Chapter Fourteen: Sun and Shadow I remember the last time I heard a shadow's voice behind me didn't end well. Neither will this. I turned around to see another shadow. Personally, I find it creepy they can talk. Somehow they seem less sinister if they can't. It didn't have a face, but somehow I felt like it was smiling at me. I started to run, but then more shadows seemed to materialize in the woods. We were surrounded. "What do we do?" Bishop asked. I didn't know. What could we do? We were trapped, and James wasn't here to save us this time. We were about to become shadows. "I would love to turn you into a shadow...," the shadow hissed, "...But the Shadowed One forbids it." I shivered. The shadow's voice sounded exactly like how I would imagine a snake's. "Let's go. I don't want to keep the Shadowed One waiting," another shadow hissed. At least we weren't going to become shadows, but what would the Shadowed One do to us? Would he use us as bait to make Aunt Opal reopen the portal, if James was telling the truth about that? It was too risky. Me and Bishop had to escape. I looked at Bishop and slightly nodded my head to the forest. Bishop seemed to understand. The shadows might not catch us. And even if they did, they'd all but admitted they wouldn't turn us into shadows. "I'll tell you when to run," I whispered to Bishop. She nodded. 3. I took a deep breath. 2. I bunched my muscles, ready to sprint. 1. (Continue Below)
"Run!" I yelled, already sprinting to the woods. I heard Bishop running behind me. My legs burned, but I knew if I stopped, even for a second, the shadows would catch me. So I kept running. Then I heard growling behind me. Oh, please don't let them catch Bishop, I thought. Then Bishop appeared beside me, breathing hard. "Where do we go?" she asked. "I...don't know." "Do you really think we can outrun them?" No. I didn't. But we didn't have a choice. "I don't think we have a choice," I said truthfully. Eventually, when I didn't think anymore shadows were chasing us, I stopped, gasping for air. "This feels too easy," she said. I felt the same. We'd never been able to outrun the shadows before, not to mention I hadn't even seen a shadow, only heard them. It was too easy. That was why when a shadow crawled out of the trees, I wasn't even surprised. It lunged at us, and I dived to the ground, thinking it dived at me. But when I looked up, it had grabbed Bishop by the throat. I was to lunge at it, when a bright light filled the forest. I closed my eyes, but the light still seared my corneas. I had a feeling that if I opened them, I'd be blinded. Eventually it faded back into darkness, and I opened my eyes. Bishop was standing, unharmed. "What was that?" I asked her, but she didn't seem to hear me. She was staring at the shadow that had grabbed her. The shadow was on the ground, with darkness peeling off of it. I gasped. There was a person underneath the shadows. A girl.
