****
Thirty minutes later we reach the checkpoint with dozens of armed guards and tanks waiting for us. Sandbag walls line the area along with quickly constructed towers that have spot lights scanning the perimeter. After a quick ID check, we are clear to continue driving past television vans and reporters. Thankful for the tinted glass, we pass by unmolested for a change. Shifters Inc. has been approached by every major news organization, all desperate for a scoop on the other worlds. They all want the same thing, to see the other worlds and bring back film or photos. I did my best to explain the problem of shifting technology but they kept pestering until I asked my shadow to drive them off… they haven’t been back since.
It is another thirty minutes down mostly empty streets to Shifters Inc. Acting as both a home and our business headquarters, Sarrow has turned the old dojo into the first place I can truly call home. It has everything we need. A large space up front with small offices lining the right side one for each of us, and a large spacious living area in the back. We even have a receptionist who does all of our finances and computer work. He is a good guy in his early fifties with an ‘I don’t gave a fuck hairstyle’ and an attitude to match. A large man, he was a high school teacher earlier in his life and applies those skills to the persistent pests that keep bothering Sarrow and me. He is diligent in his duties and I’m not surprised when I see him waiting outside for us. The vehicle comes to a stop and we get out as Sarrow lets out a large yawn, stretching widely.
“Hi, Ed. You’re up early,” I say, my voice laced with exhaustion.
“James Clifford gave me a call and I had to clear out all the ‘maggots’ before you arrived,” Ed Masterson says shrugging. The ‘maggots’ as he called them were those lurking around hoping for a quick story. In the past he had used everything from paintball guns to a fire hose to get rid of unwanted guests. My shadow had thoroughly approved.
“You didn’t do anything too bad?” I ask and my shadow cackles.
“I don’t like talking about my felonies,” he says simply, opening the door for us. The Humvee takes off as we head inside, the fresh smell of coffee wrapping me up like a babe in swaddling. Going around Ed’s desk which has an open laptop on it next to tall stack of papers that should have toppled over long ago, I make a straight line for the pot ready to use my sword if anything gets in my way. Reaching for my coffee cup with the colorful words ‘Take my coffee and die’ on it, I quickly fill it. I never previously drank coffee, but after Sarah’s death it somehow felt right. Using her cup every time I take a sip makes it feel like she is there with me. Besides, with what lurkes in my sleep I need as much as I can get. My cup already half empty I head to my office, looking at each door. On the far left is Whisper’s office. I can see him now curled up on a small bed in the middle of the desk, which is about all he has been using it for recently, since Brick went missing two weeks ago. He said something big was happening but didn’t elaborate. At the time I ignored it. He was always exaggerating, now I’m not so sure. Did something happen to him?
The second office is Sarrow’s and from my vantage I can see the gold plaque with her name on it, Sarrowind of Primehouse Ageroth. Primehouse Ageroth… Our father’s house among the Kiraten in the world of Inti. Born of the Drow and the Kiraten, our father is simply known as the “Abomination” in Inti and the “Great One” in Pandedonium, the domain of Shalarom. A sudden shiver shakes meat the mere thought of the corruptor.
Taking my eye from Sarrow’s door I focus on my plate. It reads ‘Jerry Price’ and below that ‘Shifter.’ Going inside I take off Worldkey, hanging it on the mantle behind my desk. Collapsing into my chair I sigh as the weight of the day’s events fall upon me all at once. Closing my eyes briefly I take a deep breath.
“You’re not going to sleep here are you?” My shadow says, a dark spot on the ceiling.
“No,” I sigh. “I’d rather not sleep at all.”
“That makes two of us,” my shadow says darkly. “It’s all your fault what’s been happening to us.”
“Mine?” I state it like a question but now with Worldkey off my body the fuzziness and unreality quickly fog my thoughts and even the act of talking is a chore.
“Yes, yours,” my shadow says. “This happened since our joining, now I can’t even rest at all.”
“You actually sleep?”
“No, but when you sleep… I… collect myself and recover my strength.”
“You were plenty powerful today,” I say.
“That was all I had stupid,” my shadow says hotly, leaning against the corner. “Before in the other worlds I could do so much, now it’s much harder. I’m stronger than ever before but I tire quickly. You need to fix this.”
I look at him and then over his shoulder to where Sarah’s urn rested. As dark as my shadow I knew from the many times I handled it that it would be cool to the touch with the words ‘Sarah Clifford of Clan Shifter; She was a roaring fire in a dark world’ set into a gold pressed plate in the front. With the unreality settling over me I can feel nothing at all at her death. Somehow that is even worse.
“Sarrow has a plan,” I say reluctantly.
“And you only thought now to mention it?” My shadow scoffs. “Well fool, go do it.”
“She suggested that if you go inside me, then the corruption can’t attack my sleeping mind,” I say.
“You mean like her,” my shadow says. Sarrow, like me and all Drow, has a shadow, but it is noticeably weaker than mine. It spends most of its time inside her and I’ve only seen it out on a few occasions, erupting out of her like an oil rig explosion. Still, having spent so much time inside her had given her special abilities that she had used when we first met. She is able to sense corruption and even communicate with me in dreams through our shared blood. Those were the first dreams I’ve ever had. Now I have far, far worse.
“We can’t go on like this. It’s worth a try,” I say, my voice slurring. I can’t stay awake much longer and the dreams will find me soon. For a long moment my shadow doesn’t respond, he simply looks at me.
“Whatever tried to take us over is still in you,” my shadow says darkly. “If I rest inside you, it might consume me and you as well.”
“I know, but I can’t go on much longer.”
“Ok,” my shadow says after a short pause. “But for tonight only, if it doesn’t help, then forget it.” With that his dark form falls apart into a light cloud swirling around me. As gentle as breathing in mist he enters my body. Like when I was holding Worldkey the fog lifts and I feel more myself than I have in a month. Pushing up from my chair, l leave my office, waving to Ed and Sarrow who are busy talking up front. Ed gives me a friendly wave and Sarrow a knowing nod. Heading into the back, past our neat kitchen and living area, I open my bedroom door. Just like my office it is spotlessly clean with every item set into its own place. When I had lived with my mother it had been the same as staying in a junkyard, only nastier. It gave me a deep compulsion to make my living area as clean as possible. Flopping down on my bed I don’t even have a chance to look at the white walls or the neatly arranged posters before my eyes close and the dreams take me.
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