Weaver of Shadows

Nathan tried to slam the door closed but the demon reached forward and grabbed it, wrenching it back open with ease. Its face devoid of expression as it attacked Nathan. He showed no sign of surprise as it attacked, instead seeming fully focused on not getting slaughtered. He stumbled backwards and Levi heard an audible crack as the demon’s fist met Nathan’s ribs. Lazarus yelled and rushed forward, tackling the demon and pinning its arms behind its back. He overpowered it for a moment and Anson joined him, holding it down. It struggled but didn’t seem to be able to escape.
Levi stumbled forward, looking at the demon. It appeared just as Anson had described, like a corpse that was somehow moving on its own. It continued struggling against the two boys but they held firm. Levi grabbed his dagger from his belt and plunged it into the demon’s neck. It didn’t seem to notice. Levi immediately felt something discomforting, why had it suddenly become harder to think?
A black shape floated in through the doorway, answering Levi’s unasked question. It turned to face him, though it was barely distinguishable that it had a face, its humanoid figure barely defined. The mind-numbing influence of the demon increased as it drew closer, but Levi managed to stumble away from it, backing into the tunnel. He pulled Adelia and Phoebe along with him, moving to be in front of them. Adelia stepped up next to him, and though he wished he could protect her instead, he knew she’d be better at stopping this demon than he was, physical attacks seemed to have little effect on it.
It reached forward as if to grab Levi’s throat but then stopped. Adelia grunted and it was forced backwards and out of the Corridor by her Shaping. At the same moment, Anson and Lazarus managed to shove the other demon out of the doorway, both boys panting heavily. Phoebe  ran forward and slammed the door shut, locking the two creatures outside. Levi heard the physical demon banging on the outside of the door and could see it vibrating, despite it being half a foot thick.. The pounding was relentless, and Levi knew the demon wouldn’t stop until it had broken in.
Nathan coughed, bringing Levi’s attention to him. In all the commotion he had almost forgotten that the demon had wounded him. Nathan tried to sit up but Phoebe stopped him. “You’re hurt, don’t move yet, I’m not sure how bad it is.”
“I just cracked a rib or two, I’m fine,” he said back gruffly, but his voice was weak and he was treating his left side gingerly. He coughed again, wincing and lying back down.
“It might be best for me to take a breather,” he said in resignation. “We need to stop those things though, if they get in we’ll be finished.”
“How do we stop them, they’re invincible!” Adelia asked, voice bordering on terror. “The physical one doesn’t notice wounds, and we can’t even touch the other one! The best I could do was make it go backwards and that took a huge chunk of my Manna!”
“Calm yourself,” Nathan said soothingly. “There’s more than one way to defeat an enemy. If we lure them inside here we can lock them inside and get a head start on our escape. This door’s sturdy, it should hold them for a while.” His answer seemed prepared, as if he’d thought of it before. How could he have though?
“How are we supposed to lock it from the outside?” Phoebe asked.
“I have a way, I always thought the Corridor would work well to defeat an enemy we couldn’t beat by force,” he said with a smile. “This wasn’t who I was planning on using it on, but it’ll work just as well.
So that was why his answer was prepared. What had he been planning on using it for? It didn’t matter right now, the plan was a good one.
“Adelia and Phoebe, I need both of you to force the mental demon to stay in here after we’re all out. Anson, you pull Nathan out of here, Lazarus and I can make sure the Physical one doesn’t escape,” Levi said, hoping it would work. Thankfully no one counteracted his orders, but a second later Naomi spoke up.
“And I keep the demon here too,” she said with determination, though her voice trembled with fear. 
“Yeah, you can do that,” Levi said without consideration. “Is everyone ready?” They all looked at him and nodded, though he knew they weren’t. How could they be ready to face these demons,enemies who couldn’t be beat, that they could barely combat at all? And how had he started leading them. If this went wrong, it was his fault.
“Now!” he yelled, pulling the door open. Both demons rushed in, instantly heading towards Naomi. She screamed and the mental demon froze in place, its form shifting slightly but unable to move. Naomi crumpled to the ground, unmoving. Deviating from the plan, Lazarus rushed to her side, throwing her over his shoulder and charging out the doorway. Anson tackled the physical demon to the floor while the other two escaped and for a moment he battled the demon alone. Then Levi arrived, kicking the demon off his friend with a Manna-strengthened leg and pulling Anson outside of the Corridor. Phoebe, Adelia, and Nathan were waiting for them which meant everyone had made it out. Levi pulled the door shut behind him as he exited, then pressed himself against it just in time to feel the physical demon slam into it from inside. He pulsed Manna through himself, trying not to think about how low his levels were at the moment. If he didn’t use it now though, he might never get another chance to.
“Whatever you have planned, do it now!” he grunted at Nathan, feeling the door start to push outward, moving him. Adelia and Anson joined him and they managed to close the door again. Nathan flicked his hand and something clicked into place just as Levi’s Manna ran out completely and he fell to the floor, exhausted. It was hard to think through the fog his brain was covered in, but he knew they’d won. They had won, right? Or succeeded at least, they had no way of beating the demons. How long did they have before they escaped?
    He glanced over and saw Adelia kneeling over Naomi, silently crying. How had he forgotten something had happened to Naomi? It was so hard to think through the muddled mess his mind had become after using his Manna so quickly. He dashed to Naomi’s side, next to Adelia. “Is she ok?”
    “She…she will be,” Adelia said in a shaky voice. “She used her Manna so quickly it put her into a coma. She’s done this a couple of times before, she isn’t able to control the output of her Manna well. But you saw what she did there.”
    “She was incredible,” Levi agreed in a soothing tone. “How long did it take her to wake up the other times?”
