Page 409 of Shadowblood Souls
Nadia is standing by the planter where I assume Booker left her. He motions to a clear area between a few potted shrubs near the wall at the back of the house.
“He was standing right there, just a few feet from the wall. Then he turned toward the house.”
I walk across the tiles there, glancing around. From what I understand, shadowkind can still watch and listen when they merge into the shadows.
If this one came looking for me and my friends, he could still be here. Maybe he’ll show himself at my arrival.
Zian prowls after me, casting his gaze around. I catch a ruddy glint as his X-ray vision activates.
No one emerges. Booker frowns, shifting his weight restlessly.
“He might not want to show himself again out in the open like this,” I suggest after a minute. “Why don’t we wait where you were hidden before and see if he makes an appearance then?”
As we crouch down by the planter, Nadia scoots closer to me. “It was so creepy. Booker told you how he just blinked away like he was nothing?”
I nod. “All shadowkind have that power.”
“If it really was a shadowkind,” Zian puts in. “You’re sure he was older than any of us? Maybe Balthazar brought in a new shadowblood who can turn invisible—Andreas might not be the only one with that ability.”
Booker shakes his head. “I’d have thought he was atleastthirty.”
“What do you think he’d have wanted?” Nadia asks me and Zian.
I frown, peering around us and then back toward the section of patio Booker indicated. “I have no idea.”
As the last word leaves my lips, a plump figure just as Booker described him wavers into view—right at the wall this time, fleshy hands resting on the upper stones, head tipped to the breeze that whips up the cliffside. The wind ruffles his hair, which is chestnut with an odd purple sheen, and tugs at the forest-green suit that covers his portly body.
He’s got to be a shadowkind. I’ve seen several of them materialize from the shadows just like that.
He still doesn’t seem aware of our presence. Is he waiting for someone to approachhim?
I take a gamble and push myself upright.
“Hey,” I say tentatively as I step around the planter. “Do you?—”
That’s all I’ve gotten out by the time the shadowkind man whirls toward me, drops his jaw in surprise, and wisps away into the shadows again.
My voice dies in my throat. I scan the patio. “I wasn’t going to accuse you of anything. I just wanted to talk. I know you can still hear me.”
I pause and then try again. “Would you please just?—”
The clearing of a throat cuts me off. I spin around to find Toni stalking across the patio toward me.
She jerks her hand in a beckoning gesture. “Leave that alone. Balthazar wants to see you.”
I stare at her. “What—youknewthere was a shadowkind here?”
Toni gazes back at me with her usual implacable expression, not a strand on her sleek black bob out of place. “I said to leave the monster alone. Are you coming?”
My stomach sinks. She doesn’t look remotely concerned about the potential intrusion, even though she called him a monster. She’s more worried about protecting the shadowkind man frommyquestions.
What the hell is going on?
Zian steps forward, his shoulders flexing. “If Riva’s going, then I am too.”
He’s massive enough that he looms half a foot over her substantial height, but Toni shows no sign of being intimidated. “He only asked to speak to Riva. You can stay here awake, or we can sedate you. It’s your choice.”
Zian’s posture stiffens. I set a careful hand on his arm in the briefest of reassuring gestures. “It’s okay. I can handle talking to him.”
