RISING SHADOWS (Shadows Book 2)

Chapter 12

Will, who'd sat on Kat's garden wall to wait for me, jumped to his feet as I rushed out of her house. His eyes widened on my approach and I knew why. For all his faults, his concern for Kat was genuine. They'd always been close.

"She isn't there?"

"I don't think so," I said, grasping at the material on his arm to pull him with me and away from the house.

"What do you mean you don't think so?" He tried to shrug me off but I held steadfast. "She's either there or she isn't."

I chewed the inside of my cheek. "There's something in there and I can't say for certain but I don't think it's her." I hoped it wasn't.

"Well let me take a look, I'd know-"

I gripped him tighter. "I can't let you do that."

"Why?"

"Because whatever or whoever is in there is a mass of burned flesh and if there is the slightest of possibilities it is Kat, that's not how I want you to remember her." Will took a moment to let my words sink in. It was almost like I could see the cogs rotating behind his eyes.

"Okay. I trust you."

"Maybe you shouldn't. Come on."

He followed me, not that he had much of a choice. "Where are we going?"

"To secure the town." I collected my broom, hooking my magic into it without hesitation. The dull wood sung with a familiar hum of energy. Will's eyes widened further.

"Are we travelling on that?" He pointed to my power-filled broom.

"Yes." I mounted and gestured for him to do the same. Reluctantly, he climbed on behind, his grip tightening around my waist. Once, I would have relished his touch, any act of physical contact as long as it didn't go too far. But not now.

We took to the sky, my broom propelling us forward with a rush of freezing winter wind. The shadowy blurs of my coven darted through the streets and over rooftops, unleashing their power when needed. I focused my attention on extinguishing the lingering flames. Will squealed when I lifted one hand off the broom causing me to chuckle in response. With a flick of my wrist, a surge of water cascaded down snuffing out the remaining embers.

"Shit. I don't think I'm ever going to get used to seeing you do that."

I froze the words I wanted to release. He never would see me use my magic again, nor would he remember the first time.

With a surge of relief, I saw Fawn shifting effortlessly between human and lion. Her golden man shimmered in the late-morning sun as she pounced gracefully upon a demon and tore out its throat. I smiled to myself and sailed over a few more roof lines.

Further out, where the houses and amenities for the locals dwindled and petrol garages dotted the way out of town, a demon ran unchecked by any member of my coven. From this high up, it was difficult to see much except a long crocodile-esque creature scuttling on its belly. I swerved, aiming for it but then out of nowhere came a flash of silver and I could have sworn I saw a blur of golden blond hair.

"Callan?" I whispered to myself.

"What?" Will said.

Abruptly, I tugged up the nose of my broom keeping us in the air. The demon was dead on the ground, lying in a pool of its own luminous yellow ichor and its assailant was nowhere to be seen.

Securing the town took us well into the night. Once I was confident there were no more demons, I returned Will to his home, to his family. He'd hesitated before walking through the front door, turning to take both of my hands in his.

"Look at me, Riley," he ducked his head to make sure he caught my eye. "I want a chance to make things right. Now I know what caused the problems between us and how amazing you are-" for a second he looked away and gave a little chuckle. "We can be together again, I promise."

Now I know how amazing you are. If only he'd seen it before...

"The thing is," I began. "It's the opposite for me. I always thought you were amazing and at one point I would have done anything, being anything you wanted but then I realised I'd built up a fictional version of you in my head that didn't quite marry up with reality. Goodbye, Will. I wish you a lifetime of happiness." I whipped my hands out of his and walked away.

"But...I just can't forget all of this," he shouted after me. "I can't forget you."

The words that followed were whispered on a hushed breath. "You will. Just give me time."

I returned to my coven seeking out Mrs Phillips in particular, mother to my Uncle Shane who wasn't really an uncle at all but once a very good friend of my dad's. I found her patching wounds on a young family of four.

"I need to speak to you."

Her skin was pale, and she seemed to have more wrinkles framing the corners of her eyes and mouth. I waited until she bandaged the scratch marks on the father's leg and then beckoned for her to follow me away from the crowd.

The rest of my coven seemed to have taken on different roles than before orchestrated by Mrs Horton no doubt. Now, they attended to the wounded, and gathered the remains of the dead demons to destroy. Limiting our exposure was going to take some doing this time.

I turned to Mrs Phillips. "I need Immemor in the water supply. Flood the town with it. No-one can remember what they've seen. The risk of our exposure is too great." Not too long ago, I'd been appalled at the idea of Gran drugging the local townspeople and now I was making the same decision. Like her, I was all too aware of what we were fighting to protect, of what we stood to lose if our secret fell into the hands of those who didn't understand.

Mrs Phillips nodded in agreement, tendrils of black-line dark grey hair escaped her sweat-soaked hairline. "We'll plant the story of a series of gas explosions. Severe loss of life. A tragedy."

"Yes. Good. There's a resident of Pagnall, Will Bennett. He saw me fighting a demon and came with me afterwards."

Mrs Phillips gave an exhausted sigh. "An extra strong dosage for the Bennett family then."

I swallowed my hesitation back down. "Extra strong."