    “Once a couple of minutes, the other time a few hours. She didn’t have as much Manna those times though, there’s no way for me to tell how long she’ll be out this time,” Adelia answered, tears flowing freely down her face.
    “It’s going to be ok, we have to move now though,” Levi said. He helped Adelia to her feet, then bent down and managed to put Naomi’s body over his shoulder. He struggled to his feet, exhausted and devoid of Manna but determined to start moving ang get as far away from the demons as possible. He slowly started walking up the hill.
    “Levi? We go this way,” Phoebe said, pointing downhill. He turned and started moving where she’d said to go. The way Manna messed with his head was so annoying! He glanced at Phoebe again and noticed she was supporting Anson. What had happened to him? Levi decided to ask later, it was taking all his concentration not to trip, Naomi’s weight throwing him off balance.
“Let me carry her,” Adelia said to him, wiping the tears out of her eyes. “You look so tired, but I didn’t…I didn’t do anything.” Her eyes brimmed with fresh tears to replace the ones she had wiped away earlier. “Didn’t do anything,” she whispered where he could barely hear.
Levi slumped down, gently setting Naomi on the floor so Adelia could pick her up. He felt bad about making Adelia carry her, but he probably would slow the entire group down if he tried to take her. “You did do something. When Naomi stopped the demon, you pulled her to safety. There wasn’t much you could have done to the demon after Naomi used her Manna, for all we know the demon still can’t move,” he said, trying to force a smile.
“I guess,” she said, sounding unconvinced. She picked up Naomi and lifted her, wobbling slightly. Then she straightened and Levi knew she was using Manna to help herself. He made a mental note to have someone else take a turn carrying Naomi after a little while.
“I need to go check on Anson, I’ll be back though,” he said. It sounded dumb as soon as he said it, but Anson had seemed hurt and Levi needed to know what had happened.
“Ok, that’s fine,” Adelia said, though she sounded disappointed. Levi ignored that for now, walking tiredly over to Anson and Phoebe.
“I’m fine!” Anson whispered somewhat forcefully to Phoebe. “It doesn’t hurt.” 
She raised an eyebrow at him, the gesture just visible in the dimming evening light.
“That bad,” he added. “It doesn’t hurt that bad.”
“What doesn’t hurt that bad?” Levi asked, making the two jump.
“Nothing!” Anson answered quickly.
“When he tackled that demon it did some damage before you went in and helped him. Show him what happened,” she told Anson.
Anson sighed but lifted up his shirt sleeve, revealing a large bruise that was forming on his arm. “It just barely managed to hit me, and it was just a glancing blow too! That thing is strong.”
“I know,” Levi said back. “And it’ll be chasing us again soon, it’s a strong door but the demon is relentless and you just showed how strong it is.”
Anson nodded. “I don’t know how fast we’ll be able to move, you, me, Phoebe, and Lazarus are exhausted, Nathan’s hurt and Naomi’s unconscious.”
    “We’ll be able to move fast enough,” Phoebe said forcefully, as if her projected confidence could make it true.
“We’ll have to,” Levi said, attempting to match that tone. Anson and Phoebe both nodded grimly, knowing it wouldn’t be an easy trip.
Levi made his way back towards Adelia, who seemed to be doing fine carrying Naomi. There was no way to tell how much Manna she was expending though. As he approached, she smiled at him and everything felt a little bit better.
“Is Anson ok?” she asked him lightly. Levi couldn’t tell by the sound of her voice, but he thought she might be faking it, there wasn’t a whole lot to be happy about at the moment. It seemed to be a night for faked positive emotions though, as the opposite would do them no good.
“He’ll be ok, the physical demon got him pretty good.”
Adelia winced in sympathy. “We need to figure out something to call them other than ‘physical demon’ and ‘mental demon.’ Any ideas?”
She was right, it would help it be a lot less confusing to discuss if they had more identifying names. And he was also grateful to think about something other than how poorly the night had gone. “The physical one looked… well, you know how it looked. Dead. So, call it the Corpse?” That didn’t sound quite right to him.
“Yeah, maybe…” she was silent for a moment. “An ogre, maybe? Like the monsters of legend?”
“Yeah, that could work, it’s the Ogre.” He didn’t say anything else for a while. “I’m not able to think of a good name for the other one though.
“Neither am I, but if you do think of one, let me know.” She sighed softly, looking down at the ground.
“Are…you ok?” Levi asked hesitantly. Had she been hurt and he hadn’t seen?
“I’m not very good at this, pretending to be happy, pretending to be ok. I’m sorry.” She didn’t break from her staring match with the floor.
“Hey, you don’t have to pretend,” Levi said comfortingly. “I don’t care if it’s the best day of your life or the worst, just be honest with your emotions.” He smiled gently at her.
She finally looked up from the ground and met his eyes. “Thanks,” she said simply. He hesitated for a moment, then awkwardly put one arm around her in a strange sort of side hug, made even more uncomfortable by Naomi’s body. Levi quickly let go and resisted the urge to walk away in embarrassment.
“You guys are weird,” Naomi mumbled from her position across Adelia’s shoulders.
Adelia shrieked, nearly dropping the other girl. “You’re awake!”
“Yep,” Naomi said simply.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Adelia said, putting Naomi on the ground, then helping her to her feet.
“I didn’t want to walk,” Naomi replied, unashamed.
“Naomi!” Adelia said, though there was only relief in her voice, no anger. “I’m just glad you’re ok.” She hugged Naomi, now beaming. Levi took a step to the side, feeling as if he was intruding.
“Sorry,” Naomi said without any conviction.
“It’s ok, you’re ok and that’s the important thing.” Naomi tried to take a step and collapsed to the floor. Then she started giggling. “Carry me?” she asked Adelia. Adelia sighed but obliged, Naomi returning to her original position over her shoulder.
“I bet you wish Anson was carrying you instead,” Adelia teased.
“Of course I do, he’s hot,” Naomi said back with a smile. Adelia laughed and Levi joined in, still feeling like he didn’t belong with the other two. And maybe he didn’t, they’d known each other for a lot longer, they probably wouldn’t notice if he left. All he was doing there was making things weird.
He started walking away and, much to his disappointment, Adelia didn’t seem to notice, or, if she did, she didn’t care. And so he walked alone, the darkness his only companion.
 

