Page 57 of Soul of Shadow
“Shit,” he whispered. “Draugar.”
“Here?” She looked left and right, seeing nothing. “At thefootballgame?”
Another roar tore through the air.
“Come with me,” said Elias.
He took her hand and Charlie scooped up the vätte, setting him on her shoulder. Together, they moved through the tangle of metal scaffolding. They stepped as quietly as possible, nearly tripping over one of the red creatures with green caps. The entire pack of them was stampeding away, clearly terrified by the presence of the draugar.
At the crack between the bleachers and the equipment shed, Charlie and Elias paused, peering out into the night.
At first, they saw nothing. The parking lot was empty of people. Night had fallen as they watched the first half of the game, leaving much of the lot in darkness. Every dozen paces, a streetlight shone down, illuminating a small circle of cement. Shadows spilled from cars and tires, creating strange shapes on the pavement.
There were no little Asgardian creatures running around. None of the fairies or spirits to which Charlie had become accustomed to seeing. It was as if everything had run away.
Then, from behind a Ford pickup truck rose an impossibly tall shadow.
Charlie sucked in a breath. The draugar stood at least twice the size of a normal human. It towered over the truck, a thin, stooped, swaying skyscraper of bones and ripped cloth. A shabby black cloak—hood raised, hem torn and fraying—covered most of its body. Only inside the hood could she see its true features: a bare skull with sunken holes for eyes and tusks at its nose. As she watched, it slowly raised one arm, letting the sleeves of its cloak fall back to reveal a long, skeletal hand, which it settled on the hood of the truck.
“Holy shit,” Charlie whispered.
“No kidding,” whispered Elias. “Listen.” He turned to Charlie, eyes shining with intensity. “I need to shift.”
It took Charlie a moment to realize what he meant. “Oh,” she said, looking around beneath the bleachers as if in search of a dressing room. “Right here?”
“Yes, right here.” He beckoned her into the shadows, awayfrom the crack of space that looked out on the draugar. “It will only take a moment. Just keep an eye over your shoulder, and make sure the draugar doesn’t see you. If it does, we’re in serious trouble. Got it?”
The vätte twittered softly on her shoulder. Balling her hands at her sides, Charlie swallowed once and nodded.
Elias rolled his shoulders back. He closed his eyes and tipped his head up, lips moving as he began to mutter the strange words that Charlie had heard him speak that night in the old house. She shifted nervously from foot to foot. The back of her neck prickled, as if someone were sneaking up behind her. She glanced over her shoulder but saw nothing.
“Come on,” she whispered, bouncing on her toes. “Come on, come on.”
Ignoring her—or perhaps in too much of a trance to even hear—Elias kept speaking under his breath. His eyes were squeezed shut. His body was beginning to sag, as if he no longer had full control of his limbs.
Another ear-splitting roar rattled the bleachers. On her shoulder, the vätte squeaked and buried his face into her neck.
“Shit,” Charlie muttered. Was the draugar on the move? Was it coming toward them? She needed to check.
With her back pressed to the equipment shed, she shuffled sideways. All she needed was a quick look. One glance at the awful creature standing in the parking lot to ensure it was still where they last saw it. Then Elias would complete his transition, making him stronger, and they could be off.
When she reached the edge of the equipment shed, she paused, inhaling a quick breath of air, and peered around the corner.
Several things happened at once.
Right as Charlie peeked, Elias spoke the final words of whatever ritual turned him into his shadow form. A muffledthunksounded on the pavement as his body slumped to the ground. As if drawn by the noise, the draugar’s head whipped around, its cold, empty eyes landing right on Charlie’s face.
The vätte let out a terrified squeak.
“Run,” came the distant, whispery voice of Elias’s mare form. Cool, airy fingers wrapped around Charlie’s arm, dragging her out from beneath the bleachers. She jerked sideways, causing the vätte to tumble off her shoulder. She caught him before he could hit the ground, tucked him into her side, and ran.
The draugar’s scream behind them was like an angry bull set on fire.
Charlie and Shadow Elias sprinted across the parking lot, their high school looming large and dark in the distance. Tall, manicured hedges separated the football field and parking lot from the school’s lawn; they were headed right for the bushes. Charlie’s feet slapped the pavement, while Elias’s steps were quick and silent, as if he wasn’t touching the ground at all. Charlie wound around the cars while Elias ran straight through them. The draugar thundered along behind, its footsteps like stones tumbling downhill, growing closer with every second.
Only two rows of cars to go before they reached the hedges. Charlie wondered, distantly, why Elias hadn’t just left her behind; he’d said he was inhumanly fast in his mare form. He must be slowing his pace significantly to allow her to keep up. Not to mention that he could have barreled across the parking lot in a straight line, stepping through the cars as easily as through thin air. He was weakening himself to fit her human deficiencies.
A car windshield shattered barely twenty feet behind them,and her muscles screamed as she pushed her pace, eyes squarely on the hedge in front of them. She wasn’t sure what Elias planned for them to do once they passed it, but she hoped the draugar had an aversion to grass, the way goblins did to water.
