Page 137 of Every Shade of Shadow

I swallow hard, extending my hands. “It’s not like that. We…” But there’s no good way to finish this sentence other than to say ‘he promises me unlimited power if I let him fuck my brains out.’

“We told you he was dangerous,” Ava says, the two of them ganging up on me.

I stand up, annoyed. “Fuck. Fine. I get it, but I’m a big girl. I can handle myself, and so what if we’re,” I can’t even say the word.

“Fucking?” Lily offers with a raised eyebrow.

“Together,” I correct. “At least I’m safe with him.”

The two of them return to their gloomy staring-into-the-void selves and I can’t take another stupid second of this. “I’m going to the bathroom,” I announce. “Alone.”

There, I stand in front of the mirror and stare at myself, at the naïve girl in the glass. No grand insight comes from such introspection apart from the fact I look like I spent the night going toe-to-toe with Mike Tyson.

“What are you doing?” I ask myself.

“Good fucking question.”

I turn to find Cassandra standing there. She lifts her hand, the door to the bathroom whipping shut and locking.

She smiles. “Just you and me, girlfriend.” She taps her head. “And I’ve used a little mental blocker to keep You Know Who from working out what’s going on here. Took me a while to find.”

I turn slowly from the mirror to face her in full, my fists starting to clench. “And what is going on here, do tell? Because I don’t know if you noticed, but there’s kind of a murderer on the loose.”

She lifts her hands, lips moving and her first spell blasting past me. It’s just a bit of icy wind and small shards of ice exactly like my little hallucination, but I throw a shield up anyhow. Her spell smashes into it, waves of white-and-blue energy shooting up and down the shield before dissipating near the edges with a light buzzing sound.

“Fuck. You!”

Another blast tosses me back, threatening to destroy my balance. I stagger backwards but remain on my feet. I snarl and keep my arms up, twisting my palms around to face her. A grunt leaves me as I retaliate with two fireballs.

“Shit,” I mutter, noticing the futility of my endeavor. She waves her hands right and left, and they pan away into the stalls and mirrors, fizzling out.

“My baby sister could do better than that. Now stand still while I freeze your stupid, bitchy face off.”

“Darkwood will come for you,” I warn.

“Let him,” she laughs. “Everyone knows I’m a better lay than you could ever be.”

She’s even more fucked up than I am.

I don’t have time to think before the shadows have pulled inside me. With a single word of power, I summon a spear of black lightning, forcing my hands forward into a vee with such speed Cassandra only just manages to side-step the mass of energy that blows the door behind her clear off its hinges.

A crowd, including Ava and Lily, gather there, looking in.

But my hands are already moving.

She’s not so lucky with the second blast.

The bolt strikes her right in the chest, arcs of black energy webbing off into the walls as she’s sent flying backwards. A cry of agony leaves her as she’s pinned against the wall, the hollow thud of her head hitting the stone ringing out before she slumps to the floor.

Ava rushes in with hands raised, crouching down beside her. She puts her hand up to me. “Ana! Stop.”

I almost let rip again before reining in the shadows and finally getting control.

Those at the door are staring at me with mouths agape.

Cassandra groans, threads of wisping smoke rising from her singed shirt. Her eyes slowly turn towards me. “Craft?” she chokes, lifting a finger in accusation towards me. “Dark…magic,” she pants.

“What have you done?” Ava asks me.

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