Feeling her cheeks heat all over again, Alex pulled a face when D.C. snorted indelicately and stepped up beside them. Despite her amusement, the princess still came to Alex’s rescue and saved them from returning to the topic of Kaiden by asking Jordan why he’d stopped by.
“Don’t worry—I’m not here to interrupt whatever bonding session you have going on,” he replied, indicating the bottle of nail polish with humour in his gaze. “I just wanted to come and say goodnight to my girlfriend.”
Alex’s heart melted, but at the same time, she crossed her arms and said, “Ahem.”
“And my best friend, too, of course,” Jordan quickly added.
And then he did exactly that—hugging Alex one last time and giving D.C. a lingering kiss before promising to see them both at breakfast.
It was only once he was out the door again that Alex turned to her roommate and said, “Kaiden’s not the only one worthy of fantasies.”
A contented sigh left D.C. as she simply replied, “Believe me, I know.”
Twenty
When the next morning dawned bright and clear, Alex was determined to move on from the events of the previous day. She didn’t linger on the failure with the Flips or the near disaster with the Jarnocks or even the unforeseen—and complicated—close call with Kaiden. Instead, she gathered as many positive thoughts as she could and told herself that today would be a victory.
The only less-than-happy thought she couldn’t ignore was that she would be heading out on her own. With Jordan and D.C. stuck in detention from their make-out session—another reason for Alex to avoid any romantic entanglements—and Bear still healing in the Med Ward, Alex would be visiting the Shadow Walkers and Dayriders alone.
Or so she thought.
Just as she was making her approach through the snow to the Tower building, Caspar Lennox fell into step beside her.
“Sir?” she asked when it became clear that he wasn’t just passing by.
“You cannot simply announce yourself to the Shadow Walker elders, Alexandra Jennings,” he said. “You must be presented.”
Uncertain as to the meaning of both his words and his presence, Alex mumbled, “Um…”
“I will escort you to the city of my race,” Caspar Lennox told her straight out. “But even with my advocacy, I can offer no guarantees that they will be willing to listen to your claims.”
“Uh…”
With lightning-fast movement, his mottled-grey hand flashed out and wrapped firmly around her bicep.
“Whatever you do, do not pull away.”
That was all he said before the swirling cloud of inky shadows at his feet rose up to envelope them, with him tugging Alex forward through the darkness.
It was like hiking upwards through honey. While blind. Unable to see anything, Alex could only follow her SOSAC teacher’s directive and keep walking, anchored to him by his grip on her arm as they journeyed to wherever he was guiding them.
Alex had only travelled through the shadows once before. On her own, she’d wrestled with the darkness and felt pulled in every direction until she’d been able to assert her will and arrive at her intended destination.
With Caspar Lennox, it was different. Other than the sensation of walking through sludge, she didn’t have to fight for dominance over the precocious nature of the shadows. Whether that was because her teacher was doing it for them both, or simply because he was a Shadow Walker and this particular means of transportation was natural to him, she wasn’t sure.
When the darkness around them finally cleared, Alex could see they were now far, far away from anywhere she’d ever been.
“Whoa.”
Alex couldn’t have repressed her reaction if she’d wanted to, not as she took in the view laid out before her.
It was a city mounted up against the side of a craggy mountain, that much was evident. But it was unlike any city—or indeed, place—Alex had ever seen.
Half of it was covered in shadow. Deep, dark clouds swirled overhead, like a constantly brewing storm. Below the unnatural weather phenomenon, the buildings and streets were all pitch-black and, to her enhanced sight, appeared almost gothic in design. The architecture was predominantly made up of jagged spires and arches, with an ancient dark cathedral rising high above the rest—a structure that was as beautiful as it was intimidating.
The other half of the city was the polar opposite in every way. Blinding sunlight beamed down onto pure white buildings, their design similar to the shadowy side, but instead of looking like something from a horrific nightmare, it was more like something from a picturesque daydream. Most notably different was the lack of storm clouds, and in place of the daunting cathedral there was a crystal pyramid. The sunbeams bounced off it, causing bursts of multicolour to wash across the city in dazzling spears of light.
Alex could hardly believe what she was seeing. It was as if the city had an invisible line drawn right down its centre, marking light from dark, day from night.
As she stood there soaking in the incredible sight, all she could do was remain silent.
Caspar Lennox, however, wasn’t struck mute. In his clear, melodic voice, he announced, “Welcome to Graevale, Alexandra Jennings. Home of the Shadow Walkers and Dayriders.”
There would have been an unexpected but quirky kind of irony if Alex had discovered the Dayriders living in the dark half of the city and the Shadow Walkers living in the light, but unsurprisingly, that wasn’t the case. And that was made evident when Caspar Lennox gripped Alex’s arm again and walked her through the shadows once more, with them arriving at the edge of a ginormous cobblestoned town square—easily the size of two football fields—and right at the base of a dark staircase leading up to the formidable cathedral’s entry.
“Let me guess,” Alex said, rubbing her arm from his nearly bruising grip. “The elders hang here?”
Creepy church-like building for creepy vampire-like creatures? It made sense in her mind.
“The elders do not hang,” Caspar Lennox said, his distaste for her word choice clear.
When he said no more, Alex pressed, “But they’re here, right?”
“They meet inside the Obscuria, yes.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Alex started up the jagged, black steps, wondering why he hadn’t just dropped them off at the top of the stairs rather than making them tackle the arduous climb.
When Alex realised he wasn’t following, she turned back and raised her eyebrows in a ‘What’s the hold up?’ gesture.
“I’m beginning to regret bringing you here,” Caspar Lennox said on a sigh as he stepped up beside her.
“We haven’t even done anything yet,” she said, baffled by his statement.
“Exactly. That means you haven’t had a chance to cause any problems,” he returned. “Please, Alexandra, for the grace of the shadows, promise me you will be mindful of your words.”
Alex pursed her lips. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
His answer came without hesitation. “You have a habit of speaking before you think. I strongly advise against doing so here. The elders do not suffer fools gladly.”
Offended, Alex opened her mouth to argue, but he continued before she could.