“What the frosts just happened?” Levi asked. All of the good feelings he’d had with Adelia were gone. Phoebe looked like she was about to faint and Anson didn’t look much better. And a date, since when had their plan been to go on a date? Had Anson been trying to hide this from him? Did that matter?
“We got attacked by what we think is another kind of demon,” Phoebe said bluntly, exhausted.
Oh, well that was perfectly reasonable… “Another demon?” he asked, finally realizing what she’d said. “What do you mean?”
“We think it was a demon,” Anson said. We can’t really be sure, it wasn’t like the one from before. That one was about to attack us too though.”
“What? Tell me what happened, all of it,” he said, trying to keep his voice from hysterics. He slid down next to Anson, his attention directly fully to the story they told.
“So there’s a physical demon too?” he said.
“We think so, it would make sense,” Phoebe said back. Her head was resting on Anson’s shoulder now, she looked like she could fall asleep at a moment's notice.
“Yeah… I guess it would. And you stabbed it and nothing happened?”
    “Yep, it didn’t seem to notice. It was strong though,” Anson said, holding up his wrists where nasty bruises had started to form. Phoebe lifted her head from his shoulder and touched his wrist lightly. 
“I didn’t know you’d been hurt, I’m so sorry,” she said, tears welling in her eyes. “I should have done something to help.”
    “You couldn’t have known that mental Shaping was ineffective on that thing,” Anson said consolingly.
“I still should have done something other than fall down and make you slower, you could have died because of me!” she exclaimed.
“But I didn’t, we're ok,” he said gently. She nodded slowly but seemed unconvinced. She returned her head to his shoulder though, appearing to be too tired to argue. A few seconds later she had fallen asleep. Anson brushed a few strands of hair out of her face, smiling.
“So the demon attack wasn’t the only thing that happened today I assume,” Levi said, raising an eyebrow at both of them sitting there together. They really were cute together, even though Phoebe might be destroying Anson and Levi’s bond. They were like brothers and she might come between them.
“I guess you could say that,” Anson said, his grin growing wider. 
“I will say that,” Levi said, grinning back. “Are you two a thing now?”
“I don’t really know,” he replied. “I sure hope so,” he said with a blush. The corners of Phoebe’s mouth twitched, leading Levi to believe she might not be asleep like he had assumed. What did she think of this? Did she just want to hear Anson’s perspective or was she just tired?
    “Why do you want to be?” Levi asked, hoping both to understand exactly what Anson saw in Phoebe and to see if he could get a reaction out of her.
    “Well she’s clever, she’s strong, she’s determined, she’s a good Shaper,” he said quickly. Then he added, “and she’s really pretty,” he said, turning his head to look at her. He didn’t seem to see it, but her face was filled with concentration at trying to keep a straight face. “In the end, I guess it’s just that she’s awesome,” he finished. That finally got to her and a grin broke out across her face. She sat up straight and looked at Anson.
    “Thanks,” she said, leaning forward and giving him a quick peck on the cheek. They both blushed a deep red and she put her head back on his shoulder, scooting a little closer to him,
    “I…didn’t realize you were listening,” Anson said.
    “Here’s a little secret, girls are always listening,” she said back tiredly.
    “Well there’s nothing I said that wasn’t true,” Anson said, his blush starting to fade. Phoebe smiled again but didn’t move more than that.
    “So I guess we’ll figure out what exactly we are later,” Anson said, looking at her fondly.
    “Yep,” she said happily, looking very comfortable next to Anson.
    “I guess someone should tell Nathan about the new demon,” Anson said after a moment, sounding reluctant. He suddenly sat up straight, making Phoebe jump. “And Lazarus! He doesn’t know that the demons are nearby! Someone has to warn him and make sure he doesn’t get hurt!”
    Levi jumped to his feet. “You both are exhausted, I’ll make sure he’s ok.” He dashed towards the door. He almost yanked it open but decided it would be best to open it slowly, he had no clue what could be out there. For all he knew, the demons were waiting to ambush him. Levi prepared to strengthen his body to yank the door back closed if he saw anything suspicious. He cracked it open and saw someone, or if what Anson and Levi had described was right, a demon. He slammed it closed, his heart pounding.
    “Is everything ok Levi?” Anson asked from his spot in the hallway.
    “It’s here,” Levi said, flexing his fingers and preparing to punch the demon if it tried to enter the Corridor. The door opened and he pushed Manna into his arm, feeling the strength of his muscles increase. His punch connected solidly, sending the demon sprawling. It groaned and sat up, looking woozy.
    “Lazarus?” Anson asked, confused.
    “Who else would it be?” Lazarus said from lying on his back. Levi rushed forward and pulled him into the Corridor, shutting the door behind them.
    “I’m so sorry!” Levi said hurriedly. “I thought you were something else, there’s some stuff we need to tell you.” He tried his best not to make eye contact with Lazarus.
“What kind of stuff?” Lazarus asked. He groaned again, then laid his head on the ground. “And can it explain why you hit me? That hurt!”
“Bad stuff, and yes it can, I’m so sorry about that.” Levi turned to Anson. “You should explain it, you were there.”
    “You’re right.” Anson launched into the same explanation he’d told Levi. Lazarus’s expression went from pained to confused to terrified in a matter of moments.
    “Do you know what this means?” he asked them.
    “Uh…Galahad has another weapon we didn’t know about until now?” Anson replied.
    “Yes, but it also means he knows where we are, or he will soon. I’m not sure if the first demon can communicate, but if the second one has a mouth, it can probably talk. We need to get ready to leave as soon as we can.
    “Can I sleep for a little bit?” Phoebe said from Anson’s shoulder. Lazarous raised an eyebrow at the sight of them together.
    “For a little bit, until Nathan says we need to leave,” Lazarus told her. “Levi, go tell Adelia and Naomi that we need to prepare to leave.
    “Alright, I’ll go find them,” he said, beginning to walk away from the group.
    “I don’t know how fast that demon can move so I don’t know how much time we have before Galahad’s men get here.” His expression got even more severely worried. “He could send the Violet Guard our way too, so we need to get out of here.”
Levi nodded, running down the long hallway, searching for Adelia and Naomi. He heard laughter coming back from where they’d played Hoops together and he followed the sound to them. He stopped when he saw them, Adelia laughing at something Naomi had said or done. They didn’t know how much danger they were in and he was reluctant to make them afraid when they were obviously enjoying themselves. They needed to know though.
Adelia’s laughter cut off abruptly as she saw him. She must have noticed something about his expression because she quickly asked, “What’s wrong?”
    “Galahad knows where we are, or he will soon. We need to get ready to leave,” Levi said urgently.
“What? How did he find out?” Adelia asked. Naomi ran over to them and reached out her hand, grabbing Adelia’s.
“What’s happening?” Naomi said.
“Galahad knows where we are, but it’s going to be ok,” Adelia replied consolingly, giving Naomi’s hand a comforting squeeze.
“I know it’s going to be ok,” Naomi replied simply.
“We need to leave,” Levi said firmly, feeling bad about hurrying them but knowing it was necessary.
“I know!” Adelia said harshly, then winced. “Sorry, but I need to take care of Naomi and that takes time,” she added apologetically.
“It’s ok,” Naomi said. “Let’s go.”
“Where are we going?” Adelia asked.
“I think up by the entrance, Lazarus should be explaining things toNathan,” Levi said back. He started running down the hallway but quickly slowed down so Adelia could keep pace, as she had in turn slowed down for Naomi. Eventually they reached the end of the tunnel and foundNathan waiting for them.
“Galahad will know where we are soon. I thought we would be safe for a while as the first demon had no apparent way to communicate with him, but this second one can most likely talk.”
“Second demon?” Adelia whispered to Levi.
“Yeah, it’s like an animated corpse or something.”
Adelia gasped quietly and Naomi shuddered as Nathan continued. “We need to abandon the Corridor and go back to Strathe, where we will join with the revolution. After a couple weeks there we should be able to take down Galahad and return our world to freedom. But right now we need to focus on escape. Lazarus, Anson, and Levi will carry these packs with supplies for our travel,” he said, pointing to four packs laid out in front of him. Adelia, you will take care of Naomi as we return, and Phoebe, try to regain your strength, you’ll need it.”
Levi stepped forward and grabbed one of the packs. It wasn’t nearly as heavy as he’d expected, it looked like there wouldn’t be much in terms of food or water for the next few days. Nothing he wasn’t used to though.
“I’m scared,” Naomi whispered to Adelia, barely loud enough for Levi to hear.
“I know,” Adelia whispered back to her. “We’re going to be ok though.”
    Nathan opened the door to the Corridor and stepped out into the light. The sunset was pretty on the horizon, a stark contrast to the ugly, corpselike demon waiting for them outside.
 

