A Court of Shadows and Pain

Two

Valery fell down to her knees after slamming the door shut.

Tears rolled down her face. Her shadows brushed against her body in attempt to comfort her, but it didn't help.

She let herself cry for a few minutes before gathering herself to stand again.

He had found her. But she shut him out again, ignoring his help.

Every memory came back to her, causing her shadows to freak out. This was the exact reason she couldn't look at him anymore.

Valery sat down on her couch, her vision blurring again.

She put her hands in her hair as her shadows started to annoy her more. "Shut up." she said, but they didn't listen.

"Shut up." she tried again. "Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up!" she screamed at them.

Suddenly her shadows left her alone, disappearing out of sight. Valery sobbed and let the tears fall down her face.

She laid down on the couch, curling her knees to her chest as sleep washed over her.

Valery knew that she was too late. It had probably already happened.

She continued to walk down the hallway carved out of stone. There was water dripping down from the side of the walls.

Her footsteps made a terribly loud echoing sound. It was foolish of her to go in.

Her shadows stayed close. Alerting her of every small sound.

What was she even going to do when she reached inside?

She adjusted the sword that was strapped to her back. The other daggers were hidden, strapped to all places around her body.

This was suicide. But she knew that Rhys's family wouldn't go after him. Someone had to do it.

They were stubborn, as he described them, but they weren't stupid.

Valery was in luck, she was both of those things.

Someone's rounding the corner, one of her shadows whispered. She could hear the heavy footsteps approaching from behind her.

Valery pressed herself against the cold wet wall, making the shadows conceal her from whatever creature was getting closer. She hoped that her shadows would be able to hide her scent this time.

She could now see the nearing creature.

Valery didn't know how to describe the thing that lingered a few feet away from her. She could only describe it as ugly.

As if the creature had read her thoughts, he turned around, eyes looking directly into hers.

She knew it wasn't possible that it could see her. Right?

"I know you're here little faerie." it spat out.

Valery took a step to the side. To her luck, she stepped on the side of a small stone, causing it to go rolling.

Her breath hitched, eyes going back to the creature. She immediately started running.

Her shadows had given up trying to hide her. For some reason, they almost disappeared. Only a few of them lingered by her side as she kept running.

Valery looked back, to see if the creature was following her.

It was.

When she turned her head around, she was met by a hard wall. With a loud thud through her head, she fell to the ground.

The creature was closing in, and she had no where to run to.

Her head started pounding, the world spinning. The last thing she saw were the ugly feet of the creature before everything faded into black.

Valery shot awake, a small scream leaving her lips. Her shadows immediately went to her side, brushing her in comfort.

It was just a nightmare, she reminded herself. Just a nightmare.

Valery looked around her living room with a sigh. There was nothing to worry about.

Something caught her eye. A small shadow lingered by the fireplace. She tried to call for it, but it didn't listen to her. Instead, the shadow went to another corner of the room.

Valery raised her eyebrows, not having a clue what was going on. She decided to leave it for now.

Even though sleep wouldn't come easy, she made her way to her bedroom.

Praying for at least some rest.