Page 283 of Shadowman

I knew right away he’d drugged me.Thatwas the purpose of the kiss. He wasn’t sneaking into my cell to make out with me, or make me feel good because he liked me…

He literally shoved drugs into my mouth via his tongue.

Typical.

Manuel Blanco peered at me over his shoulder and cocked a brow.

Oops. I said that out loud.

Naturally, he wasn’t fazed. He simply stood there, waiting for me to slither out of my bed and follow him. Which I did, because I couldn’t not. I felt like I was tethered to him, on a leash that he was holding.

I’m not a drug-doer. Never have been. I tried things in high school and a couple of times in college, but only enough to determine that I’m far too desperate for control to let go of my faculties and getwasted. It probably speaks to why I am the way I am, but I was always afraid that being under the influence would cause me to accidentally reveal some inner part of myself I didn’t want the rest of the world to see.

Thevulnerablepart, where I hold my secrets.

The nature of the high was unlike any of the highs I’d felt before, from things like coke, or pills, or weed.Thiswas an alternate reality, as if someone had cracked open my skull and all kinds of other things were being absorbed by my brain. Like a sponge, soaking up external sensations.

In that moment, I truly wasn’t sure if I was awake or dreaming…

Either way, I had no choice but to obey The Ivory by following him, wordlessly, through the long corridors. He eventually stopped in front of a large metal door. I looked around and registered where we were.

Solitary.

He peered in through a small plexiglass window.

“What are we doing here?” I tried to ask. “Why do I feel like this? What did you give me??”

But again, none of it would come out. I got the sense that he wanted me to be quiet, and what’s more,Iwanted to be. Everything down there seemed still and silent. I felt like hearing my own voice would hurt my ears.

The Ivory reached into his pocket and pulled out a single key. It was peculiar-looking, antiquated brass with a bird at the top, within the crown. He stuck it into the lock and twisted. Even the sound of the mechanism unlocking the door with a metalclunkseemed loud. Once the door was opened, he nodded for me to go inside.

I didn’t want to. I really didn’twantto be in solitary, especially while trippin’ balls on whatever crazy drug he’d given me. But I also knew resistance was futile. He would get what he wanted, one way or another, because that was the nature of this whole thing.

We belong to him, prisoners and guards alike. He’s the omnipotent being with his hand around the joystick, controlling us and this island like his own personal video game.

For whatever reason, he wanted the Byron character in that cell. So in I went.

As soon as I set foot inside, he closed the door and locked it with anotherclunk. Gulping down my nerves, I looked around the small, dark room. There were a few candles lit on the floor by the wall, melted wax pooling and hardening beneath them. The only sounds that of the storm’s wind billowing from outside, and water dripping off in the distance.

Shadows danced on the jagged concrete walls, calling to me. Whispering…

You belong here. You are the Shadow Man.

Standing still by the door, I felt my presence melting into the darkness. I had becomeonewith the shadows.

But something shifted, movement in the room startling me. There was someone else in the cell… A person, curled up on the tiny cot. Blinking through the haze of drugs in my system, I recognized him instantly.

Dash.

He appeared to have just woken up, eyelids heavy with sleep. He noticed me right away, but he said nothing. Simply stared for minutes in silence. Barely moving, the two of us watched one another, breathing to the tune of harsh winds and dripping water.

When Dash blinked, I felt something. I’m not sure how, or why, but I was overcome with a distinct notion that he didn’t recognize me as his friend, Byron Kang. He was seeing someone else… Someone he only saw in the dark. Someone hewantedto fear, though his yearning had piqued a lustful interest he didn’t fully understand.

I recognized it because I’d seen it before.

In that moment, he was Michelangelo.

Striding forward, an ease of confidence filled my extremities in an instant. I was moving the way I had so many times before, inside that townhouse. Sneaking around in the shadows, like a predator on the hunt for myunsuspecting prey, awaiting my soothe to his needy ache.