Shadows of the Night | BOOK 2 DRAFT

32

32. 

Everything moves in slow motion. Aaliyah's body slumping to the ground, Cassia's frantic movements, Eric's attempts at pulling her back. She shoves and hits against him when he covers her mouth, squirming to let go. But it's all in my peripheral vision because I can't look away from Cynthia. She's wiping the blade of the machete on a cloth, the material coming away red. There's a scowl etched on her face, like the blood is an annoyance, not a reminder that she just murdered someone.

"Let me go," Cassia muffles from beneath Eric's hand. "Eric, let me go."

"Shh."

"Elias tell him to let go of me!"

Elias rises to his feet and puts his hand on Cassia's arm. "Only if you promise not to run over there straight away."

Cassia's eyes flash a violent silver, like she's offended by his words. "She just killed Aaliyah."

"And it all would've been for nothing if you give yourself over right now."

For a moment, she stops struggling as she stares at him, her rage-filled expression shifting to something more broken, helpless. There's something so vulnerable in her eyes that I feel like I have to look away.

"You okay?" Malik asks. He puts his hand on my arm, as if he's afraid I'll bolt towards them, too. I nod. I couldn't move even if I wanted to. Aaliyah's body is like an anchor, tying us all to this spot.

"Aaliyah's..." Cassia murmurs. "She's dead. Aaliyah."

Nobody says anything. Nobody knows what to say. The news lingers in the air, not quite sinking in, as if what we just witnessed was nothing more than a horrible nightmare.

"They're bringing more out," Malik says, the only one still watching the clearing. He's right. Behind Cynthia, a trail of people—both shifter and human—are being led from the castle, connected to one another by silver chains. I hold my breath as I scan the line. I recognise a few people, but they don't look like how I remember them. There's Harrison, about halfway down. But still no Bastian. My stomach tightens, the image of him curled up on the prison floor returning to mind.

Cynthia raises the shell to her lips again, eyes scanning the forest. She looks right at us as she peers through, but moves on just as quickly. It's so dark and we're concealed well behind shrub, but it's almost like she saw us. Almost like she knows exactly where we are.

"You have thirty minutes to turn yourselves over," she says, voice low. "Starting now."

Then she turns away from us and walks back over to the line of villagers, the machete in her hand. I turn to the others. Their expressions mirror the horror I feel. None of us expected this to happen, none of us even knew that Cynthia knew we were here. Is it because of Elias and I? Is it because Elias killed Valerie and we left her body there?

"What do we do?" I ask.

Nobody says anything for a few moments, the tension rising in the air. "We have to hand ourselves over," Cassia says eventually. "They'll kill everyone there."

"What good would that do? Then they'll kill everyone here including us," Eric says.

A cool breeze lingers amongst the trees, sending a shiver down my spine. My skin crawls. It feels like there are eyes on me, eyes that I can't see.

"We have the shadow," I say, "and we know that it works. We can use that against her."

"Not if we've all been chained up," Eric says. "Elias, you know I'm right. We can't give ourselves over. Not now. It would be suicide."