Page 32 of Solar Shadows

Of course it was.

Shades never waffled as much. Usually their sentences were short, full of threats to tear our limbs off.

“Who are you?” Jake demanded, beating me to it.

They laughed, the sound of a feminine cackle seeping through.

Teeth grinding, I tried formulating a plan.

The big shade didn’t move further up thedriveway, just stood there looming and mumbling something inaudible.

On my right, a grassy slope led up to a small patch of grass and the perimeter fence. I could climb up, vault the fence, and dash for the mansion driveway.

Yep. I’d do that.

“Cover me?” I mumbled to Jake from the corner of my mouth.

“Got it.”

Clearly, he trusted my judgment. Which only made me admire him more.

“You are lucky,” the shades rambled on. “You will see everything from the front row.”

Was I hearing the fae woman for the first time through these things?

With a deep breath and a five second countdown, I cast Hide, clapping out the magical blue energy from my hands to release the spell.

I had three minutes of being invisible before it stopped working.

Launching myself at the slope, I scrambled up it, pouring everything into my legs. At the top, I broke into a run, ignoring the cliff edge dangerously close to my right, and grabbed the perimeter fence, about to go up and over.

“Stop!” the shades cried.

Jake shouted, “Taser!” then his gun went off.

“You fools! You despicable fools!” the shades cried. “We see you! We see you!”

I grabbed the spiky top of the fence, swinging my right leg up for my boots to find purchase in a gap. I focused only on clearing these deadly points and succeeding in my mission.

Overthinking led to mistakes, and this wasn’t the best time to mess up with a spike near my crotch.

Something hot and hard hit me in the back, the pain making me see stars.

I fell, landing hard on my spine, the back of my head smacking the ground.

“Ollie!” Jake yelled.

Winded, my limbs on pause, I touched at the throbbing ache in my chest. The pain congregated there, and in my back.

My shaking hand came back slick with blood. I lifted my head enough to see blood gushing from a wound in my chest. Felt it pooling beneath me.

Had I been shot?

“We saw and we see!” the shades called.

“Hold on, mate!” I heard Jake shout.

My vision blurred, my body temperature dropping.