Savior of the Shadows

Chapter 3: -𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝟐-

        𝓦ᴇ ᴀʟʟ ᴘᴀʀᴛᴇᴅ ways to get to our classrooms, but I barely focused on the lesson. Waiting for the final bell to ring was as tedious as watching paint dry. I wasted no time after school was out. The others didn't either. We almost collided in the hallway before sprinting to the carnival. I was not fond of Annika tagging along. I had no clue how this interaction would go, but I also wasn't going to let a seven-year-old walk across town alone, so we would have to make due.

Once we got to the block where the carnival was, we all stopped dead in our tracks. The games were being hauled away by workers while the fete stalls were taken down one by one. "Excuse me," I called to a carnie passing by. "What's going on? Where is Madam Lindholm, the fortune teller?"

The scraggly man puffed his cigar before growling, "We're moving to the next town, girl. That's how carnivals work." He snapped his suspenders and moved along without another glance in our direction. I searched for the tent Madam Lindholm settled in before. The stall was still up, but it was barren. Her crystal ball and future-reading cards were gone. "No, no, no!" I groaned. Genny sighed in disappointment and my shoulders slumped. I was about to cut our losses until I saw a piece of paper flapping in the crisp autumn wind. It peaked out under a rock near a pole of the empty tent. I walked over and lifted the rock to release the parchment, which was wrinkled from the rain this afternoon. The blotchy ink said, Oracle, come to the blue shed. Genny and Charlie leaned in to read it. Genny laughed humorlessly. "No. Absolutely not. This is how we die. An ominous note that says to go to a shed? No. I'm not getting murdered today. Nope."

I squinted my eyes and scanned the area. Behind a line of businesses, there was a blue storage shed. "Stay out here, Annika," I said, striding over to the shed with wide-eyed Genny and Charlie shortly behind.

"Irina," Genny hissed. "Did you not just hear what I said about the ominous note? Scary shed? Murder?"

"I did."

        "Yet you still think it's a great idea to go to the dark, scary shed because a woman you just met told you to?"

        "She might know something useful."

        "That information won't be useful to us if we are dead!"

        I approached the shed, which had a square window on the side facing a small bakery. It looked like it was extra storage for bags of flour and yeast. I swung open the door without hesitation. Genny jumped when the fortune teller was revealed from within the darkness. Her scar could be seen by the light coming through the window. The woman's cane knocked on the plank flooring as she ushered us inside, closing the door behind us. We barely fit, and Charlie, being taller than all of us, hunched uncomfortably in the cramped space. As I suspected, baking ingredients lined the shelves of the small shed.

        "I apologize for the inconvenient quarters, but it was the only place we could speak in private," the woman said in her thick accent. She was still in her fortune teller hood, casting a large shadow over her face.

        I stared at her, trying to determine the reason for her sudden interest in me. Her face remained impassive. "How did you know we were coming?"

        The fortune teller gave a quick snort and ignored the question. "You have come for information regarding the Shadows."

        I nodded. "What are they?"

        "And how do we get them to go away?" Genny added desperately.

        "We already know that silver is the only thing that wards them off. It can harm them," Charlie said. "Are they all evil?"