Of Shadow Born by S. L. Gray Page A

her lungs to let her take deep breaths like everyone else. She’d joked with her mother about winning the world record for the longest time without air. Nothing else touched her. The darkness stopped swirling. Melanie exhaled and let her hand drift down to her side again.
    And yet, something about the corner was different. Though she couldn’t feel air currents moving anymore, there was still a curious kind of openness, like if she wanted, she could step into and through it. She could push through the shadows like a waterfall veil and come out on the other side to find herself...where?
    “Nowhere,” she said out loud, backing up abruptly. The sense of menace she hadn’t felt when this whole investigation began suddenly washed over her, chilling her to the bone. Even if she could somehow step through the wall, if the rules of logic really had abandoned her and made something insane suddenly possible, she wouldn’t do it. She wouldn’t go. Not alone. She was smarter than that.
    She turned her back to the corner and the shadows and went back to bed. She climbed beneath the covers and hauled them up to her chin, but she didn’t lie down or turn out the light. She sat, arms wrapped around her knees, chin pinning the blanket atop them. She watched the shadows in the corner, making sure they didn’t do anything shadows shouldn’t.
    She sat and she stared until she fell asleep.
    ~
    Leaving Melanie didn’t strike Kade as the best idea. When it came to business with the IU, though, dragging her in deeper would be even worse.
    His cell phone had been vibrating for at least five minutes before he decided to stop ignoring it and see what the hell was so important. Not an emergency, Garamendi told him, but since things had quieted down after the incident and Melanie didn’t need him, he could take a few minutes and come talk to the boss.
    It wasn’t so much a direct order as a pointed suggestion. Despite the fact Garamendi had all but shoved him back into duty, Kade didn’t think fighting him about this would make getting through it any easier, so he’d go.
    He didn’t crack the door on Melanie’s room before he left, though he stood in the hall and listened for a while. There was silence on the other side. No reason to disturb her if she was resting peacefully. Besides, while his attention might be elsewhere during this impromptu meeting, his body would still be in the apartment. He could get back to her at the speed of thought.
    The shadow-born called it fading. Scientists and shysters called it astral projection. Whatever the term, it came in handy when Kade needed to be in two places at once.
    "You're in a good mood." Sylvie Idle fell into step beside him, keeping up with Kade's long strides despite the fact he topped her by a foot. "You in a hurry to get somewhere?"
    "Status report," Kade answered. "Garamendi called me in."
    Sylvie snorted, not at all delicately. Then again, she'd always struck him as less the handle-with-care type and more tread with caution. Curvy and petite, people tended to underestimate the data specialist, but Sylvie could more than hold her own. "That'd explain why you look like you want to choke someone."
    He smirked. "Thought you just said I was in a good mood."
    "Sarcasm, Kade. Learn to love it." They walked a few more paces before she asked, "So why the face-to-face?"
    Kade kept moving. "What, he didn't tell you? I'm on the job. They threw me in the deep end. Penumbra's not just after this woman, they've already tried to take her out." The crack of the gunshot echoed through his mind again. Was it the bullet meant for Melanie or an older memory dredged up tonight? It didn’t matter. If he never heard that sound again, he’d celebrate.
    Sylvie stopped walking, drawing them both up short. "Look. If he bust s your chops, it's just because he's worried. You surprised everyone by agreeing to come back."
    Kade wasn't ready to talk about what had kept him away. It would happen eventually but the