Dreams and Shadows - By C. Robert Cargill Page 0,108

the creature before him. It was a cruel mockery—a backwoods, inbred, swamp-baby reflection of himself, like something that had been thrown out into the street and run under a bus. His mind fractured. Images he could not understand surfaced into his thoughts. He’d seen this man before as a boy, but couldn’t place where. It wasn’t that they looked similar; he knew him, right down to the tilt of his eye and the patches of hair missing from his head.

A fist cracked into the back of Ewan’s skull, sprawling him. Two ribs splintered beneath the force of a cast-iron boot. A claw raked down his back, cutting deep into his flesh, tearing out a chunk of his shoulder. Ewan screamed, but a hand immediately muffled him. Fists rained down. Boots kicked up. One redcap picked him entirely off the ground, raising him two and a half feet above it before throwing him farther down the alley. Ewan crashed to the ground, layers of skin scraping off as he skidded across pavement, cartwheeling into a Dumpster with a clang.

Ewan pushed himself to his feet, confused, struggling against the pain, the terror. Through the agony of his broken ribs and the dull throbbing in his cheekbone he felt sheer, unbridled terror. Never before had he been more afraid for his life.

Knocks and the four redcaps boldly strolled down the alley, savoring the fear, confident Ewan wouldn’t be getting away. Ewan looked down the alley behind him, saw only shadow. Then, glancing back, he saw Nora, a fifth redcap grabbing her behind the Dumpster. The redcap pawed at her like a drunken stepfather, smelling her hair and flicking his tongue as she wriggled against his groping.

“She betrayed you, Ewan,” said Knocks, walking ever closer. “She’s not who she says she is.”

“What’s going on?” asked Ewan with a whimper. He reached up, wiped his nose with the back of his hand, smearing blood and snot across his face.

“You are going to die for what you’ve done,” said Knocks. “That’s what’s going on.”

“I haven’t done anything!” he cried. His voice was shrill, like a child being punished in someone else’s stead. There was no man to his shriek, just teary, crying, terrified boy.

“Oh yes, you have. But the Fading has choked the memories out. Before we’re done here, I’ll have beaten them back into you. You’ll remember. You’ll remember everything.”

Ewan fell to his knees. Images cycled, bits of someone else’s childhood rattling around his brain like coins in a tin cup. He looked up at Nora. She had stopped struggling and instead looked at him with tears in her eyes. Their gazes locked and Ewan couldn’t tell if she felt love or pity. “What’s happening?” he mouthed to her silently.

“Tell him what’s happening,” said Knocks. “He wants to know.”

“No,” said Nora, shaking her head, warm tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Tell him, Mallaidh,” said Knocks. “Tell him what you are. Tell him why he’s going to die.”

She shook her head harder. “No!”

“Nora?” begged Ewan. “What’s he talking about? What aren’t you telling me?”

“You hear that, Nora? He wants to know what you’re not telling him.”

“Shut up!” she yelled.

“Only one of us here is lying, Mallaidh,” said Knocks. “Tell him who you are. Show him what you really are.”

“No!”

“Tell him!”

The redcap holding Mallaidh twisted her arm, almost snapping it off.

She screamed, her glamour falling away.

Her hair lengthened, light blond curls sprouting from the dark roots, tumbling down to her shoulders. Her cheekbones softened; her chin narrowed; her skin became three shades more radiant. Her eyes glowed blue in the dark. Nora passed away before Ewan’s eyes, the mask falling off, leaving behind something far too beautiful to be human.

“What is this?” asked Ewan. “What the hell is all this?”

“A family reunion,” said Knocks. He swung his leg, kicking Ewan across the chin so hard it picked him up off his knees, knocking him on his back. “You see, this is the girl of your dreams. I know this because we are the same, you and I. In many ways. She was my dream girl, once. But you took her. And the night I lost her was the same night your mother took mine.” Knocks leaned over Ewan, a bit of drool dripping onto Ewan’s chin. “You owe me more than you can imagine, Ewan. I aim to collect. And this time, your boyfriend isn’t here to save you.”

Knocks looked up at his redcap accomplices, waving to the one holding Mallaidh. “Dietrich, let her go.” The redcap nodded,