“Come, Alexandra,” Kaysia said, stepping forward. “I shall escort you back to the edge of our territory.”
Before Alex could respond, the Dayrider laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. Blinding light flashed around them, and then Alex was blinking her retinas clear again only to discover she was now standing on the sunny side of the alleyway she had first entered through.
“We will meet again, Alexandra,” Kaysia said, her calm tone full of assurance. “I only hope that when we do, it will be under more agreeable circumstances. However, I fear that will not be the case.” A soft, sad smile touched her lips, and the leader of the Dayriders finished quietly, “Resist the shadows, daughter of the light. No matter how hard, when it all seems too much, you must always resist the shadows.”
And then, with another blinding flash, Kaysia was gone, leaving Alex alone with more questions than she thought anyone might ever be able to answer.
Kicking a stone on the ground, Alex looked over into the darkness and shivered slightly, deciding to wait on the brighter side of the city until Caspar Lennox showed up for one of his half-hourly check-ins.
She moved to lean against the side of a white building—a house, she presumed—and was content to gather her thoughts while she waited for her teacher. But a noise caught her attention, something that made her squint past the light and into the darkness of the alley, trying to find the source of the sound.
At first she thought it was a whimpering child, but then she realised that it was an animal of some kind, something greatly distressed.
As if pulled by an invisible cord, Alex pushed off the wall and stepped into the shadowed half of the city, following the sound. Her hearing being what it was, she had to crisscross through a number of dark alleyways before the volume was enough to indicate she was in the vicinity of the upset creature. But Alex couldn’t see it anywhere. And suddenly, she couldn’t hear it anymore, either.
Frowning, she looked across the small, cobblestoned bridge crossing a narrow canal, one similar to those she’d travelled with her parents during their short work placement in Venice years ago. The setting prompted a moment of nostalgia within Alex, but she knew that even if her mother and father were to materialise beside her right now with a gondola in tow, their time together would be much different to when they’d glided down Italy’s revered Grand Canal. And yet, knowing her parents, they would be so excited to explore the archaeological mysteries of Graevale that she’d never get them to leave again, eerie city or not.
Smiling with affection, Alex pushed aside thoughts of her eccentric family and instead strained her ears as she stepped onto the bridge, pausing once she reached the centre.
She almost jumped out of her skin when she heard a sound—not a whimper, but a voice. Wheezy and rough in the language of the Shadow Walkers, it was the kind of voice that made Alex’s skin crawl.
“Don’t worry, mutt, you won’t feel a thing.”
The words, that grisly tone… Everything about Alex was on edge as she realised the voice was coming from underneath the bridge. She didn’t know what was happening, but something within her was screaming that she had to intervene—and now.
Leaning as far as she could over the stone railing, Alex saw that there was a canoe-like vessel docked beneath the bridge, and in it sat a hooded Shadow Walker. She couldn’t see what he was doing, but the sense of urgency she felt didn’t allow her to waste time watching more. Instead, she leapt right off the bridge, using one arm to swing herself down and onto the vessel.
Startled, the Shadow Walker stood, the canoe teetering precariously from both his abrupt movement and Alex’s arrival.
“What do you think you’re doing?” the male demanded as he found his balance. Then his eyes widened and he said in the common tongue, “You are human!”
“What’s in the bag?” Alex asked, pointing to a canvas sack at his feet—a sack that was moving.
“None of your business,” the Shadow Walker spat. He was old—though not quite as ancient as the elders—and he had a hunched back and mean, squinty eyes.
“I’m making it my business,” Alex said, fairly confident that if it came down to a scuffle, she could overcome the frail-looking man despite her injury and his shadowing ability.
He sneered at her. “I’ve got a job to do and the likes of you won’t stop me.”
It was then that the whimpering came again—high-pitched and scared, right from the moving sack.
“What’s in the bag?” Alex demanded again, more forcefully this time.
The Shadow Walker kicked viciously at the canvas, and a yelp of pain was all it took for Alex to act. She lunged forward and grabbed him by his collar, launching him overboard and into the grimy canal.
Whether from shock or simply due to the speed of her attack, he didn’t have time to shadow himself away, so he came up spluttering and cursing her in his native tongue. But Alex didn’t care about his insults; she was already kneeling in the rocking boat and carefully opening the sack.
A ball of black fluff, that’s all she thought it was at first. But then it wriggled and uncurled from its terrified position and she caught a small flash of white amongst all the dark as she realised what it was—a puppy. Stunning amber eyes locked onto hers as she took in the beautiful creature, eyes that indicated a level of intelligence beyond what the young animal should possess. Beyond what any animal should possess.
“Hey, beautiful,” Alex cooed, reaching her uninjured arm out to the trembling pup.
Given its terrified state, she thought it would back away in fear. But her proximity seemed to calm it, and it leaned forward and sniffed her fingers, before licking once.
A startled giggle left Alex at the tickling sensation and she slowly moved her hand to pet the creature. Instantly it—or rather, she, Alex realised—nuzzled into her palm, soaking up her affection, before waddling closer.
Other than her impossibly bright eyes, the puppy was as black as the night, all except for one front paw that was splashed with white. But more than that, there was something else strange about her. Like the Shadow Walkers themselves, the creature had swirls of darkness clouding around her three black legs, while her white paw was giving off a faint glow like that of the Dayriders, along with small flashes of light.
Another lick, this time on Alex’s wrist as the puppy wobbled right up to her, and Alex scooped her into the crook of her uninjured arm as she stood to her feet. Immediate trust, that was what the puppy offered as she stretched her neck upwards and licked Alex’s jaw, prompting another giggle from her.