Shadow Rising

The bell rang and we had no choice but to hurry to Battle Class, our vague plans left half formulated and dangling in the air. I really couldn’t concentrate on schoolwork at the moment, not with everything else going on. Who cared about class when my life had been threatened? When my stepfather-to-be was this big, dangerous, looming villain who was just days away from becoming even more powerful and untouchable?

In the locker room, Retta and I changed quickly and silently into our gym gear. She held her face in a perturbed expression, like her thoughts were elsewhere. I couldn’t help but worry she was changing her mind. That she’d realized we’d dragged her into something huge. Too huge to handle.

Battle Class was taking place outside today, in the school’s dueling arena. It seemed particularly cruel to force us outside considering how hard the wind was blowing.

I jogged out the locker room with the rest of the girls and onto a large grassy playing field. In typical Zenith style, the fields were enormous, with enough room for a baseball court and running track, along with the dueling arena.

Dueling arenas—like Battle Class in general—are leftover relics from the times when moons and suns felt compelled to show off the military prowess of their people. There’d be sparring events and theatrical displays of military might held within the arenas, with crowds of thousands in attendance. Until television came along, that is.

Still, there are tons of arenas all over the country, especially in old schools like Zenith. The cultural elite go and watch duels just like they go and watch ballets. The arenas also get utilized for more mundane, less bloodthirsty events, like the school plays we’re forced to endure each year. There isn’t a single kid in the whole of the US who hasn’t had a role in a production of Shadow War, a play about the bloodiest period in our history. It’s more popular than the Nativity.

As we reached the other students, I noticed Trevor standing with his friends. I frowned, confused by his attendance. He had a huge, overblown bandage across his shoulder and a pitiful look on his face like he’d been through some terrible trauma.

What a drama queen. The Vanpari he’d been fighting hadn’t even been tall enough to reach his shoulder, let alone inflict that kind of damage.

Trevor turned his face and caught me looking at him. A thin smile stretched across his lips.

I quickly looked away.

Coach Lassiter blew his whistle to call the class to order.

“As you can see,” he began, gesturing to the dueling arena behind him with one of his knobbly rock arms, “we’ll be doing one-on-one hand combat work today. So I’ll be pairing you up. Emerald, I want you against Nikolas.”

Out the corner of my eye, I saw a grin of delight spread across Emerald’s face.

“Kyra, you can face off with Retta.”

As Kyra, aka Oil Slick, and Retta headed off to their dueling area, Lassiter looked at Trevor through his craggy, slitted eyes. “Trevor, you can sit this one out, after what you went through yesterday.”

In theatrical fashion, Trevor shook his head. “Actually, I’d like to participate. If it weren’t for what I’d learned in Battle Class, the fight yesterday would’ve gone much worse.”

“Well, okay then,” Coach Lassiter said, falling for Trevor’s wounded-hero act. “Why don’t you choose your opponent?”

Very slowly, Trevor’s eyes scanned the rest of us still standing. When his eyes rested on me, they sparked with glee.

“I’ll go up against Theia,” he announced.

My heart plummeted. There was only one reason why Trevor wanted to face off with me: payback.

Coach Lassiter nodded. “No flying,” he warned Trevor, as usual. Then to me, he added, sternly, “And no magic.”

No magic. No bow. I had a feeling this wasn’t going to go well.

Without looking at Trevor again, I quickly strode over to our sparring spot. It was right on the edge of the pitch, the farthest from everyone else.

Trevor slunk up behind me soundlessly. He must have glided over. I jumped a mile.

“Ready for round two?” he asked as he pulled his fake bandage off and dropped it to the ground.

I raised an eyebrow. “At least we’re evenly matched,” I said in reference to the size of the Vanpari kid. “It’ll be a fair fight.”

“You sure about that, Elkie?” he sneered. “There’s not much to you without your bow and arrow.”

Lassiter’s voice echoed across the large playing field. “Last man standing!” Then he blew his whistle and the fights were on.

Trevor wasted no time. He flapped his wings with one forceful movement, lifting himself a foot up off the ground.

So much for no flying. Clearly, Trevor wasn’t about to play by the rules.

He loomed above me, his brown-and-black feathered wings making him look even more imposing. I didn’t even have time to catch my breath before he dive-bombed me.

