real world could be disrupted any further. And if the entire planet had to be destroyed to maintain that Balance, so be it.
The Shadowkin flooded into the hall, moving as a single dark mass as they came after her. She would be their second meal in this new world of theirs – after the man – and they intended to enjoy her to the fullest. There was no way she could outrun them on her best day, let alone when she had a fucked-up knee and was low on blood. She was within arm’s reach of the entrance when they fell upon her. They swarmed around her, encircling her with absolute darkness. She could do nothing now but wait to die.
But in the darkness, she heard a voice. It was Aashrita.
You’re stronger than he was, and you know more about the ways of Shadow. There’s still one thing you can do – if you hurry.
What did Aashrita mean? What could Lori do to stop the Shadowkin now? How—
Then it came to her, and in the darkness, she confessed.
“I ignored the man when I should’ve listened. I did not help him then, and I could not help him now. But there is one thing I can do.” She steadied herself for what was about to happen. “I can become your prison.”
She opened herself to the Shadowkin, drew them inside her, heard their angry howls of protest, and she smiled.
Chapter Sixteen
When the darkness cleared, Lori found herself standing in Woodlawn Cemetery once more, the Driver at her side, the glowing horn of the Intercessor in the sky above them. The terrible sound of reality being torn asunder had stopped, and as she watched, the Intercessor’s horn began to slowly withdraw. After several moments, it was gone.
The rain still fell, but it was only misting now. Soon, she knew, it would end, and the storm – both literally and figuratively – would’ve passed.
The Driver turned toward her and gave her a weak smile.
“I take it you were successful.”
“In a way,” she said.
Her knee still hurt and her shoulder throbbed like hell, but otherwise she felt surprisingly good.
“Did I fix it?” she asked. “All of it?”
The Driver’s smile faded.
“I’m afraid it doesn’t work that way. You’ve restored the Balance between Shadow and your world, but your actions have otherwise not changed the past. The destruction the Shadowkin wrought – the people who died – all of it still occurred.”
For an instant, Lori had allowed herself to hope that her friends and family – along with all the people killed by the Shadowkin – would be returned to life. But now that hope was crushed.
“Why the hell did I do it then? What was the point?”
“The Intercessor left,” the Driver said. “That was the point.”
She wanted to yell some more, to take out her anger at the unfairness of it all on the Driver, but she didn’t. He was right. So many more would’ve died if the Intercessor had come all the way into her world. She reminded herself of something she sometimes told her PT clients. Focus on what you do have, not on what you don’t have. Cold comfort, maybe, but it was all the comfort she was going to get.
She sighed.
“Now what happens?”
The Driver shrugged.
“That’s up to you. For the rest of your life, you’ll have to fight the Shadowkin inside you. And eventually you’ll