Anson grabbed a box, lifting it onto a handcart piled high with supplies. When Lazarus had said he’d be getting supplies, Anson had imagined weapons. Spears, swords, bows, or even something more exotic, like a halberd. Instead they had gotten more mundane things, like food, water, and clothing. He understood they were necessary, but they were also boring. He tried to shove down his dissatisfaction regarding the supplies by focusing on something else. And so, naturally, his mind turned to the pretty girl standing next to him. Some people might find it unattractive to see a girl performing heavy labor, but Anson liked it. It meant she was willing to work hard and to do things unconventionally. And, if he was being honest with himself, she didn’t look bad at all. He was getting more and more certain that she couldn’t look bad in any circumstance.
She said something, and he blinked out of his daze “What?” he asked. He probably looked like an idiot now, though he always did anyway.
 “Are you ready to go? We’re done here, all we need now is Lazarus.” She said, looking at him carefully. “Are you ok?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. And I’m ready to go whenever he is,” Anson replied. He looked back into her eyes and found once again that he quite liked the little touches of green in her otherwise blue eyes. But he needed to focus on something other than her, he probably looked like a creep. An idiot and a creep. He barely kept himself from sighing in annoyance. Why couldn’t he be more like Levi, more calm and collected, not always acting out in stupid ways like himself. But no matter how hard he tried he always ended up doing something dumb or saying some weird joke.
“Lazarus is talking to one of the higher-ups in the revolution, he usually takes a little while. If you wanted to, we could go without him…” she said, her tone hopeful. 
What did that mean? What did she want with him, or did she really just want to get out of the dingy warehouse they were in. Why was this all so confusing all of the sudden? But, disregarding all the questions flooding through his mind, he definitely would like some time with Phoebe without Lazarus grilling him about his life every second of the way.
“Sure, that sounds good to me,” he said, excited. She grinned broadly, and he knew that he'd said the right thing. Well, hopefully he had, he could never be certain. People could be quite good at faking things.
“Great! Let's get going then,” she said, grabbing the cart and preparing to tow it away.
“Should we tell Lazarus that we’re going?” Anson asked. “I don’t want him worrying about where we are.”
“Good idea, let’s do that. He should be just over here,” she said, walking towards a door that was only in slightly better shape than the rest of the building. She knocked twice, paused, then rapped three times in quick succession. A burly man with a square beard opened it. He had dark brown hair, though it had a sprinkle of grey in it. “What is it?”
“We just needed to let Lazarus know that we’re going back to the Corridor, we’ll take the supplies with us,” Phoebe said. The man opened the door wider, allowing Anson to see into the room. Lazarus was looking at a map splayed across a large table. As soon as he saw Phoebe and Anson, he flipped it. Anson noticed some kind of inscription on the back, though it was too far away for him to read it. Why was Lazarus hiding the map, was there something he didn’t want the rest of them to know?
    “Did you hear that, Lazarus,” the man said in a deep, gravely voice.
“I did, and you two don’t need to worry about taking the supplies, I’ll get them. There’s a few things I need to add anyway.”
“Oh, thanks!” Phoebe said, seeming strangely excited that they didn’t need to take the cart. Not like it affected her much though, Anson would have taken the cart. One of the few lessons he remembered from his mom was that he should always at least offer to carry things for a girl, and she’d always teased him by saying that was especially true for pretty girls. Well, Phoebe was definitely a pretty girl. He smiled to himself, glancing over at her. She looked back and smiled too. He looked away, embarrassed.
“Should we go then, or is there something else you need to do here?” she asked him, seeming anxious to get out.
“I’m ready to go,” he replied. She walked out of the room and he followed her. It was a several mile journey back to the Corridor with only her, that was going to be nice. Was that why she’d been excited? But she’d also looked anxious, was that about spending time with him? Or was he reading it all wrong, this was so confusing!
“I’m glad we’re getting out of here, I hate the warehouse,” Phoebe said, a look of disgust on her face.
“Didn’t you volunteer to come here?” Anson said jokingly, though it was a legitimate question. He thought he might know why, but he wanted to see if it was true.
“Well yes, Lazarus needed another helper and Adelia was going to play Hoops with Naomi,” she said, looking embarrassed. Anson decided to press a little bit further, trying to confirm his suspicion that she’d come along because he was going. Or was that just wishful thinking?
“What about Levi, he could have come,” Anson said, hoping she’d say it was because he was there. It would be nice to know someone actually wanted to be around him other than Levi. And she was funny, pretty, and smart, so that didn't hurt either.
“Well he could have, but I volunteered first, didn’t I?” she answered slyly. “Anyway, I think Adelia will enjoy the opportunity to get to know him,” she said with a smirk.
