Page 42 of Shadow Warrior
Larkin pushed open the door to reveal the stairs that led to his sanctum, and then he was ushering us through. We landed in the in-between room. Kash’s mouth fell open, and he turned on the spot, taking everything in.
“How?” he asked.
“No time,” Larkin said in a sing-song voice.
He sounded way too chipper for someone who was about to dive into an alternate reality to convince a man he wasn’t who he thought he was. He’d also somehow bypassed us and was by the sofa. The purple silk pajamas were gone, replaced by a silver waistcoat, black shirt, black boots with silver buckles, and purple corduroy pants. His tail stuck up straight behind him and twitched at the tip.
“Someone’s happy,” Kash muttered wryly.
“As long as he gets us to where we need to be.” I looked up at Kash. “Are you sure you want to come with? I can’t guarantee your safety.”
Kash looked down on me, his dark brows low over his eyes. “I don’t need you to guarantee my safety, Justice. I’m coming so I can guarantee yours.”
What could I say to that?
“Come on.” Larkin waved a hand at the flat-screen TV, and it lit up with static. “It’s time to take a trip.” He waved his hand, his orange eyes brightening, and then the static was rushing toward me and the world shattered.
* * *
We landedon the side of a road lit up by silver moonlight, moonlight from a moon that was so big it looked like someone had lassoed it and yanked it closer to the earth.
“Whoa.” Kash followed my gaze. “This is insane.”
Well, it explained how this place got its name. A tingle ran over my skin, making me shiver.
“It’s fine,” Larkin said. “Just your body adjusting. The village is this way.” He set off down the road.
The night was quiet, with only the sound of nighttime creatures. No motors and no artificial light thrown by streetlights. I guess with a moon this huge, they didn’t need anything else at night.
“Now,” Larkin said. “When we get into the village, we’ll head straight to the town hall and locate the census. It’s on display for anyone to see, and it carries the names of all the town residents. Payne will be in there, name and occupation.”
“Will he keep his name?”
“Yes. It’s easier to attach new memories to an existing identity,” he explained. “The residents sent here all retain their true names.”
The road sloped downward, and then a multitude of lights lit up the night as the village unfolded below us. It was a picturesque place with steeples and pretty, little houses. It was a storybook village, and I totally recognized it from the show. There was always a wide pan shot of the village at the end of the starting credits.
This was so fucking weird.
“This is so fucking weird,” Kash said, echoing my thoughts.
Larkin hop-skipped his way down the road, his boots barely making a sound on the ground, and before we knew it, we were slipping onto the nighttime streets of Lunar Creek.
The scent of jasmine was strong on the air, the signature flower for the show. As we walked through the silent streets lined with shadows, I couldn’t help but scan for cameras even though I knew that, technically, there were none. The houses here were set back away from the road and bordered by trees. White picket fences peeked out from behind bushes.
Being here felt like an intrusion.
We hit the intersection at the bottom of the street, and Larkin took a left.
“The village square is only a few minutes this way,” he explained.
Of course, I knew this. I’d watched this show way too many times not to know exactly where we were. The librarian lived in the house to the right, the one with the pink shutters and all the garden gnomes. To the left was Principal Lane’s house. The three-story crumbling mansion had been passed down in his family for generations, but since his wife had passed away last season, he spent most of his time at the Academy.
The village square was nothing more than a few essential stores, a book shop, a diner, and a bakery, and smack bang in the middle, where all the meetings happened, was the town hall. Built of white stone, it was home to several forbidding-looking gargoyles that jutted out from the guttering. Four deep steps led up to the main entrance, which was flanked by two thick pillars.
“And how do we get in?” Kash asked.
Larkin paused at the top of the steps and looked at Kash. “Your connection to the weave will be weak here, but you should have enough power to pick a simple lock.”
