Shades

His teacher laughed as if the threat was the funniest thing he’d ever heard. “Oh, Danny, you’re a prize. All of that power and emotion just waiting to be used. I will drink you like a glass of water.”

Gustav’s eyes snapped open, flashing in the darkness.

“You’ll do no such thing.”

“Finished with your spell, old man? It won’t help you. It takes time for the charge to build, and you do not have time. You won’t breach the circle. The dead are coming. In a minute, you’ll belong to me, as will the boy.”

“No, he will not.”

The shades raced towards them. The night grew blacker. The shadows’ density muted the light from the fireflies. A dark shape hovered over Danny.

Son…

Danny gasped. “Dad? Daddy?”

Son…the pain…I can’t…

“Danny,” Gustav shouted. “The salt. Use it.”

The shadow reached out with one hand and tried to force his mouth open. Still unable to move his feet, Danny clawed at it with his hands. His fingers slipped through the darkness. The shade was cold.

“Dad,” he cried out. “Please…”

I’m sorry…son…let me in…

Danny shoved his hand into his pocket and pulled out the salt shaker. She sprinkled some on his father’s shade, and the shadow immediately recoiled.

“Bedrik,” Gustav shouted, “leave him.”

“You are fond of Danny,” Bedrik gloated. “You see yourself as some type of surrogate father to him, don’t you? That’s your weakness, Gustav, and that’s why I lured the boy here. You were so eager to confront me that you never stopped to consider why I’d want your apprentice here, too. So listen up and listen well. Stand down and accept your fate. Allow yourself to be taken over. If you don’t, I’ll kill the boy and his mother, as well. And you know that will be just the beginning of their sufferings.”

The first group of shades reached Gustav and swirled around him. Blue energy flared across his body. The shades fell back. So did Danny’s father.

Gustav grinned. “I did not care why you wanted boy here. I wanted him here, too.”

Bedrik frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“Boy is not my apprentice. Is not even magic. He is just my battery.”

Both Danny and Bedrik stared at him. They both said it at the same time.

“What?”

Gustav’s smile grew wider. He pointed one hand at Bedrik and the other at Danny. Then, sucking in a breath, he uttered a single word. Power flowed from Danny like water from a spigot, crackling in the air as it rushed from his body and into Gustav’s. Danny felt drained. Empty. The surge lanced through the shades and they dissipated, fading away to nothing.

The bolt leaped through the graveyard, zipping from shadow to shadow. It burst through Danny’s father.

Danny…I love…

Danny watched in horror as his father faded away.

With the shades outside the circle defeated, Gustav focused on Bedrik. The power slammed into the invisible barrier. The opposing energies flared, bathing the cemetery with a bright, white light. Danny closed his eyes and saw spots. When he opened them again, a solid stream rocketed from Gustav’s outstretched hand and ripped Bedrik’s shield apart, breaching the circle of protection.

Quickly, Bedrik fell to his knees and uttered a quick spell. The energy flowed over him but did not harm the teacher. Instead, it raced throughout the rest of the circle, disintegrating the shades inside the barrier. Edward T. Rammel didn’t even have time to scream as he was torn from the body of Tony Amiratti Junior. Danny’s mother writhed on the stone slab, untouched by the light.

Danny felt the last of his power drain away. The flow of light sputtered and then stopped. Gustav dropped his arms, panting.

“You son of a bitch,” Danny muttered. “You were just using me all this time? You’re just like every other adult in my life.”

Gustav did not reply. His expression was grim.

Bedrik stood up slowly and brushed the dirt from his pants. “Is that the best you have, old man? You’ve breached my circle, destroyed my shades, but I’m still standing.”

“Not for long.”

Bedrik laughed. “Oh, Gustav, come on. You’ve no power left. You’ve drained both yourself and the boy. You can’t possibly win. Stand down.”

Gustav wiped sweat from his brow. “Danny was not just a battery. He is also an anchor.”

Bedrik’s smile vanished.

“Edward,” he hollered. “Kill the bitch!”

“No!” Danny struggled against his invisible bonds.

The man standing next to his mother picked up an onyx knife and lowered it to her throat.

“You are too late, Bedrik,” Gustav warned. “This is your end.”

Behind Gustav, the night surged forward, a massive, obsidian sheet that blocked out the tombstones, the trees, even the sky. The darkness had a human face—Martin Bedrik’s. Danny felt a familiar fear. This was what he’d encountered the night he’d left Gustav’s, and at his home. He heard the sounds again, coming from everywhere and nowhere at once. This time, they were much louder, and when the darkness spoke, it was like thunder.

MICHAEL…

“Oh shit.” Bedrik scrambled backward.