Page 108 of I Accidentally Hired a Shadow Walker
“Sorry about that.” I shrugged and ran off.Hopefully,he can grow them back. Is that a thing?
My thoughts raced as I moved back to my position where Raymond left me. I don’t know why, but it felt like I had to protect it. If it was the entrance to Talkeen’s level, I couldn’t let anyone get there.
As soon as I returned to my position, I saw flashes of Olian and her orange demon. They worked together in unison, like a pair who had been together their entire lives. If I hadn't known any better, I would have thought he was the love of her life. He supported her, protected her, even assisted her in her offensive moves. I appreciated it when he tossed her in the air so she could cut down a demon who flew above us, spitting down fiery shots that took out two of her men.
And at the farthest end of the massive room, where the main entrance was, Metice held his position. His body, it grew, and I don't mean he flexed. I mean the man literally expanded to the point where the clothes he wore ripped away from his body, and he stood there naked and fighting off everything who came at him.
He was a good fighter, though. He was almost too much for them. It seemed like every blow he launched landed harder, crushing those strange creatures beneath the weight of his force.
And Piko was right there with him, only he was no longer a cutesy little blue demon, instead a massive beast that honestly terrified me. He looked the size of an elephant and used sharp teeth to rip away at anything he could get close to.
All I could say was I was glad they were on our side.
It looked like we would win, like that full twenty-five minutes wouldn’t be necessary. The opposition, while stronger than we had prepared for, was failing. I should have known better than to let that thought go through my mind, because the second I had, everything changed.
The ground beneath our feet shook violently, trembling with increased intensity, and then, with a guttural roar, massive stone spikes erupted from the ground. A thick, sticky orange slime that glistened in the light coated each one.
“Be careful.” The furry one appeared, pulling me away from the spike that shot up next to me. “Those things are poisonous. One prick, and you're dead.”
I nodded. “Thank you.”
Simple enough—just dodge the daggers coming up from the ground and watch out for random creatures coming out of the shadows. No problem. I quickly noticed there was a pattern to where the spikes shot up. Faded spots marked the ground, and at first, I thought it was dirt or just a fault in the stone, but I was wrong. As I looked closer, I realized they were shadows fixed in place.
Once I noticed it, they were easy to avoid, but even that wasn't enough. Above us, the roof opened. A slit opened down the middle, and as the two halves slid apart, large stones like boulders fell into the room. So not only were we avoiding spikes shooting up from the floor, but now, we had freakingbricksfalling on our heads.
And that's when the tide completely turned against us.
A large piece of stone damn near hit me in the head, but that shadow defense system Raymond left me with turned into an umbrella above me. The stone bounced off it and landed right on top of one of the spikes that shot up. I jumped away from it, nearly stepping on top of another spike. When I shifted my weight, avoiding it, I saw Metice drop. Several of the large stones fell on top of him, nearly burying him.
Piko quickly dug him out, but as Metice returned to his feet, smaller than before, he was far more vulnerable. He turned his back at the wrong time as a demon that looked like a bulldozer charged him. I screamed out his name, but when the impact landed, it wasn’t Metice who took it.
It was Raymond.
He shoved the large man aside, the impact of the blow sending him sprawling as he took the full force of the hit. His body slumped to the ground with a thud.
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Those freaky waters.
As soon as I saw Raymond down, I ran for him, forgetting about the pattern of the shadow markers for the spikes on the floor. And of course, I took all of two steps before I messed up. I heard the spike shoot up towards me and turned to see Raymond’s shadow reach out to protect me, but it failed. As the spike ripped through the shadow, I flinched, preparing for it to cut through me.
But it didn’t—because a body appeared in front of me. Phasing in and out of shadow was Cufio, the end of the spike, dripping in poison, tearing into his stomach.
“No!” I reached for him, but my hand went right through his body. “What? How? Oh, my God!”
I moved around him in a circle as I tried to figure out what to do. Cufio stood there, shimmering in and out of shadows, looking at me with wide eyes. His mouth moved, but I couldn’t hear whatever he tried to tell me.
“Get to Raymond. I got him.” Olian was there. The orange demon, her protector, stood behind her, watching her back.
“I can't just leave him.”
“And you also can’t help him, but Raymond can fix this,” Olian said. “As long as he stays half in the shadows, he can slow the effects of the poison. But he won’t be able to keep this up for too long. You need to get to Raymond. Now!”
Something in her voice, vulnerable desperation, kick-started me. I ran straight for Raymond, this time paying close attention to the markings on the ground. Just before I made it to him, I heard a loud metallic snap and turned back to see a cage closing around Olian and Cufio with the orange demon stuck outside.
Keep going!
My inner voice screamed at me. There was nothing I could do for them. I needed Raymond.
