Disclaimers: All Forbidden Game characters belong to LJS, anyone else belongs to me. Please ask if you want to borrow them. The species glittawitch comes from an rpg I used to be part of. It's creators are Ivy and Starr. For more information go to http://eny.nu/glittawitch/
Summary: A Shadow Mistress is mourning over the death of her Shadow Man (guess who?). Angry at the girl who took him from her, she creates a new game, a game of cat and mouse where Jenny and her friends are the mice. A game that could have fatal consequences. For assistance with their new enemy Jenny must find a way to raise an old friend to help them defeat the Shadow Mistress.
Part 1
The frozen ice of the Shadow World never melted, it didn't get any warmer. The hearts of those within remained frozen solid, as did Shavone's. Her heart had been warmed once. Only once.
But her love had turned to anger, and then to hatred, as she realised her love had loved someone else. A mortal girl. What kind of Shadow Man would love a mortal girl? Enough to give his own life?
He could have had her. The only Shadow Mistress within the nine worlds. She had power and beauty and intelligence beyond imagining. She reigned the darkness. But nothing would bring him to her.
And when the mortal and her friends had entered the Shadow World, Shavone's anger and hatred had turned into dispair. She would not watch the bitch take away her only love.
She had not been able to bear the pain. She had hidden herself away in a cavern deep in the ice, and during the course of the time here had put a spell on herself, making her as cold as the ice around her, so she would never have to feel the agony of love again.
The spell had failed.
Two humans with fortunate enough to escape the House of Nightmares had tried to take refuge within her cavern, and without knowing woken the demon hiding there.
News of her love's death had reached her. And the hot fury and hatred for the mortal girl had burned away the ice, scouring Shavone's mind clear of all but one thing: revenge.
No one could stand up against the Shadow Mistress when she was mad.
And now, she was back and ready to fight.
She hoped they were prepared to die.
* * *
Jenny paced restlessly around her empty house. Her parents were out of town for a week with her little brother, and she was all alone. For some reason, she felt...she didn't know how to describe it. A feeling of anxiety, as if...as if something was going to happen.
She had been feeling this way for almost a week now. Dee reckoned it was probably just fear of finals. But it wasn't finals Jenny was worried about. Tom, of course, told her there was nothing to worry about, she would feel better soon. He seemed distracted lately, as if his mind wanted to be anywhere but on her.
He had been a completely different with her for the last year. She didn't know what was wrong. What she had done to upset him, or why she felt he wanted to break up with her.
And there was that new girl, Shavone. He seemed quite taken with her. Of course, almost everyone was. The girl's beauty was strange and stunning, her orange hair was unusually bright, and her eyes...her eyes were a blue of an indescribable colour. They made her think of Julian's eyes.
She admitted, if only to herself, she missed him. The event of his death after what had happened in the Shadow World had had different effects on all the group. They seemed to see things in a new light.
It was hard to believe Summer had been going with Zach for their entire senior year. Audrey and Michael were still together, more intense than they used to be. Dee had really applied herself to her studies this year, as well as her sports.
But Jenny wasn't sure what had changed about her. She felt unsure of herself, where she was going, what would happen. She wanted to change, she wanted to be somewhere different.
She hadn't expressed any of these feelings to anyone.
She was so deep into her thoughts that when the doorbell rang she nearly leapt through the ceiling. Get a grip, girl, she thought, hurrying to the door.
But when she opened it, there was no one there. There was a jack-in-the-box and a white envelope. Jenny looked around, but could see no one. She picked up the box and the letter and took them inside back to the lounge. She frowned, seeing the letter was addressed to her.
She frowned, and put it aside for a moment, and began to wind the handle of the jack-in-the-box. These things had always scared her as a kid, she'd always jumped and screamed when the thing opened.
But this time, the scream wasn't one of pleasurable, apprehensible fear. It was a scream of terror. Because the doll inside had been replaced with what looked like a voodoo doll, with a tiny dagger in its chest, and a photo of Tom's face on its face.
She threw it to the floor, and stanched up the letter, ripping the envelope open. There was a piece of card inside, with gold writing on a black background reading:
GREETINGS FROM THE SHADOW WORLD.
