Shadow Walker (Revenant’s Series Book 1) Page 2

“You two, come with me right away.” His voice was as commanding as his sudden presence.

  “Who the hell are you?” Lyssa put her hand on the phone, ready to dial for help.

  “It doesn’t matter at the moment. We need to get you out of here. Right now! It’s for your own good. Think of it as a witness protection situation.” His face was shadowed and hard to read. He pulled out his wand and fired a bolt into the hallway behind him. Jackson and Lyssa both pulled out their wands and jumped to the door to peer outside. Shadows were closing in on them, and there was no escape.

  “Grab my hand if you want to live!”

  They quickly shot glances at each other, knowing that there was only one option, and it was not a choice they would normally take. They would have to trust this stranger and put their hope for survival out to the universe. Lyssa closed her eyes as she grabbed his hand, half expecting to be devoured by the shadows swirling right behind them. There was a static electrical pop and then a whoosh of air around them.

  Chapter 3

  When she opened her eyes, they were in a room so dark that her eyes were adjusting horribly to it. “Jackson, where are you?”

  “Here, Lyssa. You okay?” From the sound of his voice, Jackson was still next to her.

  “Yes. You?”

  “I seem to be intact.”

  “Oh, how touching.”

  The sarcastic reply made Lyssa want to giggle, even though their current situation wasn’t something to laugh about. “Lana?”

  “Yes, dearie, I’m here too. He saved me just before he came to you.”

  Lyssa imagined the sassy sway of her golden curls. The petite blonde would never let her live this one down. “Who? And exactly where is he? And what do you mean he saved you too?”

  “When you numbskulls cast your circle, I came running.”

  “Light!” A voice whispered near her, and the room filled with light. The man held up his wand like a flashlight that brightly lit up the spaces around them.

  “Show off,” Jackson mumbled.

  “Who the hell are you?” Lyssa shook her head irately. You didn’t just whisk someone away and not expect to answer questions. He could be a lunatic for all she knew, which reflected poorly on her judgment. She should know better than to just go along with someone willy-nilly like that.

  “Wrong question, but I’ll be happy to answer the right one.”

  “You see, Lyssa, I already tried that route. He seems to think that we don’t live in a day and age where stranger danger matters anymore.” Lana rolled her eyes to emphasize her sarcasm.

  “And yet you came with me anyway.” The man was becoming more of an oddity by the minute.

  Lyssa took a closer look at him since she really did not have the chance earlier. He appeared to be in his early thirties. His black hair was trimmed in a short, well-tailored style, but his face was not as cleanly kept. He looked as if he had not shaved in a while, as the five o’clock shadow had been multiplied by days. He was dressed totally in black, from his V-neck cotton T-shirt down to the jeans that were fitted tightly around his black steel-toed boots. A tattooed Roman numeral four was etched on his right forearm. There was a pentacle peeking out from underneath his shirt, and he was glancing at her with a knowing smile.

  “Fine, we’ll do this the hard way.” Lyssa closed her eyes and took a deep breath, opened her eyes, and looked at him square in the face. She imagined spidery silk weaving its way from within her temple and working its way slowly through the air. While Lyssa waited for her mind to connect with his, his smirk sent a challenge to her. He had no idea how adept she was at reading minds, so getting into his thoughts should have been easier than he expected. With every ounce of her willpower, she pushed against the resistance, only for it to rebound back at her from his silent spell of protection, causing her to stumble back a few steps. Lyssa glared at him as her chin jutted out rebelliously.

  “Ah-ah-ah!” He clicked his tongue to the roof of his mouth. “Come now, Lyssa, you can do better than that. Perhaps you should go back to figuring out what the right question is.”

  “Fine, Julius, why are we here?” Lyssa tilted her head and raised an eyebrow in challenge.

  “Very good, Lyssa. Now, if only Logan would remember to stand further away from this room, you would still be guessing.”

