Deadly Night Shade

Chapter 21

Jason’s eyes flared with unexplainable anger. He leapt towards me and I shook my head, with a surprised and slightly scared face and pulled the shadows towards me, covering myself in a black shroud and made myself disappear.

I slumped into the soft green grass in my clearing and looked up at the trees, with their leaves which had slowly turned into a subtle yellow which signified the beginning of autumn. I pulled my knees to my chest and just sat there.

Everything made so much sense now. Jason had escaped his punishment from killing me by becoming a super hero to defend Archvale from villains large and small. This was why my death was important enough to reach the air, it had started Jason's career as ‘the Crimson Knight’.

I picked up a golden autumn leaf off the ground and turned it over in my hand. Winter was coming, and I knew that when it did, when the city was smothered in a blanket of snow, that the storm would come.

I clenched my fist and the leaf crumbled in my hand. A rustle in the trees came from my left and I looked over to see Jess’ face staring at me sympathetically. She shook her head as she walked towards me and sat by my side.

“What have I done,” I mumbled, my voice barely a whisper. I shifted back into Claire and pulled my knees to my chest and burying my face into my arms.

I felt the unusual comfort of Jess’ hand awkwardly patting my shoulder and I smiled momentarily and looked up at her. “I saw what happened on the TV,” she said, looking off into the distance, “the news is on every channel, you have unmasked the people’s hero, and now everybody knows his name.”

I felt sick to my stomach; I couldn’t get the image of Jason out of my head, his fury and his defencelessness. Jess closed her eyes and I knew she could see it too. I had used him for my own personal gain and now he would get no peace, and even though he was my enemy, and even though I had unmasked him for a legitimate reason, I still had that guilty feeling in my stomach.

“Don’t worry about it,” Jess said soothingly, she stopped patting my shoulder and just sat next to me. I looked over at her, she was looking into the distance and there was obviously something on her mind.

A twig snapped in the trees and Jess and I both sprang to our feet, a cloud of purple and red rising up and disappearing as I become Night Shade and Jess became Fury Moon. I drew my sword and next to me, Fury Moon had three arrows loaded into one deadly shot.

A masculine laugh came from the trees where the twig had snapped and I tensed up as it came closer. A man walked into the clearing with brown/black hair and black eyeliner. Jess laughed, “Aether!”

My eyes widened as I recognised him from the tattoo parlour, “What are you doing here?” I asked. The elegant she-cat that was Secret walked beside Aether and said, “You must be trained to use your powers correctly.”

“What exactly are our powers?” Jess asked. “Your powers differ,” Aether began, “You both have control over Fire, as you well know, but that is only the most basic extent of your ability.” Secret and Aether both changed forms and switched into a winged black panther and a griffin.

“Both of you have three powers each,” Secret said, “Fire is your first, and the most basic, your second powers are more powerful than the first, but can combine to be a powerful weapon, the third is the most deadly of the three, but you are not yet strong enough for that.”

I looked over at Jess and she looked back at me, we smiled to each other before facing back to Secret and Aether. “It will be hard; don’t underestimate what you have to do. We will train to fight in armed combat with and without your powers, and only when you have reached the peak of your power will you learn your third attack,” Aether’s eyes went from Jess’ to mine and back as he said this.

Secret and Aether both closed their eyes and I could see Secrets claws slightly grip onto the ground and the clearing around all of us just melted away. It literally dissolved into the ground and what was left was a black void with fluoro green checks across the ground.

“What is this place?” I heard myself ask. “This, mistress, is the Training Room,” I turned around to see Secret standing side by side with Aether.

In front of us, twelve featureless manikins with green and black targets on their faces and chests appeared. “Focus your energy,” Secret said, “close your eyes and picture one manikin in front of you, feel the heat energy starting at your heart. Let it bubble inside you as you feel the darkness and hatred within you.”

“Now,” Aether said, “let go of the flame and point to your target.” I relaxed and stopped holding the fire back, and in less than a second, the heat shot through my arms and a ball of purple fire exploded from my hands, completely missing the target and flying off into the distance, exactly the same as the ball of red/orange fire which Jess had made.

“Again,” He said simply. Jess and I looked at each other and tried again, feeling the power swell up inside our hearts and fire through our arms and out of our hands, over and over again, each time, getting closer and closer to the target, until we were sweating with fatigue but so close that we couldn’t stop.

“Again,” Aether said, his voice cool and ruthless. I closed my eyes and pictured the target in my mind, I let out a breath and held out my hands and released the ball of flaming energy that blasted from my fingertips and it hurtled towards the manikin, hitting it right in the chest. The manikin splintered and cracked before exploding into purple light, moments after, a ball of red fire destroyed the manikin next to it with the same, red, effect.

“Good,” Aether said and nodded towards the both of us. I looked around and the Training room was changing back into reality with squares folding downwards and across the room until the four of us were just standing in the clearing again.

“Fury Moon,” Aether said to Jess, “I must speak with you.” Aether changed into his human form and walked into the trees Jess following. As she walked away, I wiped the sweat from my brow and sat down against a tree.

“Mistress?” I heard from beside me. Secret, in her grey cat form, came and jumped up onto my lap, “Do not be mad at Aether for being harsh,” she said, looking up at me with her golden eyes, “He may seem heartless, but he is just making sure that all we have fought for is not in vain. He will train you hard, but it is the only way to get you and Fury Moon ready for the Storm and powerful enough to learn the abilities you will need to survive it.”

I closed my eyes, “What happens if we fail,” I asked softly. “Mistress, you will no…” “Secret, tell me what happens,” I interrupted. She sighed and I opened my eyes to look at her.

“If you fail, the darkness will burn and it will die. The Light and the Love will kill both you and Jess and there will be nothing to stop them from destroying everything that the Darkness and the Hatred have created.” I shuddered and closed my eyes again.

A loud hissing groan whistled in my mind and butterflies fluttered in my stomach. I felt dizzy and opened my eyes; standing across me was the tall and incredibly real figure of Jason.

“And then she took off my mask,” he said, his voice infuriated, “in front all of the media and onlookers, all of the people, content in me saving their hides time after time, and she humiliated me, manipulated me…”

“Look,” said a familiar voice coming out of my mouth, “we both knew this would happen, the day when you would expose yourself, after all of the stress you had put on yourself and all you have been through because of becoming the Crimson Knight, she did you a favour by exposing you without you making a fool of yourself.”

The voice belonged to Jess, and I soon began to realise that there was a reason why I couldn’t move a muscle in my body and how I couldn’t control what I said. It wasn’t my mouth, I was in Jess’ body, seeing what she was seeing and feeling what she was feeling.

The girl felt a stabbing pain in her leg and was dragged back into her own body. The cat had dug her claws into the girl’s leg as to bring her back to reality. The girl’s head was scrambled and she shivered all over. The cat bowed her head to the girl as she lost consciousness.