YOU ARE INVITED TO PLAY A NEW GAME.
BRING YOUR FRIENDS.
MAKE SURE YOU'RE READY TO DIE.
* * *
Tom glanced over at the pretty girl opposite him. She was without a doubt, one of the prettiest girls he had ever since. He had been entranced with her ever since she'd first come to Vista Grande. It seemed weird that she had come to a new school, right before finals and the end of the year. That must be awful for her. They were sitting together in a booth in the local burger bar. Not very romantic, but he didn't want word getting back to Jenny. Ever since Shavone had arrived, Jenny had slipped to the sidelines. He just couldn't help himself. Shavone was new and beautiful and mysterious. He had known Jenny forever. No surprises there.
He realised, he didn't feel the slightest bit guilty about cheating on her. Nobody else knew about their new relationship. He wanted to keep it that way. And Shavone seemed fine with that. He studied her, as she snuggled against him, delicately sipping her milkshake through a straw, twirling it in long, elegant fingers. He glanced around but could see nobody who would run and blab to Jenny. And with that settled, he allowed himself to slip his arm around Shavone's shoulders. She smiled, and it was all he could do not to sigh out loud with pleasure at the sight of her dazzling beauty. Her eyes were the most wonderful colour he could imagine. Such a vivid shade of blue. Pools easy to fall into forever...you could drown in eyes like that...But she was so cold. Her skin felt like ice. Whenever he was with her, it was impossible to warm her up, no matter what he tried. He had done...things...with Shavone that he would never dream of doing with Jenny. Another reason she must never find out. He had always expected Jenny to be his first. But Jenny was so...ordinary. Maybe it wouldn't be as special with her. But Shavone...Shavone was something else. "Let's get out of here," Shavone whispered into his ear, her lips brushing against his flesh.
"Where'd you want to go?" he asked as he led her outside. It was such a beautiful night she had insisted they walk. The stars shimmered in the night sky, the moon creating a soft white glow over everything. He glanced around, allowing Shavone to lead him where she wanted. He never seemed to be able to say no to her. She was leading him out of the familiar area he knew, to some dark, deserted hillside. There was a little parking spot by a wall. The wall overlooked the town, as they stood by and leaned against it, they could see the hundreds of lights of Vista Grande twinkling below. A car whizzed by, loud music blaring, destroying the peaceful atmosphere.
Tom glanced around, annoyed. The car stopped. Did a turn and screeched to a halt right in front of them. The driver stopped the car, not turning off the annoyingly loud music. His eyes were blank, as if he wasn't seeing anything. He turned the blank gaze on Shavone, who smiled her dazzling smile at him. He just stared at her, stricken, the expression most men got looking at her. He made a small moaning sound. Then he walked over to the wall, stood on it.
"Shavone? What are you doing?"
The guy jumped.
Shavone turned her smile on Tom, who backed away from her. A feeling of fear was stirring inside of him now. What had he been thinking? He'd been so entranced with her beauty he hadn't even bothered to look any deeper. That wasn't like him. He shook his head, confused.
Shavone reached out for him, her cold hands clasping his arms. She was whispering into his ear, in a strange a language he couldn't understand. And yet, the words she was saying were infecting him, he found himself moving against his will, as if she were controlling him. He walked over to the car, shut the door, and started the engine. He left the loud music blurring.
He started the car. He found himself pointing it at the cliff edge. He revved the engine. Shavone's smile and her indescribable blue eyes remained in his vision as he drove the car over the cliff.
The last thing he saw. The last thing he heard was the chilling sound of her laughter as the world exploded into fire and agony.
* * *
Shavone smiled. One gone already. She began to walk home, easily blending in with the shadows and darkness around her. The human authorities would be here soon. They would assume that Tom had been drinking and got drunk and stupid and driven his car off a cliff. Or something like that. She wasn't too clear on how human authorities worked. She only knew how the Shadow World authorities worked, because she made the laws. She was the Shadow Queen.
And nobody disobeyed her, unless they wanted to end their life early.
