Page 35 of Soul of Shadow #1

“Shit,” Charlie muttered. Was the draugar on the move? Was it coming toward them? She needed to check.

With her back pressed to the equipment shed, she shuffled sideways. All she needed was a quick look. One glance at the awful creature standing in the parking lot to ensure it was still where they last saw it. Then Elias would complete his transition, making him stronger, and they could be off.

When she reached the edge of the equipment shed, she paused, inhaling a quick breath of air, and peered around the corner.

Several things happened at once .

Right as Charlie peeked, Elias spoke the final words of whatever ritual turned him into his shadow form. A muffled thunk sounded on the pavement as his body slumped to the ground. As if drawn by the noise, the draugar’s head whipped around, its cold, empty eyes landing right on Charlie’s face.

The v?tte let out a terrified squeak.

“ Run ,” came the distant, whispery voice of Elias’s mare form.

Cool, airy fingers wrapped around Charlie’s arm, dragging her out from beneath the bleachers.

She jerked sideways, causing the v?tte to tumble off her shoulder.

She caught him before he could hit the ground, tucked him into her side, and ran.

The draugar’s scream behind them was like an angry bull set on fire.

Charlie and Shadow Elias sprinted across the parking lot, their high school looming large and dark in the distance.

Tall, manicured hedges separated the football field and parking lot from the school’s lawn; they were headed right for the bushes.

Charlie’s feet slapped the pavement, while Elias’s steps were quick and silent, as if he wasn’t touching the ground at all.

Charlie wound around the cars while Elias ran straight through them.

The draugar thundered along behind, its footsteps like stones tumbling downhill, growing closer with every second.

Only two rows of cars to go before they reached the hedges.

Charlie wondered, distantly, why Elias hadn’t just left her behind; he’d said he was inhumanly fast in his mare form.

He must be slowing his pace significantly to allow her to keep up.

Not to mention that he could have barreled across the parking lot in a straight line, stepping through the cars as easily as through thin air.

He was weakening himself to fit her human deficiencies.

A car windshield shattered barely twenty feet behind them, and her muscles screamed as she pushed her pace, eyes squarely on the hedge in front of them.

She wasn’t sure what Elias planned for them to do once they passed it, but she hoped the draugar had an aversion to grass, the way goblins did to water.

A car windshield shattered.

Wait. That shouldn’t have been possible, right? Asgardian creatures could walk among human society, but they could not interact with it. They could not harm humans, nor should they have been able to break their cars’ windshields.

Unless …

A high-pitched shriek split open the night.

Without pausing or stumbling, Charlie whipped her head around to face the source of the noise—which turned out to be a young human girl standing beside a silver car, her hair in two pigtails and a paper cotton candy tube held in one hand.

She looked like she’d gotten lost on the way back from the concession stand, and her mouth was open in a terrified scream as she stared up at the draugar.

Charlie barely had time to register this scene before she went crashing through the hedge, leaves stuffing themselves into her eyes, sticks tearing at her skin. She did her best to ignore the pain, pushing through until her feet landed on grass and her face burst out into the fresh air.

She yelled to Elias, who had gone through the hedge without incident, “Did that girl just—”

“Yes,” he yelled back, cutting her off.

“So she could see—”

“Yes.”

“But that’s impossible .”

With a guttural roar, the draugar burst through the hedges, leaving behind a gaping hole where its clawlike fingers tore through the leaves.

It was getting closer with every step. Charlie pushed herself to go faster, but the school was still half a football field away.

Her puny human speed would never carry her there fast enough; the draugar’s legs were as tall as she was, each step more than twice her own.

The grass started a slow slope upward. Pain seared through her legs as she pushed harder, harder , her arm pressing the v?tte so tight to her side that she feared she would squish him. Eyes squeezing shut, she prayed for a miracle. Just a few strides farther. Just a few more…

Skeletal fingers sunk deep into her back.

Charlie screamed, her eyes flying open as she sprawled forward. Pain. Pain like nothing she had ever experienced. Five knives dipped in poison, tearing through her skin as if it were butter…

Her body hit the ground hard. The v?tte spilled from her arm and rolled through the grass. She tried to lift her head, raising it just enough to see Elias spinning around before a second set of razor-sharp fingers plunged into her skin.

This time, the monster went for her side.

Its fingers dug deep beneath her flesh and wrenched her upward, spinning her to face its deathly eyes.

Charlie’s pain receptors were on overdrive; blood gushed from ten different slashes in her body.

The air flew from her lungs as the draugar slammed her to the grass.

Up close, it was even more horrifying: its bones were gray and brittle, stray flecks of skin still hung from its cheeks.

It roared in her face, spittle flying from beneath its tusks.

Its teeth were like scythes, and as they arced toward her, Charlie saw the end approach, saw her mom waving from the porch, her brother laughing in the back seat of her car, her friends teasing each other over lunch, her twin sister counting down from thirty as Charlie searched desperately for a purple rabbit…

Suddenly a shadow engulfed her, its arms somehow cool and comforting, and the draugar let out an agonizing scream as a low voice whispered, “ Shhh, I’ve got you ,” before the pain overtook her senses and consciousness fled.