Page 26 of Echoes From the Void (Shadow Locke Shifters #3)

Chapter 25

Frankie

Matteo’s mother meets us at Shadow Locke’s medical wing, her shadows already reaching for Leo before we fully materialize from shadow-walk. Purple corruption spreads across his skin in sick, pulsing veins, each surge drawing bitten-back screams from his throat.

“Here,” she directs, gesturing to a bed surrounded by ancient texts and medical equipment that hums with shadow energy. Luna follows close behind, her shadows cradling their mother’s research journals like precious things.

“The shadow-song helps,” Lyra says softly, her violin never stopping as she sits beside the bed. “It’s slowing the spread, at least.”

I’ve never seen Matteo’s hands shake before, but they tremble now as he lays Leo down. Through our bond, his fear and helplessness taste like copper and ash.

“We can’t wait,” I say, drawing their attention. “Those coordinates in our blood—if there’s any chance my mother’s research facility has answers about corruption...”

“Go.” Luna doesn’t look up from the texts she’s already spreading out, her voice carrying that same legal authority she uses in court. “Matteo’s mom and I have experience with shadow healing. Lyra’s music is helping. And someone needs to find answers before this spreads further.”

Through our pack bond, I feel Matteo’s soul-deep reluctance to leave Leo. But we all know Luna’s right. Time isn’t just running out—it’s bleeding away with every purple pulse beneath Leo’s skin.

“I’ll contact Bishop and Dorian,” I touch Matteo’s arm, feeling his shadows curl around mine. “My mother’s research facility might be our only chance at understanding this corruption. What Valerie’s really doing. What happened to Leo’s father.”

He nods, leaning down to press his forehead against Leo’s. “Don’t you dare die while I’m gone,” he growls, shadows wrapping around them both.

Leo manages a weak smile despite the corruption creeping higher up his chest. “Wouldn’t dream of it, darling. Go be heroic. I’ll just lay here and look pretty.”

Even dying, he tries to make us smile. It makes leaving both easier and infinitely harder.

Bishop and Dorian meet us at Shadow Locke’s gates, their power signatures humming with tension. This isn’t academic anymore. Leo’s corruption makes it real in a way theoretical research never could.

“The coordinates,” Bishop says, Guardian marks already glowing against his skin, “they’re to a facility twenty miles outside city limits. Heavily warded, if the ancient texts are right.”

“Of course it’s heavily warded,” my shadows curl with anxiety. “Because my mother never did anything the easy way.”

Pain rips through our pack bond—Leo fighting another surge of corruption. Matteo’s shadows writhe in response as he checks his phone.

“He’s stable,” he says before I can ask, though the words strain with effort. “Mom’s keeping the spread contained. For now.”

The ‘for now’ hangs between us like a death sentence. We all know corruption this aggressive doesn’t just stabilize. If we don’t find answers...

I force the thought away. “Let’s move. Every minute we waste?—”

“Is another minute that corruption has to spread,” Dorian finishes, his immortal detachment cracking slightly. “Not just in Leo. If Valerie’s using the same corruption that took Leo’s father...”

“Shadow-walk?” Matteo’s voice stays steady despite his trembling hands. Through our bond, I feel how much that control costs him.

I nod, gathering darkness around us. “Hold on. If my mother’s wards are anything like her personality, this won’t be a smooth ride.”

The shadows consume us. For a moment, there’s nothing but the sensation of falling through void-touched space. Then we emerge, stumbling, before an abandoned medical facility.

Corruption stains the outer walls like bruises on concrete, but underneath the decay, power thrums—old wards still active, still hungry. Still protecting whatever secrets lie within.

“Your mother certainly had a flair for the dramatic,” Bishop observes, Guardian marks scanning the building’s defenses. “These wards... I’ve never seen patterns this complex.”

“Can we break them?” Matteo’s shadows test the barrier, recoiling at the ancient power.

“We don’t need to.” I step forward as something pulls at my blood, my essence recognizing itself. “I think... I think we’re expected.”

The corruption covering the walls recedes at my approach, revealing pristine white surface underneath. A path clears to the main entrance as emergency lights flicker to life.

“Well that’s not ominous at all,” Dorian mutters, frost spreading beneath his feet.

Another wave of pain hits through the pack bond—Leo’s agony becoming our own. Time slips away with each corrupted heartbeat.

“Only one way forward,” I say, and cross the threshold.

The facility swallows us like a living thing, lights activating with each step. Every room holds more questions than answers—equipment I half-remember from fractured memories, screens filled with essence pattern data that makes my shadows curl in recognition.

“These readings are decades old,” Dorian moves to a control panel, his frost creeping across the screen to reveal data that makes his ancient eyes widen. “But the power signatures... they’re still active. Still running experiments.”

A crash echoes from deeper in the facility. We spin toward the sound as Matteo’s shadows rise like weapons. Bishop’s Guardian marks pulse brighter, casting eerie light on sterile walls.