Her heart clenched in pain suddenly. The ice she'd wrapped around herself was starting to melt again, and she could feel cold tears dripping down her cheeks. The ice was so cold she felt as if it were carving crevasses out of the flesh of her face, if she cried anymore all her flesh would be withered away, leaving nothing but bone in its place.
She brushed the tears away angrily. She wouldn't let that happen to her. Her mind was scoured clean of everything but one word: Revenge.
It was the only way to rectify the damage that had been done to her. The human bitch would pay for taking Julian away from her. Shavone would make her pay if it was the last thing she did.
* * *
When Jenny went into school the next day, she was more than a little surprised to see police cars and officers talking to the students and teachers. People kept coming up to her, hugging her, saying things like "I'm so sorry," and "You poor thing. This must be so awful for you." Jenny accepted the sympathy, not sure why, or what was going on.
She looked around for her friends, but couldn't see them anywhere. What had happened? What was going on? What must be terrible for her? She remembered the card and toy sent through the mail. She had passed it off as a cruel practical joke. Nothing more than that.
But...but who would know about the Shadow World? She had reckoned it had been someone from when Summer had disappeared, they had, of course, told the truth, and no one had believed them. Someone must have heard them mention the Shadow World and decided to be mean.
And now...this. She glanced around, feeling confused. The confusion began to turn to fear. She had to find her friends. They had to be okay. They had to. Had to. She ran to find Audrey in her English class. Audrey wasn't in her seat. She tried to find Dee in the gym. No Dee. No Michael in science. No Zach in art. No Summer in library study hall. No Tom in Business Admin. Where was everyone?
The fear had turned to panic. There was no way they could all disappear at once! Where the hell where they?
She couldn't go to her own class. Not like this. She couldn't explain to anyone what was wrong; she didn't even know how to explain it to herself.
She saw the new girl Shavone, out the corner of her eye. The girl's bright orange hair caught her attention, and she saw several people being notably sympathetic to her too. Shavone looked up then, and saw Jenny watching.
Her eyes were ice cold. Looking into them made Jenny shudder with fear. She backed away. Shavone's lips curled. She seemed amused by Jenny's fear.
Jenny ran. Home. She had to get home. She would be safe there. Then she could call the police. Let them think she was out her mind, she didn't care. She had to know what happened to her friends.
She was sobbing by the time she reached her house. She slammed the door shut and locked it, sliding down the door, sitting with her back against it, rocking back and forth in terror.
Why was this happening to her again? Who would do something like this?
"Jenny?" Summer's voice. Jenny looked up, to see all her friends, less Tom, crowding into the doorway from the living room.
"Where have you all *been?*" Jenny exploded, jumping to her feet, fear turning into a weird combination of rage and relief.
"Where have we been, where have *you* been, that's the question," Audrey said as she and Dee helped Jenny to a seat on the couch.
"I went to school, like normal," Jenny said, confused. "There were police cars there and people kept coming up to me being weirdly sympathetic, and I went to look for you guys and you weren't there, and I guess I panicked..."
"We thought you'd have stayed home," Dee said. "We came as soon as we heard. And then you weren't here. And - "
"What *did* happen?" Jenny asked, looking around. Everyone seemed stunned, and almost in shock.
"I can't believe nobody told you," Michael said.
"Told me *what?*" Jenny snapped. This was getting ridiculous.
"Told you that Tom is dead," Audrey finally supplied. "He died last night. He drove a stolen car off a cliff."
* * *
Jenny's hearing must have gone funny. Either that or Audrey had gone insane. Tom, dead, and stolen car did not go together. No way. Not true. It was all a dream. A nightmare. She'd wake up in a minute, call Tom; he'd answer the phone, and reassure that he was fine, just fine.
She laughed. It was a strange sound, dry and hollow. It didn't fit in. She noticed the others exchange glances.
"Jenny?" Summer ventured. "Should we call a doctor? You don't look very well."
Jenny didn't answer. She sank back into the soft cushions of the couch. She wasn't sure how she felt yet. Her eyes were strangely dry, there were no tears. Not even horror, fear or anything. Just an empty void that would never be filled.