Anson decided to ignore how she’d dodged his question and interrogate her more on the second comment she’d made. “Why would Adelia be interested in Levi?”
“Well, he’s a boy that she said she finds attractive, so I think that’s the main reason,” Phoebe said.
“Oh, yeah, that makes sense,” Anson replied, feeling uneasy. Should he tell Levi that Adelia was interested in him? He’d want to know, he always wanted to know what other people were thinking. He said it made them more predictable. But Adelia probably wouldn’t want him to know, and if Anson told him it could make Phoebe wary of trusting him. He decided not to worry about it at the moment, there was someone that deserved his attention instead, and she was walking right next to him. Now he just needed to figure out how to get a good conversation going with her.
“So, I don’t really know a whole lot about you,” he said, trying to keep his tone casual. “What do you like to do?”
“For fun? I like playing games, Dragons and Uncertainty are two of my favorites. I don’t really like Hoops too much, but playing it with Naomi is fun. She makes everything fun,” Phoebe said fondly.
“Dragons, Uncertainty, and Hoops, I definitely know how to play those,” he said with a halfhearted laugh that he knew sounded forced. Why was he so bad at this?
“Oh, you don’t know how to play? I’ll teach you them sometime,” she said.
“I’d love to, I like games,” he said, though he was more excited that she would be teaching him then about learning the games themselves.
“Ok, that’s good,” she said, relieved. “What do you like to do for fun?”
    Anson thought about that for a moment. What did he like to do? Games were fun, but he rarely had both the time and the means to play them. “I like telling jokes and listening to stories,” he said after a while. “That might be why Cathy likes me, I’m the only one that listens to her stories, even if they’re definitely untrue.”
    “Ooh, I like stories too! I prefer to tell them rather than listen though. And that crazy lady did seem to like you quite a bit,” she said with a wink.
“That’s perfect then, because I’m always happy to listen to stories. Do you have any good ones?” This was going well, right? At least they were talking, that was important.
“Oh, a lot, what kind do you like?” she asked, obviously excited. He wondered if she often got to tell stories to people.
“Any kind, really, but my favorites are mysteries. I like trying to figure out what’s going on and who did what.”
“I have a good one for you then! I bet you’ll figure it out before most people do,” she said.
“I doubt it, but I can try,” he said. She launched into a story about two lovers who found a dead man inside their house one day. It was complex, but he was pretty sure he knew who’d killed him.
“And Ethan's brother admitted what he’d done, how he’d killed Jaxon and put his body in Penny’s house,” Phoebe said, concluding the story.
“Ha! I knew it was him!” Anson said excitedly. “That was really great!”
“I told you that you’d figure it out,” she said, smiling. “Thank you, and thanks for letting me tell you! It’s been a while since someone else has been excited by one of my stories.”
    “Well it’s their loss, that was really good!”
“Thanks,” she said, her smile growing wider. Then, suddenly, it disappeared. “Do you feel that?”
“Feel what?” he asked, disappointed that the happiness and excitement of the moment was gone.
“The demon, I think I can feel its aura. It’s close.”
Anson didn’t feel anything, but he trusted Phoebe’s senses. She was more in tune with the mental side of Shaping anyway. “Let’s go,” he said, all of his elation immediately replaced by fear. He started running, using a little bit of Manna to boost his speed. Phoebe kept up with him, so he assumed she was doing the same.
“We’re close to the Corridor, we just need to make it a little further,” she said between breaths.
They ran for a couple of minutes in a silence only interrupted by their labored breathing. Then Anson saw someone. They were standing on the crest of a hill, looking directly towards Anson and Phoebe and standing perfectly still. “Who is that?” Anson asked. “Levi?”
“I’m not sure, it could be someone we don’t know, maybe one of Galahad’s men,” Phoebe replied. “Be careful.”
As soon as she said that, the man began to move. He started running straight at them, moving faster than he looked like he should be able to. A Shaper then? Anson stopped abruptly, studying the man’s face. It definitely wasn’t anyone he knew, and there was something wrong with it. The strangeness was familiar, it was the same look that…that dead people had. That’s what it was, the guy looked dead.
“That’s not good, we need to get away from him now!” Phoebe said, her voice layered with fear. She turned around and started running in the opposite direction. Anson didn’t follow her, instead he drew his dagger and made sure his footing was good. He would protect Phoebe, and give her a chance to get away, then try to follow her if he could. The man approached him, and strangely he didn’t make noise as he ran. No yelling, barely any sound of footsteps despite his terrific pace, and was he even breathing?
    “Anson, what are you doing?” Phoebe yelled.
“Keep running, I’ll hold him off if I need to! I’ll meet you at the Corridor!” he yelled. The man continued rushing towards him, not seeming to see Phoebe. He acted as though he only had one goal, and it was something to do with Anson. “Stop right there!” Anson commanded, trying to make his voice firm. The man didn’t appear to notice, instead he just kept running. As he approached Anson, he readied himself for a fight, though hopefully it wouldn’t come to that. A distance away, Phoebe tripped, slamming into the ground hard. She cried out in pain and Anson’s resolve doubled. He had to stop this man from doing anything to her.
