Sunburst

I slid into my sixth hour desk and refused to acknowledge anyone around me except Piper. It just seemed safer that way, less life-threatening.

At least for now.

But I seriously needed to deal with the whole Jude fiasco.

And fast.

Chapter Eighteen

“It’s really dark in here,” I commented slowly. Nate shot me a look over his shoulder that said, “Duh.”

I shrugged and he smiled. “Stella, it’s nighttime. It’s always dark during the night.”

“I know,” I shot back. “But I mean, it’s really, really dark…. even for nighttime.”

And it was. The Stars were hidden behind thick cloud cover and the moon was completely out of sight. Those factors alone made the night feel extra oppressive. But on top of that, we were wandering through some New England forest and the thick canopy of trees, spaced so impossibly close together, made the darkness feel like it wrapped around our bodies and swallowed us whole, like a man-eating anaconda.

Our Lights were as dim as possible, just a faint haze shimmering around our three bodies. We were like Tasers set to stun, strong enough to do some damage but nothing permanent. Jupiter had decided to join us as well, but he had no light and I could just barely make him out through the lack of light, even with my super sensitive sight.

“Where did this lead come from?” I whispered, even though it was u

“The Council,” Serena answered in a low voice. “They sent a message earlier today.”

I still didn’t get how communication with the Council worked. It wasn’t like they could call on a cell phone. They were light years away. But I knew it happened, just not often. Usually all communication was done face to face. You were summoned, you flew away, you talked, you flew back. Or that’s how it had always worked with my parents.

“And you trust them?” I asked carefully.

Jupiter snorted somewhere ahead of me but Serena said, “It doesn’t matter if I do or don’t. I’m exploring this lead whether it’s a trap or the truth.”

She had a good point. I drew out my swords. I felt like the trees were moving around me, waving in the air, like ocean waves against the shore. It was impossible to tell since everything was so dark, and the atmosphere around me all blended into one obscure, black canvas. But I could swear everything around me was rippling. I felt like I was in a bizarre dream or walking through a portal.

Nobody else seemed to notice though, or they weren’t worried about it if they did.

I was also nervous because if Seven was around she would be able to neutralize our internal alarms, that sounded whenever evil was nearby. I had filled everyone in earlier on the new developments in my life- Seven was not just dangerous and unstable but a weapon as well, Aliah was concerned about Seth and Seth was the only one in the contract currently capable of killing me…. so unless I tripped and accidentally cut off my own head, he was my biggest threat right now.

And I loved him.

This wasn’t complicated at all.

Or scary. This wasn’t scary.

Except I was so tightly wound that I felt sick to my stomach and my hands were trembling where they grasped the two hilts of my katanas. My wrists were anything but loose and my breaths shook and quivered as I forced them in and out of my lungs. I was such a chicken about this stuff; it sucked, since it was basically my entire life.

Something glided alongside my foot and I yelped a pathetic sound.

“What’s wrong?” Nate jumped around with sword raised.

“There’s something on the ground.” I poked the soft forest floor with the tip of my sword but only met mud and leaves.

“Stella.” I could tell Jupiter was barely reigning in his patience. “There are Shadows literally all around you. Please don’t tell me you’re just now noticing them.”

“Obviously, I’m not just noticing them.” I was totally just now noticing them. Damn it, I was the worst Star ever. “I just didn’t realize they were on the ground too. I thought it might be something…. different.”

Serena chuckled darkly. “As in a wayward field mouse.”

I ignored her and let my eyes reflect against the dark night around me. The moon broke through the heavy cloud cover up above; some of the light filtered in between the trees so I could finally adjust to my surroundings. When everything became clear I could see them now. They covered every available space as we trudged through the forest. They blanketed tree branches, glided over their trunks and whipped back and forth across the ground.

There were so many of them that I instantly felt threatened. They didn’t exactly have eyes, but they seemed to be watching us with wagging tales. And if they had any kind of expression hidden in the dark mass, they would have looked hungry- starving. I imagined them licking their lips and purring with anticipation.

“Why aren’t they attacking us?” I stage-whispered, almost afraid to give them the idea. As if they wouldn’t come up with it on their own.

“No clue,” Nate shrugged. “But I’m going to assume it’s because something worse is waiting for us.”

“Oh, geez,” I sighed.

Nate gri

A Shadow came to a stop directly in my path and twitched its tail back and forth. I tried to step over it, but it slithered around and stopped again, this time facing me. I wasn’t exactly sure what it wanted, maybe for me to rub its belly?

I moved to the side, bumping into Jupiter in my attempt to change paths, but the Shadow followed me. “This thing is begging me to kill it.”

“Don’t,” Jupiter ordered. “A Shadow that anxious to go back to hell is hiding something.”

“Good to know, I muttered and subtly retracted my sword. I had been just about to gut him. Instead I stepped over him again. He was persistent, but I somehow kept up with Serena and Nate while avoiding getting Shadow goo on my feet.

The further into the forest we walked, the darker it became until our Lights were bright, blinding and hot. This kept the Shadows away from us for the most part, but they seemed to be growing thicker as we continued as well. Beyond where our Lights reached there were walls of them, they stacked on top of each other, tangled in columns or along tree trunks.

And they weren’t just everywhere. They smelled terrible, too.

I hadn’t noticed at first, but now the smell was impossible to ignore. The scent of rotting eggs and something so foul and diseased it could only have originated in Hell itself, hung in the air. I felt it on my skin, I tasted it on my tongue.

I would need to take at least fifty showers after all this and we hadn’t even shed any blood yet.

We pushed through the Shadow-made barrier and stumbled into a remote cabin.

The lights were off inside and it looked utterly deserted.

However, there was no way I was getting out of this that easily. This was the perfect precursor to the world’s scariest movie, and because I was living it, I knew without any doubt that this moment was only the begi

So, was this a trap or a true tip?

That was the question.

“That looks rather ominous,” Nate drawled.

No kidding.

Serena looked back at the forest behind us and visibly swallowed. Stealing a breath for courage I turned around to see what made even Serena cringe. And when I finally understood, I let out a weary sigh.

The Shadows followed us. Thousands of them created a black, solid wall of no escape. We had been herded here, rounded up and delivered for execution. We could have seen this coming. Ok, we probably knew this was coming and chose to ignore it in favor of retaining at least some of our fighting spirit.