Page 7 of All Hallows Masque

Sleep came reluctantly and fought me the whole way, and I didn’t dream at all.

4

It’s funny how you take things for granted. This was a lot like that time when I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going in my old house, and I tripped and dropped my Walkman. It shattered into pieces. Forever irreparable. The worst part was I had no excuse; I knew the hallways, staircases, counters, and furniture of that home like the back of my hand. It would have been great to use being blind as an excuse for my shattered Walkman but no, I was just a dumbass who hadn’t been paying attention. I’d been thinking about Bulbasaur.

This was exactly like that, but without the suddenly interrupted soundtrack of Nirvana’sSmells Like Teen Spirit.There was no noise at all, actually. One moment I’d been tracking Cruelty and Cat, following them across the veil between mortal and dead realms, shadows wrapped around me, and the next—bam! Gone!

The gates, the realm, the veil, all of it. Gone.

It felt like I’d lost another sense, and I didn’t like the feeling. With my magic, my ten percent sight wasn’t an obstacle. I joked it was like bats using echolocation to find their way. To get animpression of my surroundings, I sent out feelers of darkness. Those shadows could guide my path, tell me who was around me, what they were saying, who they were with, and what their dark, devious little plans were. Andeveryonehad dark, devious plans. Being a death god was a lot like being on a murder mystery cruise and knowing a killer hid among you. But with my shadows, I had the advantage.

What the fuck was I going to do without the veil? How could I get home since the gateway collapsed? This was really damn inconvenient.

“Problem for later,” I muttered, shadows coursing over manicured grasses, my ears pricked for any noise. It was still early, the sun not yet risen. Bloody annoying when I needed that light to make out the vague shapes of the garden around me. Oh, well, I’d been reborn in darkness. I could find my way.

I skirted a groomed bush.1 One of my tendrils of shadow bumped into something organic and I stiffened, biting back a curse. I should have been paying attention instead of thinking about bushes. God, that would be an awful last thought to have if I was murdered.

I flicked my fingers, pausing in the shade beside a hedge and using my power to deepen the darkness to conceal me. It would take someone with immense magic to spot me here, so I let my shoulders drop and filled my lungs with air. I swear to god, if I was startled by a hare or a fox, I was going to die of embarrassment.

I sent another tendril towards the place I’d brushed something living and vibrant, andyelpedwhen hands reached through my pocket of darkness before I could make contact. I couldn’t see who grabbed me, but my shadows went haywire, sending all kinds of warning signals to my brain. An image filled my mind—wide blue eyes, smooth alabaster skin, a sweet, smiling mouth, and rich brown hair pulled into an elaborateupdo that hadn’t changed since I’d been killed and reborn in the nineties.

Cruelty. Well, fuck.

“What a sight for sore eyes,” she purred, tightening her grip on my shoulders until I winced. “I wonder … what would bring someone like you all the way out here. Following a particular little kitty perhaps?”

“Came to see you,” I groaned, ripping myself out of her grip. Ah.Tryingto rip myself out of her grip. And failing. What happened to my shadows? I reached for them, the motion second nature after so many years, and faltered. They were there, where they’d always been, but a cool wall of ice separated me from the darkness. I managed to grasp a single shadow, and I held on tight, using it to help me form a picture of my surroundings.

And oh boy, was I surrounded. There were creatures everywhere, all manner of wild hybrids. Well, that answered the question of what I bumped into.Motherfucker.

“I’m so glad youdidcome to see me,” Cruelty replied with a bright happiness. It should have been fake, but that was the thing about Cruelty—she didn’t put on façades. She was truly happy right now, probably because she’d just thought of a way to make my life a living hell. “I have a gift for you.”

“Oh, that’s not necess—”

“Nonsense.” She aggressively linked our elbows and no matter how hard I tried to get free, I was locked there at her side. But I was a death god, for fuck’s sake.

Something scratched my neck, sharp enough to sting, but when I batted my hand at it there was nothing there. Great, now I was going mad. Or being attacked by blood-thirsty mosquitos.

I reached for my other magic—not darkness, but the sway over all living souls. Cruelty wasn’t exactly alive—none of us were—but there was enough life that I should have been ableto drop her to the grass with a scream. Instead, shechuckled.Great. She shackled me in all ways.

Great. Just absolutely fucking great.

I was supposed to be great and powerful and all-but indestructible. How the hell did it come to this?

Well, I knew how. Cruelty didn’t play by the rules. Not human rules, and not even goddess rules. She’d found a way to grow her power, to consume even more magic by using Nightmare, her cult, and her ritual.

“It’s a gift,” Cruelty was saying, almost giddy. “And it will looksogood on you. I bet it’ll bring out the colour of those pretty eyes. What are they, green?”

“Hazel,” I mumbled automatically, using my single shadow to keep from smacking face-first into a bush when she began towing me towards the big house. “Or green-hazel. Fuck, I don’t know. I’m not accepting your gift, and I’m not playing along with whatever’s going on here. I came for Cat. I’m taking her back.”

Cruelty’s laughter was high and pealing. “Back to where? The domain has gone.”

I couldn’t hide my wince. I knew the gates were gone, and I lost connection to the veil, but the whole realm had disappeared into the fog?

You know, on reflection, this was a lot worse than breaking my Walkman.

Fuck, maybe I should start a cult, too.

5

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