Madeline

Chapter XXXVII - Huntsmen and the Shadow

Madeline – Huntsmen and the Shadow

We walked all the way back home from the party and knocked on the door of Skylar's house. The streets were dead, but you could still see all the smoke from Rocky's house. When the door opened it Andy was standing there with his scuffled beard. He looked worst then when I last saw him. At first he looked at us questioning if we were real. It was pretty late at night, but then again he probably had been drinking all day.

"Dad, we're real" Skylar spoke. Andy's face broke out into a tearful joy as he hugged Skylar.

"My baby girl. You came back" Skylar hugged her dad tight.

"We need your help again dad" Skylar pulled away.

Andy looked at the Maple strung around my shoulders.

"Is that you Madi? How did you carry that body all the way here?" Andy put on his glasses.

"It's a long story, but we need you to hold onto Maple. He's a soulless" Andy's eyes lit up when I said this.

"We thought maybe you could harness him in the basement?" Skylar pointed up at Maple's body.

"Skylar your arm...and your face? What happened? What did those hunters do to you?" Andy walked towards Skylar.

"There's no time to explain that right now dad. We need your help!"

"Of course. Bring him into the basement" Andy opened the door for us and we walked inside.

I carried Maple through the antique house and kicked the door to the basement open. I carried him into the basement where I first met Skylar. In the middle of the room were chains and a table.

"You fixed the leak?" Skylar walked in behind me with Andy.

"Well when you're going through a crisis there's not much to do. Put him down on the table. I'm harness him up" I threw Maple's body on top of the medical like table.

Andy started to chain Maple's body onto the table. Chains tightened around Maple's wrist and ankles. Andy walked over to a refrigerator that was in the basement. He pulled out a syringe filled with green liquid. He dug the needle deep into Maple's neck. Maple's body began to shake then paused.

"There, I gave him a dose of tranquilizer. It's a high dosage used to experiment on animals, but this stops his heart to the point where he will be practically dead. With him being a soulless let's hope this doesn't tip the scale towards full spirit. So what happened this time?" Andy placed both hands on the table.

"I went to a party with some friends and Archie and the Painted Faces attacked us. They burnt down my friend's house and sent Maple on us. I guess they got to him before me, but now we have him, and I'm going to do whatever it takes to bring him back" I stood next to Maple's body.

"I heard about the fire. Well, it's nice to see you back in town Madi and to see you two together" Skylar and I awkwardly excused him.

"Dad, we're not together..." Skylar spoke.

"I meant working together. When you two left. You were in two different directions. My sources tell me there's a new descendant in town?" I looked at Andy who was staring directly at me.

"I've been good friends with Sheriff Kristi for a while Madi. She told me about your eyes" Andy smiled.

"Wait is she a descendant too?" Andy nodded confirming my question.

"One of the only ones other than me that has shown you their true identity" Andy grabbed another syringe.

"It seems to me that the Painted Faces have made their move. My question is, what's yours?" Andy squeezed a bit of the liquid out of the syringe. He then stabbed it into a major vein in Maple's arm.