Shade of Darkness

Chapter 6

Alyna put Lazi on the bed and stared at him. “I don’t have time for a staring competition with you. I need to talk to Teacher, and you have to help me.”

ALazi glared at her, saying nothing, which didn’t surprise her. The cat flicked its tail from one side to the other, making thudding noises on the bed with each movement.

“You saw what happened, Lazi. I asked Teacher to turn Caedmon without his consent. I understand there’s no way to undo what has been done. But I need more information.” She sighed. “I need a solution other than killing him—in case he gets out of control.”

The cat looked bored and started washing himself.

“Can you give me a spell? Where’s his off button?” She grabbed for the cat, but he hissed, jumped away, and his hair stood up. “Oh, there you go. You’re sensing Teacher. Take me. We’re going. Come on.” She gestured toward the room’s door.

The cat kept hissing. She felt something warm brush against her skin. Teacher is coming to me! she thought. Good!

Teacher is coming to me! Good!Before she could finish her thought, a beam of light appeared, and Lorcan and Orla stepped out. At first, she didn’t believe them when they told her about their relationship with Caedmon, but then she remembered Caedmon mentioning Lorcan was a werefox. She knew they were telling the truth.

“Just about damn time!” she said.

“Nice to see you again!” Lorcan said.

“At least we don’t have to pick up Caedmon’s body,” Orla said.

Alyna shook her head. “I’m not sure about that.”

“What do you mean? My system tracked his internal microchip. It detected that his vitals are healthy and strong.”

“Too healthy and too strong?” Alyna asked.

Lorcan narrowed his eyes. “Yes, but why isn’t that good?” he asked. He pulled a wrist unit from his pocket. “We’ve come here to give him a new wrist unit. He can return to Eudaiz, and we can conduct further tests to get a full picture of his condition.”

Alyna sat down on her bed. She wanted to put her head in her hands but thought that would show defeat, something she didn’t want to admit to. Instead, she stared at the wall, saying nothing. Orla approached. Alyna figured Orla’s womanly instincts had detected something wrong.

“If you two have come for Caedmon, why didn’t you beam straight downstairs to talk to him? Why are you here with me?”

Orla shook her head. “We want to be sure we understand the situation. I can’t see how he survived without my dark magic. We want to know what you did to save him.”

She shrugged. “I thought I knew.”

“What do you mean?” Lorcan asked.

Alyna stood and began to pace the floor of her small bedroom. “I asked someone with supernatural powers to turn me into a paranormal creature so I could lead a mage tribe. The condition was that I wouldn’t know what I would be turned into. It depended on my make. At least that’s what I was told. Because Caedmon couldn’t speak for himself at that point, I asked for him to be turned into something similar to me. I figured that because there was nothing wrong with me after I was turned, it should be okay for him to be made the way I was.”

“And you have no idea what kind of creature you were turned into? Even general information would help,” said Orla.

“All I know is that I’m a special kind of shapeshifter.”

“Well, that’s insightful!”

“What choice did I have? Would he be better off dead?”

Lorcan approached, and his voice was so low it sounded like a growl. “Lady, have you shifted since you were turned?”

She shook her head.

“Then you don’t know a thing. You can’t draw the conclusion that it’s better than being dead.”

“Death is the worst scenario, only because there’s nothing you can do after you die. When I lay in the ruins of that car crash waiting to die, and I was offered a second chance to live, I took it. I knew that whatever came later, I could always sort it out. I wanted to survive.”

“But you can’t speak for Caedmon,” Lorcan growled.

Alyna glared at Lorcan. “Well, you can’t speak for him, either. How can you be so sure he wouldn’t accept this change?”

Lorcan paced. “You know nothing about shapeshifting, Alyna. I’m not worried anymore about whether he’d accept it. I’m scared shitless of whether or not it will take him over.”

“What?”

“The animal. And that’s worse than being dead because he’ll know he’s being taken, and there will be nothing he can do about it. It will suffocate him—being stuck in the form of an animal and seeing it do the unthinkable. Now what do you say? Still thinking about survival at all costs? I don’t think so!”

“Stop it, you two!” Orla had her hands on her hips. “We have to find a solution now, and quickly.”

Alyna strode toward a small cabinet in the corner of her bedroom and pulled out a small box. She opened it and pulled out a g*n. “Don’t worry, this is a tranq g*n. We use it in competition when things get out of control. I’ve never had to use it because I can always control things. And I hope I won’t have to use it this time.”

“Who changed you? What kind of creature was it?” Orla asked.

“An immortal. That’s all I can say. Not because I’m trying to hide information. But because I just don’t know. I don’t remember anything from the car crash except a soothing female voice. And sometimes the voice sounded male. I never saw a material person. The voice asked to be called Teacher.”

“If you don’t know what kind of creature she or he is, then how can you be so sure Teacher didn’t use dark magic on you—or on Caedmon?” Orla asked.

“I know … but I promised not to tell. That’s the only secret.”

Orla nodded.

“You’re saying as long as it’s not dark magic, you can deal with shapeshifting?” Lorcan asked Orla.

She smiled. “I’ve been handling you my whole life,” she said.

“I’m not a magical kind of shapeshifter. You know that, Orla. Don’t joke about it.”

“How can a shapeshifter not be magical?” Alyna asked.

notOrla glanced at Lorcan then at Alyna. “Lorcan’s shapeshifting is artificial. He was made by someone—or a group of people—in Eudaiz. And in our time, whenever it is in your past from now, we’re still looking for them. The kind that artificially manipulate magic are the evilest of all things. Ciaran was going to kill them all.”

“Who’s Ciaran?”

“Ah, sorry, you wouldn’t know that. Ciaran is Caedmon’s father.” Orla smiled. “And if we can’t figure out this issue soon, Ciaran is going to climb out of his sickbed and travel here.”

“Oh, come on, Orla. Can’t we do anything without Ciaran being involved?” Lorcan exclaimed.

Orla rolled her eyes. “Well, suggest a solution then, Lorcan. You don’t want me to use magic. You don’t want to use excessive force. You don’t know what creature he’s going to turn into …”

They heard a low hum and then a roar from downstairs.

“What was that?” Orla asked.

The building shook slightly.

Lazi hissed and ran around the room, tail pointed straight to the ceiling and all his hair on end.

Alyna grabbed the tranq g*n. Before she got to the door, they heard a roar that made their veins vibrate. There was a loud bang downstairs, followed by the sound of bricks and mortar collapsing.