The Silent Luna’s Revenge: Shadow of the Monster

Chapter 16: The Western Ridge

The Western Ridge wasn't a scenic overlook. It was a jagged spine of slate and frozen mud that seemed designed specifically to break ankles. By the time we were halfway up, my lungs felt like they had been scrubbed with wire wool, and the boots Helga had given me, which were definitely meant for a man with gout, clattered against the rocks like loose buckets.

"Can you walk any louder?" Kai asked, not looking back. "I think there’s a pack of deaf squirrels three valleys over that haven't heard us yet."

I wiped a mixture of sweat and freezing rain from my eyes. "If you wanted stealth, you should have given me shoes that actually fit. I feel like I’m wearing two small canoes."

Kai snorted, stopping to lean against a gnarled pine tree. He looked perfectly fine. Not a bead of sweat on him. He adjusted the strap of his bow and watched me scramble up the last few feet of the incline, his expression somewhere between pity and genuine annoyance.

"Silas told me to keep you alive," Kai muttered. "He didn't say I had to do it quietly. But if the scavengers hear those boots coming, they aren't going to run. They’re going to set the table and wait for the delivery."

He’s mocking us, Keira growled in my head. She was restless, her claws phantom-itching against the floor of my mind. Let me out for ten seconds. I’ll show him how loud a southern girl can be when she’s tearing out a throat.

No, I snapped back. We are 'empty,' remember? If you come out, we lose the only shield we have.

It’s a boring shield, she grumbled. And the Alpha isn't even here to watch us fall on our face.

I ignored her and looked out over the ridge. The "scavengers" weren't wolves. They were a nasty, stunted offshoot, shifters who had lost the ability to fully turn or fully remain human. They lived in the cracks of the world, eating carrion and whatever livestock they could drag into the dark.

"They're close," I whispered, my hand instinctively going to the small, rusted dagger Kai had tossed me earlier.

Kai’s posture changed instantly. The sarcasm vanished. He dropped into a crouch, his eyes scanning the grey-brown thicket ahead. "Stay behind me. If I tell you to run, you don't argue. You just haul those canoes back to the fortress. Got it?"

"I'm not running," I said, though my knees were shaking.

"Everyone says that until the first bite," Kai replied.

We moved into the brush. My skin began to prickle.

The first scavenger didn't growl. It let out a sound like a wet cough.

It lunged from behind a cluster of boulders, a grey, hairless thing that looked like a man stretched over the frame of a wolf. Its limbs were too long, its fingers ending in black, jagged nails.

Kai reacted before I could even scream. An arrow was notched and released in a heartbeat, thudding into the creature's shoulder. The scavenger shrieked, tumbling into the dirt, but two more emerged from the shadows of the slate walls.

"Back up, Aria!" Kai yelled, drawing his twin short-blades.

One of them was faster than the other. It ignored Kai and headed straight for the "soft meat." Me.

I scrambled backward, my oversized boots catching on a tree root. I went down hard, the air leaving my lungs in a painful grunt. The scavenger was on top of me in a second. I could smell its breath. Its yellowed teeth snapped inches from my face.

Kill it! Keira screamed.

I didn't have a choice. I just thought about not wanting to be eaten by a hairless freak in a mud pit.

I reached out, my fingers clawing at the air.

The shadows wrapped around the creature’s throat and limbs with a violent, snapping force.

The scavenger’s eyes widened. It tried to howl, but the shadows were already in its mouth, choking it. I felt the creature’s life force, thin and greasy, vibrating through the dark tendrils. It was sickening. It felt like drinking swamp water.

With a sharp crack, the shadows constricted. The scavenger went limp, its neck snapping like a dry twig.

The shadows retreated instantly, sinking back into the dirt as if they had never been there. I sat in the mud, gasping for air, my hands trembling so violently I couldn't hold the dagger.

I looked up. Kai was standing over the other two scavengers, both dead, but he wasn't looking at them. He was looking at me. His face was pale, his grip on his blades so tight his knuckles were white.

"What the hell was that?" he asked. There was no humor in his voice now.

"I... I told you I could help," I stammered, trying to stand up.

"That wasn't help," Kai said, taking a step back as I approached. "That was... that was something else.You just... deleted it."

He’s scared of us, Keira noted, her voice full of dark satisfaction. Good. Let him tell the Alpha. Let the Monster know he’s not the only thing in the woods with teeth.

"Kai, please," I said, reaching out.

"Don't," he snapped, his eyes darting to my hands as if he expected them to turn into smoke again. He shoved his blades back into their sheaths, but he didn't come closer. "We’re going back. Now."

The hike back was a nightmare of silence. The adrenaline had worn off, leaving me with a crushing fatigue and a pounding headache. My Shadow-mark burned at the base of my spine, a dull, pulsing heat that felt like a brand.

As we reached the fortress gates, the sun was dipping below the horizon, painting the snow in shades of bruised purple and orange.

Silas was waiting at the entrance.

He was leaning against the stone archway, his arms crossed over his massive chest. He looked like he hadn't moved since we left. His eyes immediately locked onto mine, scanning for injuries. Then he looked at Kai.

"Report," Silas rumbled.

Kai hesitated. He looked at me, then at Silas. I could see the conflict in his eyes. He was a scout; he owed his Alpha the truth. But I saw something else there, too, a lingering shock that made him stumble over his words.

"We hit a nest," Kai said, his voice tight. "Three of them. They’re dead."

"And the girl?" Silas asked, his gaze moving back to me. "Did she cry, or did she actually manage to stay on her feet?"

Kai looked at the mud on my tunic, then at my hands. "She... she stayed on her feet. She did what she had to do."

He didn't mention the shadows. Not yet.

Silas stepped forward, his shadow swallowing me whole. He reached out, his hand hovering near my shoulder before he grabbed my arm and pulled me closer. He was sniffing. The scent of the scavengers was all over me.

"You smell like death," Silas whispered, his voice vibrating in my chest. He looked down at me, his grey eyes searching for a crack in my mask. "Whose blood is this, Aria? Yours or theirs?"

"Theirs," I said, my voice steadier than I felt. "Are we done with the 'inspection,' or do you want to check my teeth next?"

Silas’s grip tightened for a second, his thumb pressing into the meat of my arm.

"Go to Helga," he muttered, releasing me so suddenly I stumbled. "Get some food. Tomorrow, you start in the kitchens. If you can kill scavengers, you can certainly peel potatoes."

I walked past him, my head down. I felt his eyes on my back until I disappeared into the hallway.

He knows, Keira whispered. He doesn't know what, but he knows we’re dangerous. And he likes it.

I don't care what he likes, I thought, clutching my trembling hands. I just want to survive the night.

As I reached the kitchen, I saw the woman from the hall, the one who sat close to Silas. She was standing in the shadows, watching me.

I had survived the Ridge. But I had a feeling the "Fallen" pack was going to be much harder to kill.