Page 73 of Rebellious Royals

Jack nodded, paused, then shook his head no.

"So yes on the talking," I explained. "No on the court."

"Shadow!" Jack declared. "Shadow. Shadow-Jack. Shadow-Jack-Rain. Shadow-Morrigan!"

Hawke was tapping at the air as if trying to put all of that in place. "Shadow is somehow a part of your bond with Rain?" he guessed, sounding like he wasn't sure of that at all.

But Jack nodded. "Morrigan!"

So I decided to take a stab at it. "Shadow is what let you make me a Morrigan?"

"Rain!" And Jack both nodded his head and hopped in place excitedly.

So Torian leaned forward. "Then add me to that, Shadow. If Jack knows when something's going to happen, and you can ping us, then I'm in."

Shadow quickly snatched a piece of Torian's hand and pressed that to its chest. Oddly, Torian's own shadow didn't really shift, but I swore it was just a bit lighter. Then again, I was pretty sure my shadow was even darker now.

But suddenly, Keir jumped, looking down at his left hand. "Whoa," he breathed. Then he twitched, grabbing at his shoulder.

So did Torian. "Weird," Torian said, looking at his hand, then his shoulder. "I'm going to guess the hand part means me?"

Shadow offered an excited thumbs-up.

Hawke kicked out a leg. "Calf, please?"

Wilder leaned forward, spreading out his own shadow. "Don't care what you take."

But Shadow turned to Aspen's, those hollow eyes looking up at her as it reached for her head.

"Go for it," she told the thing.

One after the other, Shadow grabbed all three pieces, then held them to it at the same time. All that was left was me, but I had no clue how that would work. But when it was done with them, my shadow calmly walked away from the floor, moving to the wall so we could all see it better - and it hadn't taken a part of me.

Then it tapped its head. Instantly, I felt something. It was like ice under my skin, but pitched like one of those tuning forks. There was both an almost inaudible sound and a physicalsensation. Then it touched its hand. Next, the opposite shoulder. After that, it patted its belly before moving to its leg. When all of those were done, the thing smiled.

Immediately, all of me lit up. Not that it was painful, but it was very clear and impossible to ignore. Shadow's smile grew bigger, then bigger still until it looked like some kind of demented horror show on the wall. But the moment its smile disappeared, so did all of the sensation - and it pointed at me.

"And now we won't have to wonder how to alert each other," Wilder said. "Damn. Jack, you and Shadow are impressive."

"A little creepy too," Aspen pointed out.

Torian merely murmured, somehow acting completely unsurprised. "Although it seems the Morrigan is the most important person here. Shadow made sure her alarm bell is the biggest of them all. Guess that means the rest of us just got put in our place, hm?"

My shadow pointed at him and then lifted its thumb upwards.

Chapter Twenty-Two

WILDER

Over the next few days, everything was wonderfully calm and completely normal. Oddly normal, if I was honest. Thanks to Shadow, Jack no longer had to spend time with Aspen instead of Rain. Hawke and Pascal were acting like old friends. The other sentinels weren't weird around him, which made me think Pascal hadn't said anything. Rain was doing her best to use as little magic as possible to get the biggest effect, and Aspen was actually starting to get comfortable with a sword.

Sure, it was a thin, short, and lightweight weapon, but she was still using it. Usually, Aspen was more worried about her plants and other ethereal things. Combat? No, she was both too sweet for that and too timid. At least, she always had been.

Now, I could see the queen she'd become one day. Hopefully later, when she'd matured into her position. I knew it had to be hard for her to assume such an important role so young, but I couldn't imagine being loyal to anyone else. She was royal in the best way: to the core.

But each day, the whispers about princes and princesses faded a little more, until it felt like the student body had forgotten all about the drama over spring break. By Friday,everyone was more worried about watching the clock and counting down the minutes till their weekend than anything else.

And no one else had been attacked.