“It’s definitely kicking in,” she answered. “But we’ll have to wait a bit. A patrol car just stopped nearby the shack with the generator.”
“What are they doing?” I asked worriedly.
“Just talking. I think they’re taking a break.”
I glanced at my watch. One thirty-five. “Isabel,” I said. “Do you see anything?”
“Everything looks clear so far,” her soft, low voice hummed in my ear. “The future is calm. There’s love in the air.”
I blushed. “Hardly. We’re just talking.”
“I wasn’t talking about you two.” She sounded amused. “There’s another couple somewhere. They’re in love. I see it in the tea leaves and in the cards. Tonight is their special night.”
“That’s very nice, but what does it have to do with our job?” I asked.
“I can’t control what I see, Lou,” she answered. “I drank three cups of tea already, and that’s the only thing I see in the leaves. Lust and love.”
There was a moment of silence.
“I really need to pee,” she added. “All that tea…”
“Uh… guys?” Sinead said. “I think I know what Isabel is talking about. The cops in the patrol car? They’re going at it.”
“Seriously? Don’t they have a job to do?” I felt outraged. Part of it was jealousy.
“Yeah. It’s kinda hot. The guy is really muscular, and he just took off his shirt. And… Oh, damn, he just tore off two buttons from the girl’s uniform. She didn’t even notice.”
“Sinead, can you just go kill that damn generator?”
“They’re parked practically on the shed’s door, Lou, sorry. But the rate they’re going, it won’t take long. I think these two have been fantasizing about it for a while… There we go, her hand is in his pants. You go, girl!”
I rolled my eyes, and glanced at Kane. He watched me with a half-smile, a roguish glint in his eyes, and for a moment I suspected he was trying to imagine us in the same situation. Then I imagined it, and had to look away quickly.
“You guys should see this,” Sinead said. “Dude, you can’t swallow her entire boob, your mouth isn’t big enough.”
“Sinead, this is really distracting.”
“The tea leaves are very suggestive,” Isabel said.
“Isabel, maybe we should make some tea-leaf porn.” Sinead giggled. “We’d make a fortune.”
I checked the time again. One forty-two. We had thirty minutes before the moon rose. But we had an even more urgent problem. “Listen,” I said. “The potion won’t last for much longer.”
“What? You didn’t say that earlier,” Sinead complained.
“I didn’t think it would be an issue. But we have only about twenty minutes more, depending on body mass. Kane probably has less time. And we can’t drink more of it, because the basilisk venom will kill us.”
“Well, what do you want me to do, Lou?”
“Can you just sneak in while they’re distracted?”
“Well, the girl is straddling the guy, but he’s looking right past her into the street, and the shack door is in front of him. And I have to pick the lock. I mean… they’re definitely busy, but I’d say burglarizing the place in front of them is really testing their dedication to fucking.”
“Damn!” I muttered.
“What’s that?” Kane asked, pointing ahead.
Though it was dark, I saw everything in sharp detail, as if it were the middle of the day. A man shambled toward us, his movements sporadic, limbs jerking strangely. My heart sank.
“Maybe it’s just a drunk,” Kane said.
“It’s not,” I muttered. “It’s a Shade.”
Chapter Fourteen
If you look at the body of a Shade as it moves, it seems to shamble. Its features are lax, empty, its movements jerky and strange. But if you watch the shadow that the body casts, you see a man moving smoothly, quickly, with catlike grace. Because it’s actually the shadow that moves, not the body. For the Shades, the shadow casts the body, not the other way around.
When the Shade came closer, it was easy to see the face of its body. One eyelid was shut, the other open, the eye vacant. The mouth drooped, a trickle of saliva hanging from it. Facial features cast almost no shadows, and were useless to the Shades. Over time, the face of a Shade’s body lost its semblance of humanity completely, marking it for the empty shell that it was.
It moved toward us purposefully. Perhaps to investigate the unfamiliar car, parked close to their warehouse. Or perhaps it sensed Kane’s magical aura. Or perhaps he was turned on by our shadows. Whichever the reason, we didn’t want it to get close.
“Sinead,” I said weakly. “We need the power down now.”
“It’s okay.” She was breathing hard. “I’m getting there.”
“Did the cops drive away?”
“No, but the windows are fogged completely. They can’t see a damned thing. I hope not, at least.”
The Shade was about fifteen yards from us.
“How long?” I asked.
“Damn this lock!” she muttered to herself. “A few more minutes.”
“I’m not sure we have that long.”
“Delay him.” Kane unlocked the door. “I’m going for the power cable.”
“But I’m not in position yet!” Sinead said urgently.
“Better get in position, then,” Kane answered sharply, sliding out of the car.
I opened the door on my side, leaping out. It was cold outside, much colder than inside the car, and it almost felt like the chill radiated from the Shade as it got closer. Behind me, Kane muttered in an unknown language, and the hair on the back of my neck prickled as the magical energy around us shifted, focusing around him. I moved toward the Shade, intent on intercepting it before it sensed what Kane was doing. If it hadn’t already.
Up close, the Shade’s face was even more horrifying. Ugly sores pocked the right cheek, and the closed eye leaked some sort of yellow goo. The shadow didn’t care about the body’s condition. It was just a body, after all.
“Excuse me!” I called. “My husband and I got lost. We were looking for Franklin Street? Our friend is having a baby shower tonight, and we really don’t want to be late.”
Kane’s voice rose as the energy crackled around him. Above us, I heard the staticky sound of electricity, and I saw blue sparks flashing from the utility pole. In one ear, I heard Sinead say “Got it!” as she managed to pick the lock of the shack.
The Shade opened its mouth to speak. Its head faced sideways, but its shadow faced my own, and its lips moved clearly as its voice echoed. What are you doing here?
The voice didn’t come from the Shade’s body’s larynx. It came directly from the shadow, and it almost felt as if it were my own shadow that heard it, and not me. Trying to overcome the bubbling terror in my chest, I smiled blithely and said “Well, I’m Martha, and this is my husband, Gussy. And like I said, we’re looking for our friend’s baby shower. Perhaps you know her—”
The shadow pointed straight at Kane, the body mimicking the movement, pointing randomly in the air. What is he doing?