Chapter 3
Mirage
I’ve never seen so many bewildered beings.
The shadowkind creatures that pop out of the murk here and there don’t seem to know whether they’re coming or going, heading up or down, forwards or backwards.
Over here, one pounces on a mailbox and squirms inside it only to thrash at the metal box until the beast tears straight through the middle, as if it was offended at finding itself inside.
Over there, another creature careens through a second story window, thumps to the ground in the middle of the road, and immediately spins around and scrambles to the doorway to yowl at it like it’s demanding to be let back in.
We pass a gaunt, goat-like creature rubbing itself against a telephone pole to the point that it’s bleeding essence in smoky puffs from its raw flesh. Then a squishy thing that might be made out of living marshmallows chewing chunks off a tire between wheezy gagging sounds.
Around a corner lies another poor human who’s been cut up by a beast. The beast in question is sprawled out across the bleeding body like a dog on a mat. As we approach it warily, it nuzzles the woman’s lifeless face as if trying to prod her awake.
It’d have more luck with that goal if it hadn’t killed her first.
“They’re even more topsy-turvy than usual,” I remark as Raze shoos the bloody hound away from the corpse. “Inside and out. Act like a lout.”
The rhyme doesn’t give me even the brief flicker of comfort they usually do. I find myself nibbling at my lower lip, which is generally a bad idea when you have non-removable fangs.
Peri touches my arm with a waft of mingled concern and reassurance. “The rift is a gazillion times more warped as it was before, so it makes sense that the creatures are too. We just need to figure out how to help them.”
Hail grimaces. “Or put them out of their misery as quickly as possible, if that’s what absolutely has to be done.”
His pained expression shows how much he dislikes that idea. But we have a lot more pain to worry about.
“Time to come out, everyone!” Peri calls to the buildings around us.
Her own weird creature squirms around her feet with its puppy-ish tongue flopping around, but thankfully it doesn’t seem to be in an eviscerating mood.
“Hide-and-seek isn’t a safe game right now.
We’re going to play follow the leader and get out of this place. ”
To punctuate her words, a nearby store awning partly collapses. One end smacks into the sidewalk while the other flips upward. It wobbles there on its side like a fabric sapling swaying in a breeze.
The shadowy substance around us ripples against my skin. My nerves wobble just like the toppled awning.
Everything about this strange flood of darkness itches at my being. I can’t shake it off, but I can’t settle into it either.
These aren’t the same sort of shadows we’re made out of, not exactly. There’s something a little too sticky-solid about them.
Trickles of humans emerge from the doorways on either side of the street. Jonah waves them down the road, toward the spot where one of Rollick’s assistants is now acting as Pied Piper.
“We’ll get you out of here safely,” our sorcerer promises. “Please follow my colleague out of the dark area as quickly as you can.”
The humans start to shuffle toward the assistant, looking as bewildered as the shadow creatures have been acting—but at least they’re not rolling around in anyone’s entrails.
As the trickles of humanity widen into thicker streams, more and more people hustling out to potential safety, the shadows shift again. A swell of denser darkness rolls off one of the rooftops and plummets toward us.
All five of us flinch. Hail whips his hand up with a gust of icy wind; a flare of yellowish light bursts off Peri toward the sky.
I can’t help simply lashing out with my hand, my claws pricking from my fingertips, multiple fox tails swirling uneasily behind me.
A shudder runs through the mass of shadow—and through the connection I can feel between me and Peri. Peri’s light contracts in a snap while she winces.
The blotch of darkness heaves across the faces of the buildings rather than hitting us, but several of the humans are yelling or shrieking.
Jonah rushes over to reassure them. “Just keep moving! You can get away from it before it gets worse.”
Can they?
He glances back at me, his eyes wide, and I remember the main part I’m supposed to be playing. Tensing my body, I summon the images I’ve been projecting into the minds of the mortals we’ve encountered throughout the city.
Let them see a soft, welcoming glow just up ahead—always moving farther as it urges them through the streets. Let them hear a cheerful pop beat to keep their spirits up. Let smells of rich chocolate and savory steak waft from that ever-retreating glow.
