Shadowlark Read Online Free PDF Page B

comes to hunting?”
    I chewed at my lower lip, troubled. “That crystal—the Star—it’s strange. Dorian said that this city once conducted experiments concerned with restoring magic to the wilderness. Do you think maybe the beacon wards them off, somehow, when it’s lit?”
    Nix’s wings fluttered, a tiny sound in the stillness. I knew it wanted to comment, but we couldn’t take a five-year-old’s delight as a sign that the family wouldn’t mind Nix’s presence.
    “Maybe,” Tansy said, slowly. “But who put it there? Surely not these people.”
    She didn’t need to say it, but I knew what she meant. These people were hovering on the brink of survival, living harvest to harvest. And none of them, as far as I could tell, had a shred of magic beyond what sustained them. How could any of them have had the resources to erect such a structure?
    I was about to answer when I saw a flicker of a shadow under one of the screens. When a tiny form emerged from behind it, hovering in the darkness just beyond the edge of the firelight, I straightened.
    “Molly?” I whispered. “Can’t you sleep?”
    She didn’t answer, swaying slightly side to side, her nightgown swishing softly against the tops of her feet. Tansy glanced over, then grinned at me, returning to her study of the flames.
    “Why don’t you come sit with us? You can play with my secret friend if you want.”
    She took a step forward, just the edges of her toes crossing the ring of firelight. I could see only the faintest outline of her face, her wispy hair, the flash of firelight in her eyes. Why didn’t she come?
    My mouth went dry. I don’t know how I knew—it had nothing to do with my abilities, my sensitivities. She made no telling sound, no movement; even the swish of her nightgown had stopped. The steady gleam of her eyes was fixed on my face.
    But I knew.
    “Tansy,” I whispered, not taking my gaze from the figure in the shadows. Slowly, I reached for the strap of my pack to bring it closer.
    I heard Tansy shift, straightening, recognizing the urgency in my voice if not the reason for it.
    The girl heard it too. Like a predator scents its prey’s fear, she knew. She took another step forward, and I saw the dark grey tracery of veins on her tiny foot. Her teeth gleamed in the firelight, even and white except for a gap where she’d lost a baby tooth.
    Shadow.
    And then all I saw was teeth and dead, grey skin and desperate, hungry white eyes. She was on me faster than I could register movement, the pain of her fingernails scratching at my skin jolting me into action. I struggled, the shadow girl’s screaming and snarling mingling with Tansy’s shouts of confusion and Nix’s furious buzzing. I heard other howls rising, the scrape of footsteps, the crackle of hungry voices.
    The little girl’s nails dug into the fleshy parts of my shoulders, clinging to me with unnatural strength, her teeth snapping inches from my nose. A string of saliva ran from her lips to my face. I held her away with one hand pressed against her throat—she didn’t even notice, as though she didn’t need to breathe. With my other hand I groped for Oren’s knife, the one I’d kept hidden in my pack.
    Not again. The words flashed through my mind, bright, searing. Not again. I can’t kill another child.
    My strength was giving out. Her teeth caught my earlobe and tore, sending pain like burning needles scattering down my neck and across my face. I heard a scream, not even recognizing the sound as my own voice until I had to gasp for air and the sound ended.
    I struck out with the blunt handle of the knife and felt it connect with a dull thud, sending her reeling back with a piercing howl of pain and confusion. I lurched to my feet, a wave of dizziness rushing through me as I swung my pack onto my back. Droplets of blood scattered across the floor as I stumbled, colliding with something warm. I shrieked, only to feel fingers wind through mine and hold