Bo and I sat in the green space of the roundabout. The globe streetlights of the park flickered. The shadows must have been short-circuiting them.
Camille stood in front of us, watching as we caught our breath.
She looked like a primmer version of Cassandra. Maybe it was the fact that Cassandra was a wolf shifter—in her, there was always pure wilderness and power lurking under the surface. She was a tomboy, and you could tell she hung out around males.
Camille was the type of supernatural I was used to—calm on the surface but with an air of magic about her. She was much more in command of her skills. Only her troubled chestnut eyes betrayed her feelings.
“You’re a witch,” I said.
“Only by necessity,” Camille said. “I never wanted this life.”
“Why haven’t you killed us yet?” Bo asked.
“I shouldn’t even be here,” Camille said.
“That makes three of us,” I said.
“I’m sorry about scaring you,” she said. “I should have been more sensitive to the fact that the sisters tried to kill you using the same technique. I had to catch your attention somehow.”
I stared at her. When I didn’t reply, her lips quivered and she paced.
“However long I speak to you, I will lose that from my life,” Camille said. “If you have any doubts about my intent, remember that.”
“So you’re the one doing the shadowcrafting,” I said.
“The sisters are the shadow masters,” Camille said. “They are resting and preparing for another battle. They think I’m looking for you, which is true.”
“They’re resting?” Bo asked. “Like nap time?”
“You hurt them when you banished them from the market,” Camille said. “But seeing as you sent a spider to spy on us, I think you already knew that.”
I could have cursed her out for killing my spider. It would have felt good too. But she folded her arms and I knew something was bothering her.
“I’m trying to stop this feud, but I don’t know how to end it without a blood bath,” she said. “It’s all just a misunderstanding.”
“Funny, we were just saying the same thing,” I said.
“We talked to Natkaal,” Bo said. “He ain’t changing his mind.”
“Help me understand something,” I said. “Natkaal told us that the sisters cursed him for not destroying humanity.”
“Yes, and he cursed the sisters for not serving him,” Camille said. “He felt slighted.”
“Now they can’t die,” I said.
“That’s the problem,” Camille said. “I’m trying to help them die.”
Bo and I looked at each other.
“They’re over two hundred years old,” Camille said, her voice hurt. “No human should be forced live that long. Every day is full of pain and agony. They are desperate to die, but they won’t let go of this feud.”
The Steverson Sisters were just as bitter about this as Natkaal. Great. Reminded me of Newton’s law about objects in motion staying in motion until a greater force stopped them. I wasn’t sure if there was a force big enough to stop this feud.
“I can’t get through to Cass,” Camille said. “She’s forgotten her purpose. We are the last Steversons. We are their only hope.”
“Wait, you’re a Steverson?” I asked.
“Mae Steverson is my great-great-great-grandmother,” Camille said.
“Mae was a slave, right?” Bo asked.
“Yes. The Steverson Sisters rescued her and she took their last name. She left everything and everyone she had ever known to devote herself to witchcraft. When Natkaal cursed her, it ruined her future.”
“I bet,” I said.
Nearby, at the park gates, the wall of shadow flashed with fierce lightning. The ground shook, the wind howled, and the lightning sizzled within the smoke. Camille gave the shadows a worried glance.
“The spell is fading,” she said. “I can’t stay much longer.”
“What exactly was in Mae’s future?” I asked.
“She could’ve done anything,” Camille said. “But with the curse, the sisters refused to let Natkaal have power over them. They began strategizing on how to get their revenge. They descended into shadowcraft. The craft requires the ultimate sacrifice—time from your life.”
“But the sisters can’t die,” I said. “Which means they can cast unlimited spells.”
“Not exactly,” Camille said. “They don’t pay the cost, but magic is energy.”
She pointed to the wall of shadow. “That energy has to go somewhere. Instead of eroding the sisters’ lives, it flows to those they love.”
“Family,” Bo said.
Camille nodded. “The sisters didn’t have too many family members. Those they did have died quickly once they started the shadowcraft.”
“To kill your own family is cold,” Bo said. “Especially over some little bullshit.”
Camille stopped and inspected the car.
“Mae had no choice but to start a family,” Camille said. “The sisters had to wait for two generations before casting their first shadow. By then, Mae had a full-fledged family. The sisters were extremely old, but now they had enough family to sacrifice for a while.”
Her words took my breath away. “Sacrifice?”
Camille took my hand.
“Cassandra and I are their last remaining family,” she said. “Natkaal appearing in the world was their opportunity to strike, and it happened before Cassandra and I could start families of our own. Everyone else has died. If we don’t end this feud tonight, the shadows will begin flowing outward to the city.”
“Then what?” I asked.
“Everyone in the city of St. Louis will slowly die,” she said. “And after that, the shadows will keep sucking the life out of humanity until there is nothing left.”
The walls of smoke drifted toward us. The locus of Camille’s spell was shrinking. The lightning pulsed inside the smoke more intensely now, like electricity inside a science center generator. A furious wind ripped across the park, blowing my gabardine around.
Camille glanced at the walls, turned to me with concern, and said, “Do we have a deal?”
I didn’t like making decisions like this under the weight of the fate of the world, but who was I fooling.
“We’ll help you,” I said.
“Convince Natkaal to return to this park in two hours,” Camille said. “That’s when the moon will be in its highest place in the sky and when the sisters plan to launch their attack.”
“But, Camille, there’s no moon tonight,” I said, pointing to the sky. There wasn’t a moon to be found—only navy sky, a skewed, bumpy blanket of cirrostratus clouds, and stars.
“It’s a new moon,” Camille said. “It’s when shadowcrafting is most powerful.”
That explained why Natkaal miscalculated when the witches would attack him. He told me it would be a few more days or weeks. Boy, was he wrong.
“We’ll get it done,” I said.
Camille started to walk toward the shadows. I called her name and she stopped.
“How do I know you’re not conning me?” I asked.
“How do I know you won’t con me?” Camille asked. “The tension will keep us both honest.”
I wanted to say something clever, but my mind was blank as Camille walked away.
“Shizzle just got more complicated,” Bo said.
“Did it ever,” I said.
Camille stuck her hands in her leather jacket and walked into the shadows. The wall vanished like smoke dissipating in a rush of fresh air.
Bo and I stood there in the park with the wind howling around us.