I sprang out of his way, my Elkie instincts affording me just the millisecond of extra speed I needed to avoid him. As he soared past, I spun and kicked out. My foot collided with his back.

Trevor turned sharply in the air, his eyes cold with intent. He flapped his wings with such power he was propelled toward me before I could even blink. I felt him slam into my chest. Then, suddenly, I was cocooned within his feathery wings.

My feet lifted off the ground. I felt my stomach flip like it was cresting over a hill.

We took to the sky.

As we spun through the air, my breakfast threatened to make an appearance. I felt dizzy as flashes of gray sky gave way to flashes of green grass. Trevor was deliberately trying to disorient me, flying in such a manner that it felt like we were corkscrewing through the sky. One of his feathers flew in my mouth. I choked on it before spitting it out.

Where the heck was Coach Lassiter? Why wasn’t he blowing his whistle? Or had Trevor managed to escape detection?

Suddenly, I felt myself falling. Trevor had let go.

I screamed and hit the ground butt first. My head snapped back from the force of the deceleration and a pain like whiplash raced into my neck. I winced.

My vision swam as I tried to work out where I was. We were still on the playing fields but nowhere near our sparring area. I could only just make out the other duels going on in the distance. They seemed very far away, like little dots on the horizon. Whatever Trevor wanted to do to me, he didn’t want an audience.

I tried to scramble to my feet. But before I could draw my body fully up, I felt Trevor’s huge frame barrel into me.

He tackled me down to the ground and smashed his fist into my face.

Pain burst across my nose. My eyes watered and I tasted sharp metallic blood at the back of my throat.

A flutter of panic started in my chest. Trevor looked possessed, like he had a vendetta against me. It seemed like way more than just because I was a witness to his fight last night. He looked like he wanted to kill me. It was the same cold look I’d seen in Geiser’s eyes. Not for the first time, I yearned for Bear Mountain. Life was quieter there. And a damn sight safer…

Trevor glowered down at me and pushed his arm across my neck. “Not so cocky now,” he sneered. “Without your precious bow, little Elkie?”

I gasped for breath, but the only noise that came out was a strangled wail.

Trevor was right. My bow was my power. My strength. But I wasn’t only Elkie. I was also Mage. And that meant I had magic. And if Trevor wasn’t playing by the rules, then I sure as hell wouldn’t either.

Quickly, I searched for that tingle within me, for the place that contained my Mage powers. The white orbs I’d learned to conjure could blast Trevor off me in seconds.

But there was nothing there. Not even the smallest sensation.

I gasped as fear took hold of me. Where were my powers? Why couldn’t I find them?

Trevor brought his spare fist down again, onto my jaw.

Pain bloomed across my cheek. My vision juddered. Black spots appeared in my eyes.

I lashed out with my hands, trying to claw at Trevor’s eyes. But he was too strong. Too big. Even by Celestial standards, he was enormous.

As his huge, muscular frame pinned me down, he laughed at my feeble attempts to scratch his eyes out.

He whacked me again.

I let out an involuntary wail of agony. I could feel my right eye swelling shut. I could barely see anymore.

I thought of the poor Vanpari kid, and how terrified he must have been when Trevor’s huge, bulking body had come at him out of nowhere last night. Had I not been there, Trevor would’ve killed him. He had it in him, I could see that now.

Desperately, I tried again to access my power. But there was nothing there. It was as if the magic well inside of me had run completely dry.

Through the slit of my eye, Trevor glared at me with murderous intent.

“Theia Foxglove,” he said between his teeth. “Geiser’s little inconvenience.”

What was that supposed to mean?

He barked out a cruel laugh. “A Vanpari-loving stepdaughter! Good thing he has me to resolve that problem for him.”

Everything turned to slow-motion. I saw him raise his fist up behind his head, readying himself to put his full weight into the blow.

My life flashed before my eyes. I saw Dad, leading me through Bear Mountain, helping me jump over brooks, showing me how to aim my bow, how to fire my arrows. I saw Mom and her sorrow-filled eyes, her years of mourning for the city she’d left behind. I saw Gus, my best friend and companion, and my wonderful cousins Juniper and Birch.

As Trevor’s fist came toward me, all the faces of the people I loved flashed in quick succession. Squeezing my eyes shut, I braced myself for the blow that would surely knock me into unconsciousness.

