Anne Ursu - The Shadow Thieves

Never in his life had he felt hatred before. Real, pure hatred. It started in his chest and worked its way throughout his body. He could taste it in his throat, hear it in his ears, feel it rumble in his arms and tingle in his feet. Zee was a new person now-he knew what it was to hate.

Zee was sitting on a rock in a small, shallow cave, with one of the Footmen standing watch over him. The Footman had led him off, away from Charlotte and the banks of the Styx, through another passageway in the high rocks, and then tucked him into this cave, where he sat burning with hatred and thinking about just how he might go about killing an Immortal. Or at least causing him a lot of pain. Or at least-yes, that's what he wanted-making Philonecron feel utterly helpless, utterly alone, utterly lost, just the way he had made Zee feel.

Can you imagine? Can you imagine being under the control of someone else? Can you imagine hurting your family because of it? Can you imagine feeling your body do things you never wanted it to do?

All of his life Zee had been master of himself. He had made his own choices and suffered the consequences for them. Now he no longer was. So who, then, was he? What became of someone who was utterly under the control of someone else? What became of someone who had no will? He was a robot, a cipher. He was nobody. He was Zero.

And he had punched Charlotte. He had hurt Charlotte. He would never ever, ever forget the way she had looked at him. At least she was safe now. He could do that for her. She was probably on her way back home, where she belonged. This wasn't her battle. This was all his fault-his shadow, his blood-and it was up to him to make it all right.

He had had a plan, too. Or at the very least it was an idea. He came up with it when they were going down to the Underworld. There was only one way he could think of for an ordinary kid (him, specifically) to defeat someone like Philonecron. And if the shadows started their march, it seemed like the only option. But his plan required him. Zee. Not automaton Zee, but real Zee.

But he wouldn't be able to do it. Because he could not fight off Philonecron, and that meant he was going to fail. He was going to fail and everyone was going to suffer for it.

And do you want to know the worst part? The worst part was that there was part of him that didn't even care about everyone anymore-not about the kids, the shadows, the world- for all he wanted was to make Philonecron pay.

Zee picked up a rock and threw it as hard as he could against the wall of the cave. The Footman gazed down at him imperiously, arching an eyebrow. Zee wanted to tell him off, but he couldn't quite find the words. Charlotte would have told him off Charlotte would have had just the right thing to say.

But Zee was not Charlotte. He was not even himself anymore. He was nobody.

Zee kicked the ground in front of him, and dust flew everywhere. The Footman's other eyebrow went up, and Zee glared at him. Boy, that would show him!

"Zero!"

He turned. At the mouth of the cave was Philonecron, beaming and holding his arms out. Zee gulped down his hatred. "Charlotte's safe?"

Philonecron clasped his hands together. "Oh my boy, I find your concern so touching. That's the problem with the modern world; people just don't care anymore. You care. It's such a beautiful thing."

"Is she safe?" Zee asked. He could feel his mind fogging over a little at the sound of Philonecron's voice. Yes, I care, yes, it is beautiful. He squeezed his eyes shut.

"Would I go back on my word to you? I assure you, your little cousin is completely out of danger."

Zee inhaled once, twice. He wanted to run to Philonecron and start pounding on him, but he couldn't. Even if he could, he shouldn't. Zee didn't have anything else to do but try his plan, even though he knew it would fail. And that plan depended on Philonecron's believing Zee was on his side.

"Zero, my boy!" Philonecron stepped forward. "Is something troubling you? You don't seem yourself!"

Don't seem myself. As Philonecron got closer, Zee's head fogged more, and soon Philonecron's voice seemed to be ingratiating itself with Zee's very veins. Zee shuddered and tried to move back a little.

"No!" Philonecron said quickly. "No! Don't retreat from me! Oh, Zero. Don't you see? We're going to have so much fun together, you and I." He got down on his knees, grabbed Zee's hands, and stared into his eyes. Zee was helpless to resist.

"My precious boy. We're really going to change things! We'll clear this place of bureaucrats, throw the Shades into Tartarus, and make a new world! Don't you see? There's nothing to be frightened of. You must be happy. Don't look back anymore-look ahead! It's going to be a bright, new day. Do you see?"

Bright, new day. Look ahead!

"Now, my Zero. What would you like to do first? Do you want to talk awhile? I could read to you. Would you like me to play the violin?… Or would you like to see your army?"

Zee sat up. Suddenly his mind was perfectly clear. "I would like to see the army," he said.

Philonecron beamed and clapped his hands together. "Oh, how grand! How grand! The army it is, then! Oh, boys?"

Philonecron snapped his fingers, and two more Footmen entered the cave. There was barely room for them, and they had to sidle around Philonecron to get behind him. Not that there was anything behind them to get to-just a craggy cave wall.

Or so Zee thought. The Footmen stood on either side of the back wall of the cave, looked at each other, nodded, and in perfect synchronicity pressed down on two rocks that jutted out from the wall.

And then the wall evaporated. Just like that. Poof! Zee gasped. Their cave was not shallow at all, rather, it was the doorway of an enormous expanse, of a great cavern the size of several football pitches, lit by countless burning braziers. Zee's eyes could not take it all in; it went on and on-but he knew the cavern was far, far bigger than the rock that housed it.

And the shadows were there. Thousands, tens of thousands, of four-foot-high figures-all lined up in perfect formation, waiting to be brought to life.

They were in the vague shape of people, yet without any real definition. They looked like, well, like shadows – black, flat, faceless, opaque, each one identical to the next. They had bodies that seemed to grow out of the ground, thick and shapeless at the bottom, narrowing up through the torso, with ovular bulges where the arms should have been and heads like candle flames. And they were all perfectly, eerily still-objects forever stuck in space, an endless series of black paper dolls, like crosses in a military graveyard. The shadows stretched as far as Zee could see, and beyond, and still beyond that. They looked like a great ghost army frozen in time. Zee shuddered.

"Impressive, isn't it?" said Philonecron. "If I do say so myself."

Zee could only nod.

"Would you like to examine the troops?"

He nodded again. He hated to give Philonecron the satisfaction, but he did want to look more closely at the wonder before him. He needed to know what he was dealing with. So, willingly, he followed the creature who had taught him to hate into the room with the vast legions of shadows.

"See, my darling?" Philonecron said, holding his hands out. "This is what you have done."

Slowly, carefully-aware of his heart beating too fast and the dry taste of fear in his mouth-Zee walked along the front row of the army, examining the soldiers.

As Zee studied the shadows, he tried to keep himself calm. He could look through one and see the foggy forms of those behind it, on and on. He reached out to touch one, slowly, and his hand passed through, as if through smoke.

"Oh, do not worry, my dear Zero!" Philonecron said. "As soon as you enchant them, they will be able to gain substance at will-or become as insubstantial as fog. It's going to be quite devastating!" He cackled.