Chasing Shadow (Shadow Puppeteer) Read Online Free PDF

gray fog, dim lights twinkled, but I couldn’t tell if that was the Ardent shoreline or the asylum.
    It was too difficult staying afloat. My lethargy was getting worse. There were stars in the blackness that was hedging the edge of my vision and they drifted like I drifted. I was ready to surrender when a hand grabbed my collar and yanked me above the water.
    Breathe… Breathe… Breathe… Why was it so difficult to draw air into my lungs? There was a great deal of pressure bearing down on my chest.
    The waves rolled me to shore and I managed to crawl out of the water before my muscles gave out. I rolled onto my back, too exhausted to do anything but lay there. The air should feel colder, but I couldn’t feel a thing.
    A shadow blocked the light and it took a moment to realize it was Starr standing over me.
    “Starr.” I tried to smile, but my teeth wouldn’t stop clattering.
    “Patrollers are walking the beach. We need to get out of here,” Starr said.
    She was wet, but didn’t look nearly as miserable as I was. With her help, I got to my feet. Every small movement was etched with pain. She was extremely patient while I fought for control over my stiff body. It hurt to creep, though that’s what we did straight into the cover of the forest.
    “I think I saw the boatman,” I said.
    “You didn’t,” Starr said. I was taken aback by the harshness of that statement. She didn’t look at me, but I could feel her frustration. “He’s way out there towards the asylum and we’re over here on Ardent. You didn’t see him.”
    Her venom surprised me. Since we were children, Starr always suggested things existed alongside us, but I checked the library computer for these words like aliens and spirits and never found anything more about it. Only the Daily Dark talked about such things, and who knew who published the Daily Dark. There was no location for them in the paper and no author names were mentioned in the publications.
    Our conversation ended as we picked our way through the brush. I tried not to focus on my pain, but it was there. I needed a hot bath to melt the coldness and all the other aches from my body.
    “I do believe, you know.” She paused, judging her statement and rephrasing it in her mind. “Something exists out there. I mean something not so human. But when you talk about these things and you look like something dragged you through a grave, it freaks me out.”
    The dead Starr flashed in my mind along with the image of that entity feeding on the dancers’ vibrancy. Even for that short time in the fog, I swore I saw the captain reaching for me.
    Starr dropped her voice. “Do you remember those books down in your grandma’s basement?”
    “She’s not my grandma. We just share a space so she can collect money from the government.”
    She probably used the money to fund her organization.
    The forest floor crunched under our feet filling the silence. We stopped just within the fold of the trees to stare down at the city. This was the city I knew since I was six. I wasn’t in love with it, but it was comfortable.
    “We need to look at those books again,” Starr said.
    I didn’t want to think about books. I wanted to sleep and Ms. Sable probably had something I could take to keep the dreams at bay.
    “I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said.
    “You’re going to school looking like that?”
    Starr’s honesty was a little brutal.
    “I’ll shower,” I said.
    She scuffed and I started down the path towards the city. I was too tired to stand around and take her barbs. It was just Starr.
    “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she called after me.
    Her house was back in the woods where the richer people lived, which left me walking alone. The smallest sound left me jittery. I couldn’t help but picture the dead Starr stalking silently behind me. I really wanted the little flashlight that served as a security blanket for a good portion of my life, but it was back at the rave, along with my purse, sitting on