Shadows of Ourselves (2016 Original Edition)

TEN: Broken Wards

I woke in the morning to a hellish banging noise somewhere in the distance. Thunder?

I groaned and rolled over beneath the thick blanket, my legs tangling in the sheets. After a second the racket stopped, letting blissful silence creep back in. I closed my eyes, content—and then shot straight up in bed at the sound of the door opening.

"Hello? Housekeeping?"

One of the housekeepers stood in the doorway of the darkened room. She was a short woman, dark ponytail shot through with elegant lines of silver, and behind a pair of large pink glasses, her round eyes widened in surprise at the sight of me. She halted there, awkwardly, and gestured back to the hallway with her hands.

"Sorry!" she chimed. "There was no sign on the door. I called in, but no one answered. Should I come back later?"

For a second I just sat there, half-asleep, staring at her. Then I launched myself out of the bed. "No!"

Falling onto the floor, I scooped my jeans, jacket, and boots off of the ground and swiped my phone from the bedside table. The housekeeper watched me curiously as I scrambled around her and her giant cart full of cleaning supplies, smiling like a total maniac.

"I was just heading out," I assured her. I was aware that I probably looked and smelled like a groupie who'd slept in a tent, but I wasn't staying in this room another second if I had a way out.

How had she opened the door? Some kind of loophole in the wards? It didn't even matter, now, did it?

"Are you sure?" she asked. "It's no trouble."

"Definitely," I said over my shoulder.

She called after me, "Have a nice day!"

Not in my nature, I thought as I retreated. Coffee would be great right now.

In the hallway I walked a ways down from the door, just glad to be out of there, and stood in place to shove my legs into my pants. I pulled my wallet from my jacket, shoved it in my pants pocket with my phone, and slung the coat over my shoulder. When I looked up an older man was staring as he walked by, probably scandalized.

I didn't even care; the beige carpeting and wallpaper of the narrow hotel hallway were the best things I'd ever seen, a sight out of heaven.

Sweet, sweet freedom.

I headed for the elevator. In the silence of the ride down, I tried to sort out my hair in the mirrored walls, and wondered where I might find Hunter. I could just go home—he could always track me down again later—but I decided against it, unless it was just a quick stop to grab some new clothes and check in, make sure Melissa was still breathing. And not locked up somewhere.

What I really needed to do was either find a way to help break the bond, or learn more about it in general. I just had no idea where to start.

I did know that we had to figure out how to get rid of this bond thing. Hot or not, I didn't want Hunter reading my mind for the rest of my days. The last thing I needed was another person to tie me to this place, or to give someone a front-row ticket to see my insanity unfold firsthand.

It basically sounded like the magik version of matching BFF bracelets—including power sharing and some seriously fucked up connections. Hunter had said I may even be able to get a sense of his emotions...and vice versa.

Cool. And good, kind of—show someone else how much a lie hurts for once. Let me blast some fireballs around.

But the rest? I so did not want a permanent spiritual link with a guy I'd known for all of two days—and honestly wasn't even sure if I wanted to kiss or kill.

For now, I was stuck playing Charmer, after all. Where had Hunter gone after he'd left last night? He could be anywhere in the city—or even outside of it.

I had no idea where to find him, and no idea what to do without his help. But if I could tap into his telekinesis like I had on the street the other day, I should at least be able to protect myself if I needed to.

I didn't plan on running into trouble: I was the trouble.

In the lobby I nodded at the receptionist as I headed for the mall. I paused before the sliding glass doors, peering out into the spot where just two days ago I'd seen a Hound lurking in the shadows. There was nothing there now.

I was running on empty, so I went to the food court to fill up on some java and think about what I was going to do.

I'd always hated it in here; it was like a cave. The escalators stood between the food court and the open atrium, sushi and coffee kiosks shoved against their sides, and they blocked any light that got in through the glass ceiling, so while you were over here you were stuck in the dark, beneath the weak glow of the overheads. Thick, square columns stood in several places, their surfaces covered in mirrors to make the space look bigger than it was.

When it was packed, it was even worse, like being trapped in a box. It drained me

Normally the place was crowded by eleven am, full of high school students and uptown office workers looking for a quick, cheap bite. But today it was just me, a couple mall employees, and a few old people, spread out reading papers and talking to each other.

I ignored the ghost town and went to get my caffeine fix, taking my place in the short line at the McDonald's. After I'd ordered I stood off to the side to wait.

I was about to pull out my phone and try texting Riley again when something nudged my foot. There was a sound almost like papers shuffling, and when I glanced down there was a snake slithering across the toe of my combat boot.

I let out a choked little cry and lurched back, nearly falling over.

A man standing a few feet away gave me a strange look as he eased away. The snake hissed and kept going, barely sparing me a second glance. It was like the one that I'd seen in my vision back at the apartment—sleek onyx with teal markings shining in the low lights. There was something beautiful about its sinuous movements, but I was still shaken. Looking around, I actually wasn't surprised to see that no one was staring or screaming or running in terror. Just me, the freak slash homo slash disruptive teenager. Burden on society and all that, I'm sure.

I stared after the serpent. It was slithering along the row of restaurants set against the edge of the food court, and as I watched it made its way into the back hallway.

"Here you are," said a voice to the side. I glanced over to find an employee holding my coffee and receipt across the counter.

I grabbed the hot drink, shoved the slip of paper into my pocket, and took off after the snake.

The back hallway didn't have anything in it except an extra elevator and two doors that were both employees-only. It didn't see so much traffic, but this elevator was good when the others were all packed, especially if you wanted to avoid people—which I usually did.

As I left the glow of the food court behind for the dim corridor, I caught sight of the snake moving inside the open elevator doors. Pulled forward by some sense of urgency I didn't understand, I stepped in after it. As soon as I was inside, the snake evaporated into a cloud of smoke, drifting into the air as if I'd just blown out a candle.

I searched the cramped space, but there was nothing else here. It was just an elevator.

Turning to leave, I saw something that pulled me up short. On the wall near the door, the panel of buttons for each floor was changing. A blue ring of light glowed from the steel at the bottom, like someone was taking a blow-torch to the other side of the panel.

The light grew blinding and I winced, had to looked away. When it faded and I turned back, the glow was gone entirely, and there was a new button in its place.

"Okay," I said. "Because that's not totally fucking creepy."

The elevator did not respond.

The open doors led back into a world that was safe and sane. But that world wasn't the one that could offer me answers anymore. Not the ones I needed.

I took a deep breath and pushed the button. The doors closed, and then the elevator came to life and lurched down into the unknown.