  A younger man stepped into the room from the hallway. He looked down at the ground and clasped his hands in front of him. “It’s not like baiting them is going to help the situation,” mumbled Logan. His brown hair framed his face like an old-fashioned barbershop bowl cut. She could barely see his eyes beneath his hair.

  She looked back at Julius and raised her wand to show she meant business. “I’m not afraid of you. Now, tell me why we are here.”

  “I can take you back if you like.” A subtle grin spread on his face.

  “Not the point. Answer my question!”

  “My, my. She sure is a feisty one.” A very pale woman with long red hair sauntered into the room. She put her hand on Julius’s shoulder and peered down at Lyssa with more hostility than she deserved. “This is the girl you were talking about? She’s extremely rash and unrefined.” The redhead looked at him in disbelief.

  “Serena, quiet. We’ll discuss that later.” Julius pulled her arm off his shoulder and walked to the window that was now visible through his wand light.

  It was easy to see by the way she tossed her hair and crossed her arms that Serena was feeling snubbed by Julius. The quiet tap of her foot, clad in black stiletto boots, beat out her irritation on the floor. Part of Lyssa wondered what she had to do with any of this, but the majority of her thoughts were jumbled up right now. “Why are we here? Where are we? And why the hell can’t someone turn on a real light?”

  “Because the shadows will find you,” answered Logan. When Julius looked at him pointedly, he raised his arms. “What? Do you think it’s more helpful if she doesn’t know about the shadows? You can’t just whisk these people away without telling them about the danger they were in.”

  “Danger?” Lyssa laughed. Who did these people think they were? She would have found a way out of that situation. It might have taken longer, but she would have figured it out. “We would’ve handled it.”

  “Well, she sure does think a lot of herself.” Serena’s saucy voice felt like fingernails on chalkboards. No, actually, it was the heated way that Serena looked at her that made her feel that way.

  “Forget you.” She stood up and nodded her head at Jackson. “Let’s get out of here. We have to stop those things.”

  “Lyssa, wait.” Lana looked at her seriously. “You may think you can take on the world, but you didn’t see how many of those things were coming this time. There’s no way we were getting out alive. We’ve played with fire long enough.”

  “Take them to the library,” Julius commanded. He still had not turned away from the window. It was as if he was tracking something outside the room, but nothing could be seen in the darkness outside.

  They waited in the library for what seemed like an hour, but without a clock on the wall, it was hard to tell. Lyssa heard the raised voices of Julius and Serena from upstairs. Apparently, they disagreed about something. All she could hear was the words “guardian” and “watchtower.” Just when she was going to suggest they leave, Julius entered the library, followed by a very disgruntled Serena.

  “So?” Lyssa couldn’t help raising her eyebrows questioningly at Julius while she let the word echo slowly around them. He seemed to be the leader of this group. Perhaps she would have to play nice if they were going to leave on a peaceful note.

  Julius inhaled deeply and let out a long sigh. “We would have met eventually. Later would have been better than sooner. You’re just not ready yet.”

  Jackson beat her to the punchline this time. “Who is not ready? And ready for what?”

  Lyssa look
ed over at Jackson and nodded her head. “That’s exactly what I want to know too.”

  “Tell them, Julius. It’s too late to send them back.” Logan gestured to Julius while pushing his hair away from his face. “You have to tell them.”

  “Oh, good lord. I’ll tell them then.” Serena eyed her speculatively. “We are the Guardians of the Watch Tower.”

  “Which one?” Lyssa asked them cautiously. She had never met a guardian before, and she had assumed that they were magical entities that represented each magical element.

  “Not those watchtowers,” Julius breathed out in annoyance, his dark eyebrows arched severely as if to make his point.

  “Wow, calm down.” She was getting tired of him looking like he was ready to snap. They may have gone a little overboard tonight, but there was no reason to treat them with hostility.

  “We are Guardians of The Watch Tower, the only one that keeps a constant vigil out in the darkness. We are currently focusing our attention on the Land of the Shadows.”

