Sorry for the slightly longer break between chapters. I was on an Independence Day vacation. And, honestly, I should probably update my stories more often anyway.
"Hey Chase," Marshall said, approaching the police pup, "have you seen Shadow anywhere?"
Chase thought for a moment. "Actually, no. Why do you need to see her?"
"Uh, I just need to deliver a message." Marshall truthfully answered.
"Well, tell me if you find her. She's going to be late for our daily drills." Chase said.
"Sure, Chase." Marshall sighed. Chase was so strict about the daily drills.
Marshall asked everyone else he saw, but no one had seen Shadow. Finally, he spotted her. She was at the edge of the forest, just sitting there. Marshall reluctantly approached.
"Um, hey Shadow." Marshall said timidly, knowing she usually didn't like to be disturbed.
Shadow glanced at him. Then she sighed. "What is it, Marshall?"
"Well, I met this man on the way here." Marshall started.
"And?" Shadow asked, somehow already knowing who Marshall was referring to.
"He said he wanted to talk with you." Marshall finished.
Suddenly, Shadow turned away from Marshall. "I'm never talking with that evil demon again."
"So you know him?" Marshall asked.
"Yeah, I know him. And I'm not going to talk to him, end of story. Now, could you please go back to whatever pointless drill you were doing before you came up here?"
Marshall started to turn away, but then he remembered one more detail of his conversation with the stranger. "Oh, the man also said to mention someone named 'Jade'."
Before Marshall could blink, Shadow was running deeper into the forest, making some kind of noise that Marshall had never heard in any other living creature. "Shadow, wait!" He called after her. When she didn't stop, even though every instinct in his body told him not to, Marshall ran after her.
(Shadow's POV)
Shadow ran as fast as she could through the forest, tears streaming from her eyes. Eventually, she reached a familiar clearing. Had she really ran all this way? Did it really matter?
"Come out here, you evil beast!" Shadow screamed at the air. "Show yourself!"
"Now, Shadow-" The man, who had now appeared, started to say, before he was interrupted by Shadow.
"I don't care what you have to say. I won't listen to your sweet tongue. Just tell me this- how do you know about Jade?!"
"You really think I have a sweet tongue?" The man said, a tone of false humility in his voice.
"Tell me NOW!" Shadow screamed.
"All right, all right. The answer to your question really shouldn't be that hard to find. I see everything. I know everything about the mortal world. That includes your past. Now why don't you calm down. I think you'll find that much easier to do if you give yourself up to me."
For a moment, Shadow once again was tempted to look into the man's void of a face. But her pure rage was too powerful for that. "I won't fall for that again."
Just then, Marshall stumbled into the clearing. "Shadow," he said, panting, "stop *huff* running."
"Hello, Marshall." The man said.
"Oh, it's you." Marshall said. He started to look up. He wanted to see the man's face.
"Marshall, don't!" Shadow yelled. But it was too late. Marshall was already frozen, staring into the man's shifting face. Then, his eyes changed to nothing but blue for a second, and then he started moving again. His eyes were back to normal, yet there was something that felt really wrong about them.
"M-Marshall?" Shadow asked.
"Yes, Shadow?" Marshall replied, normally enough. There was still something… unnerving about the way he said it, though.
Shadow looked from Marshall to the man and back. Then she came to a sudden decision. "We have to leave, Marshall. NOW."
Before Marshall could protest, Shadow was pushing him through the forest. As they ran along, they heard a booming voice from behind them. "YOU CAN NEVER ESCAPE ME!"
Escape they did, though, at least for the moment. The man didn't seem to be pursuing them. Finally, Shadow and Marshall made it back to the Lookout.
"Now do you understand why I can't talk to him?" Shadow said to Marshall.
"Actually, no." Marshall replied, sounding just like himself yet somehow completely different. "I think that man seemed very nice. We should go back." It took no more than a direct look in the eye for Shadow to know the truth. Marshall was gone. Well, he was standing right there, but it wasn't really him. The real Marshall, at least on the inside, was gone.
Dang it, I just got even more inspired by this story. I have to act on this inspiration soon, so it looks like I'll be performing double duty.