I’m not sure which part of the illusion calms most humans enough to get them moving. It might be something slightly different for everyone. I just hope no one’s too disappointed when they don’t find actual steak and chocolate at the end of their travels.
As our latest procession of humans shuffles off toward the promise of the light, our team draws back together.
Hail peers at Peri, his mouth slanted downward. “Did you feel something strange when that big blob of shadow almost hit us? It looked like you reacted.”
Raze’s face turns grim. “I felt something. Like a quake through our connection. My sense of Peri’s emotions scattered for a second.”
Jonah nods slowly, and a chill prickles through my chest that I can’t blame on Hail. They all noticed the same thing I did?
Peri hugs herself and rubs her arms. “There was a little… jolt, or jitter, or something. I’ve never felt anything quite like that before.
But everything’s gotten pretty weird, hasn’t it?
I can still pick up on your emotions just as well as I used to.
” She pauses. “Don’t worry so much. We’re still a team—we’re still okay. ”
She manages to beam her shiny rainbow smile. The unshakeable center of our strange bond.
I don’t want any weird shadows messing with the energy that glues us together.
With a tsk of my tongue, I throw my arms around her and whirl her in a circle. “We can make our own jolts and jitters. Show the shadows how it’s done properly.”
Peri laughs, but Jonah puts on his stern teacher face, which he shouldn’t be allowed to do when he isn’t a teacher anymore. “We’ve got a lot more people to evacuate. Come on. And Mirage, be ready with those illusions. It’s getting harder to keep people calm the deeper we get into the city.”
It’s getting harder for me to impress the illusions on people’s minds the farther they have to linger before those people are safe, but I salute him and don’t mention that part. Peri shouldn’t have to worry either—definitely not about me.
As we march a couple more blocks down the street, the pressure of all the power I’ve already expended drags at my mind. Images of bright sunlight beaming down over us shift into imagined fields of smiling sunflowers waving their leaves—
No, I think that’d send most of the humans running screaming in the wrong direction.
As we call the next swarm of refugees out of their apartments, I sweep my arms through the air like a conductor. Another guiding light gleams in the distance. Why not a sprightly folk tune this time? Hot buttered popcorn and roasted pork belly…
The illusions pass through my own mind sharply enough to leave my mouth watering. But as the humans hurry past me in a daze, the glittering brilliance of the moment fades.
I’m tricking them to send them someplace safer. To make sure they don’t panic and get hurt. So it’s not at all like the shadowkind I unwillingly manipulated into the clutches of the scientists who once caged me for their awful tests.
But in some ways it’s exactly the same. We want to help these people—to be friendly with them. To prove we’re not actually the monsters they might take us for. Only… technically, we are those monsters.
Pulling the wool over their eyes and bamboozling them seems like a questionable strategy for forming any kind of alliance.
I don’t know what else to do, though, so I keep pouring as much supernatural power as I can into enticing sights, sounds, and smells.
A little of the pressure loosens as earlier groups reach the edge of the city and my illusions can dissipate.
But then I heap more on with the next batch of humans trudging off, the bunch of them looking perplexed though hopeful.
A prickling sensation runs down my back, as if someone’s jabbing thorns into my spine one segment at a time. Which is very inconsiderate of them.
I shake myself, but the growing discomfort only digs deeper. How much longer can I keep this up before I have to admit I’m done?
Peri is already glancing over at me, her brow knitting. “Mirage? If you need a break—”
I push my smile wide, ready to dredge up whatever energy I can to get her smiling in return again.
At the same moment, a dozen new shadowkind figures materialize out of the filmy darkness around us.
They’re higher beings and, to their credit, not looking particularly murderous. One steps forward with an authoritative air, two gazelle-like horns protruding from his straw-pale hair.
“Rollick called us in. He said you need reinforcements. Let’s get these humans out even faster!”
Is our demonic leader losing faith in us? I lift my chin, digging even deeper into my reserves of power to fulfill our mission.
There’s still a lot more city to go.