A Demon’s Book Of Shadows (Witches & Demons #1)

36. Amon

36

Amon

There were more shadows than I could handle, each branching out of me like thick dark sheets. They moved like black water. Smooth on the surface, and violent underneath. It was just the Bone Threader and I now, our shadows a spiraling vortex of tunneling darkness. The energy here was thick with other restless spirits. We were lost somewhere in the Summoning.

A hand clawed for my face. Fingers grazed my cheek, tearing my skin.

I ducked as another sharp bony finger swiped in front of me, grabbing a fistful of my hair.

“Where is she?” the Bone Threader breathed, sending his hot, humid breath into my face.

Staggering backward, I hit the solid surface of another demon. One of my shadows reached his arms around my center and restrained me. He tried to use me as a shield to protect himself from being ripped to pieces.

“What are you doing?” I yelled at the Bone Threader, who became a rippling mass of ebony shadows and glistening white bone. His face was a mask of the past victims he devoured—all spirits who had no home.

“I’m not letting you go until you bring me Lucy,” he growled, his voice thick with hunger.

“Fuck you. I’m not letting you near her,” I bit out, trying in vain to free myself from my shadows as they tried to hide from the Bone Threader.

His arm extended, fingers long and thin, flexing as he approached me. The cold tip of his finger traced along my cheek until it curled near my chin. “You think you could show her what your nightmare of a past could reveal for her magic?”

I pulled my cheek away. “You tricked Lucy into using her magic. She thought she was doing you a service by helping you to read.”

The Bone Threader smiled, his wide mouth grimacing. “Too bad I was the demon who got the first taste of it. That means I will be the one who decides what to do with it.”

He disappeared again. His fingers clawed over my back and arms, ripping away my shirt to expose all of me. My shadows elongated. Some towered over me, others crouched, their bodies bent unnaturally.

The Bone Threader’s hollow eyes glowed red. “You know this has always been about your mother’s death. Why you were the one to inherit her talents is due to the fact that part of you refuses to let her go.”

“You will not devour my mother’s talents. Not through me, or through Lucy. ”

The Bone Threader’s bony fingers grazed my chest. “We have both tasted their magic. You have what I need. Release their magic to me now, and I will make sure both Lucy and your mother’s spirits go quietly.” He dragged his finger over my chest, tearing yet another shadow out of my skin. Two of them had their ebony bands wrapped around me. “Don’t you want to know what your missing shadow has seen regarding your mother? Us demons, we are complicated beings with many faces and memories.”

He was right. I didn’t know the entire truth behind my mother’s death. My father had long kept that story a secret, trying to protect his boys from the mess of it.

My knees buckled, and I slipped through his grip.

Kicking my leg, I swung for him.

Two more of my shadows were on me before I could think. They grabbed my arms and linked them behind my back.

The air ripped open, revealing a small silhouette. A boy appeared, his jet-black hair and white face concealed by the thickening aura of the Summoning.

“Every demon has a shadow for every stage of his life,” The Bone Threader whispered. “Which one of you should I devour first?”

The mass of my shadows retreated, except for one hovering aura. He stood to my right, his hand outstretched for me.

Seeing him here, a light shining in the dark, I was no longer alone. All of this time, was this my missing shadow that would make me whole ?

“You need to leave,” I demanded to the silver light flickering between my towering shadows. Despite how large and monstrous they had become, he was not afraid of them.

He shifted closer to me. This shadow, however small, refused to leave my side.

All but one of my shadows retreated from the Bone Threader’s fingers as they branched atop us.

I looked into the face of the small shadow, barely recognizing who he was. I’d spent so long battling the bigger, darker sides of myself. Yet this one had strengths I overlooked.

He was my childhood shadow. How I wish I could retain that braver part of myself. I had become such a coward as an adult.

He threw his hands out, light branching through his small fingers.

The scent of water filled my nose.

I blinked, suddenly returning to a spot by the river from my childhood.

My mother stood by the water. Her eyes lit up, one blue, the other red. “Go find them and bring them to me, my son. Today, I will share the magic behind my talents.”

The black roots of the tree I sat next to began to glow. Glow worms—dozens of them—were inching their way up the trunk and into the branches.

I followed them, my bare feet digging into the bark as I scrambled up the roots. I made the movements over and over, becoming acquainted with the familiars who lived in the ancient tree. Each branch I grabbed or placed my foot upon became an old friend .

As the branches thinned near the top, I discovered what my mother had requested of me to find. The worms left small cocoons behind in the branches, which I collected, in a small bag. These were the colors of my mother’s pigments.

As time fractured around this memory of mine, so did the branches of the tree. Another journey climbing, I wasn’t alone. A small boy stood beneath me, his face gazing up.

“Jeremy!” a small girl’s voice cried from the forest. “Don’t climb any higher! You will fall!”

“Go away!” I called back to the boy, but he refused, and followed me up.

“Melrose!” he cried. “I can see the familiars up there! I can climb to the top!”

The boy was Melrose’s brother.

“No, turn back! It’s not safe!” I called down to him.

But the boy was already half-way up the tree.

His small white fingers grip against the branch my foot was on.

Snap !

The tree was encompassed in mist as I descended.

By the time my feet hit the ground, the sound of trickling water was all I could hear. I returned to the spot where I remembered my mother standing many times, only finding a single black feather.

Crouching to the ground, I retrieved the feather, tears burning my eyes. My mother was gone. She left me her medicine bundle.

A hand came to my shoulder, the pressure protective and warm. “You were always fond of climbing trees, Amon. Chasing the birds up into the branches. You were always one with the ravens. ”

My throat closed. The memory vanished. My knees buckled as I fell to the ground. “Melrose’s brother died, because of me ?”

The Bone Threader smiled greedily. “Your mother’s spirit refuses to leave the Summoning because of this memory. Unless you give me what remains of her magic, her spirit will always belong to me.”

My childhood shadow-shelf began to walk toward the Bone Threader.

“No, stop! He’ll tear you to pieces!” I cried out.

The Bone Threader flexed his fingers. “Come play with me, Hidden One. Return to the shadows. I happen to know there is another witch who has the same magic possessed by your mother, and I am about to devour it.”

“Leave Lucy out of this! I’m the one you want!” I yelled.

His laughter echoed, ricocheting off of me. My ribs buckled as the reverberation thundered around us. My child shadow stopped, turning to face me. My mother’s reflection shone in his eyes. She stood next to the tree of shadows, her aura hovering like a raven’s wings as they took flight.

“Amon,” she said, her soft voice caressing me. “You must not fear what has happened to me. You must trust yourself. The lives of your brothers and your father depend on it.”

I blinked, and my mother was gone.

My childhood shadow’s eyes changed. One was red, the other blue.

Anger surged through me.

No .

I won’t let the Bone Threader destroy what’s left of my family .

If this is what he wanted, to consume what was left of my shadows, then so be it.

The Bone Threader’s mouth extended, ripping upward into the sky. With a great terrible gnash, his jaws clamped down, swallowing every last shadow of mine in sight.