Anne Ursu - The Shadow Thieves

She hurried over to the balcony to check on the shadow army. They still stood, quiet and waiting. It was so quiet outside suddenly-without the echoing approach of the army, with the great stillness of the shadows, the whole world before her seemed cast in perfect silence.

Except, of course, for sounds coming from inside the Palace. Philonecron and Hades were still yelling uselessly at each other. Charlotte crept over, closed the door, and began to listen to the great silence around her.

The shadows stared at her, without movement, almost without life. How strange it was. Maddy's shadow was out there, Elizabeth's, Ashley's, Audrey's, Angie's, and Zee's friends too-the kids from soccer, the kids from school, and that Samantha girl who made him blush. They were just things, just reflections of light, enchanted with blood and with her cousin's own words…

If I can -

If I can-

The whispers reverberated in her mind, but she couldn't make out the words. She closed her eyes and pictured her cousin-on the first day, when her parents had thrust them together in the living room; at school with a crowd of kids surrounding him; on the soccer field, showing everyone how it's done; lying on the couch after his concussion, helplessly trying to deflect her mother's concerns; stopping to warm her as they went down to the Underworld; looking at her urgently as the Footmen led him away. She pictured him there, standing next to her, leaning down, whispering in her ear.

"What did you say, Zee?"

And then suddenly she could hear him-as if he were there, now, right next to her.

If I can -

If I can enchant them…

But before she could make out the rest, one of the Footmen came bursting through the door. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a small black horn, and blew-the commanding sound went through the Kingdom. The shadows started moving again then, stamping their feet, brandishing their fire and their bits of darkness. The whole Palace seemed to shake. Charlotte screamed. From inside the room came Philonecron's booming voice:

"Shadows!" he cried. "Bring the Palace down!"

THE SHADOWS SPREAD OUT ALONG THE GROUNDS, shaking their torches in the air. They lit trees on fire, surrounding the Palace in small bursts of flame. Charlotte could not move. In the blink of an eye Hades strode out onto the balcony, eyed a crowd of shadows that was bringing down one of the remaining trees, aimed his scepter, and fired a stream of blue flame.

Charlotte screamed, "Nooooo!" and ran to the balcony wall-but when the smoke cleared, the shadows were still there, though a nearby cypress had exploded in blue fire.

Cursing loudly, Hades fired the scepter again, but still to no avail. Smoke rose from the grounds below, and Charlotte began to cough uncontrollably.

A group of the eerie warriors reached into their chests, plucked out black balls of shadow, and began to hurl them at the Palace walls. The walls burst on contact. Shadowy bits flew through the air, like fireballs, destroying whatever they hit.

Some of the shadows dived into the walls themselves, and blocks of marble began to fall to the ground. Charlotte turned to Hades and yelled, "We have to go!"

He turned to her and shook his head firmly. "I am not leaving my Palace."

"It's too dangerous!" Charlotte yelled as a bit of marble burst around her.

"I'm Immortal," said Hades.

"Well, I'm not!" said Charlotte, and she turned and ran back into the throne room.

There she found that Philonecron and the Footmen were gone. The second throne had been turned into a pile of ash. Behind one of the tapestries stood the trembling form of Thanatos, and Charlotte shouted, "Let's go!" Another crash-the balcony doors exploded, and glass just missed Charlotte's head. Smoke filled the room, and the floor shook. She took off, her heart pounding in her ears, passing through the throne room doors, down the endless hallway, and out the Palace door.

The world was on fire, the world was breaking to pieces. Bits of marble and chunks of wood fell from the sky. The columns flanking the front door had large cracks running through them, and something welled up in Charlotte's throat. The column was just a spell, not real, not alive, but he had been nice to her-and kindness was hard to come by in the Underworld.

A chunk of wall came crashing down in front of her, and she took off again, running down the gold-paved front walk, through the line of flaming cypresses, with her sleeve to her nose and mouth so she could breath.

At least if I die down here, she thought, I won't have to wait in line at the Styx.

The shadows were everywhere, but all their attention was focused on the Palace, and they didn't seem to notice Charlotte at all. She darted in and around groups of the great black creatures on her way to…

On her way to where?

What, was she going to run away? Run back to the park, run back home, hide under the bed, while everything here collapsed? She couldn't leave the scene. She had to see this through, whatever it was. She had to do whatever she could to stop it, because no one else was going to. And if she did not stop it, at least she would not have run away. She could say to herself that when the time came-when the fate of humanity was in the balance- she, Charlotte Ruth Mielswetzski, stayed to see it through.

(Of course, she would be saying that to herself as her soul was being tortured in the eternal hell of Tartarus. You can't have everything.)

Charlotte skirted around the chaos, out of reach of falling chunks of marble and billows of smoke. She found her way to the Palace gates, now a tumble of iron and stone. A great pile of rubble lay just beyond the outline of the gates-the remains of some once-grand building-and slowly, carefully, she climbed up to the top and looked out at the destruction around her.

The Palace was full of gaping holes, and fire licked up all around it. The smallest of the onion-shaped domes was teetering precariously. The shadows went on throwing bits of darkness; they were relentless, mindless of all the falling stone and the smoke. It did not hurt them. It did not stop them. It didn't even slow them. The Palace would be nothing but rubble in minutes, and then what would Hades do?

The Palace was emptying out. Immortal or not, the Palace staff had decided to vacate the premises, and quickly. Shadowy butlers were trotting out as fast as their dignity would carry them. An ogre cook and spritelike maids came scurrying through the doors, followed by ghoulish creatures in business suits clutching papers in their hands. Thanatos came too, holding hands with his identical twin brother, Hypnos. They, and the whole crowd of Palace denizens, followed Charlotte's tracks through the smoky trees, by the remnants of the front gate, and out into the City.

Hades, though, did not leave. Charlotte could see him, still on the balcony, shouting and waving his scepter maniacally.

It didn't take Charlotte long to see what he was yelling at.

Over to Charlotte's left, in a spot just beyond the fracas, stood Philonecron. He seemed impossibly high up in the air, but when a crowd of shadows moved, Charlotte saw he was standing on the chair of the litter, which was being held up by the four Footmen.

Philonecron was holding his arms out majestically, framing the chaos below him. His grin stretched to his ears. Every once in a while he shouted commands at the shadows. "A little to the left!" or "Yes, yes, splendid shot!" or "Oooh, how wonderfully destructive!"

The Footmen were perfectly still and stiff, proper as posts, holding up their master. Charlotte wondered if she could hurt them somehow, run over and push them into the flames-maybe that would do something. Slow everything down, maybe. But it would never work; Philonecron would call the shadows to her, and she would last a lot less long than the Palace.