Free Warrior from the Shadowland by Cassandra Gannon

“no” would vanish.  Cross didn’t want that.
    He’d
rather lose this round and win the war.
    Cross
clenched his jaw, annoyed and almost proud of her for trapping him.  “I won’t
always be this easy.”  He warned and released his hold on Nia’s elbow.  The
headache came rushing back, worse than ever.  The Shadows were somehow agitated
that he’d complied with her wishes at the risk of her own safety.  Cross closed
his eyes as pain seared through him.  He felt blood begin to seep out past his
lashes and he turned so Nia wouldn’t see it.  “Fuck.”  He doubled over,
fighting to push the pressure back.
    “Cross?” 
Nia’s voice went high.  Hands grabbed him again, blue manicured nails digging
into his arm as she tried to turn him to see his face.  “What’s wrong?  What
happened?  Why are you bleeding?!?”
    He
almost cried out in relief when she fingers found his cheek.  “It’s nothing.” 
He gritted hoarsely.  The tension eased and he opened his eyes to look at her,
again.  “A headache.”
    Nia
clearly didn’t believe that.  She wiped at the blood on his face and Cross
could read panic in every movement.  “I’m sorry.  Was it me?  I upset you.  I’m
sorry.  Are you hurt?  Sick?  Please, don’t be sick.”  Her voice shook and he
knew she was thinking of the Fall.  “Please, Cross.”
    He’d
never had anyone look so concerned for him before.  It felt… nice.  “I’m not
sick. And it wasn’t you.  I’m alright, baby.”
    The
police must’ve finished with the others, because they were getting closer to
the office door.  Cross swore, softly.  He reached up and instinctively grasped
Nia’s wrist, holding it against his cheek.  “Stay still.”
    The
Shadows swirled and the two of them just… disappeared.
    Nia
gasped.
    A
blonde police officer came into the office, but she couldn’t see them.  She
looked around suspiciously, as if she could sense them, but Cross was bending
the Shadows so her eyes traveled right over the spot where they stood.
    Cross
wasn’t sure whether to curse or laugh at this new demonstration of his
instability.
    Shadow
Phases could control Shadows.  They could vanish into them, move like them, and
create them.  But, they couldn’t drag other Phases into the Shadows with them. 
A normal Shadow Phase could’ve disappeared, but there was no way Cross
should’ve been able to hide Nia, too.  It was way beyond the power of a Shadow
Phase to manipulate other people’s bodies like that.  Cross still wasn’t sure
how he was getting the weight of the Shadows to work around Nia, but he knew
that the level of energy and the things that it could do were pretty friggin’
abnormal.
    Wrong.
    Wrong.
    Wrong.
    He
must’ve actually said it out loud, because Nia shook her head, red curls
swaying.  “Magic.”  She corrected, her mouth shaping the word so the cop
wouldn’t overhear.
    The
police woman turned to leave the office.
    And
that’s when Nia’s walkie-talkie made a loud chirping sound from inside of her
pocket.

Chapter Four
     
    These
crimes," the doctor answered, "have all the elements of a ghostly
impulse.”
     
    Charles
Wadsworth Camp- "The Abandoned Room: A Mystery Solved”
     
    Officer
Melanie O’Shea whirled around at the sound of electronic beeping.  She didn’t
know what the hell was going on, but she knew that there was something weird
about the whole feel of this serology lab.  A charge in the air had the small
hairs on her arms standing up.  Melanie’s deep brown eyes swept around the
messy interior of the office, cataloging every scattered file and broken
pencil.
    She
felt like she wasn’t alone.
    Melanie
saw the little radio a moment later, sitting on the edge of the overturned
desk. She stepped forward to frown at the device.  It was a walkie-talkie, just
like the ones that the she’d found on the three weirdoes that she’d just
handcuffed.  Only it hadn’t been there a second before.  Melanie was