Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
~ Shade ~
“What are we doing out here? We’ve already searched this section,” Kenzie hisses at me later that night as we walk the silent hallways of the academy.
It had taken some effort to convince my mates to let me spend the night with Kenzie in our dorm, but when I insisted they finally caved, knowing I need time to spend with my besties as well.
It had been a long day, especially after what happened with Borshoz, and I also reminded them that my human body needed some actual sleep, which would be easier to get if we weren’t sharing a bed.
Unfortunately for Kenzie, sleep never really was on the agenda.
I think about the oracle’s journals and the section I read on binding. It’s been on my mind since I left Galen’s library, but after the incident with Borshoz I’ve made up my mind.
“Shhh, it shouldn’t be much longer. The shadows must be around here somewhere,” I tell Kenzie, squinting as I scour the walls for my shadow friends.
“What shadows? I thought we were searching for the missing students,” Kenzie says, puzzled.
I stop and turn toward her. I’d intended to tell her the truth about everything earlier when we were back in our dorm, but I’d gotten distracted.
I figure now is as good a time as any. I take a deep breath, not sure how Kenzie is going to react to the news.
“I’m sorry, Kenzie. We’re not here to search for the missing students. ”
She goes silent, and I go on to explain all about Professor Yevar kidnapping the students, and how he’s working with the Xalgrith. When I’m done, she doesn’t speak for a long moment, and her eyes water before she finally says, “So, you think they’re dead?”
“What? No, I didn’t say that.” I rush forward, crushing her in a hug.
“But you think the Xalgrith have them?” she says.
I pull back, staring at her face. “Yes,” I say softly. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t save them. It just means it’ll be trickier for us to figure out how.”
Doubt fills her expression, but she nods slowly. “If I see Professor Yevar, I’m going to kill him,” she says angrily.
I give her a grim smile. “And I’ll do anything I can to help you. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you what we’re really doing out here.”
She frowns, peering around at the dark hallway we’re in. “And what are we doing out here, Shade?”
I give her a rueful grin. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
She gives me an impatient stare. “You sure? Because at this point, I’m willing to believe almost anything.”
That makes my grin broaden, and I go on to tell her all about Elgen and Tarlaz, and about binding.
I don’t mention the oracle’s journals, and I pretend I found the information in one of Galen’s history books.
It’s not that I don’t trust her, but my mates are right.
The fewer people who know about the journals, the better.
If anything, it’s safer for her if she doesn’t know.
“Hold on, so let me get this straight,” Kenzie says, her doe eyes wide with disbelief.
“So ever since you arrived at Shadowbone you’ve been able to speak to the shadows on the walls.
You were hoping to convince Queen Krosia to free them, but now that you don’t think you can do that, you want to bind them to you instead? Like their actual souls?”
“Okay, don’t look at me like that,” I defend. “You make it sound like I’m crazy, but if I bind them to me, at least they’ll be able to travel wherever I go. That has to be better than being stuck here, right?”
“You’re literally also a prisoner of this academy,” Kenzie points out.
“For now. Besides I’m not the endgame. If the binding works on me, I’m sure I can figure out how to transfer the shadows to someone else one day. Maybe we could even find them their own bodies or something.”
“That’s a terrible assumption, and you don’t know anything about these shadows. Haven’t you heard of stranger danger? You’re talking about linking your actual souls! What if they’re like evil or something?”
I wince, because I know she has a point. But the shadows haven’t ever felt evil to me. “Okay firstly, they’re not strangers they’re my friends, and secondly, it can’t be a coincidence I’m the only one who can hear them, can it?”
Kenzie gives me a look like I’ve lost my mind. “What did your mates say?”
I bite my lip, going quiet.
Her eyes snap wider. “You haven’t told them, have you?”
I sigh heavily. “I just… I feel like this is something I need to do.”
She stares at me for a long moment, and when her shoulders sag, I know she gets it. We’ve been through so much already, but this is my chance to help someone. To feel like I’m making a difference. I couldn’t help Borshoz. But I can still do this for the shadows.
“Fine,” she says softly. “Bind them to me, then.”
“What?” I shake my head. “I can’t do that. You can’t speak to the shadows, and they can be…a lot. No, I have to do this.”
She lets out a frustrated noise.
“Your friend is right you know,” Elgen croaks in my mind, and I snap my gaze to the left, pinpointing where my shadow friends are on the wall. They’re staring straight at us, and I wonder how long they’ve been there. “Binding us to you is a terrible idea, girl.”
