Beneath the Shadowlanders

Chapter Thirty-Five: Orion

I wake up next to Gabriel. It takes me a moment to process that this is not who I fell asleep with.

"Aah!" I exclaim, waking with a start.

"Good morning," Gabriel says coldly. "Sleep well?"

"Well, I did until I woke up next to you."

"Not who you were expecting? Pity," he remarks in a voice completely devoid of pity. He claps me on the shoulder, pushing off into a kneeling position. "Get up. It's time to come up with a real plan."

I yawn and sit up, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. Everyone else is getting up, too. I notice Gin has been strategically placed as far away from me as possible – she rests grumpily on a pile of pillows on the far side of the room, and it's obvious she doesn't want to be there. I pull myself out of the pillow pile bed and stretch, releasing all the tension built up in my muscles from basically sleeping on the floor. Since we're all pretty much dressed – no one really undressed last night – we all sit back down pretty quickly, gathering into sort of a sloppy circle. Gin defiantly sits right next to me, and I can't help but smirk at Gabe, just a little bit.

Dad is the one who finally calls us all to order. "Alright, so we know that the shadows can't kill their hosts, and we know that they want to end the war as much as we do. How do we use that to our advantage?"

"We need to find Raoul," starts Calista. "He started the war, so we're never going to end it without getting him on board."

"That's a lot easier said than done," Gabe reminds everyone. "We have no idea where he is, and no guarantee that he won't kill every one of us on sight. It's only their own host they can't kill, remember?"

"So we're back at square one," complains Genevieve. "We can't do this without Raoul's cooperation, and we can't get it unless we can talk to him."

"Yes, we know that." Gabe runs his hand through his hair, making his existing bedhead even worse.

At that moment, we all jump back, as dad's shadow begins to grow of its own accord. "I thought you said you had it under control!" shouts Gabe angrily.

Genevieve ducks behind me, pulling me back toward the wall of the shelter.

The shadow grows until it is almost twice dad's size, fully detaching itself from him at the last second. It's dark and translucent, shimmering in the lamplit glow of the shelter. It pulses for a moment before moving to stand behind dad. It places its hands on his temples and dad's eyes roll back. Lis and I both lurch for him, but before we can do anything, he thrusts a hand out toward us.

"Stop!" a voice commands. It's coming from dad's mouth, but it isn't his voice. It's soft and almost buttery, and rolls like distant thunder. "I will not harm him or any of you."

It's the shadow.

"My name is Nashua. I have belonged to David since his birth. I believe I can help you. I want to end this war, as well."

"Why should we trust you?!" Gabe shouts at him. "You're a shadow. How do we know you won't double-cross us?"

"You have my word. Alas, that is all I can offer." He bows his head. "I believe I can find Raoul. I can deliver him a message, if you wish. I can act as liaison between the shadows and humankind."

"You'd be willing to do that?" asks Gin. "To defy your leader and work with humanity?"

"If it would help to establish peace, yes. I am more than willing."

"Alright, alright. Look," I say once I catch my breath. "We don't even know what we would say to Raoul to get him to listen to us. And even if he agrees to work with us, how do we know that isn't a trap? It's too risky!"

"That may be," Calista concedes, "but it's our only chance at this point. Nashua, do you think you could just tell Raoul that we want to renegotiate? See if he's willing?"

"Certainly," he responds, nodding slowly. "I will leave immediately."

Gabe practically jumps over himself to open the door for him.

Nashua releases dad, then, and he collapses to the floor. Lis and I run to pick him back up, but he waves us off. "I'm fine, just dazed," he assures us.

"Do you really think this will work?" Gin interrupts.

"I don't know," dad responds, "but it's all we've got, so it has to be worth a try. In the meantime, let's get some air."

We all step out of the shelter and into the sunlight, only to discover the street is absolutely crawling with soldiers. We duck back into the shelter and close the door, latching it tightly.

"Shit," Gabe exclaims. "What the hell are they all doing out there?"

"You don't think they're looking for us, do you?" Lis asks nervously.

"No, it's probably just a routine mission," dad responds, but he doesn't sound convinced.

Gabe isn't convinced either. "Routine? That was a lot of soldiers – more than I've ever seen in one place. I don't think this is something routine."

"No," I respond. "I think it's an invasion."

Dad sits heavily in a pillow pile. "That's what I was afraid of."