Chapter 40 Emilio
EMILIO
Emilio felt like a fraud. He’d volunteered to go on this expedition to save innocent souls, to do the right thing for once in his life.
Even if he was scared. Even if the voices in the back of his head were screaming at him to run, to retreat to his self-preserving ways.
So how on earth could he justify leaving Masika behind?
“Are you insane?!” Olivier strode up to Catherine, frantic. “Do you know what they’re going to do to her?”
They’d been arguing for the better half of an hour.
Catherine and Dina believed that going back to Blackwood would be pointless, and the better course of action would be to head back to the Resistance’s base and regroup.
The mere suggestion had sent Olivier into a tailspin, and they hadn’t stopped arguing since.
Emilio understood Olivier’s anger…he couldn’t stomach the thought of leaving Masika behind.
But he also knew, deep down, that the others were right.
If they were to have any chance of breaking into Blackwood and getting Masika back, they needed backup.
Catherine’s jaw clenched. Her voice was low, barely audible. “Of course I do.”
“They’re going to torture her.” Olivier’s hands trembled. “They’re going to rip her apart. And you want us to simply let them?”
“Our main priority needs to be the mission,” Catherine said simply, though Emilio could see the anguish in her eyes. As if speaking the words out loud physically pained her. “We have to go back to the base and strategize.”
“Then send them a message!” Olivier bellowed, hands tossed in the air.
Catherine pinched the bridge of her nose, eyes shut tight. For a moment, she stood like that, seemingly lost in thought, and then she dropped her hand and met Olivier’s prodding gaze.
“Let’s say you’re right. Let’s say she is being held prisoner. But if that’s true, then what good will it do if we waltz up to Blackwood right now? With no army? We need to go back and get the others. Form a plan.”
“There’s no time for a plan!” Olivier snapped. “Think of what they’re doing to her!”
“I am!” Catherine shoved Olivier hard in the chest. He stumbled backward, a momentary flash of surprise passing over his face.
“I am thinking about it. Every fucking second since they took her. You don’t think I want her back?
That I’m not dying on the inside, thinking about the fact that I’ve failed her—again? ”
“Guys.” Dina’s voice echoed behind them, but Emilio ignored her, his attention focused solely on Olivier and Catherine.
“Then why don’t you do something about it?!” Olivier shot back incredulously.
“I am.” Catherine’s voice shook with anger. “I’m trying to strategize, instead of barreling in there with no plan!”
Again, Dina’s voice echoed, this time more urgent.
“Guys.”
Olivier groaned, turning to face her.
“What—” But Dina raised her hand, silencing him. She pointed into the distance, movements slow, index finger pressed tightly to her lips. It took Emilio a few seconds to realize why.
Standing a few yards in front of them, hovering right at the center of their path, was a shadow creature.
The same kind that had attacked them in Blackwood all those weeks ago.
It was smaller, though that did little to quell the terror building inside Emilio.
Long, feathered wings sprouted from its shadowy form, needle-like claws jutting out from its crooked fingers.
But though they stood only a few yards away from the creature, it didn’t move.
In fact, it gave no indication that it saw them.
Dina slowly reached down her thighs, unsheathing two of her daggers. Her movements were steady and measured as she drew the blades, careful not to accidentally brush the handle against her scabbard.
“Cat…” she whispered, voice shaking. “Any ideas?”
Catherine shook her head, though the rest of her body remained frozen, perfectly still.
“I’m working on it.”
The creature remained fixed in its place. Is it staring at us? Emilio wondered. It was nearly impossible to discern whether the creature had a face—they saw nothing but a complex web of undulating shadows.
“Maybe it can’t see us,” whispered Olivier with a hopeful shrug. “Maybe if we move slowly we can—” But Olivier never finished his sentence, the words dying in his throat as the creature turned suddenly to face them.
There was a second of silence.
And then the creature pounced.
Emilio’s reaction was instinctual. He gripped Olivier’s hand and began to run.
The others jumped into action as well, sprinting away from the creature, though Emilio couldn’t quite tell if they were close behind or if they’d run in the opposite direction.
It didn’t matter. Not when he could hear the creature shrieking and roaring behind him.
