Free Shadowed (Fated) by Sarah Alderson

much.’
    Evie dropped her head into her hands and squeezed
her eyes shut. Vero was wrong about something, she thought to herself. She
didn’t want the pain to magically disappear, because if it did then it would be
as if she had forgotten Lucas ever existed. The pain was a part of her now,
just as much as he had been a part of her, and always would be. She didn’t know
who she would be without it – without him. And she didn’t want to find out.

Chapter 14

 
    They parked outside the bookshop that Cyrus’s mother, Margaret, owned.
    ‘How’s she doing? Do you know?’ Evie asked.
    ‘No,’ said Ash. ‘We’ve only seen her once. She came
to the warehouse a week or so after it happened and collected a few of Cyrus’s
things. Told us we were welcome to stay there for a while if we needed a place
to live. But we haven’t seen her or heard from her since.’
    ‘She didn’t look so good though,’ Vero added,
almost redundantly.
    Margaret had lost her only child. Evie could
imagine that Margaret was probably doing worse than she was, given that Cyrus
was her only child and she had spent her life trying to protect him from the
thing that had eventually killed him.
    Evie cast a glance in the direction of the bookshop
that Margaret owned. It was bustling this weekend morning with young couples
and arty-looking types, all reading their papers while sipping their lattes at
the tables inside. Everyone was so oblivious, so unaware of what was going on
around them, of the fact that three Hunters were sitting in a car a few metres
away and that the city was being overrun with demons.
    ‘So are we going in, then?’ asked Evie finally,
trying to ignore the thrumming headache crashing against her skull and her
overwhelming tiredness.
    Ash twisted around to look at her over his
shoulder, his dark eyes hooded by lack of sleep and maybe something else
– something that seemed more like an apology.
    ‘Maybe it’s better if you wait out here,’ he said,
avoiding looking at her directly.
    An uncomfortable silence filled the car. Vero
started fidgeting with the door handle.
    ‘I know why you’re saying that,’ Evie said in as
even a voice as she could summon, ‘but I want to come in.’
    Ash studied her for a moment and then exhaled
loudly while mumbling something which sounded to Evie like, It’s your funeral.
    They strolled through the café part of the shop,
dodging and weaving around outstretched legs, and had almost made it to the
door at the back of the store that led up to Margaret’s office when a waitress
– a tall girl with dark hair in braids – stepped in front of Evie
and let out an ear-splitting squeal. Her name was Darcy. Evie remembered her
from before.
    ‘You! You’re one of Cyrus’s friends!’ the girl
screeched. ‘ Were , I mean. Weren’t you
in his band?’
    Evie’s gaze shifted to the muffin and coffee
sitting on the tray the girl was carrying. ‘Yeah, something like that,’ she
mumbled.
    ‘It’s terrible, isn’t it?’ Darcy said, her voice
cracking and her eyes beginning to shine with tears. ‘So hard to believe. There
one minute, gone the next. Just crossing a street. I mean it’s just – it
could have happened to anyone.’
    Evie felt the scream building inside her. For an
instant she entertained the idea of kicking the tray out of the girl’s hands
and watching it fly across the store. Her rage was simmering dangerously and
she fought to bring it back under control. It couldn’t have just happened to
anyone. That was the thing – that was what she was mad about. Cyrus had
given his life to save the world and no one even knew about his sacrifice. It
was so damn unfair.
    Suddenly she felt fingers squeezing her arm and
glancing down saw Vero’s hand circling her wrist, gripping it in warning. Evie
realised that her hands were fisted and her body tensed to spring. She took a
deep breath and forced a smile before walking around Darcy and pushing through
the door.
    Even from a