Page 62 of Spears and Shadows (Defenders of the Light)
“Adam told me you would try to poison me against my friends. He told me not to listen to you,” she said, her voice coming out weaker than before.
“Hmm I wonder why he would have told you that? Maybe so you wouldn’t listen to me since he knew I would try to tell you the truth.” The agent’s voice had taken on a distinctly gloating tone, knowing that he had finally backed Nora into a corner with his argument.
She could barely see or think straight, and she struggled to hold on to the memory of the things that had led her here. She remembered the Sanctuary, Thad’s laughter, Adam’s dancing, but it was all tainted now that she didn’t know if any of it was what it seemed.
She did know one thing, though. Even if her friends were using her, the agent in front of her was using her too.
She clung to this thought as she hunched in on herself and let a sob rack through her, letting the agent think he had broken her spirit. As she did, she used her bent posture to hide the motion of her hand as she reached into her jacket pocket and eased the knife out of its sheath.
Distracted by his apparent victory, the agent continued triumphantly.
“See, now you know who the true enemy is. Don’t let them use you. Show them that you are the master of your own destiny. Use your power to fight back.”
Nora adjusted the knife in her grip and said, “You’re right. I won’t ever let myself be used again.”
At that moment, she straightened up and flung the knife out in front of her as hard as she could. Luckily for her, the agent had come very close to her during his speech, and her throw managed to hit him squarely in the face.
The agent let out a scream that was decidedly no longer human as it began to claw at its face where the dagger had sunk in. Where Nora had expected there to be blood, though, the face that had once belonged to Leo begun to simply peel away to reveal a mass of twisting darkness underneath.
Nora shot to her feet as the last of the human visage fell away to reveal a creature of pure blackness. It looked like the Shadows she had encountered at the museum, except it was much larger and denser. The heat coming off it in rolling waves was enough to make her gag.
The Shadow continued to convulse around the knife imbedded where a face should be. Taking advantage of its distraction, Nora pulled one knee into her chest before straightening her leg out with all her might and delivering a solid kick that would make Ezra proud.
The bottom of her boot melted instantly with the contact, but the creature fell back. She didn’t hesitate. She dashed around its heaving form and through the opening behind it into the tunneled road beyond. She ran without direction, dodging cars, her only thought to put distance between herself and the creature behind her. As a car honked at her, she caught sight of a ramp leading back up to street level and dashed towards it.
She emerged into the night air on Michigan Avenue. The melted sole of Nora’s boot cooled in the November air and stuck to the sidewalk, causing her to trip and sprawl across the pavement.
She tried to get to her feet to continue her escape, but the adrenaline that had fueled her this far rapidly faded from her bloodstream. She only made it a few stumbling steps before tripping and collapsing to her knees once more.
People were beginning to stare and mutter, but Nora didn’t care. This was Chicago, and they had probably seen far stranger things on the streets here. She could barely hear the voices around her over the rushing of blood in her ears. The sidewalk in front of her was starting to blur.
Now that she had gotten away, the Agent’s words were coming back to her. Used. Manipulated. She knew he was trying to turn her against her friends, but she couldn’t get his mocking tone out of her head.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the voices around her erupting into shouts, and a herd of footsteps thundered towards her.
“Nora! Nora, what happened?” Adam’s voice came from nearby to her right, and a hand landed on her shoulder.
“Don’t touch me,” she spat, jerking away involuntarily.
“Nora, are you hurt? Where is it?” Adam sounded concerned, and Nora lurched away and to her feet before he could touch her again.
She winced as her weight came down on her foot, realizing only now that the adrenaline had worn off that the bottom of her foot was scorched. A hand reached out to steady her, but she pulled away again.
She was surrounded by a sea of concerned faces. Instead of feeling comforted by the faces of Antony, Thad, and Ezra, though, she grew angrier.
“I’m fine, no thanks to you guys. And I don’t know where he is anymore,” Nora spat with vehemence. A small part of her brain was shouting at her that these were her friends, that they would keep her safe. That part was taking a back seat to the fear and rage she had been shoving down as it all washed over her in an uncontrollable wave.
“Nora, please.” Adam’s voice was low and soothing to her right. She turned her head to look at him. His hair was wild, as if he had just run a very long distance, and his eyes widened as they darted over her harried appearance. “Please, just tell us what happened. We need to know so we can help you.”
She also spotted Drew, standing next to Adam, which made her soften a little. At least she had one friend here.
“I need you to tell me something first,” said Nora, her voice trembling but still full of anger.
“Of course,” Adam said, his face wearing the earnest look that convinced her he cared about her in the first place.
“Have you been lying to me this whole time?”
There was a long stillness after Nora asked the question. In her mind, Adam was about to assure her that no, he hadn’t been lying, then he would swoop in with all her friends and make everything better. Instead, Adam tensed, then his shoulders caved in as if he had just had the wind knocked out of him.
