Page 29 of Phoenix Chosen 2

Two guards emerge from the kah, and they shout for us to show them our hands.

“My hands?” I ask. “What do they want with my hands?”

“Just raise them,” Tyler says.

“So, your plan is to surrender?” I say.

“I’m thinking, I’m thinking. God, it would really be helpful if you could turn into a phoenix and fly us out of here right now. Can’t you freeze time?”

“No. But I can still fight our way out. Look at them. They’re frightened. I can easily take them.”

“Yeah, hand to hand, I have no doubt you could. But trust me, the weapons in my world are deadly even if the person using them is weak.”

“Will they attack if we flee?”

He smiles and shrugs. “I don’t think I have a better idea. Three. Two. One.”

We turn around and bolt back the way we came. The guards shout. I hear the kah roar to life and release a shrill squeal. Tyler pulls me down a narrow footpath. On either side of us, the buildings have walls made of tall, bluish mirrors, some of which are inset with a glass door. Tyler pulls on one, but it doesn’t open. He tries another. Also locked. I hear the footfalls of the guard behind us, and then straight ahead at the far end of the path, the two guards from the aqueduct appear and cut off our escape. Tyler tries another door. This one opens. We hurtle through. A woman is standing behind a counter, and she screams and ducks down.

“Sorry!” Tyler says.

“Sorry,” I echo.

We run past her into a narrow hallway lined with doors. The guards are right behind us. We burst out into a large storehouse filled with tall metal barrels. The smell of grain and alcohol isthick in the air—we’re in some kind of brewery. Men stare at us in shock as we run through, weaving and ducking beneath long metal beams and pipes stretching and twisting in all directions. I notice carefully piled stacks of large sacks, some of which are open and filled with a fine grain. I quickly pull the pocket knife out of the pouch hanging around my neck and slash several of the sacks, dumping their contents across the floor. The workers shout in dismay as the stacks then begin to collapse behind me, crumbling into the path like bricks from a broken wall. Several of them rush over to attempt to stop the leaks, but they slip on the grain and collide with the pursuing guards.

Tyler kicks open a door, and we’re outside again. The clouds have gone from a pale gray to a foreboding black, and the sun is hidden behind them. It’s so dark out it could be evening, though it’s only midday. There is an odd feeling in the air. Tyler looks up, then looks at me. He’s felt it too.

Then we see it—a masterless shadow gliding across the ground. It moves like a droplet of water meeting and collecting darkness as it goes. Then the black puddle stops. Its surface is empty and deep, like a hole, and something pokes its head out from the puddle’s depths. It’s a monster dripping in a cloak of pure shadow. It has no eyes, and yet I know it is looking right at me. I can feel its driving purpose.

Devour.

12

TYLER

The thing that emerges from the moving oil slick is like a blob of tar with arms and legs. It drips pure shadow, a complete blackness that reminds me of the one time I witnessed the totality of a solar eclipse.

“Um, Kalistratos?” I say. “What the hell is that?”

“A foul monster from the underworld, like a soul reaver.”

“And what the hell is it doing here?”

“I don’t know. I’m guessing it’s not here to make friends.”

“So, uh, run?”

“Run.”

The cops burst out from the brewery’s back door and skid to a stop in front of the shadow monster and are frozen in both confusion and fear.

“What the fuck is that?” one of them shouts.

The last thing I see before I turn and bolt is the shadow monster stretching its body upward like the crest of a wave. It’s eerily silent as it absorbs the first officer, falling around him like a tube of black gelatin. The others scream and draw their pistols. I hear gunshots behind me. A bullet shatters a nearby window and another ricochets off a wall with a loudzip crack.Kalistratos nearly trips and stumbles.

“Cheesus! Why is everything in your world so damn loud?!”

More gunshots—then silence. The dark clouds above us swirl like a hurricane. We’re at the far side of the business park and the street with the empty lot is right ahead. I can see Jeff’s car there, idling. Police lights flash across the buildings and the cruiser veers out from the cross street, blocking our path. Kalistratos and I don’t stop. Two policemen get out of the car with guns drawn, but their eyes go wide when they see what we’re running from. They both jump back into the car and throw it into reverse. The tires squeal across the asphalt and they jump the curb and crash into the street, throwing sparks everywhere as they spin around and drive away.

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