Shadow Girl

Chapter 10

"Ciara my dear, look how you've grown," said the Shadow Leader, much to my disgust.

"How could you let me kill all of those people?!" I said, tears of fury running down my cheeks, "I would never do that in my right mind!"

"Ah but that was the only life you knew. You'd never experienced anything other than the life of a shadow walker."

"NO! I read that I discovered that I was a shadow walker when I was 5, so I DID know another life! You're just a liar!" I practically screamed at him.

"You've changed, Ciara... But I thought even you'd remember that you never shout at your leaders..." His voice hissed at me, and before I knew it, we'd plunged into the darkness.

     XXX

I was lying flat on my face when I regained my senses. Pushing myself up, I looked around at all of the dark buildings, and the black fog which crept eerily across the floor. 

"Do you recognize where we are, Ciara?" Hissed the Shadow Leader. I didn't wan't to reply, but I knew what he was capable of doing, so I mumbled out a reply.

"The Shadow Kingdom..."

I suddenly realised that I wasn't wearing my old jeans and my hoodie anymore. Looking down, I say that they'd been replaced by a long black dress, which appeared to have the fog trailing around the hem and the belt. The short sleeves looked like webs stretching from my armpits to my shoulders. There was a necklace too, but now that I'd regained my memory I knew exactly what it was made of, and I didn't want to think back to those days.

"Your necklace is beautiful, isn't it?" said the Shadow Leader. Of course - he could read minds. "Do you remember what's inside the glass pendant? All of that swirling mist? They're the souls of those you killed"

"I remember...I remember it all too well..." I said with an obvious edge to my voice. I attempted to tear the necklace away from my neck, but the chain held strong.

"A lot has happened since you left us. When most of our walkers went extinct, it looked like it was all over for us, but your outburst when you were 14 gave us one last shred of hope"

I knew exactly what he was talking about, but I never wanted to go to that again, however I should've known the Shadow Leader would bring it up. I wish I'd never got my memory back.

"Ciara... don't tell me you've forgotten that day you killed your dear father?" He laughed. He laughed! I just wanted to jump out and kill him! Suddenly I felt his stone-cold hand grab my arm, and the fog ceased to slip out from my fingers.

"Aha! The cold-blooded killer is still inside of you! This is who you are, Ciara. Stop holding back your anger and release your fury!" he smirked, and he was right. I had let my anger slip right out instead of using my words. It was like a little kid getting angry and hitting someone, but I had to stop.

"So you were talking about....my father?" I whispered. It was a touchy subject but I had to take my mind of the fog.

"Ah yes, well you see, after you took your rage out on him, he was sent here like all of the other victims. We were about to kill him, but right before we took his life he told us some very valuable information..." 

"What? what did my dad tell you?!" I shouted, before calming my voice and trying again; "Sorry, so what did my dad say?"

"Only time can tell" he said, and then he grabbed my arm and we floated across the fog towards the tallest, darkest, creepiest building in the whole Kingdom; the Shadow Leader's castle...

              XXX

I kept replaying parts of my scattered memory in my head. But every single replay ended in 'Please don't kill me!' Well, all except one. The memory of my dad. That one blacked out right before I killed him, and all I heard him say was 'Ciara, you're-,' and then it cut off. When we arrived at the castle gates the Shadow Leader transformed and slid through the tiny gap between the walls. I was desperately out of practice when it came to becoming a shadow, so I just sort of awkwardly waited outside until the Leader came back.

"If you don't hurry up, I'll kill everyone you love," and I knew he wasn't kidding. Slowly, I reached forwards and touched the wall, and to my surprise my hand went straight through. "Well, that was easier than expected" I mumbled, before slipping into the wall and through the gap, into the castle main hall room.

Sitting up on large thrones of darkness were the three Shadow Leaders; Eris, Calina, and the one who brought me here - Murdoch. I remember that Calina would treat me like her daughter, but now, I could hardly look her in the eye. All of the people in this Kingdom were ruthless killers, including myself.

"Ciara? Is...is that really you?" someone called from the shadows.

"Yes, I am Ciara. Who's there?" I shouted back.

A Shadow Walker stepped out from the wall in the dark corner and made his way towards me, and when his face finally came in to view I broke down in tears of joy.

My father was alive...