Never.
"It's true, isn't it?" she whispered. "It's really, really true..." Two tears squeezed out of her eyes. There. She was crying. Once she sobbed it all out, them maybe she could feel something.
It was wrong to loose the love of your life and not feel a thing. But...maybe she didn't feel a thing because...because maybe Tom wasn't the love of her life after all...
But what did it matter now? Tom was gone, Julian was gone, and they were never coming back...
"Oh my God!" Audrey's voice, suddenly sharp with horror broke through and registered into Jenny's stunned mind.
"Holy shit..." That was Dee.
"Yuck." Michael.
Jenny looked around. They all looked horrified. She could see anything out of the ordinary. The room looked normal, all her parents' expensive décor was still in place, the Native American rugs on the walls, the jars and pots on the floors, bright flowers in the vases on her mother's pine table...
And yet, they were all staring at her, all riveted in absolute terror.
Jenny's hand lifted to her face. She touched the wetness she felt on her cheeks and pulled her fingers away to look at it. Red. There was something red on her fingers. Red and wet.
And now she knew why they all looked so horrified. Blood. She was crying blood.
But that wasn't the worst. The walls were bleeding too, the furniture, all was covered in streams of red, dripping onto the floor, the people, staining them with Jenny's blood. The more Jenny cried. The more the house bled.
Summer was screaming suddenly. Her hair had changed from gentle throthy gold to a river of blood. Summer had blood for hair. She screamed and screamed but everyone seemed unable to move, to run to help.
The blood slowly seemed to focus in one spot on the ceiling now, directly above Summer's head.
"Summer..." Dee started to move forward, to yank Summer back, but she wasn't fast enough. The blood seemed to pour up and down in a column, completely covering Summer. She continued to scream. Bloody hands reached out of the column scrambling desperately for someone to help her...
Dee leapt forward and grabbed summers hands, but the more Dee pulled Summer forward, the more Summer was sucked down the tube of blood.
Summer gave one final shriek, and then the blood vanished.
And Summer fell to the floor. It was as if nothing happened in the room. Everything appeared as normal as it ever had. But Summer wasn't moving.
Dee knelt down and made to feel for a pulse.
"Don't bother, she's fucked," a voice from the door said, a hint of cruel amusement barely hidden.
Every head turned. An uninvited guest stood in the doorway, smiling cruelly, orange hair glinting in the track lightning, ice cold blue eyes sparkling with what looked like morbid pleasure. Shavone.
"How did you get in?" Dee demanded, jumping to her feet.
"Through the door," Shavone answered. "It was open."
"You did that," Audrey put in. Not a question. A simple fact of horrifying truth.
Shavone inspected long, talon like blood red nails. "I like the colour of blood, don't you?"
"You're sick," Dee said with loathing. "How could you do that to Summer? What did Summer ever do to you?"
"Not a thing," Shavone said pleasantly. "I pick on the innocent little twits like Summer cause they're so easy."
Dee gave almost an animal snarl of anger before she launched herself at Shavone. Shavone gave an unimpressed look, like you would for a little kid who was trying to show and prove how tough they were. She waved vaguely and Dee sailed backwards, smashing into the wall, falling down unconscious.
"I'm taking a wild guess here," Michael added, speaking for the first time in a while, "you're not human, are you?"
Shavone smiled. "Score one for the good guys. Human? Please."
"Who are you?" Jenny said, standing up, finally gathering herself enough to understand what was going on. "Why did you kill Tom? What *are* you?"
Shavone met her eyes directly. Shavone's cruel humour had faded in less than a second. She glared at Jenny, her impossibly blue eyes flashing, something ancient and evil rising in their depths. Something incomprehensible to the human race.
"You took someone I loved, I take someone you love," she said. "Fair's fair, right?"
Jenny stared at the ice-cold girl before her, realisation slowly dawning. "You're a Shadow...woman?" she got out.
"Shadow Mistress. Shadow Queen. I make the law. You invaded my territory, you took *my* Shadow Man. And I'm going to make you as miserable as you made me. And that goes for the rest of you too." Shavone's chilling gaze swept the group in the room. "Be prepared, because you'll never know who I'm going to kill next."
