Working at Fablehaven had never exactly been the safest career in the world, but Dale had hoped that after the artifact had been removed from Fablehaven, things would be safer. Just their luck though, nothing got better. If anything, it got worse.
Dale looked out towards the exit of the cave that he was hiding in, trying to avoid looking at his own body. Being a sentient shadow didn't hurt, exactly, but Dale didn't like the reminder of what he was at the moment. He cursed this shadow plague that was going through Fablehaven, and hoped that the kids would be able to find a way to fix this problem, like they'd been able to figure out how to fix all the other big problems that seemed to be happening in Fablehaven lately.
Dale hated having to rely on these kids. They were so young, they really shouldn't have this kind of responsibility on their shoulders, but Dale didn't know what choice they had. He was stuck as a shadow that only Seth could see. He couldn't communicate with the kids, and he couldn't even go out in the sunlight, or else he would feel a chill so cold that it burned.
Dale knew that Coulter and Tanu were planning on going out and finding a way to help the kids, despite all the obstacles in their way. Dale admired their determination, but he couldn't go with them. He didn't know how much good he'd be, and he had a very important reason to stay in the cave and out of trouble.
'Dale?" Warren's panicked voice called out to him in his head. Dale turned to see the shadowy form of his brother curled up on the ground. 'Dale?!'
'I'm here,' Dale hurried back to his brother's side. As they were shadows, they couldn't have physical contact with each other, but Dale wanted to be as close to his brother as he could be. He needed Warren to know that he wasn't alone here. 'I'm right here. Are you okay?'
'It's cold,' Warren sounded tired. He began to curl tighter around himself than before, which was the last thing that Dale wanted. 'So cold…'
'I know,' Dale needed his brother to focus, or else he'd fall back into the shadows again. They didn't just look like shadows, but this plague was infecting them on the inside too. While the sun made everything feel freezing, just being shadowy came with a constant chill. It wasn't all that bad, just uncomfortable, but it wasn't all they had to deal with.
Since becoming a shadow, Dale had felt nearly empty, void of all emotion. It felt like the only thing he should do was curl up on the ground and just let the emptiness take over, because it was just too much effort to try to fight it. The only thing that helped Dale to fight off the temptation to do just that was for his brother's sake.
Dale was sure that this feeling of desolation just came with the shadow territory, but just because he could overcome it didn't mean that he should expect Warren to do the same. Especially since this cold that Dale felt reminded him so much of the grove.
Dale had never actually set foot on the grove, but Coulter, Tanu, and Warren all had. Coulter and Tanu had confirmed that the chill was almost the exact same, and Tanu had also said something about the feeling of emptiness almost being like a weaker version of the catatonic state they'd all been in.
Warren, he'd been in that state for nearly two years. Dale had always thought it odd that Warren seemed to have no remaining side effects of the catatonia. It was a little unnerving to Dale, just how normal Warren behaved , like the past two years hadn't happened at all. Dale had just started to get used to it, just started to hope that Warren really didn't remember it at all.
It may have been horrible for Dale, but he didn't want his brother to remember this at all. Nothing would make Dale happier than to know that his brother's catatonia was nothing more than an old nightmare for him. Something that he knew had happened, but wasn't at all affected by.
But they weren't so lucky. Warren may say that he didn't remember, but it seemed to have stuck with him, at least subconsciously. Dale didn't exactly enjoy being a shadow, but it seemed to be shaking Warren up quite a bit. When Dale had found Warren, he had been almost completely shut down. It had taken Dale several minutes to get any kind of response from him.
Warren wasn't in the exact same state that he'd been in for nearly two years, but it was close enough that it scared Dale to death. Warren didn't want to move at all, he seemed to not hear or be aware of ninety five percent of what was going on around him. It wasn't safe for them to stay in this cave, Dale knew that Ephira was looking for them, and she would find them if they stayed here, but he couldn't leave. Warren was in no state to go anywhere, and there was no way that Dale was going to leave him behind.
They may get caught by Ephira, but they were just shadows, she couldn't hurt them. Getting caught by her wasn't ideal, but Dale thought it was the better of two evils.
'Not safe,' Warren still sounded completely terrified, but at least he was responding now.
'No, it's not safe here,' Dale agreed. 'We'll be okay though. I promise, we'll be just fine,'
'It's cold,' Warren's tone was quiet, completely unfocused. Dale didn't know if Warren even knew he was there, or if he was just talking to himself.
The empty nothingness that Dale had been doing his best to push away got stronger. It was really hard to push back the emptiness for Warren's sake when this was the sixth or seventh time that Warren mentioned how cold it was. Warren wasn't in nearly as bad a state as he had been before, but it was still really bad, and Dale didn't have any clue what he should do about it.
'I know,' Dale answered, because there was nothing else he knew to say to his brother to help him. As useless as he felt about this whole plague situation in general, he felt even more helpless about what to do about Warren. This was all supposed to be over, but Warren just couldn't seem to escape this magically induced inner darkness, and Dale could do very little to help him.
'Kendra and Seth,' Warren's tone was similar to when he'd called out to Dale.
'They're okay,' Dale assured him quickly. 'Coulter and Tanu are going to help them fix everything.'
'They're okay?' Warren sounded scared. Dale was exhausted. He just wanted all of this to end.
'Where are we?' Warren asked. Dale relaxed ever so slightly. Warren was becoming gradually more focused. He may still be repeating himself, but at least he was able to focus enough to move on.
'We're just in a cave to stay out of the sun,' Dale said.
'It's not safe,' Warren repeated. They were back to going in a circle again. Dale wished he knew how to knock Warren out of this. Right now, all he could do was wait and stay by his brother's side.
'We'll be okay,' Dale sat down on the ground next to Warren. Ephira may be after them, so they were far from okay, but Warren didn't need to know that. Maybe Warren should know about the threat in front of them, but he had enough on his mind right now. Dale doubted that Warren could even focus enough to understand the Ephira threat even if he was told of it. Dale thought it was best to just leave Warren in the dark about this matter
'Where's everyone else?' Warren asked.
Dale didn't even know how to begin saying this. Warren couldn't remember when Dale had said that Coulter and Tanu were with Kendra and Seth. As for Stan and Ruth, Ephira already had them.
'They're not here,' It was the only thing Dale could say. 'It's just me and you right now,'
'And you won't leave?' Warren asked. Now this, Dale didn't have to think about the answer.
'I'm not going anywhere,' Dale said. He wasn't going to abandon his brother now.
A/N: This is another short chapter. The next one should be longer. I just wanted to address the shadowy form thing, because Warren said that the cold feeling reminded him of the grove. And I had always been a little disappointed that Warren didn't ever show any side effects of his catatonic albinoism. It just kinda went away. He didn't even remain albino. I know that the magical healing artifact magically heals things, but having a little bit more lingering consequences would have been nice.