Darkness Watching (Darkworld #1) (24 page)

“Let go!”

I kicked out, but it clung. I felt those nails pierce my skin and winced. It turned my stomach to even look at it.

“Fucking hell!” Claudia swung around. Another hideous creature clung to her back. “Ghouls! The crafty bastard’s set a trap.” She dropped her fan as she tried to keep the creature’s claws from piercing her neck.

As for me, I tried to focus. I struggled to reach out to the Darkworld, like I did on the mountain, to the cold that waited like an old friend. Ice sprang to my fingertips, and I directed it down my leg to the creature that clung there. With a piteous squeal, it let go, rolling over on the ground.

I rushed to help Claudia, but she’d dislodged the creature, kicking it with her heeled foot suddenly ablaze.

“Any more of them?” she said, aiming another fireball at a shadow-fox about to bite my ankle.

I spun on the spot, but no other ambush waited. Still, five shadow-foxes remained.

Come on! Fire!

I could summon only ice, so cold it burned. But maybe it was enough. I imagined a ball of frozen fire in my palm, and felt my connection to the Darkworld deepen, like sinking into water. The ice flickering over my palm moved fluidly, and I gathered a handful and threw it at the nearest shadow-fox.

Without as much as a yelp, the creature broke apart, shattering like glass made of darkness.

Holy crap. Did I really do that?

Claudia was preoccupied with another shadow-fox that kept dodging her attacks. I threw a second handful of ice-fire and hit it square on the forehead, almost as though something else directed my hands. Whirling, exhilaration filling me, I turned on the remaining shadow-foxes, which backed away. The darkness receded with them, and in one leap, they jumped back into the dark space.

Panting, Claudia said, “They’re all gone?”

“Looks like it,” I said, but didn’t take my eyes off the dark space all the same. I trembled all over, my hands quaking, and, now that the adrenaline started to wear off, the stark reality of the danger sank in. I instinctively raised my hand and found it closing around the amethyst pendant I’d forgotten I was wearing. Its smooth, cold surface countered the chill of the Darkworld.

“This is more than just a regular sorcerer. This one has serious nerve. Ghouls. God. They’re like a step up from shadow-beasts, and freaking vicious. Ugh.” She kicked off her other heel; one lay smoking on the ground. “I can only summon fire to my hands,” she explained. “Otherwise I tend to set things ablaze. You need real control to do what Leo does. Ouch.” She showed me her blistered foot. “Don’t suppose you have any spare shoes?”

“Nope,” I said.

“You manage to summon fire there? Good shot, by the way.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I don’t really know what it was, but it worked.”

“Well, I take back what I said about the sorcerer underestimating you. Question is, who was it? Did you see anyone?”

“Apart from that motorbike? No.”

“Motorbike?” She hobbled over to the road. “Hell, you’re right. There’s oil all over here. You don’t think…?”

David’s face came to mind.
No way.

“It moved too fast for me to see who rode it, but I swear that dark space wasn’t there before…”

“You sure?”

“Honestly?” I shook my head. “I don’t know. I’m starting to question everything. It might have already been here.”

Claudia limped into the road. “The bike went this way, right?”

“You’re not thinking of following it?”

“I just want to see where this leads.” She gestured toward the thick, glutinous oil.

“Even if it’s true, wouldn’t it be best to leave it up to the Venantium to catch the sorcerer? And I wouldn’t stand in the road,” I added.

“Right. Good point. Death by bus after killing shadow-beasts and ghouls? That’d suck.” She re-joined me on the pavement. “Hmm. I guess walking into a sorcerer’s lair probably isn’t a good move either. But I want to
know.
”

“Me, too. But I don’t think we should do anything reckless.”

“Can’t hurt to look, I suppose… I’ve tracked shadow-beasts before,” she added. “Ghouls, too. They’re vicious, but stupid. This is low-level stuff.”

“Don’t speak too soon,” I said. “Have you ever met a demon, for real?”

“‘Course not,” she said. “If I had, I wouldn’t be alive. I’ve seen them on the other side of the Barrier, of course, but that’s different.”

“Pain in the ass, though. But I’d take staring eyes over ghouls and shadow-beasts.”

“You’re braver than I am.”

“Nah.”

“Trust me. I saw my first demon a week after my parents told me about them, and I nearly passed out. I knew all the theory by then, but it has nothing on the reality. I couldn’t imagine living with it like you did. I’d go mad.”

“Well, I thought I
was
mad,” I said. “Or that my subconscious hated me or something.”

“You’re not mad. Just… different. And who wants to be normal?”

She started walking again.

“Where are you going?”

“Just to take a look!” She gestured. “The trail goes in a straight line for a bit. Come on. If we can get an idea of where the sorcerer went…”

“Then what?” I hurried to catch up; she moved fast for someone with no shoes on.

