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tell she wasn't feeling
well. "Let's just get somewhere safe," she said. "I'll be
fine."
    Not wanting to waste another moment, Jackson
once again led us toward the outline of trees in the distance. Even
though we'd already been walking for a while, the forest still
looked far away. It was going to be a very long night.
    I wasn't sure how much time had passed when I
could have sworn I heard a twig break nearby. I turned around,
frightened and half-expecting to see a Sentinel standing behind me.
But the area was dark and silent.
    Jackson came back around to me, following my
gaze toward a couple of outlying trees. "What is it?" he asked.
    "I heard something," I whispered. "Like a branch
breaking under foot."
    He listened for a moment, then shook his head.
"I don't see or hear anything," he said. "Maybe it was just an
animal or something."
    "Yeah, maybe," I said. A feeling in my gut told
me otherwise, but maybe it was just my fear talking.
    Then, about twenty minutes later, I thought I
heard footsteps behind me in the grass. Just in front of me, Mary
Anne flipped her head around. Judging from her wide eyes, I'd say
she heard it too.
    "Jackson," I said. "There's someone following
us. I heard footsteps."
    "Me too," Mary Anne said. "But I don't see
anyone."
    Worry darkened Jackson's features. He looked
toward Lea. "What do you think? Do you sense anyone? See
anything?"
    Lea turned in a circle very slowly, taking her
time to study the areas around us. "If someone is following us,
they're very good at concealing themselves."
    She motioned toward a cluster of small bushes
and rocks just ahead, then whispered something in Jackson's ear. He
nodded, then told us to follow him as if nothing were wrong.
    When we reached the bushes, Lea stealthily
dropped from the group and hid behind them while the rest of us
kept moving forward. I wasn't sure exactly what was going on until
a few seconds later when she leapt out from behind the bushes and
placed her hands around the biceps of an unusually small man with
spiked hair and a very large nose.
    As soon as we saw what was happening, the rest
of us ran back toward her.
    "Why are you following us?" she asked, her eyes
locked on the man's face with a deadly focus.
    "Princess," the man said in a breathy voice. "It
really is you. Your father has placed a reward for anyone who finds
you, you know."
    He struggled against her grip, suddenly breaking
free. His body started to turn to black smoke as he shifted to his
demon form, but before he could complete his transformation, Lea
reached into her pocket and threw a glittering powder on him. The
man froze like a statue in mid-shift, half-man, half-smoke.
    "Damn," Jackson said. "What do we do now?"
    "We keep moving," Lea said. "Only faster this
time. The powder will only hold him for an hour. Maybe two if we're
lucky."
    "There's no way we'll make it to the portal in
an hour," Jackson said.
    "Not if we keep wasting time," Lea said.
    Without even discussing it, she lifted Mary Anne
onto her back and began to run toward the tree-line. Jackson turned
to me, our eyes meeting in the near-darkness as he reached out and
lifted me into his arms. I threw my hands around Jackson's neck and
buried my face in his shoulder as he ran.
    I tried not to think about our past or how this
would probably be the last time I felt my body pressed against his.
I focused only on the rhythm of his feet against the ground.
    When we reached the edge of the Obsidian Forest,
we stopped and looked back, the silhouette of the frozen man black
against the night sky.
     
     
Out of The Shadows
    Under the canopy of the Obsidian Forest, all
light ceased to exist. I kept waiting for my eyes to adjust and for
something to come into view. A tree. A shadow. Something. I could
put my own hand two inches away from my face and never see it.
    "I can't see anything," Lea said. "We'll have to
set them down and walk together."
    Jackson helped me back to my feet. "Harper, hold
Mary Anne's hand. Lea take