* * *
Summary: A Shadow Mistress is mourning over the death of her Shadow Man (guess who?). Angry at the girl who took him from her, she creates a new game, a game of cat and mouse where Jenny and her friends are the mice. A game that could have fatal consequences. For assistance with their new enemy Jenny must find a way to raise an old friend to help them defeat the Shadow Mistress.
Part 1
The frozen ice of the Shadow World never melted, it didn't get any warmer. The hearts of those within remained frozen solid, as did Shavone's. Her heart had been warmed once. Only once.
But her love had turned to anger, and then to hatred, as she realised her love had loved someone else. A mortal girl. What kind of Shadow Man would love a mortal girl? Enough to give his own life?
He could have had her. The only Shadow Mistress within the nine worlds. She had power and beauty and intelligence beyond imagining. She reigned the darkness. But nothing would bring him to her.
And when the mortal and her friends had entered the Shadow World, Shavone's anger and hatred had turned into dispair. She would not watch the bitch take away her only love.
She had not been able to bear the pain. She had hidden herself away in a cavern deep in the ice, and during the course of the time here had put a spell on herself, making her as cold as the ice around her, so she would never have to feel the agony of love again.
The spell had failed.
Two humans with fortunate enough to escape the House of Nightmares had tried to take refuge within her cavern, and without knowing woken the demon hiding there.
News of her love's death had reached her. And the hot fury and hatred for the mortal girl had burned away the ice, scouring Shavone's mind clear of all but one thing: revenge.
No one could stand up against the Shadow Mistress when she was mad.
And now, she was back and ready to fight.
She hoped they were prepared to die.
* * *
Jenny paced restlessly around her empty house. Her parents were out of town for a week with her little brother, and she was all alone. For some reason, she felt...she didn't know how to describe it. A feeling of anxiety, as if...as if something was going to happen.
She had been feeling this way for almost a week now. Dee reckoned it was probably just fear of finals. But it wasn't finals Jenny was worried about. Tom, of course, told her there was nothing to worry about, she would feel better soon. He seemed distracted lately, as if his mind wanted to be anywhere but on her.
He had been a completely different with her for the last year. She didn't know what was wrong. What she had done to upset him, or why she felt he wanted to break up with her.
And there was that new girl, Shavone. He seemed quite taken with her. Of course, almost everyone was. The girl's beauty was strange and stunning, her orange hair was unusually bright, and her eyes...her eyes were a blue of an indescribable colour. They made her think of Julian's eyes.
She admitted, if only to herself, she missed him. The event of his death after what had happened in the Shadow World had had different effects on all the group. They seemed to see things in a new light.
It was hard to believe Summer had been going with Zach for their entire senior year. Audrey and Michael were still together, more intense than they used to be. Dee had really applied herself to her studies this year, as well as her sports.
But Jenny wasn't sure what had changed about her. She felt unsure of herself, where she was going, what would happen. She wanted to change, she wanted to be somewhere different.
She hadn't expressed any of these feelings to anyone.
She was so deep into her thoughts that when the doorbell rang she nearly leapt through the ceiling. Get a grip, girl, she thought, hurrying to the door.
But when she opened it, there was no one there. There was a jack-in-the-box and a white envelope. Jenny looked around, but could see no one. She picked up the box and the letter and took them inside back to the lounge. She frowned, seeing the letter was addressed to her.
She frowned, and put it aside for a moment, and began to wind the handle of the jack-in-the-box. These things had always scared her as a kid, she'd always jumped and screamed when the thing opened.
But this time, the scream wasn't one of pleasurable, apprehensible fear. It was a scream of terror. Because the doll inside had been replaced with what looked like a voodoo doll, with a tiny dagger in its chest, and a photo of Tom's face on its face.
She threw it to the floor, and stanched up the letter, ripping the envelope open. There was a piece of card inside, with gold writing on a black background reading:
GREETINGS FROM THE SHADOW WORLD.
YOU ARE INVITED TO PLAY A NEW GAME.