But no blow came.

Opening my eyes, I saw someone had grabbed Trevor by the wrist and twisted his arm up behind him.

My head swam and I felt woozy as I heaved myself up to sitting. I caught a flash of light. Mage magic.

I realized who’d come to my rescue. It was Nikolas. My heart skipped a beat, although that might have been due to the fact I was dancing on the edge of consciousness.

Nikolas blasted jets of light from his wrists directly into Trevor’s chest. The huge Celestial scrunched over in pain and began to stagger backward. Nikolas’s magic was forcing him back toward the arenas, back into the eyeline of Coach Lassiter.

I tried to lift myself to standing, but found my legs useless beneath me and flopped back down to the ground. All I could do was watch Nik’s blasting light pound Trevor over and over again.

Suddenly, the shrill sound of Coach Lassiter’s whistle pierced the air. In the distance, the rest of my classmates stopped what they were doing and looked over. When they saw Nik and Trevor locked in a bitter battle, they ran over with excitement.

Coach Lassiter reached the pair first. “Break it up! Break it up!” he shouted.

Finally, the two pulled apart. Trevor stood there panting, looking disheveled. Sweat dripped down Nikolas’s neck. He looked furious.

“What the hell is going on, Storm?” Lassiter cried, directing his anger immediately toward Nik.

“He was beating up Theia,” Nik replied.

Lassiter folded his rocky arms and glowered. “As he was supposed to! This is Battle Class. You do understand the concept, don’t you?”

Everyone started to laugh. Nik set his jaw firm.

“Next time I assign you a sparring partner, stick to them,” Coach Lassiter ended with finality. “Everyone get back to your duels. There’s nothing to see here.” Then to Trevor, he added, “I think you should sit this out.”

Trevor switched immediately into his routine as the wronged party. He was as good at it as Geiser. I watched him hobble off beside Coach Lassiter.

Nik came over to me and held his hand out for me to take. I took hold of it. With one strong tug, he pulled me to my feet. I ended up just a few inches from him, close enough to feel his heart beating through his tee.

He pushed the hair out of my swollen eye, making me wince.

“You okay?” he asked. His concerned gaze seemed to be roving all over my face.

My throat went dry. I nodded. “I’m okay.”

“We should get you to the Adarna nurse,” he said. “Can you walk?”

I felt his fingers lightly touch my waist. My body responded instantly, my nerves igniting.

“I’m alright,” I said.

He regarded me for a moment longer. Longer than comfortable. My insides squirmed.

Then he took a sudden step back and the moment was over.

I exhaled, my senses coming back to me.

As we began to head back toward the others, side by side, I remembered what Trevor had said to me during the fight.

“Nik, listen,” I said in a hushed voice. “I think Trevor might be working for Geiser.”

The moment the words left my lips, I realized how crazy they sounded. But was it really that crazy? Geiser had threatened my life, after all, then sat there at the breakfast table as if nothing had ever happened. Maybe that was why he’d been in such a jovial mood that morning, because he’d already put a plan in motion to have me eradicated?

Nik frowned. “What makes you think that?”

“He said something weird. That I was an inconvenience for Geiser—and that he was going to resolve the problem.”

I became acutely aware of someone watching us. I looked up to see Emerald shooting daggers in my direction. She was clearly very jealous to see that Nik was talking to me when he’d only ever answered her with monosyllables.

“Do you think I’m being paranoid?” I continued.

Nik shook his head. “No. I know what Geiser’s capable of. He easily could’ve hired Trevor to harm you. It makes a lot of sense, actually. But there’s no way to prove it. It’s your word against his. We all know who’d be believed.”

In this case of he-said she-said, everyone would believe a Celestial’s story over an Elkie’s, just like everyone believed a Celestial’s story over a Vanpari’s. This wasn’t the way to ensure Geiser’s downfall. We’d have to find something else.

“Are you sure you don’t want to see the healer?” Nik asked again.

I shook my head. “For all I know, she’s working for Geiser too. I don’t know who I can trust. I’d prefer to stick with you and Retta.”

He nodded solemnly and helped me hobble back to the rest of my classmates.