“Something’s still here,” Matteo growls, positioning himself between us and the sound. His protective instincts war with the pain still pulsing through our bond from Leo.

Through our twin bond, Finn’s recognition spikes. “Not something,” he says quietly. “Someone. Can’t you feel it?”

He’s right. Beyond the hum of ancient equipment and active wards, another presence lurks. Something familiar in a way that makes my shadows writhe—like looking in a broken mirror.

Leo’s pain hits again through the pack bond, stronger this time. The facility’s lights flicker in response, as if sensing our desperation.

“This way.” I follow an instinct I don’t fully understand, letting my blood guide me. The corridors shift around us, leading deeper into the facility’s heart.

We pass rooms filled with monitoring equipment, walls covered in equations I almost recognize. Each step feels heavier than the last, like the facility itself weighs our worth. Judges if we deserve its secrets.

Then we reach a set of double doors marked “Project Genesis.”

“Frankie,” Bishop’s warning carries real fear as his Guardian marks pulse faster. “These readings... whatever’s in there, it’s powerful.”

“It’s also our only chance.” I press my palm to the scanner beside the doors, ignoring how my shadows tremble. For a moment, nothing happens.

Then my mother’s voice fills the corridor, making my heart stop:

“Welcome home, my light.”

The doors hiss open to reveal a cavernous lab. Unlike the pristine corridors, this room bears the scars of battle—scorch marks blacken the walls, shattered equipment litters the floor, and in the center...

Two massive tanks still hum with power.

“Oh god.” Memories hit like physical blows: floating in essence-enriched fluid, reaching for Finn through glass, Mother’s voice singing in shadow-speak while she worked.

“These weren’t just containment units,” Dorian breathes, his academic mask cracking as data streams across the monitors. “They were essence amplifiers.”

Pain explodes through our pack bond—Leo’s corruption fighting against Matteo’s mother’s barriers, against Lyra’s shadow-song. Time bleeds away with each purple pulse.

“Look.” Matteo points to a screen flickering to life. Video footage plays: two infants floating in the tanks, shadow and light essence swirling between them. When corrupted essence enters the system, we absorb it. Convert it. Purify it.

“That’s why she kept us together,” Finn whispers, his light pulsing with recognition. “We weren’t just twins. We were?—”

“A purification system,” Bishop finishes, Guardian marks flaring as he reads the data. “Your mother wasn’t experimenting on you—she was protecting you. Teaching your essence to naturally resist corruption by?—”

“By absorbing and converting it.” Understanding clicks into place like a key in a lock. Through our twin bond, I feel Finn’s recognition mirror mine. Through the pack bond, Leo’s agony tears at us both.

But now I know what to do.

“We need to go,” I say, already gathering shadows. “Now.”

“Frankie.” Matteo reads my intent through our bond, fear coating his words. “If you try to absorb Leo’s corruption?—”

“I won’t be doing it alone.” I look at Finn, seeing the same determination in his eyes. “Will I, brother?”

The shadow-walk back to the medical wing feels like tearing through reality itself, desperation driving us faster than ever before. We materialize to find Leo thrashing against restraints, purple corruption now spreading across his chest despite Lyra’s frantic shadow-song.

“Move.” Power rings in my voice—alpha and twin-blessed. Matteo’s mother starts to protest but stops when she feels the energy humming between Finn and me, ancient and terrible.

“Whatever you’re going to do,” Luna says from where she grips Leo’s hand, her lawyer’s composure cracking, “do it fast. We’re losing him.”

I climb onto the bed, straddling Leo as Finn positions himself at his head. Through our twin bond, our essence reaches for each other, preparing for what we were born to do.

“This is probably going to hurt,” I warn Leo, who somehow manages a shadow of his usual grin despite the corruption eating him alive.

“Everything you do hurts so good, echo,” he whispers before another wave of corruption arches his back.

“Ready?” I place my hands on Leo’s chest where the corruption pulses strongest, feeling it try to reach for me through his skin.

Finn nods, his light already beginning to glow. “Together.”

I close my eyes and let my shadows sink into Leo’s flesh, seeking the corruption’s core. The moment I touch it, agony rips through me—wrong essence, twisted essence, trying to corrupt my shadows too. Then Finn’s light meets my darkness, and together...

Together we begin to pull.

Leo’s screams mix with mine. The corruption fights us, trying to spread, to take hold, to twist us too. But this is what we were made for, what our mother trained us to do before we could walk.

Through our twin bond, power flows perfect and pure. My shadows draw out the corruption while Finn’s light burns it clean, making it pure again.

“Holy shit,” I hear Bishop breathe, but I can only focus on the push and pull of essence, on the fight to save what’s mine.

The corruption struggles, tries to dig deeper into Leo’s heart, but we’re stronger. We were born for this. We pull and pull until finally...

The last tendril of purple corruption flows out, dissolves in Finn’s light, and Leo collapses back onto the bed—skin clear, essence clean, ours.

I barely register Matteo catching me as darkness claims me, but through our pack bond, I feel Leo’s heart beat true and pure once more.