The man barreled towards Anson and jumped at him. It was a predictable move, as the man hadn’t slowed down at all, he’d had few other options of attack. Anson dove to the side and the man flew past him, then somehow twisted in the air to land perfectly, not stumbling at all. He moved slowly towards Anson. He held no weapon, but if he was a Shaper then he wouldn’t need one. 
“Why don’t we…” Anson started, then stopped talking as the man moved in for a grapple. Anson brought his knife up, straight into the man’s chest. The man made no noise or recognition of the injury. He didn’t even seem to notice it as he locked his hands around Anson’s arms with an extraordinarily strong grip. His body was cold and clammy, just like a dead body. This wasn’t a person, Anson knew that. How was that possible though? What form of Shaping could animate the dead?
Anson didn't have time to think about it at the moment. He struggled against the strange reawakened body and eventually managed to tear his hands away and jump back. The deep wound in the body’s chest wasn’t bleeding like it should, instead of gushing blood it was only lazily oozing out. Anson took another step back and the thing attacked him again. Anson lashed out with his foot and felt the kick connect solidly, sending the body sprawling. It moved fluidly to its feet, then surprisingly turned and ran, though Anson couldn’t fathom why.
It quickly disappeared between two hills and Anson didn’t see another sign of it. As soon as he thought it was safe enough, he dashed over to Phoebe. She had stood up, but her knees were wobbly, she looked like she would fall down again at any second. He put his arm around her shoulders, helping her stand. “What happened?” he asked, his voice cracking from fear.
“I…I tried to stop it with mental Shaping but I couldn’t! I couldn’t even feel it! It’s like it was…”
“Dead. Like it was dead,” Anson finished. 
“Yeah…what was it?” she asked him, terrified.
“I don’t know. Something I’ve never seen before, I don’t know if anyone has.” He looked around, making sure it hadn’t come back. “Are you ok to walk?” She nodded, leaning heavily on him and taking a step.
“I think…I think I might know what that thing was,” she said quietly. He looked at her curiously and she continued, “I think it might have been another demon. It would match up with how Shaping works too, one mental demon and one physical.”
“You’re right,” Anson said, trying not to think about how much his body was in contact with hers. “You said you felt the mental one earlier too, we need to get back as fast as we can. It could still be chasing us, and there’s no telling how long the physical one will be gone.”
    “I know, I’m sorry. I used so much Manna, I can barely walk. And it was for nothing! If I hadn’t done that we’d already be back!” she said, her voice cracking again and a tear running down her cheek.
“No, that’s now what I meant! I just wanted to say we need to get back,” he said quickly. He shifted so he was supporting more of her weight and they continued walking, moving slowly. Eventually, they reached the hill that contained the Corridor. 
“Let’s stop here, you need a break,” he said to her, noticing how ragged her breathing had become and how she was stumbling on nearly every step.
“No, we can’t afford to waste time!” she protested. She struggled to take another step and nearly collapsed. Anson caught her and helped her to the ground. “Taking a short break is better than passing out or dropping dead from exhaustion. We’ll only be here for a minute,” he said consolingly. She tried to sit up weakly, but he placed a hand on her shoulder, gently pushing her back down. “Rest, just for a little bit.”
She sighed but obliged, though he could see the restlessness in her eyes. He counted to sixty in his head, then waited another moment, knowing she’d need as much time to recover as they could spare. “Alright, let's go,” he said, helping her to her feet and putting her arm over his shoulders. He helped her forward, trying to ignore how hard it seemed to be for her. She was right that they needed to get back though, the demons could be back at any second.
They were about halfway to the Corridor when he started to feel it, the draining of his mental energy. The pull got stronger as he continued up the hill, nearly pulling Phoebe as they walked. “Let me carry you,” he said, realizing that would be faster. He swept her into his arms and began to run, Shaping his muscles to have more speed and endurance and giving himself better balance. It drained his Manna quickly, but he didn’t have to go far. As he neared the secret entrance, he saw the demon, its black form stark against the brightly lit hills. He ran into the door, then opened it, rushing inside as the demon glided up the hill towards him. He slammed the door shut, and the draining feeling stopped. He laid Phoebe down on the floor, then sat next to her. She looked up at him, her beautiful face now covered in sweat and dirt, though it didn’t make her look any worse. Was she ok?
“Well that was one heck of a first date,” she said with a smile. “Although I’m not sure if it counts, you might have to take me on another.
He sighed in relief, she seemed to be fine. He smiled back at her, then put his arm around her shoulders. It was a nice moment. 
Then Levi stepped into the entryway. “What the frosts just happened?”