*

I lingered at the sidelines for the rest of Battle Class. The whole thing with Trevor had left me shaken. Could he really be working for Geiser? Had he been paid to bump me off? Or was he just pissed about me intervening when he’d been pummeling that Vanpari? I was one of the few witnesses who knew the whole thing had been instigated by him. But then what about Retta? She’d been there too and he didn’t seem to be going after her. Which led my mind right back round to the beginning, to the idea that Trevor wanted me gone because Geiser did.

The whole thing made me shiver. I couldn’t stop myself from looking over my shoulder, my feelings of paranoia intensifying.

Added to that was the fact the magic I’d conjured far too readily yesterday seemed to have abandoned me entirely. I couldn’t work it out. Every time I reached inside myself and searched for that little flame of power, there was nothing there. My Elkie senses were just the same as normal, but for some reason, the Mage part of me seemed to have withered and died.

As I mulled everything over in my mind, I noticed Nikolas watching me out my peripheral vision.

A warm flame sparked inside of me. The way he’d lifted me to my feet and looked into my eyes had been intense. It had felt like the whole world had melted away at that moment. I wondered if he’d felt it too, if that’s why he was gazing over at me now.

I got the guts up to look over at him. That’s when I realized he’d been trying to get my attention.

He nodded his head, his expression intense. I frowned and followed where he’d indicated.

Something small and furry was lingering beside the edge of the gym in the hedgerow.

What the heck…?

I tapped into my Elkie sight, sharpening my vision. It looked like a demon-hare but there was something unusual about it. Its eyes. They were the wrong color. Instead of being bloodred like the demon-beasts I was used to hunting in Bear Mountain, this demon-hare had steel-gray irises.

A sense of unease grew inside of me. Something wasn’t right. I could see why Nik had wanted to get my attention now.

Just then, Coach Lassiter blew his whistle for the end of Battle Class. As my classmates started to head back across the playing fields toward the gymnasium, I caught Retta’s attention and beckoned her.

“What’s up?” she asked. “Are you okay? Looked like Trevor wanted to kill you.”

“I think he did,” I told her. But then I shook my head. “Never mind that. Look over there. You see that?”

Retta squinted into the distance. “You mean the hare?”

“Yeah. There’s something not right about it.”

Nik reached us. “Did you see it?”

I nodded. “We should check it out.”

The three of us broke away from the rest of our classmates and skirted along the external gymnasium wall. When we reached the hedge where we’d seen the hare, we stopped.

“Any sign of it?” Retta asked.

“Looks like it’s gone,” Nik replied.

But no sooner had he said it, than a sudden motion sprang from the foliage. The demon-hare had leaped out. It was coming right at me. And it had fangs.

I screamed.

Gray eyes? Fangs? Was this some kind of Vanpari–hare crossbreed? No such creature existed. Yet its bared teeth—at that moment aimed directly at my throat—seemed to indicate otherwise.

But before it latched on, Nik grabbed it. In one swift movement, he twisted its head. There was a crack as its neck broke. The life seeped from it.

“What. The. Fuck?” Retta said.

My heart pounded.

I stared at the corpse of the hare in Nik’s hands. As it lay there, its fangs began to retreat into its gums. The gray color left its eyes, and the usual red I’d expect to see in a demon-hare returned.

Not a Vanpari crossbreed at all.

“A Shapeshifter,” I murmured with shock.

Retta lost it. “What the actual heck is going on? There’s no such thing as shapeshifting demon-beasts! The only living things that possess the power to shapeshift are… well… Shapeshifters!”

I was just as confused as Retta.

Nik turned the creature over in his hands. On the rump there appeared to be some sort of marking made in ink. A series of numbers.

“That looks like a serial code,” Nik said. “It must have come from a lab.”

“Do you think someone experimented on it?” I asked. “And it escaped?”

“But experimented on it for what purpose?” Nik commented.

“To make a shapeshifting demon Vanpari crossbreed mutant,” Retta exclaimed.

I grimaced. The thought made me shudder.

“I know a Shapeshifter,” Retta said then. “We can ask him about it after school.”

“What should we do with this?” Nik said, jiggling the carcass in his arms.

With a resigned exhalation, I held out my hand for it. “I’ll take it. Everyone already thinks I’m a freak. It’s not like having a dead hare in my bag will damage my stellar reputation.”