BRING YOUR FRIENDS.
MAKE SURE YOU'RE READY TO DIE.
* * *
Tom glanced over at the pretty girl opposite him. She was without a doubt, one of the prettiest girls he had ever since. He had been entranced with her ever since she'd first come to Vista Grande. It seemed weird that she had come to a new school, right before finals and the end of the year. That must be awful for her. They were sitting together in a booth in the local burger bar. Not very romantic, but he didn't want word getting back to Jenny. Ever since Shavone had arrived, Jenny had slipped to the sidelines. He just couldn't help himself. Shavone was new and beautiful and mysterious. He had known Jenny forever. No surprises there.
He realised, he didn't feel the slightest bit guilty about cheating on her. Nobody else knew about their new relationship. He wanted to keep it that way. And Shavone seemed fine with that. He studied her, as she snuggled against him, delicately sipping her milkshake through a straw, twirling it in long, elegant fingers. He glanced around but could see nobody who would run and blab to Jenny. And with that settled, he allowed himself to slip his arm around Shavone's shoulders. She smiled, and it was all he could do not to sigh out loud with pleasure at the sight of her dazzling beauty. Her eyes were the most wonderful colour he could imagine. Such a vivid shade of blue. Pools easy to fall into forever...you could drown in eyes like that...But she was so cold. Her skin felt like ice. Whenever he was with her, it was impossible to warm her up, no matter what he tried. He had done...things...with Shavone that he would never dream of doing with Jenny. Another reason she must never find out. He had always expected Jenny to be his first. But Jenny was so...ordinary. Maybe it wouldn't be as special with her. But Shavone...Shavone was something else. "Let's get out of here," Shavone whispered into his ear, her lips brushing against his flesh.
"Where'd you want to go?" he asked as he led her outside. It was such a beautiful night she had insisted they walk. The stars shimmered in the night sky, the moon creating a soft white glow over everything. He glanced around, allowing Shavone to lead him where she wanted. He never seemed to be able to say no to her. She was leading him out of the familiar area he knew, to some dark, deserted hillside. There was a little parking spot by a wall. The wall overlooked the town, as they stood by and leaned against it, they could see the hundreds of lights of Vista Grande twinkling below. A car whizzed by, loud music blaring, destroying the peaceful atmosphere.
Tom glanced around, annoyed. The car stopped. Did a turn and screeched to a halt right in front of them. The driver stopped the car, not turning off the annoyingly loud music. His eyes were blank, as if he wasn't seeing anything. He turned the blank gaze on Shavone, who smiled her dazzling smile at him. He just stared at her, stricken, the expression most men got looking at her. He made a small moaning sound. Then he walked over to the wall, stood on it.
"Shavone? What are you doing?"
The guy jumped.
Shavone turned her smile on Tom, who backed away from her. A feeling of fear was stirring inside of him now. What had he been thinking? He'd been so entranced with her beauty he hadn't even bothered to look any deeper. That wasn't like him. He shook his head, confused.
Shavone reached out for him, her cold hands clasping his arms. She was whispering into his ear, in a strange a language he couldn't understand. And yet, the words she was saying were infecting him, he found himself moving against his will, as if she were controlling him. He walked over to the car, shut the door, and started the engine. He left the loud music blurring.
He started the car. He found himself pointing it at the cliff edge. He revved the engine. Shavone's smile and her indescribable blue eyes remained in his vision as he drove the car over the cliff.
The last thing he saw. The last thing he heard was the chilling sound of her laughter as the world exploded into fire and agony.
* * *
Shavone smiled. One gone already. She began to walk home, easily blending in with the shadows and darkness around her. The human authorities would be here soon. They would assume that Tom had been drinking and got drunk and stupid and driven his car off a cliff. Or something like that. She wasn't too clear on how human authorities worked. She only knew how the Shadow World authorities worked, because she made the laws. She was the Shadow Queen.
And nobody disobeyed her, unless they wanted to end their life early.
