Horsemen's War (The Rebellion Chronicles #3) - Steve McHugh Page 0,29
from the ground, and my team and I sank through them into the shadow realm.
“I hope none of you have a gun with silver bullets; the wraith doesn’t like it,” I said.
“I hate this,” Diana said.
The realm consisted of darkness everywhere except for circles of light every few dozen feet, until they were only pinpricks of light in the far distance. Each circle corresponded with a shadow that I could use to come back into the realm above. The circles of light were small, though, and none of them were where I needed to be.
“Remind me,” Remy said. “You can tell where these beams-of-light things take us back up to, yes?”
I nodded.
There were movements in the darkness. My wraith, who lived in the shadow realm and feasted upon those I sent down here, was prowling just beyond our field of vision.
“And that thing isn’t going to kill us?” Remy asked suspiciously.
“Not while I’m here,” I said.
The wraith passed through one of the beams of light, which illuminated the dark, shadowlike ropes that covered the skeletal appearance beneath.
“I feel blind down here,” Diana said. “There is no smell. No sound, except for the movement of your wraith.”
“Would it help if I told you, you get used to it?” I asked.
“No,” Diana and Remy said in unison.
All at once the number of light circles quadrupled, and a flood of knowledge entered my head telling me where each light would return us.
“You should know that we have to go out and back in again,” I said. My destination was one of the far pinpricks, something I couldn’t reach in one jump. The furthest I’d gone in a single jump was about fifty feet; any more than that was impossible, it seemed. I couldn’t just walk from one pinprick to another, so I had to drag the next exit over to us, exit the shadow realm, and go back inside. Over and over.
“How many times?” Zamek asked.
“About six,” I said. “Give or take. It’s about a hundred meters from where we were to where we need to be.”
No one looked particularly thrilled at that news.
I moved one of the circles of light toward us, ensuring that we were never in the darkness. Even I wouldn’t be able to stop the wraith attacking people if they left the safety of the light. We popped out of the shadows behind a large tree and immediately sank again. We did this three more times. By the third, it was starting to take its toll on me.
“Damn it,” I said, blinking as we all arrived in the shadow realm again.
“Two more?” Selene asked. “You okay?”
I was sweating and a little bit shaky as I took us out of the shadows for a fifth time and dragged us all back down into the shadow realm again immediately after. Several of the team looked unwell as I dropped to my knees. I’d never tried to move so many people so far before.
Selene knelt before me and took my hands in hers. “You can do this,” she whispered.
“The last jump will put us all on the roof,” I said, pointing to the circle of light. With Selene’s and Sky’s help, I got back to my feet. I tried to bring the shadows toward me, but I couldn’t control them enough and ended up bringing three at once. They crossed over one another as everyone but me vanished.
I had no way of knowing where any of my team were. All I knew was that they were either on the roof or inside the White House. The circles of light sprang away from me, leaving me stranded as they began to fade. I got to my feet, stepped out of the light, and walked through the darkness to the nearest circle.
The wraith appeared beside me, its robes passing over the exposed skin on my arms, making them go cold.
“I am not food,” I said, turning to the wraith, who towered above me. “You know this.”
The wraith bent down toward me. “You are exhausted.”
I nodded. “Still have to leave this place,” I said. “I can’t very well live here.”
“Feed me soon,” the wraith said again. Its breath smelled of nothing, but it was as if a fan of warm air were aimed directly at me.
“That’s the plan,” I told it.
It reached out and tapped me on my chest. “Rage hidden. I see it. I see all. Can’t hide forever. I will protect you when the time comes.”