  “Is that where they come from?” Now he had her full attention, for Lyssa wanted to know where these shadows originated. How did they get formed? Who created them? How could they defeat them? Why had they chosen this town? People were dying more mysteriously around there every day.

  “The Land of the Shadows is below us, wherever we walk,” Logan interrupted.

  “So, they come from Hell?” Jackson pursed his lips speculatively.

  “If you believe in Hell. What some call Hell, we call the Land of the Shadows. Everything dark comes from beneath the earth, where the light never reaches.” Julius pointed beneath their feet.

  “Great. All these years I’ve spent not believing in the existence of Hell, and here you go telling me that there is one.” Lana shook her head disbelievingly.

  “I don’t think he said that. I think he is saying that darkness exists there, not the infernal blazes we’re often told about. So if that is the case, how are they surviving above ground? Where are they coming out?” Lyssa looked at Julius questioningly.

  “See, I told you she’s the one,” Logan said quietly. He stood against the wall with his hands in his pockets.

  What in the world was he talking about? Why was she being mentioned again? “Excuse me? I’m what one? Look, I didn’t mean to cause a problem. I just want to find out why they are destroying the people in my town. Do you know how many suicides we had last year? Suicides are almost up into the hundreds now. I know these things are causing it. They’re probably doing this in other places too.”

  “I’m not surprised that you’ve made the connection. It’s true. The shadows feed upon weaker spirits. They are finding other means to do this as well. The Craven are responsible for this. But that is a long story.” Julius waved his hand in front of him.

  “You dodged my question yet again. What do you want with me? What about my friends?” Lyssa looked at Lana and Jackson. Were they in trouble? If this was something she brought upon her friends, she would never forgive herself.

  “You’re the missing Guardian. The shadow walker.” It was one statement. One simple statement from Julius and the room was deadly silent. It was as if the world stopped turning while they looked at each other questioningly.

  “Me? Or all of us?” Lyssa knew Lana and Jackson must also be wondering. What in the world was a shadow walker?

  “He said Guardian, not Guardians. That implies one,” Lana repeated.

  She let it sink in. This man was calling her a lost Guardian. Lyssa had no idea what that was supposed to mean. What did a Guardian do? Why did he say shadow walker? Would she have to leave behind her friends, and if so, why would she even want to do that?

  “That is correct. Lyssa, you are a lost Guardian of the Watch Tower. You are young, impetuous perhaps, but there is no denying you have the intuition to be great.”

  Lyssa giggled. No one had ever referred to her as great before. She felt like a striped tiger ready to eat a great big bowl of corn flakes. “Wow, you’re funny. All right, where’s the camera? Are you punking me?”

  “Are you taking us back now?” Lana asked him. “I assume she’ll stay here. But what about us?”

  “What? Why the hell would I stay here?”

  “It’s your destiny,” answered Logan.

  “Are you for real?” Lyssa looked at Jackson, who seemed to be getting hot under the collar. “If you think I’m leaving her behind, you must be on crack.” He crossed his arms and tapped his foot defiantly.

  “And if you make him go, I’ll find a way to follow.” Destiny? Who the heck believed in destiny these days?

  “Non-negotiable.”

  “Fine. Let’s go then, shall we?”

  Lyssa pointed to the door behind them and grabbed Jackson’s arm. When they reached the doorway, Lyssa was surprised to hear Serena clearing her voice, and a small “Ow!” echoed around them.

  “All right. Fine. You can both stay, but the witch goes.”

  “Wow, I do have a name, you know. The witch…real classy people you have here. Might as well have said ‘the dumb blonde.’” Lana rolled her eyes.

  Julius interrupted her small tirade. “It’s safe for you to return now. The shadows are gone.”

  “Fine. I’m ready to go any time you are.” Lyssa was so ready to be out of there. They were all speaking crazy talk, and she did not have to stay there and listen to it.

  “You stay.”