Her heart clenched in pain suddenly. The ice she'd wrapped around herself was starting to melt again, and she could feel cold tears dripping down her cheeks. The ice was so cold she felt as if it were carving crevasses out of the flesh of her face, if she cried anymore all her flesh would be withered away, leaving nothing but bone in its place.
She brushed the tears away angrily. She wouldn't let that happen to her. Her mind was scoured clean of everything but one word: Revenge.
It was the only way to rectify the damage that had been done to her. The human bitch would pay for taking Julian away from her. Shavone would make her pay if it was the last thing she did.
* * *
When Jenny went into school the next day, she was more than a little surprised to see police cars and officers talking to the students and teachers. People kept coming up to her, hugging her, saying things like "I'm so sorry," and "You poor thing. This must be so awful for you." Jenny accepted the sympathy, not sure why, or what was going on.
She looked around for her friends, but couldn't see them anywhere. What had happened? What was going on? What must be terrible for her? She remembered the card and toy sent through the mail. She had passed it off as a cruel practical joke. Nothing more than that.
But...but who would know about the Shadow World? She had reckoned it had been someone from when Summer had disappeared, they had, of course, told the truth, and no one had believed them. Someone must have heard them mention the Shadow World and decided to be mean.
And now...this. She glanced around, feeling confused. The confusion began to turn to fear. She had to find her friends. They had to be okay. They had to. Had to. She ran to find Audrey in her English class. Audrey wasn't in her seat. She tried to find Dee in the gym. No Dee. No Michael in science. No Zach in art. No Summer in library study hall. No Tom in Business Admin. Where was everyone?
The fear had turned to panic. There was no way they could all disappear at once! Where the hell where they?
She couldn't go to her own class. Not like this. She couldn't explain to anyone what was wrong; she didn't even know how to explain it to herself.
She saw the new girl Shavone, out the corner of her eye. The girl's bright orange hair caught her attention, and she saw several people being notably sympathetic to her too. Shavone looked up then, and saw Jenny watching.
Her eyes were ice cold. Looking into them made Jenny shudder with fear. She backed away. Shavone's lips curled. She seemed amused by Jenny's fear.
Jenny ran. Home. She had to get home. She would be safe there. Then she could call the police. Let them think she was out her mind, she didn't care. She had to know what happened to her friends.
She was sobbing by the time she reached her house. She slammed the door shut and locked it, sliding down the door, sitting with her back against it, rocking back and forth in terror.
Why was this happening to her again? Who would do something like this?
"Jenny?" Summer's voice. Jenny looked up, to see all her friends, less Tom, crowding into the doorway from the living room.
"Where have you all *been?*" Jenny exploded, jumping to her feet, fear turning into a weird combination of rage and relief.
"Where have we been, where have *you* been, that's the question," Audrey said as she and Dee helped Jenny to a seat on the couch.
"I went to school, like normal," Jenny said, confused. "There were police cars there and people kept coming up to me being weirdly sympathetic, and I went to look for you guys and you weren't there, and I guess I panicked..."
"We thought you'd have stayed home," Dee said. "We came as soon as we heard. And then you weren't here. And - "
"What *did* happen?" Jenny asked, looking around. Everyone seemed stunned, and almost in shock.
"I can't believe nobody told you," Michael said.
"Told me *what?*" Jenny snapped. This was getting ridiculous.
"Told you that Tom is dead," Audrey finally supplied. "He died last night. He drove a stolen car off a cliff."
* * *
Jenny's hearing must have gone funny. Either that or Audrey had gone insane. Tom, dead, and stolen car did not go together. No way. Not true. It was all a dream. A nightmare. She'd wake up in a minute, call Tom; he'd answer the phone, and reassure that he was fine, just fine.
She laughed. It was a strange sound, dry and hollow. It didn't fit in. She noticed the others exchange glances.
"Jenny?" Summer ventured. "Should we call a doctor? You don't look very well."
Jenny didn't answer. She sank back into the soft cushions of the couch. She wasn't sure how she felt yet. Her eyes were strangely dry, there were no tears. Not even horror, fear or anything. Just an empty void that would never be filled.
Never.
