What’s the point in delaying this? I call her. “How do I do it?” I ask Raven.
The sound of voices in the background fades as Raven moves somewhere quieter.
“Let a Shade take all your energy,” she replies.
I glance at the stairs, where the room the Shades pass into sits at the top. “That’s all?”
“You need to get into the Void.”
I shudder at the memory. “But I’ll instinctively fight the Shade; I won’t be able to help myself.”
Raven giggles. “Just lie back and think of Rose.”
“This is all a joke to you?” I snarl.
“No, Alek. This is very serious.”
“And how do I get back?”
“Again, the same way as last time.”
Shit. “That was difficult. What if I can’t manage this time?”
“Dante will take care of that, don’t worry. You’ll be a lot stronger with him as your passenger.”
Rose’s jacket hangs over the chair opposite and I pick it up, as if connecting to her. “And I can go anytime?”
“Whenever you’re ready. Dante’s not going anywhere. But don’t take too long, you don’t want Rose disappearing.”
Scrunching Rose’s jacket in my arms, I take a deep breath, catching the scent of her. “I’m going tonight.”
***
The room darkens as the afternoon ends. I sit with my beer, staring at the row of empties in front of me and remembering Rose’s admonishment about drinking. I reconnect with the feeling of helplessness I had in the early days and understand why Rose has been so scared. Even if I refused to do what Julian asks and instead stay where I am, I wouldn’t escape what they want from me. I made the bargain, so I’d only delay the inevitable. I have no doubt I’ll end up in Hell eventually, once I’m no longer any use. But Rose never made the choice; she doesn’t deserve this.
I walk slowly upstairs toward the door Lizzie once let the Shades through. I never touched the door, unless Lizzie was with me to control them, because I was unsure how strong the Shade who came through would be. I used to marvel at how she could control them with her barrier spell and weaken the strong ones. I suppose I should’ve considered then how strange this was for a human witch.
The room is bare, just a bedroom with a bed and mattress, a lamp table, and curtains, which don’t meet in the middle. The scratched wooden floor and flaking blue paint on the walls show years of use, but not recently - by humans, anyway.
The cold hits as soon as I walk in but nothing is here. Do I wait? The door clicks closed behind and I rest against the hard wood. Within seconds, the room temperature plummets further and my gaze darts from place to place. Where will it come from? Raven used to just bring them through the door.
A figure materialises from the wall, beginning as a shadow, which at first looks like it comes from the setting sun but gradually darkens. Does this Shade know I’m here, or is it going to get a huge shock? Because the energy he or she is about to get from me will see it stuck here for some time.
The Shade solidifies gradually, morphing in and out of view. I focus on who or what, already disappointed at the small size of the Shade. A girl, around my human age, petite with short black hair comes into focus. Once she reaches a solid state, she stumbles backwards and places her hand behind her onto the wall. Her alarmed look turns to one of suspicion as she narrows her eyes at me.
“What the fuck?” she growls.
Not the reaction I expected. Her delicate features are pierced, a metal hoop in her bottom red-painted lip and stud in her nose. She blinks at me through heavy black eye make-up.
“Where the hell am I?”
“You’re back in the world,” I say.
“What world?”
“The world of the living?” I suggest sarcastically.
The girl glances around the room, and then back to me, lips pursed. “Are you high?”
“Not currently, no.”
“Why am I in this room with you? Is this some kind of weird dream?” She touches her face. “Am I high?”
Great, why did the Shade have to be one of the clueless ones? “You do know you’re dead, right?”
“Whoa, dude. Okay, let’s talk about this. You don’t need to kill me...” She holds up her hands, palms out. “Just let me leave, okay. You don’t need to keep me here.”
I huff and step away from the door, indicating to the girl she can try. “Sure, go ahead.”
She edges past me and opens the door, and I close my eyes against her inevitable reaction. The girl rushes at the doorway and is slammed backwards onto the floor.
“Why the hell can’t I get out?” She pulls herself up, a rising tone of panic in her voice.
“You’re not strong enough,” I say.
Backing toward the window so she can keep an eye on me, she bumps the wall. The curtains are open and the girl peers out, down to the street.
“You won’t be able to get out that way either,” I tell her.
The girl slides to the floor and wraps her arms around her knees, eyes on me the whole time. “Did you bring me here? What do you want?”