Page 23 of Monster's Reward

To my right was the back wall of the archive room and all along it were cubicles for researchers to sit and work at, one at the end of each row of books.

As I walked, I glanced at each work station and the shadows it cast upon the wall and the floor, then down each row, at the shadows cast by the tall shelves looming high.

Though shadows were everywhere, none seemed deep enough or dark enough to hide an entire room and they certainly weren’t big enough.

“Of course, the room is probably in the shadow realm, so it’s not like it has to fit in any oftheseshadows, right?”

Shadow-things fit in any shadow, big or small.

I grinned down at Shadow.True. Problem is, I’m just not feeling it, at least not here with these shadows.

So we walked on.

A few moments later, we reached the end of the room.

Just beyond the final work station, the back and side walls of the archive room met in a corner made up entirely of shadows so dark, even I couldn’t quite see into them.

Shadows!

“Good job, my sweet shadow-kitten.”

Shadow preened, then whirled and stared back the way we came.MB coming back with Jam.

Jam was her special name for Jasmine and Mikaela.

Hurry.I slid into the shadows waiting in the corner and at the last moment, whispered,Finis.

I sensed more than saw the library falling to darkness and hoped I’d been faster than Mr. Brecken andJam, but there was no way to know because I was already being pulled elsewhere.

It was so dark where we stood, I almost felt as if I was suffocating. The only thing that kept me sane was the feel of Shadow pressing against my legs, reminding me once again that I wasn’t alone.

She pressed harder, pushing me forward, and I yielded, stepping further into the unknown, relieved when she followed me.

With Shadow guiding me, we stepped through where the corner should have been, through where the walls should have met in that corner, signaling the end of the archive room, and further into the unrelenting dark.

We had definitely shadow-walked into another space entirely.

Whether it was simply another room in the castle, a section of the shadow realm that was darker than I’d ever seen, or a completely different universe, I had no idea.

We moved forward, one hesitant step at a time, until the darkness pulled back just a little, revealing a small room made entirely of shadows.

They were everywhere, a smoky gray that obscured the floor I could feel beneath my feet and the walls around us.

Shadow-room!

Good job, Shadow. You found it.

A set of shelves stretched from shadow–floor to shadow–ceiling directly across from where we stood.Shadow-shelves, Kasi-mew.

I see that.

She led the way toward the shelves.Shadow-books.

Yes. You were right.

Like the room itself, the shelves didn’t seem to be there entirely, for they shifted in darkness, smoky shadows that formed nebulous shelves and a wall behind them.

Everything in this room seemed to be in shadow-form, including the books that lined the shelves, all of them wavering before me.

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