"It's true, isn't it?" she whispered. "It's really, really true..." Two tears squeezed out of her eyes. There. She was crying. Once she sobbed it all out, them maybe she could feel something.
It was wrong to loose the love of your life and not feel a thing. But...maybe she didn't feel a thing because...because maybe Tom wasn't the love of her life after all...
But what did it matter now? Tom was gone, Julian was gone, and they were never coming back...
"Oh my God!" Audrey's voice, suddenly sharp with horror broke through and registered into Jenny's stunned mind.
"Holy shit..." That was Dee.
"Yuck." Michael.
Jenny looked around. They all looked horrified. She could see anything out of the ordinary. The room looked normal, all her parents' expensive décor was still in place, the Native American rugs on the walls, the jars and pots on the floors, bright flowers in the vases on her mother's pine table...
And yet, they were all staring at her, all riveted in absolute terror.
Jenny's hand lifted to her face. She touched the wetness she felt on her cheeks and pulled her fingers away to look at it. Red. There was something red on her fingers. Red and wet.
And now she knew why they all looked so horrified. Blood. She was crying blood.
But that wasn't the worst. The walls were bleeding too, the furniture, all was covered in streams of red, dripping onto the floor, the people, staining them with Jenny's blood. The more Jenny cried. The more the house bled.
Summer was screaming suddenly. Her hair had changed from gentle throthy gold to a river of blood. Summer had blood for hair. She screamed and screamed but everyone seemed unable to move, to run to help.
The blood slowly seemed to focus in one spot on the ceiling now, directly above Summer's head.
"Summer..." Dee started to move forward, to yank Summer back, but she wasn't fast enough. The blood seemed to pour up and down in a column, completely covering Summer. She continued to scream. Bloody hands reached out of the column scrambling desperately for someone to help her...
Dee leapt forward and grabbed summers hands, but the more Dee pulled Summer forward, the more Summer was sucked down the tube of blood.
Summer gave one final shriek, and then the blood vanished.
And Summer fell to the floor. It was as if nothing happened in the room. Everything appeared as normal as it ever had. But Summer wasn't moving.
Dee knelt down and made to feel for a pulse.
"Don't bother, she's fucked," a voice from the door said, a hint of cruel amusement barely hidden.
Every head turned. An uninvited guest stood in the doorway, smiling cruelly, orange hair glinting in the track lightning, ice cold blue eyes sparkling with what looked like morbid pleasure. Shavone.
"How did you get in?" Dee demanded, jumping to her feet.
"Through the door," Shavone answered. "It was open."
"You did that," Audrey put in. Not a question. A simple fact of horrifying truth.
Shavone inspected long, talon like blood red nails. "I like the colour of blood, don't you?"
"You're sick," Dee said with loathing. "How could you do that to Summer? What did Summer ever do to you?"
"Not a thing," Shavone said pleasantly. "I pick on the innocent little twits like Summer cause they're so easy."
Dee gave almost an animal snarl of anger before she launched herself at Shavone. Shavone gave an unimpressed look, like you would for a little kid who was trying to show and prove how tough they were. She waved vaguely and Dee sailed backwards, smashing into the wall, falling down unconscious.
"I'm taking a wild guess here," Michael added, speaking for the first time in a while, "you're not human, are you?"
Shavone smiled. "Score one for the good guys. Human? Please."
"Who are you?" Jenny said, standing up, finally gathering herself enough to understand what was going on. "Why did you kill Tom? What *are* you?"
Shavone met her eyes directly. Shavone's cruel humour had faded in less than a second. She glared at Jenny, her impossibly blue eyes flashing, something ancient and evil rising in their depths. Something incomprehensible to the human race.
"You took someone I loved, I take someone you love," she said. "Fair's fair, right?"
Jenny stared at the ice-cold girl before her, realisation slowly dawning. "You're a Shadow...woman?" she got out.
"Shadow Mistress. Shadow Queen. I make the law. You invaded my territory, you took *my* Shadow Man. And I'm going to make you as miserable as you made me. And that goes for the rest of you too." Shavone's chilling gaze swept the group in the room. "Be prepared, because you'll never know who I'm going to kill next."
* * *