Free Shadows (Ultrahumans Book 2) by Niall Teasdale

forward and screamed. It was a sound unlike anything Andrea had ever heard before; a howling, animal sound rang across the expanse of space and sent cold driving through her bones, but she held onto Twilight.
    ‘No! We stay together !’ Andrea screamed back and the ground split again, but this time it was between her and the dark figure in the distance. The ground shook and the crack widened rapidly, driving back the darkness and throwing the figure out into nothingness…
    ~~~
    The summons to the Shadow Chamber had come as something of a surprise and the overpowering sense of anger he felt as he entered the room was unnerving. The cold, when it wrapped around him, was more biting than usual. Something was very wrong.
    ‘The girl,’ the voice said, its tone colder than ever, ‘something has happened to her.’
    ‘Is she dead?’ Durant asked, his voice barely above a whisper. His fingers were already beginning to go numb in the biting cold of the shadowed room.
    ‘She lives. Her shadow has consumed her and yet it has not gained control.’
    ‘There may still be time then…’ He stopped as the air froze in his lungs. The darkness wrapped around him like a suffocating cloud.
    ‘She must be found, and secured, and brought here. She is a threat to everything. See to this personally. Bring her to me!’
    Durant collapsed to the floor, the darkness releasing him so suddenly that it was all he could do to keep breathing. His breathing ragged, he crawled toward the door and the light.
    ~~~
    Bright light. Too bright. She wanted darkness. She wanted shadow. But at least she was warm now and…
    Andrea sat up in bed with a gasp. She was in one of the guest rooms in Penny’s house, the one which had been more or less allocated to her whenever she stayed over. She recognised the decoration, the large bed, fitted wardrobes, and the desk which Penny was sitting in front of.
    ‘You’re awake,’ the little brunette said, a little redundantly.
    ‘I died,’ Andrea replied.
    ‘No, we found you in the freezer with Jacob. Heather took him to hospital, but your suit must’ve protected…’
    ‘No,’ Andrea interrupted. ‘I died. They gave us both Excelsior and it killed me. I died. How am I here?’
    ‘What do you remember?’
    Andrea frowned and pressed the bridge of her nose between her fingers. ‘There was darkness. Isn’t there supposed to be a light? And Twilight was there with me…’
    ‘You are Twilight,’ Penny pointed out.
    ‘I’m… It felt like there was me and Twilight, and another me, a darker me.’ She looked up. ‘I don’t… I don’t feel like me anymore. The darkness did something. I feel like I’m broken. I feel like I’m not quite all here.’
    ‘Oh,’ Penny said. ‘Well… I, uh, I guess that explains…’
    ‘Explains what, Penny?’
    Penny pointed across the room to a mirror on one of the wardrobe doors. ‘Maybe you should see for yourself. Just… try to stay calm, okay?’
    Andrea slipped out of bed and walked over to where she could see herself. ‘You know, that is not a calming thing to–’ She stopped as her face came into view in the mirror. She looked just the same as she had before, except for her eyes. Her eyes were black, totally black. ‘Oh,’ she said. ‘Well, there goes my secret identity.’
    ~~~
    ‘She seems to be taking it pretty well,’ June commented. ‘I think I’d be freaking out, screaming, running around the house tearing my hair out…’
    ‘I can hear you, y’know?’ Andrea said as she walked into the lounge. ‘And don’t stare; it’s rude.’ She was dressed in a wrap and rubbing at her hair with a towel.
    ‘Sorry. I was the same when Penny first… changed. And you’re kind of, um, more exotic.’
    ‘Still not into girls, June.’
    June giggled. ‘That’s what she said too.’
    ‘Yeah…’ Penny mumbled. ‘What are you going to do about Lena?’
    Andrea’s face fell. ‘Oh, damn. I hadn’t thought of that.’
    ‘Wait a minute,’ June