Page 58 of Ties of Shadow

“How are you running and blocking?” I shouted.

“He’s always had a keen mind,” Uncle Koll began, “once when he was fourteen—”

“Later, if you please!” The Shade took a sharp right. “The bats are ahead. Listen in your mind for them.”

My boots pounded, and I was thankful that skirts weren’t slowing my escape this time. I imagined the shadowy room and inserted a window, which opened to let more thoughts in. Several small voices began chirping.“Here, sir. Here!”and“Turn, now! Turn!”

The voices were extremely helpful. The sounds of the spyrings grew distant, and I slowed, heavy with fatigue. The bats fluttered ahead, offering new instruction for the Shade. Everyone walked now, cooling down after our sprint. The Shade still panted, as if he’d exerted even more energy than when he had fought the prince. I wondered if he needed a snack. Perhaps I could grab him some. Perhaps he could kiss my fingertips again, or…

“Shut the mental window, Aelia!” Uncle Koll cried out.

My face flushed, and I mentally slammed it shut.

The Shade’s chuckle echoed around us, growing even as the echoes reverberated his mirth back to us. “Perhaps add a gossamer curtain asa filter? Allow others’ thoughts to come inside without letting your thoughts leak out?”

I held my burning cheeks in my hands. “Certainly. So sorry.”

Uncle Koll approached, wheezing, and patted me on the back once before bending forward, hands on his knees, as he dragged in air with noisy breaths. “Not at all. I just don’t care to be distracted while running from certain eight-legged death.”

The Shade stood at attention, the rapid rise and fall of his chest pulling at his leather vest as he scoured the cavern. I added curtains to the windows in my inner room, hoping it would work.

“Silence.”

“Nothing here.”

“They retreat, sir.”

The bats spoke over the other. The Shade dropped his shoulders and looked toward the ceiling. He looked exhausted.

Uncle Koll’s brow furrowed. “Rest, son. You know—”

“I do.”

Uncle Koll just nodded.

The Shade dragged the back of his hand against his forehead as he rolled his ankle to loosen it. “Lucas”—he saw my confusion—“the bat behind us, says the spyrings are retreating.”

Uncle Koll smiled and pulled at the whisps of his whiskers. “Thank heavens. I don’t know how much longer I could have—”

A raccoon screeched and tumbled backward followed by his friends. The wolves jumped to their feet, turning, spinning, facing…everywhere. Only Bertha sat back and began to calmly lick her thin paws with her pitch-black tongue.

The clattering began once again, this time loud and from every corner of the cavern. The spider-like creatures poured out of holesthat were tucked away from the light, crawling and dripping down the walls.

“Above, sir. Above!”a bat cried.

I snapped my gaze upward. Hundreds of spyrings drifted down like volcanic ash. Lower, lower, on top of our heads.

The Shade grabbed my hand and took off toward one of the tunnels to the east. “Uncle, can you—”

“With pleasure!” Uncle Koll lifted his left hand, tossing up a stone slab like a door across the nearest tunnels and blocking the way. A set of shadows whipped before us, lifting, tossing, and slicing through the spyrings that charged us from the front. Bertha jumped up to bat spyrings out of the air, tumbling with them until she had ripped off a claw here and a leg there. The wolves tore through the spyrings on our flanks while the other creatures tucked between us and Uncle Koll. The raccoons displayed uncommon violence when a spyring fell before them. The Shade’s tug pulled me with him into the next tunnel.

“Collapse it!” the Shade shouted.

With a grunt, Uncle Koll turned and planted his feet in a low squatting stance. The final mammals, including Lucas, tumbled into the tunnel or flitted in on thin wings, then Uncle Koll swirled his arms and threw them toward the floor. The tunnel behind us collapsed in a tumble of boulders. When silence reigned, my shoulders fell slack with relief.

“Well done,” the Shade said as he petted the ugly cave cat.

“Thank you, my boy. Feels good to stretch my magic again.”

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