Page 4 of Shadow Caster
A hollow pit yawned inside me.
After all this time.
After all the running.
He had me. He had me where he wanted me.
I exhaled heavily and met his eyes. “When do I leave?”
Two
The human was staring at me, head tipped to the side to expose a savaged throat, mouth open and filled with blood.
“I’ve never been bitten before.” He gurgled. “Will it hurt?”
My hands tamped down over the wound. “Sorry, so sorry. I didn’t mean it. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I couldn’t stop. Just couldn’t stop.” Tears stung my eyes and kissed my cheeks. “Please, please, don’t die.”
“Too late, Indigo.” My father’s voice poured out of the human’s mouth. “You did it again. You disappointed us all. You always disappoint. And you wonder why I can’t love you.”
Always disappoint. Never loved. Never …
“Wake up, Indie.”
A hand landed on my shoulder and had the audacity to give it a shake.
Fuck off was the desired response, but the word that came out washarrumph.
“Indie, come on. You promised you wouldn’t miss today.”
Today? Oh, yeah, the team exercise, as inthere is no I in team, as in I didn’t give a shit. But the exam was the last lesson of the evening, and my bio clock told me the sun had only just set.
Still, Minnie’s shadow loomed over me, and the heat of her gorgon glare burned holes in the back of my head.
“The whole day, Indie. You promised to do a whole day,” she reminded me with that stern edge to her tone, which told me that ten-inch-thick steel would break before she would.
Me and my big mouth. Maybe if I faked sickness, she’d piss off and leave me be. Going to shitty classes was the last thing I wanted to do tonight.
I coughed and made a gagging sound.
“Nah-uh,” she said. “The whole frickin’ day and the exam. You skip the test, and we all get a fail. And you don’t want me to fail, do you?”
Urgh. Emotional blackmail, which coming from anyone else I’d be immune to. I rolled onto my back and stared at the pixie-cute woman looking down at me. Her crimson bob grazed her delicate jaw as she leaned over me, and her wide jade eyes were hard with determination.
Over the last two months, I’d learned three things about Minnie Faraday. First, she wasn’t a stuck-up arsehole like the rest of the Faraday family. Second, she had a soft spot for kittens, and anything small and furry, and third—the most important—she did not take no for an answer.
Trust me, I’d tried to keep her at a distance. I mean, sharing a room with her didn’t mean we had to be friends. I didn’t need or want any friends here. But Minnie had decided that’s exactly what we were going to be, and she’d pursued me unrelentingly until she’d worn me down.
So, here we were. Two friends in a glare-off. One I knew I was about to lose, because yeah, I’d promised not to skip out on the simulation today. Team exercises were graded based on team performance; if one member was a no-show, the whole team suffered.
I closed my eyes and blew out a breath. “Fine. Give me five minutes, and I’ll meet you in the lobby.
“Five.” She narrowed her eyes. “I’ll be back to get you if you don’t show.”
I flashed my teeth at her. “Have I ever let you down, pixie-boo?”
“Do not call me that.” She crossed her arms. “You know I hate it.” She sniffed.
“Riiight. So, you just wrote it in the back of your notebook and decorated it with tiny flowers for no reason then?”