Not when he could feel the creature’s presence like a tightening cord around his throat.
There was no telling how close it was. If it was mere seconds from catching up, swiping its razor-edged talons across his back.
Lost in the current of panic, Emilio didn’t notice the fork in the path until he was already upon it. His hand slipped out of Olivier’s as the other boy disappeared on the opposite side of the trees that blocked his path.
“OLIVIER!”
But it was too late. Emilio had lost sight of him, the other boy vanishing into the parallel path.
Why hadn’t he held on? Why hadn’t he tried harder?
Emilio cursed, staggering backward. He searched the surrounding trees, desperate for any sign of Olivier, but the darkness of the forest was his only companion, the barren branches looming over him like spindly bones.
Emilio choked on a panicked breath. He was lost. And the others…
there was no way of knowing if they were safe. If they’d been attacked—
Snap.
A twig creaked behind him.
Emilio spun on his heels.
Behind him, only a few yards away, waited the shadow creature.
There was a tense beat of silence as Emilio weighed his options.
Which, to be fair, weren’t many.
He started running. He ran faster than he thought possible, chest heaving.
He pushed through twisted branches and the web of greenery obstructing his vision.
He glanced over his shoulder in the hope that he had somehow managed to outrun the creature, but there it was—a flash of darkness.
Pointed claws prepared to strike. The shadow creature was catching up, chasing after him, a billowing mass of shadows and talons and razor-sharp teeth.
He needed to find the others. He needed to—
His foot hit something hard. A tree root.
Emilio went flying to the ground, rolling and rolling, only coming to a stop when his back slammed against the base of a tree, a throbbing pain radiating up and down his spine. He let out a hoarse scream. It tore from his throat, desperate and hollow.
He tried to scramble to his feet, but he slipped against the damp earth, hands helplessly clawing at the ground beneath him. Something snapped in front of him. His eyes flitted up, and there it was again…the shadow creature.
Emilio hadn’t noticed before, but the creature had eyes.
Glowing, piercing eyes that were strangely human, despite the animalistic gleam behind them.
They were green. Olive green. He couldn’t tear his gaze away from them.
It was like staring straight into the eyes of the reaper. Into the abyss of death.
“Please,” Emilio whimpered, hands raised in surrender. “Please.”
Then the oddest thing happened. The creature tilted its head.
As if it had heard him. As if it had understood him.
But it wasn’t possible. This thing was nothing more than an abomination of magic.
A creature forged from shadows. And yet…
it continued to watch Emilio. It didn’t strike, like Emilio thought it would.
It was waiting…but for what?
Emilio never found out.
Suddenly, with a startling force that bent the trees around him and whipped tufts of hair across his face, a supersonic burst of shadows erupted from behind the shadow creature. From one blink to the next, the creature exploded, rupturing into nothing but a noxious cloud of smoke and ash.
Emilio coughed, sputtering. He could barely see. But something was shifting in front of him. Moving behind the curtain of smoke. Not the shadow creature…but something else. Someone else.
A figure emerged from the mass of smoke. A brilliant force bathed in shadows.
Emilio almost didn’t recognize him.
Augustine Hughes stood between two trees like a fallen angel poised for battle.
His white button-down was untucked, thick streams of shadows snaking up and down the exposed skin of his chest, crawling over his neck.
A cloak lay over his shoulders, cascading down his sides in billowing waves of black.
When his silver-gray eyes fell upon Emilio, there was a moment of hesitation, of complete and utter disbelief, and then Augustine Hughes, notorious traitor and bloodthirsty Demien, broke out into the most brilliant smile Emilio had ever seen.
He took a stumbling step forward.
“Emilio.”
Upon hearing his name spoken out loud, with such striking relief, Emilio couldn’t help but flush. His body tensed, though he didn’t call upon his magic, despite the obvious threat now standing before him.
“August.”
Emilio had expected August to approach him, but instead, he did something that Emilio couldn’t quite understand. He knelt beside what remained of the shadow creature and placed his hand upon the earth.
“I’m sorry, my friend.”
Emillio cocked his head in confusion.
Friend?