“Does that mean you don’t want me to try?” I say.
“Of course not. We’d do anything to be free of this academy,” she replies. “Even if it means being bound to a human.”
I make a face. “Oh, gee thanks,” I say sarcastically.
“Don’t mistake me, girl,” Elgen counters. “I merely meant that it could not compare to having our own body, but if you bind us to you, freeing us from this academy prison, we would be most grateful. To simply be able to see the forest after all these years would be…remarkable.”
There’s something in the way she says it, that has me tearing up. When I’d been trapped as a crow before Blake found me, that was bad enough, but I can’t imagine being trapped inside a building for centuries. I know I have to do this. I just hope I don’t regret it.
“Elgen is correct. We would be truly grateful,” Tarlaz adds.
I nod, sniffling.
“Okay, well according to the text, all I have to do is say the ancient words, direct my thoughts toward the souls I want to bind with, and make sure they’re physically close to me. I take a few steps toward the shadows on the wall.
Kenzie shuffles uncomfortably. “You know if you die, your mates are going to kill me, right?”
“I’m not going to die,” I assure her. “At worst, this isn’t going to work.”
“And at best you’re going to have two of the most crude shadows in the academy hanging off you,” Kenzie counters.
Elgen cackles at that like she’s proud, and I have to admit, I start having second thoughts.
“We will be on our best behavior,” Tarlaz tells me, like he can read the doubt on my face.
I’m pretty sure he’s fibbing, but that doesn’t matter. It feels good to be able to do something, and I had promised to free them from this place. Given our current situation, this seems like the next best thing.
“Okay.” I blow out a breath. “Here goes nothing.”
It takes me three tries before I remember the passage from the journal correctly, and when I say the words out loud, power and shadows fill the air.
My body tingles, and there’s a weird humming noise in my head, but then I feel it.
Elgen and Tarlaz’s souls bind to mine, and the moment they do, I know I’ve made the right choice.
I’m not sure exactly why I feel that way. It’s just this sense that I’ve done the right thing. Elgen sits on my right shoulder, while Tarlaz dances on my left.
“Centuries, girl. That’s how long we were stuck in those walls,” Elgen says as she marvels at her new position, looking elated even though we’re still in the academy.
“Thank you,” Tarlaz rasps. “Without you, I fear we would have been stuck there forever.”
My lips quirk up. “Please don’t make me regret this,” I beg, but I already know that I won’t. Somehow I can feel their true essence now, and despite Elgen’s humor, at her core she’s kind, just like Tarlaz. They just needed someone to give them a helping hand.
Still, when Elgen cackles wickedly in my head, I can’t help but groan.
“Uh, Shade!” Kenzie’s warning comes too late.
My mates step from the darkness around us, and they don’t look too happy when they spot Elgen and Tarlaz on me.
“Mate,” Thane’s rumbling growl rolls through the hallway. “What have you done?” He frowns at Kenzie like he’s disappointed before looking back at me.
I keep my chin up, because they might be my mates, but this is my body.
“It seems she has acquired some new…pets,” Galen drawls, moving closer and pointing at the shadows. “Very peculiar.”
Elgen motions like she’s trying to bat Galen’s finger away, and he smiles.
“New friends,” I correct. “Guys, this is Elgen and Tarlaz. They’ve been trapped here since the academy was built. I’ve been able to speak to them since the day I arrived.”
“And now you’ve bound yourself to them,” Galen observes. “Why?”
My mates all stare at me, waiting for me to answer.
“I read about the binding ritual in the journals,” I explain. “And I made a promise that I would free them, so it made sense.”
That’s followed by silence, and then Raith laughs. “Well, this is goin’ to make things interestin’. Tell them they’re goin’ to have to get real comfortable with the sight of our asses.”
Elgen scowls. “He says that like he thinks we haven’t seen him naked more than enough times already.”
I grin, and I’m about to ask why that is, but then I remember the shadows could travel across most of the academy, including entering the communal washrooms.
Thane stares the shadows down. “These shadows have been useful over the years,” he concedes. “I suppose, if it weren’t for them, Shade might not be alive after she was attacked in the washroom by Satine.”
Knox’s eyes darken at the memory.
“Yes, that’s right,” Elgen agrees in my head, though of course Thane can’t hear her. “We are most useful.”
“But if they become a nuisance, we will be removing them,” Thane growls.
Elgen hisses at him, but Tarlaz just stares.
“Sounds fair,” I chirp, happy that this has actually gone better than I’d hoped it would. “Now who’s coming for a stroll in the forest?”