Anne Ursu - The Shadow Thieves

And the Palace was not lasting. The small dome came crashing down, bringing with it much of the roof. Philonecron let out a cheer, and the group of shadows right in front of Charlotte turned their attention to the other two domes. A wall-size chunk fell from the back of the Palace, another from just below the balcony, and Hades fell backward inside the building.

"Bring it down!" Philonecron shouted gleefully. "Bring it all down!"

Two stories of the Palace collapsed with a gigantic crash that shook the entire Kingdom. Charlotte went tumbling off her rubble pile, scraping her hands and legs on the way down.

She crawled halfway up again, dirty and bleeding, tears and sweat streaking lines down the dust on her face. The shadows in front of her toppled another dome, and Charlotte watched, small and helpless, as the Palace of Hades began to tumble down.

As the walls fell to the earth, a cry came from deep inside her. "Stop!" she shouted weakly. "Stop!"

And suddenly the group of shadows in front of her turned to look, rocks clenched in their hands.

She froze. But they did not fire. They were looking at her, waiting, as if…

As if waiting for her to tell them what to do.

"Stop!" she said again, and a few more stopped, turned to her, and waited.

She bit her lip. Her body trembling, she crawled all the way up to the top of the pile of rubble and shouted at the top of her lungs:

"STOP!"

And that's when she heard Zee's voice in her head, as clear as day.

If I can enchant them…

I can also stop them.

If I can enchant them, I can also stop them.

That's what Zee had been trying to tell her. That's why he had gone along with Philonecron. He thought he could stop them. If they were enchanted with his blood, with his voice, he could stop them.

But he wasn't here.

She was here.

What had Mr. Metos said? The Footmen had used Zee's blood to find her and steal shadows from her friends. She and Zee were blood relatives. The shadows were enchanted with Zee's blood, with Zee's commands, so surely…

"STOP!" she called again. All around her shadows froze. Their attention was uncertain, wavering- she could feel it; she knew she could lose them at any moment. She channeled all the Zee blood inside her, all the Zee-ness, and she cupped her hands around her mouth, took the biggest breath she ever had in her life, and shouted, "STOP!"

A rush of power went through Charlotte. No one had ever listened to her at all before, and now an entire regiment of shadows was obeying her commands.

All around Charlotte the destruction had ceased, and Philonecron- shouting commands and cackling on the other side of the Palace-hadn't noticed a thing. "Find him!" he shouted. "Find him and tear him apart."

Her shadows were still, frozen, waiting-but, she realized with a sinking heart, it wasn't enough. She'd stopped a thousand, maybe two, but there were so many more. And the Palace was on its last legs, and then the shadows would go for Hades.

There was no time. She couldn't get to them all… But her regiment could.

"Go to the other shadows," she yelled at the group before her. “ Make them stop! Everyone must stop!" She looked around frantically. "Quickly!" she added.

Her regiment peeled out in front of her, weaving their way in and out of the other platoons, blackness coiling around blackness. One shadow reached out and touched another, and that one stopped what it was doing and reached out and touched the one next to it, on and on down the line. One stopped, then the next, then the next-like very creepy dominoes. One regiment, then the next, then the next- they stopped in waves, putting down their fire and their smoke and their bits of shadow and looking up at Charlotte. That was enough to get Philonecron's attention.

"Shadows," she heard him cry, "what are you doing.? Don't stop! Keep going!" The shadows all twitched and rumbled, looking from one master to the other. Some picked up their weapons again uncertainly.

Philonecron looked around frantically, yelping as he saw Charlotte over the wreckage of the Palace. "You!" he screamed. "You worthless child! You can't command the shadows!" He paused and raised up his hands. "Shadows, get her!"

The squadron of shadows closest to Philonecron began to move-they rushed around their comrades, moving like raging fire. A flood of darkness swarmed toward her, a giant black wave coming to drown her, a great rush of spirits shooting through the air right toward her soul-and Charlotte froze with horror.

"Get her! Kill her!" Philonecron pointed at Charlotte and spit, "How dare you? How dare you try to command them? You're not Zero!"

And then a voice rang out, "No, but I am."

Zee?

Charlotte whirled toward the voice. And there he was, Zee, shirtless and with a bandaged arm, standing on top of one of the fallen domes, shouting through some kind of animal horn.

"Shadows! Stop! Stop at once!"

And just like that, the flood of shadows froze. All of you, stop! Put your weapons down!"

Charlotte felt tears pouring down her cheeks as her cousin's voice moved over the whole Palace grounds. "Come to me!"

"Go to Zee!" Charlotte shouted. "Put down your weapons and go!"

A piercing scream hit the air- the shadows trembled, the ground shook, and Charlotte spun around.

"No!" Philonecron yelled.

Zee didn't move. "Put down your weapons," he bellowed. "Come to me!"

"Go to Zee!" Charlotte yelled joyfully "Go to your master!"

On top of his litter Philonecron was the very picture of horror. His hands clasped tight to his face, his mouth frozen in a scream, his red eyes popping out of his head. The four Footmen were watching him warily.

"Zero!" Philonecron shouted. "Zero, my boy! What are you doing?"

But Zee did not turn. He was magnificent. He was regal. He was a force. He kept shouting commands to the shadows, who were lining up in front of him obediently, like good little soldiers. Philonecron screeched again and yelled down to his Footmen, "Take me to him! Hurry! Zero, stop!"

But whatever control Philonecron had over Zee wasn't working from that distance, and Charlotte wasn't going to let him get much closer, if she could help it. She broke into a run, heading for Philonecron, heading for her cousin. Philonecron, wobbling as he was moved, was yelling, "Why are you doing this? Zero, why are you betraying me?"

"Go back to the Outer Banks!" Zee shouted to the army of shadows. "Go back home! Wait for me there! Wait for my commands!"

And, as one, the legions of shadows turned and began to march through the rubble, through the gates, back into the remnants of the City.

"Noooo!" yelled Philonecron to the marchers. "Come back! Come back! I am your master! Not him! Come back! We're so close!"

But the shadows paid him no mind; their true master had spoken. They were marching back home.

Charlotte cut around the great column of marchers, past the rubble of the Palace-which, by the way, seemed to be moving, as if something was digging itself out from the inside-and crept toward the duo.

For the Footmen had reached Zee and were carefully lowering the litter down while Philonecron stood balancing himself on the chair and shouted instructions. "Hurry up!" he yelled. "Steady, now! Don't drop me! Watch the feet!" Zee was standing his ground on top of the dome, staring down Philonecron.

Charlotte was close to them now, but Philonecron had not noticed her; his whole world was Zee. She crept through the rubble behind the Footmen, behind Philonecron and his litter. Zee saw her and winked-and at that moment she thought a wink was the best way ever to say hello.