“I’m sorry, but we don’t really know much more than you do,” Lazarus said, holding back a laugh. “Nathan told us the same simple things that he did to you, and now he refuses to answer other questions.”

“Oh come on!” Anson said with exasperation. “You don’t know anything either?” he asked Phoebe, who was sitting across the table from him.

She smiled at him, and despite Anson’s obvious attempts to stop it, he grinned back. “We really don’t. Like Lazarus said, Nathan won’t talk more about it. We’ve tried, I promise. Even Naomi can’t get him to talk about it!”

Naomi, who was sitting next to Phoebe, frowned. “He’s a jerk.”

Phoebe laughed. “Yes, he can be.”

“Is she a Shaper?” Anson asked Phoebe.

“Why don’t you just ask her, she can answer,” Phoebe said, her voice cool, expression hardening slightly.

Anson’s face fell. “Oh, right. Sorry.” He turned to Naomi. “Are you a Shaper?”

Naomi didn’t speak, but her voice rang in Levi’s head. Yep.

Anson jumped slightly. “Oh, cool!”

“She’s not just a Shaper, she’s a very talented one,” Lazarus said. “She has some of the strongest mental Shaping I’ve ever seen, though she does struggle to control it.”

“That’s so awesome!” Anson said excitedly. “I wish I knew mental Shaping, it seems a lot more useful than I used to think.”

“I’d be happy to teach you some things if you’d like,” Phoebe said. Anson perked up, looking at her.

“Really?” he asked, even more excited.

“Yeah, of course,” she said, a slight blush appearing on her cheeks. “Would…you like to join too, Levi?” she asked, though she seemed reluctant.

Probably best not to have those two alone for a long period of time, Anson already seemed to be getting very close to her. “Of course I would,” he said, his tone a little harsher than he had meant it to be. She, in return, jumped a little bit, shrinking away from him.

Anson shot Levi a look of disgust. Levi decided he should go apologize to Phoebe once they had finished their discussion. Just the thought of it disgusted him though. She was trying to take his best friend from him, or that’s what it seemed like, and Anson seemed to be falling for it. And if they were together, where did that leave Levi? He’d always had Anson, he couldn’t leave now, right? Those thoughts disgusted him more. Phoebe had just saved their lives several times! Why did he feel this hatred towards her?

“Anyway, like I was saying, we know nothing,” Lazarus said. 

“Alright, then what are we going to do now?” Phoebe asked. “Is there anything we can do to prepare for whatever Avery has planned next?”

“I’m not sure, but I could use some help getting some supplies from the rebellion, it’ll take a couple hours. Anson, why don’t you come join me? I’d like a chance to get to know you better.”

“Sure, I’ll do whatever,” he said casually.

“I could use another person if anyone else is willing,” Lazarus said, looking at the rest of them.

“I won’t go,” Naomi said. “Me and Adelia are playing Hoops.”

Adelia smiled at her. “Yes we are, which means I can’t go either.”

“I’ll go,” Phoebe volunteered, looking eager. Levi frowned. There it was again, why was she trying so hard to get close to Anson? Or was it just natural? Levi knew several people thought Anson was quite good-looking, even discounting Cathy the crazy lady.