  “I’m sorry, did I sign my name on the dotted line somewhere? What incentive do I have to stay here?”

  “Do you want to rid the world of the shadows?” The redhead crossed her arms before her and tilted her head in the air.

  Lyssa was on her way out the door when Jackson answered, “Yes, we do.” Jackson pulled on her arm and raised his eyebrows at her.

  “Dammit. Fine! We stay.” Lyssa crinkled her nose at Jackson and sniffed in a huff. She hated it when he stared at her like that. Usually, it meant he was right, and somehow, she was horribly wrong. Right now, she had no idea how she was in the wrong, but she had learned to trust his instincts.

  “It’s settled then. Until it is safe for you both to return, you will stay here.” Julius reached out his arm to Lana. Lana smiled softly at them before reaching out to him. Lana and Julius were gone faster than a heartbeat.

  Lyssa stood there in shock. Everything she had come to understand about the world around her was somehow tilted, and she was left there in the silence, trying to figure out what she was going to do. The smug look on Serena’s face was more than she could take, a look so filled with malice that something snapped inside her. She stepped toward her to knock the smile from her face but was held back by Jackson.

  “Don’t let her get to you, Lyssa. She’s not worth it, trust me.”

  Logan turned toward her, and she ducked her head. Lyssa did not want him to see the angry tear that was trying to make its way from her eyes. If she knew how to leave this place, Lyssa would have already been gone, but she was stuck inside this dark room and starting to feel like a raccoon trapped inside a cage for the second time in her life. Lashing out at the world around her would have been easier. Lyssa wanted to tear her claws into anything she could get ahold of as she hissed in outrage, but the fact of the matter was that these people could have powers that were infinitely stronger than any she possessed. What real action could she possibly take? The only solace she had was that Jackson was there beside her.

  Chapter 4

  As Lyssa stood there, her insides churned to the slow tick of the clock on the wall as helplessness saturated the silence. She had promised herself that she would never feel that way again, and yet there she was, standing with nervous sweat running down her forehead. At least Serena was not there to see it. Lyssa was still trying to figure out what animal had crawled up her ass, for she’d never met her before. That woman would never see an inch of weaknes
s, never crack the mask she displayed to the world. Not if she had anything to say about it.

  As time continued to pass, it was even more apparent that Julius had not yet returned. This bothered her. What if something had happened in transit? Did the shadows find them? Lyssa could only hope that Lana would be safe back on campus. She would have requested that her friend stay here as well, but Lyssa knew that Lana would never leave her coven behind. Lana was very devoted to her group and would do everything in her power to protect them.

  How had this all happened so quickly? One moment she and Jackson were sitting inside his room, and the next, they were in some bizarre twist of fate. It was an unbelievably unrealistic situation, but when magic was involved, perhaps that was the only way reality spun. It was bad form to tell someone they were chosen for a higher purpose and then rip them away from everything they’d ever known. At least that was what it seemed like. Not very much detail or explanation had been given yet, and all Lyssa could do was sit and stew.

  Why would she possibly have been chosen for a higher purpose? Lyssa was barely treading water most days. There was so much turmoil and angst inside her. Did they really expect her to be able to contribute anything meaningful? It had never occurred to her that the spiritual beliefs that she had discovered in college were actually a calling in life, a past time maybe, but not a calling. At first, this spirituality was an escape route. While attempting to leave the darkness of her past where it belonged, Lyssa had disappeared completely into this new magical world…not your everyday smoke and mirrors kind of magic. There was no sleight of hand…this really existed.

  Lyssa had attended a Samhain ritual as Lana’s guest during her first year of college since she was always up for new things. At first, she had absolutely no idea why she had agreed to go. Five minutes into the ritual, she had seen with her own eyes that the magic was real. When Lyssa had observed the orbs of light surrounding the circle, she had felt the bizarre lack of air within it, as outside of the circle, swaying leaves had surrounded them. The silence, while eerie at times, was a potent messenger that carried infinitely more wisdom in its wake.