I swallowed. We were only a few yards from the door, and I stared up at the enormous giant. The word stretched was right. He didn’t look like a large man, suitably proportioned. It was as if his body had been distended upward, his head a narrow oval, its features transfigured and twisted horribly, one eye lower than the other, the mouth twisted in a permanent, creepy, one-sided smile. I felt like an icy drink had been poured down my shirt as I gazed at him.
But it stood completely still, as did the other Shades. I crept over to the door, and tried the handle. The door didn’t budge.
“Locked.” I inspected the lock. It wasn’t particularly complicated, and I could pick it in five or six minutes. But by that time, Kane would be entirely blind in the dark, and I might start losing my night vision too. And the moon was about to rise…
I knew what I had to do, but for a moment I just stood still, mustering the courage. Then I edged toward the giant Shade.
“Lou? What are you doing?”
“Hang on,” I croaked, my throat dry. I glanced up at the giant, then down. His clothing was torn in places, but his pants still had several pockets. And through one, I saw the outline of a key chain.
I edged closer, the Shade’s smell hitting my nostrils. It was the smell of sweat and filth and rot, of a body that was no longer maintained, no longer groomed. After all, it was just a body. I slid my hand into his pocket and touched the key chain. Then, one of my fingers brushed against something warm. His skin.
The pocket was torn, and my finger had gone through, touching his inner thigh. It felt rubbery and… wrong. Almost like it was stretched too tight. I imagined his body, expanded by the Shade, the skin stretching to its limit. Would my touch be enough to punch a hole, as if it was a sheet of plastic? My mind filled with the image of the rotting meat underneath that skin. Feeling sick, I pulled my hand out of the pocket, clutching the keychain. Then I peered up into his face.
For a moment, I almost screamed. His eyes were staring back at me. But the body still remained completely inert.
And yet… something was alive in those eyes. They weren’t empty and blank. There was an emotion there. Pain, and desperation, and horror.
Suddenly I had a terrifying thought. What if someone was still in that body? Someone trapped in a puppet, completely controlled by its shadow? Only now, with the shadow gone, perhaps he could almost break free.
Almost.
It didn’t move. Only its eyes seemed alive. Tormented. Begging for oblivion.
I tottered backward, bile rising up my throat. I couldn’t throw up, I couldn’t. If I threw up, I would probably lose my night vision, and I needed it. I forced myself to breathe deeply, tears in my eyes, and turned to the door. The keychain had only two keys on it, and the first one slid in and turned easily.
“Are you okay?” Kane whispered.
I shook my head sharply, but said nothing. I didn’t trust my voice.
The warehouse was large and windowless. It was even darker inside it than outside. I could glimpse several still figures inside, none of them moving. There was one large shipping container, locked with a padlock on its far side.
“That’s where Harutaka is,” I croaked, pointing at the container.
“What is?” Kane asked. “I can’t see anything in here, it’s too dark.”
“There’s a shipping container. Come on, I might need your help.” I took his hand.
“You’re trembling,” he said.
“I’m fine. Come on.” I led him inside.
We circled around the still Shades, and I avoided their eyes, terrified I might see that same trapped gaze there.
The padlock on the container was heavy, and would take effort to pick. I tried the second key on the chain, but it didn’t fit. Carefully, I tapped the metal surface of the container.
“Hello?” I said.
“Yes!” a muffled voice answered from inside. “I’m here!”
“We’re here to get you out. Do you know if there’s a key to this lock?”
“I didn’t even know there was a lock,” the voice said.
I looked around. I could search the Shades in the warehouse, but it would take some time, and I couldn’t be sure any of them had the key. After all, the giant had the key to the warehouse, but not to this padlock.
“There’s a padlock here,” I told Kane. “Can you blast it open?”
He considered it. “Not without creating a lot of light,” he finally said.
Light would reanimate the Shades, and I wasn’t keen for that to happen.
“Okay, I’ll handle it.”
I knelt in front of the padlock and fished my lockpicking kit from my pocket. I unrolled it and squinted at the tools. It was getting really hard to see. I felt them with my fingers, finding the small tension wrench and the curvy pick. I turned to the lock and tried to insert the tension wrench into it, but it was almost impossible. I couldn’t see the keyhole, could hardly see my hands. I tried to feel the surface of the lock, searching for the keyhole, but my fingers were numb from the cold, and my palm trembled slightly.
“Fuck!” I spat.
“What is it?” Kane asked.
“I can’t see the lock. Hang on.”
I rummaged in my pocket, finding the last vial. I pulled it out and unstopped it.
“What are you doing?”
“I need to see.” I took a quick swig of the potion. Just half. Enough to see… and hopefully not enough to kill me.
“Didn’t you say more basilisk venom would kill you?”
“Only pussies are afraid of a little basilisk venom,” I muttered, waiting for the potion to take effect. “Uh… I might need some help when we make a run for it.”
My body was already under the influence of the potion, and it took only a minute for my vision to sharpen enough so I could see the keyhole again. I inserted the tension wrench into it, applied a bit of pressure, then slid the lockpick inside. I was pretty sure there were five pins in the lock. I began fiddling with the pick, trying to find the sweet point for the first pin.
“Harutaka?” I asked.
“Yeah?” the muffled voice answered from inside the container.
“My name is Lou Vitalis. I’m here to break you out.”
“I’m much obliged.”
“In return, I want you to help us with something.” I felt the first pin catch. On to the second one.
“Well, I’m hardly in a position to refuse.”
“I agree. Don’t worry, you’ll like it.” I began feeling nauseous. The venom, taking effect.
“Lou, there’s something in the tea leaves,” Isabel said. “Something… bad. It’s unclear. A bad man, maybe two. I’m pretty sure it’s two… no… hang on. I’ll try to get a card reading.”
“No pressure,” I mumbled, feeling the second pin catching. Number three now. “Harutaka, I just want to make sure. You know how to counter Danann runes, right?”
A second went by. “If I say no, will you leave me here to rot?”
“Well, I don’t want to sound heartless.” Number three done. On to number four.
“Yeah, I know how to counter Danann runes. Piece of cake.”
Isabel cleared her throat. “Lou, it’s definitely on its way. It’s a shit storm. The cards aren’t happy.”
I wasn’t happy either. “What’s on its way?”
“Two Shades. Or one. I’m not sure. But they’re angry.”
“It’s dark here. They shouldn’t be able to move.” The fourth pin clicked. On to number five. The hand holding the tension wrench shook slightly, numb. If it shifted even a bit, all the pins would drop, and I’d have to start all over again. I gritted my teeth, trying to focus.