“Then… I don’t know.”

I sighed. I couldn’t let her run off alone. Besides, I vaguely knew where we were from when I’d come here with David. We stood on the main road leading into town, the location of several other bars recommended to us by the Freshers’ Reps.

“Tanner’s Wine Bar,” she said, as we passed it. “Might pop in for a quick one on the way back.”

“Shit,” I said. “My friends will be leaving now.”

“Text them saying you met someone.”

I groaned as I saw several missed calls on my phone. “Hell. Alex’ll think I’m dead.”

“Really? Intuition?”

“No, she’s just very dramatic. But I’d better let her know I’m alive anyway.”

I sent a quick text as we passed the wine bar. The trail of oil continued along the road, growing thicker as we reached the junction where the three main streets met. Then it veered away to the right, a large pool gathering where the rider had turned a sharp corner.

I started shivering again as we followed. Poor lighting accentuated the shadowed alleys between shops, and every instinct told me to turn back.

Claudia stopped dead, frowning. The trail ended abruptly at the roadside, but there was no sign of the bike.

“Come on. Let’s head to the bus station. I suppose it’s quicker to get it from here, now.”

She didn’t answer.

“We can’t stand here all night,” I said-as I felt something burn my chest. I looked down and saw the pendant
glowing.
“What the―?”

Fear gripped me. I felt certain something watched me, calculating. A menacing presence.

“It’s been too long, Ashlyn.”

I looked down the alleyway, into the violet eyes of a demon.

Claudia said, “Holy shit.”

“What―what do you want?” I said, my voice shaking.

“You might find it wise to leave soon, Ashlyn. They are coming.”

“Who’s coming?”

Claudia grabbed my arm, pointing at the sky. “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding. Harpies? Now?”

“Guard your heart well, Ashlyn.”

The eyes vanished.

Before I could even process the demon’s words, Claudia seized my arm again and dragged me into an alleyway.

“Shit,” she whispered. I felt her body trembling beside me. “Shit. Oh God. If the Venantium blame us for this…”

“They won’t, will they?”

“Duh, ‘course they will. We’re unregistered. You’ve got a shield on you, but they know my parents worked for them. Oh, God.” For the first time since I’d met her, she seemed on the verge of a breakdown. I didn’t blame her.

What the hell did that demon mean?

“Ash, you are in some serious shit. That demon spoke to you!”

“Don’t ask me what it meant,” I said. “It’s only the second time it’s happened.” I wondered vaguely if it was the same demon I’d thrown a dictionary at. With no features, there was no way to distinguish one demon from another.
That must get confusing,
I thought, and then berated myself for even thinking that now, with us knee-deep in shit.

We hung back for a few minutes before Claudia dared peek out to see if the coast was clear.

“No harpies,” she whispered. “Come on. To the bus station.”

Thankfully, the bus depot was only a short walk away, and I thought Claudia might cry with relief at the sight of a bus already at the station.

I paid for both of us and dragged her to the back. She collapsed into a seat, groaning. “Never. Again.”

I rested my head on the seat opposite and closed my eyes. My heart raced and tremors still rocked me.

“Okay,” she breathed. “I’m okay. You?”

“Never better,” I said. I felt cold sweat on my back and even on my forehead. Brushing my hair out of my eyes, my hand caught on the pendant around my neck. It no longer shone, but I remembered the way it glowed just before I saw the demon. And in Satan’s Pit, too.

Never mind that now.

“I reckon the Venantium will have caught the guy,” she said, a touch of her old confidence back in her voice. “He won’t get away.”

I didn’t want to contradict her, so I nodded.

The drive to campus passed in no time, and I’d never felt more relieved to see the comforting lights of the student village.

“I’m going to sleep for a year and a half,” said Claudia, using her fob to open the door to House 12. “Nah. I won’t sleep after that. See you soon, anyway. I’ll text you if anything comes up.”

“Sure,” I said, as we parted ways inside the block, Claudia heading upstairs to her own flat.

“By the way, you were totally awesome back there,” she called down the stairs.

“Same to you,” I said. “‘Night.”

More like morning, really.

Back in my room, I sighed heavily, kicking off my shoes. Before I pulled my curtains shut, I looked at the field―no sign of David’s motorbike outside.

Could it have been his? Maybe he just took it home, like he said he would.

My head spun. I fell forward onto my bed and gladly let the dreams take me.

he one thing that dominated my thoughts over the next few days was that at this rate, I’d be lucky to survive my first term at university. Since I was terrible at hiding my feelings, Alex and Sarah knew there was something on my mind, and, in the absence of any other evidence, they latched onto what they thought was the only possible cause.