Chasing Shadow (Shadow Puppeteer) Read Online Free PDF Page A

quite rolling into one slicing sound. The little boat followed the circular island to the back where the flood lights hadn’t been triggered. Standing on Ardent’s shore, the asylum didn’t look as astoundingly high as it actually was.
    A small dot of white was scaling the wall and I had a feeling he didn’t belong there. The Daily Dark said Diablo wore white. He was another figure I didn’t want to know firsthand, much like the Berserkers, though the Daily Dark never said he was responsible for anything violent.
    My throat tightened. I felt vulnerable out here, witnessing all this chaos.
    “Your boat is unlicensed. Stop the engine immediately,” an amplified voice boomed through the fog.
    “What are we going to do?” Starr looked genuinely confused.
    “Stop immediately or excessive force will be used,” the patroller warned.
    “How can they even see us in this fog?” the older lady asked.
    “It’s World Congress, they see everything,” the older man answered, stoically.
    The sirens were right in our wake. At any minute, the patrol ship was going to overpower us and there was no clue if we were still heading towards Ardent. The search light on us went from gray to white as it got close enough to cut through the fog.
    “This is your last warning. Stop or force will be used.”
    “Don’t stop!” A myriad of voices ordered our new captain.
    Starr squeezed my hand. It wasn’t enough to push everything from my head. The captain was still here inside me, though his real form had sunk. The thing I fought in the bathroom was here within me too, but only because my body ached and the image wasn’t quick to leave my thoughts.
    The patrol ship blared into view, moving much faster than we could. It rammed into our boat, shaking it with such force that the wood cracked on impact. Water rushed through the hole, drenching Starr and me first before filling the boat.
    Someone was crying, or maybe everyone was crying. I was too cold to focus on anything other than the pin and needle prickling of my skin. The larger ship zoomed in again, ramming us so hard that the tip of the boat crumbled and started to sink.
    Within a blink, I was submerged in the water. My muscles froze, making it impossible to wade. The bleakness of the situation was instant, left over from the residue of the drowning captain. I couldn’t save him and now I was destined to his fate.
    There were shouts around me, but my lungs couldn’t seize enough air to call out. The ocean was pulling me down. I felt it first in my feet as the heaviness crawled up the length of my legs into my torso and arms.
    For one tiny second, with the searchlights glaring off the top of the water and fog, I thought I saw ghostly pale fingers reaching for my face. I pressed my eyes shut, but I didn’t have the strength to open them again. The chill was so deep inside, pulling me down.
    The spasm in my chest forced water into my lungs. I choked, but that only pulled more water in. I couldn’t die like this. I refused. It felt like my skin was ripping straight from the core as I forced myself to swim upward. The searchlights went dark, leaving the surface as black as its depth.
    I didn’t want to be in the darkness. In my mind’s eye, I could picture the captain swimming up from his new grave to latch onto my ankles and pull me down. At this rate, I was going to drown without the extra effort. I was losing faith that I’d reach the top, but my will gave me the strength to breach the surface.
    Salt water burned my throat and nose with every violent cough. Breathing was made difficult with the divided effort of keeping my head above the waves.
    The patrol ship was gone and the sirens were once again distant. Did they fish everyone else out of the water? I couldn’t keep wading like this. I needed to find the shore.
    My jaw was its own motor, trembling so hard that my teeth clashed together. Any minute, hypothermia would kick in and all my effort would be for naught. Through the