I’ve the pleasure of hosting Friday Fiction this week. To join in the fun, just add your name and story to the linky below!
A/N: I am expanding my Flash Fiction bit of “hood” with Derek and Shamaya, for a dear friend and fellow writer, Kristina Rohder. This one’s for you, dear! Thanks for reading and I hope you all have a wonderful Easter weekend!
Flash Fiction Prompt comes first, new addition begin at the little fancy page break. ^_^
He hurriedly yanked the hood over his head as he ducked out from
the shadows and darted across the half-light street. The cobblestones
sounded hollowly beneath his feet and Derek sucked in mouthfuls of icy
cold air as he dodged through the bowels of the city, clinging to the
shadows and breathing in the night.
“Derek?” Shamaya’s whisper wafted through the air. “We’re over here.”
He turned towards the hiss of her voice and followed it along the
wind and through the shadows to materialize beside her. “Sham.” He
murmured, reaching for her.
She danced lightly out of reach. “Ah, ah. Not yet. You’ve got too
many shadows around you.” She gestured to his front. “I said to collect
them not play with them.”
He stared down in confusion and then realized that nearly his entire
figure had been swallowed whole by the thin, wispy strips of blackness
clinging to him. He snickered. “I was trying not to be seen.”
“It worked.” His girlfriend threw her messy braid of hair over one bony shoulder. “Did you pick anything up while scouting?”
“Plenty.” He began to peel the shadows off of him and toss them to
the corners of the old warehouse where they could be happy and keep them
safe for the time being. “There’s a new watch on tonight and they’ve
added to the guard.”
“Added, again?” Shamaya bit her lip. “Heaven help us.” She murmured,
tracing a cross in the air before her. “How will we get the converts out
of the city?”
“The same way we got in.” Derek said, stoutly. “The shadows.” He pulled the hood off his head and Shamaya gasped.
“That–that!” She sputtered.
He smiled, serenely. “That wasn’t a hoodie after all.”
groups, huddled close to their respective heating stones. She checked the
remaining energy in each of the solar-powered heaters and frowned at the
returned readings. It would be very cold in the caves tonight.
the city spread out on the desk before him. His head turned sideways to look at
her. “Hmm?”
the table before him. “Too cold.”
one shoulder, pointing at the little families and odd strangers that made up
their group of forbidden converts. “I can only keep the ice at bay for so long
anyway.” She shivered.
drinking enough fluids?” He reached for her, wrapping her up in a warm hug. “You’re
freezing, Sham!” He hugged her tighter. “You shouldn’t be this cold.”
neck. “Yeah, yeah, tell me what I don’t know, why dontcha?”
individual in need of a reminder.” She gently untangled herself from the warm
embrace. “I’ll keep ‘em off you so you can get a few details hammered out,
okay?”
learn.” He agreed. “I am not blind.” He hesitated. “Warn them, okay?”
one cold finger.
instantly dodged away with a light squeal. “No way! I am not—don’t you even
think of that!” She laughed as she backtracked from the tickling hands and
returned to their now curious group.
and a single child, a newly wed couple and three orphaned children to make up
the group of normal, as far as Shamaya was concerned. The rest was a bit much
for even her to take in. They had a down on his luck musician from a famed
Quilted university, his violin had turned to a fiddle and the cheery notes he
could play with his aching hands always brought a smile. A giant of a mechanic
with a knack for welding metal together by glaring at it. A self-proclaimed
horrible cook with a knack for throwing knives and a one-eyed man with three
fingers on his left hand.
Why they’d decided to follow her and Derek, she didn’t know, but it was a
responsibility she intended to take as seriously as possible. “Derek says we can move out tonight.” She waited a
moment for the news to sink in.
heads. “Whoa, there! Give me a minute folks, I just said that we had to move
tonight, I didn’t say anything else beyond that.”
wanted to know. “Moon’s clear out bright. It’s a bad light to be walking in.”
with it.” Shamaya frowned. “as for why tonight, it’s pretty cold, isn’t it?”
agreement from the warm cocoon snuggled between her two parents. “Real cold.”
She whispered.
can’t hold it back forever.”
talking again and some were even apolgoizng
how it must pain and trouble her greatly. The brunette barely managed to take
it all in stride before she made it back to Derek’s planning table.
what was really up.”
makes you wish you were dead instead of alive and then you instantly tell him
whatever it is he wants to know in hopes that he won’t eat you alive.”
the paperweight on one edge of the blueprint scrolls. “Think of something yet?”
hear about.” He hissed. “Look, we’re going to have to travel by land for a
while, no sea crossings, right?” She nodded, slowly. “So they won’t be looking
for us right away, but I want to try something about hiding in plain sight.”
disappeared.
You could at least warn a girl before you do something spectacular like that.”
you might like it.”
to take more than one person and from a person that isn’t related to them in
any other way.”
help?”
a lot of snacks.”
walked them out and away from danger. He’d return them to their original forms when
they were safely away. They’d have to all be shadows for a little while.
claimed them as criminals.
looked like they would make it. It was simply taking more time than they had and
more patience that he could spare.
ones to climb the snowy hill away from the cursed city. Shamaya stood beside
Derek, rubbing her arms through the thin sleeves of her blouse. “We did it.”
dreamed up would’ve ever been this perfect.” He hugged her in congratulations. “Now,
would you quit with the shivering already and do something?”
the city. The soft blue eyes grew white-grey and hard as marble and then the
snow began to fall as her shivering stopped and she released her hold on the cold elements.
the rag-tag bunch turned away towards the tall, snowy forest looming ahead.
for the trials ahead.