“You can play with us!” Naomi said excitedly to Levi, her hand latching on to his arm. He squirmed slightly, but she ignored it. She began to drag both Adelia and him down the hallway, away from the main entrance. Anson looked at him and shrugged, then followed Lazarus as he began walking in the opposite direction.

“So what game are we playing? Hoops?” Levi asked, having never heard of the game before.

“Yeah, it’s easy to learn, I bet you’ll get it easily. How it works is you have three hoops set up a distance away from you. One of us will stand in front of them and try to stop you from throwing a ball through them. If you make it in, that’s a point and you rotate to the rest position. If you miss or get blocked, you move to defense and if you get scored on you lose a point.”
“Ok, that sounds easy enough, you’ll have to show me so I can make sure I’m doing it right though,” he said back.

⤞⤝⤞⤝

“So, how did you get roped into this?” Levi asked Phoebe as she was winding up to throw.

“This? She asked, throwing the ball and scoring, Naomi narrowly missing the ball.

“The revolution, overthrowing Galahad. What drove you to join?”

“Some similar things to what Lazarus has said, to try to help as many people as I can,” she said, though her answer sounded well-rehearsed. Levi knew there was something more.

“And what else?” he prompted, hoping she would answer honestly. He stepped forward, taking a ball from a nearby bin and taking aim.

“Honestly, I do really want to help people and to make sure my sister has a world she can survive in. But I also think that this gives me an unparalleled opportunity to gain a position that would otherwise be impossible for me, especially as a woman, to gain. Avery has promised to appoint me as his general once this is through and I’ve been trained for it.”

Levi felt his respect for her grow. Power, most people would look at it as bad motivation, but it was an honest one and she had other, more honorable motivations as well. There was nothing wrong with gaining something from the revolution. He threw the ball straight towards the left hoop, Naomi jumped in front of it stopping it. She laughed, causing him to groan. He switched her places, standing in front of the middle hoop. Phoebe threw and he dived left, the opposite direction of her throw.

“You’re losing,” Naomi said, smiling widely as she positioned herself.

“Yes I am,” Levi said tiredly. He stepped to the right as Naomi made her shot, and reached out to catch it. The ball flew through his hands with extraordinary force, cracking the stone behind the hoop and bouncing off. Levi howled in pain, pulling his hands to his chest. Naomi and Adelia broke into a chorus of laughter.

 “What was that?” he asked gingery feeling at his fingers to see if any were broken. They didn’t feel like they were, thankfully.

“Shaping, dummy,” Naomi said. Her smile was infectious, and Levi felt one spread across his face as well. He repositioned himself, then caught a ball Phoebe lobbed to him. He shot her a grateful look, then stepped into the rest spot.

“You’re friend’s cute,” Naomin said, not looking at him.

“What?” he asked, taken aback by the comment. He wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting, but that wasn’t it.

“Your friend is cute,” she repeated a little bit louder.

“Oh. Uh…I guess he is. She scored on Phoebe. Levi moved up to throw.

“You’re not cute,” she said right as he began to throw. His shot went completely wild. He really hadn’t been expecting that.

“Oh, I don’t know about that Naomi,” Adelia said slyly. “But he is bad at Hoops,” she said with a wink. Levi blushed, trying not to think about what she had said. He failed.

I know!” Naomi said exasperatedly.

Levi positioned himself, then dove to block Naomi’s throw. It ripped past his fingers and he cried out in pain again. Naomi laughed uproariously, sitting down to keep from toppling over from her hysterics.

“Why didn’t you catch it?” she asked sarcastically between chuckles. Levi groaned.

⤞⤝⤞⤝

Levi stretched out across his bed, enjoying the sense of it enveloping him. He cradled his aching fingers, considering using Manna to help with the pain. It could also heal them faster, though it would still take a while. He decided against it, he couldn’t afford to waste it, then need it later.

Someone knocked on the door. He stood, the opened it. Adelia stood outside, looking slightly nervous. “Are your hands ok?”

“Yeah, they’re fine,” he said, trying to ignore the throbs of pain they were sending up his arms.

“Can I see them?” she asked. He lifted them and she took one in both of hers, inspecting it gently. “I’m so sorry, Naomi can have a hard time realizing how strong she is and that she can hurt people with that strength.”

Levi’s cheeks flushed at her touch, the memory of her calling him cute, or at least saying he wasn’t not cute, returning with full force. “It’s ok, I think seeing her reaction to it was worth all the pain.”

“She’s incredible, isn’t she?” Adelia said fondly.

“That she is.”

Adelia paused, then dropped his hands suddenly. “Sorry,” she said, blushing.” Levi winced in pain at the sudden movement. “Sorry,” she repeated

“You’re fine,” he said, his face burning. He was glad Anson wasn’t there, he would mock Levi for so long if he knew a girl had been holding his hand, even if just to see how hurt they were.

“Actually, that’s the other reason I came here, I wanted to apologize for what I said earlier, I know it could have made you uncomfortable.”

“If you think that would make me uncomfortable, you should hear some of what the drunks say when the bars close,” he said with a chuckle. She laughed too, and Levi felt some of the tension between them vanish. He tried not to think about how much he’d been thinking about her comment before though, it had affected him more than it should have.”

“Ok, cool,” she said. She looked like she wanted to say something, but at that moment Lazarus’s voice rang through the Corridor.

“Hey! Adelia, Naomi, Levi! Come help us take some of this to the cellar!” he called.

“I guess we’d better go then,” Adelia said, turning.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Levi said, though he wished they could have stayed for just a few moments longer. He had enjoyed talking to Adelia.