Fear's Touch: A Darkworld Novella (The Darkworld Series) (8 page)

Honestly, I didn’t really know whether Influence worked the same way on shadow-beasts as it did on people. But at the very least I could share how to use Influence. I hadn’t realized just how valuable my parents’ lessons had really been.

A pause. “Okay, then. Tell him I’ll be there.”

An hour later, we were in the common room, looking around for the elusive staircase. Cyrus had Influenced it up already, so there was no sign of it—just a few Freshers on the couch watching the football. I scanned the walls, eyes searching for anything out of place.

“Aha.”

“What?” said Berenice, her face screwed up with the effort of trying to see through the illusion.

I pointed surreptitiously to the corner of the room. There was a faint flicker in the air, like a transparent veil pulled down over part of the wall.

Sure enough, the veil fell away as we drew nearer, revealing a set of stairs leading up to a bright-painted door. It opened easily—no need for a lock when Influence drove everyone else away. Only magic-users could see through it, after all.

Howard lay on the sofa—the only furniture in the room apart from the TV table and a couple of chairs—an Xbox controller in hand. A few others lay scattered amongst other accessories, headsets and battered game boxes. Cyrus sat in one of the seats with another controller in hand.

“Hey,” he said, without looking up. “Sorry, gotta finish this game.”

“Typical guys,” Berenice muttered. But she let the door close behind her and made her way to one of the vacant seats.

I did the same.

“So, you decided to show up?” said Howard, barely glancing up.

Berenice glared at him—and at the battle playing out on the TV screen—for a minute and then lunged forward and snatched the controller out of Howard’s hands.

“Hey!”

Berenice’s hands raced over the buttons, and her on-screen character pummelled Cyrus’s repeatedly until a little K.O. sign appeared. Cyrus looked up at her, brows raised in surprise.

“Now, can we get on with it?” Berenice demanded.

Howard looked from her to the TV and back, mouth slightly open. I laughed, I couldn’t help it.

“What…the hell?” he said.

“All right,” said Cyrus, looking amused. “What d’you want to do?”

“Tell me how to stop the demons seeing me,” Berenice said, with a glance at me. “Claudia said Influence would stop them coming after me.”

“It’d work on shadow-beasts, yeah,” said Cyrus. “But not true demons. But…well, to be honest, if there’s a true demon running around, we’re all screwed.”

“Yeah, I know,” she muttered. “So, what’s this trick?”

“Influence,” said Cyrus. “You’ve probably seen the
venators
using it. It’s how they get away with walking around dressed in those flashy uniforms and not getting mobbed by shadow-beasts. It lets them follow unsuspecting people around, too.”

“That’s nice,” I said. “They’ve clearly not heard of privacy.”

“Nothing in the Darkworld has, either,” Howard says. “There could be demons watching us right now.”

“Stop that!” said Berenice. Her entire body tensed up, her hands curling into fists.

“All right, just being honest,” said Howard, sitting up and swinging his legs over the side of the sofa. “So, Cyrus, you gonna show us how to do your magic trick?”

“I’m no expert,” said Cyrus, “but my guardian knows his stuff. Okay. Like all magic, it’s a psychological thing—you need to be aware of the Darkworld, but not like when you’re conjuring fire or lights.”

“Okay, that makes perfect sense,” said Howard, sarcasm dripping from his tongue. “So,
not
like this?” He conjured a ball of fire and lazily tossed it into the air.

“No, because you’re using your connection to draw attention to yourself. You’re practically wearing a sign that says, “I’m a sorcerer!” What you want to do is—”

“Get the hell on with explaining it?” Howard suggested.

“I’m trying!” Cyrus ran a hand through his curly hair, frustrated. “It’s damned hard to explain to another person. Look, when you contact the Darkworld, you feel it, right? It’s cold, dark…well, you know. But you’re not actually drawing on its power. You’re using what’s already here. Fire’s a physical thing. Light isn’t, but…well, I’m not too strong on the physics of it. Point is, you’re wanting to draw on something which isn’t part of our world. The shadows. That’s what you need to focus on.”

“I think I get that,” I said, beginning to grasp his meaning. “But I can’t keep it up for long. You need to concentrate all the time, right?”

He nodded. “You do, but it actually only takes a small effort. One shadow will do it. The more you try to pull the Darkworld in, the more of a drain it will be. Also, Influence doesn’t protect you from harm, it diverts attention away from you.”

“Yeah, that’s all very well,” said Howard, “but you haven’t actually told us how to do it.”

“I’m getting to that,” said Cyrus. “Look, just use your connection to the Darkworld. You can feel it—cold as ice and creepy as walking home in the dark, right?”

Yeah, that pretty much summed it up.

“Now you need to contact the Darkworld and use its power yourself. Your thoughts are your intentions. You want it to make a shield, you envision it like a shield.”

“Ain’t got time for that crap,” said Howard. “Look, you’re a shit teacher.”

“I appreciate the compliment.”

I admired Cyrus’s restraint; I’d have socked Howard in the face if he’d spoken to
me
like that.

“Okay. Let’s try a different approach. You know sometimes you get really bad vibes from people? Like they’re projecting a kind of
stay-away-or-die
vibe at you? That’s kind of similar, except you contact the Darkworld at the same time. Also, you’re trying to get people to
ignore
you. You saw what I did to the door? It’s like a
don’t notice me, I’m not important
kind of vibe. It comes natural to some people, like my guardian. Well, he is a, um, he’s talented at that kind of thing. But you really have to concentrate.”

“Yeah, well, I have a question,” said Howard. “How’re we supposed to do that in here? I know you guys are here already.”

“Oh. Right.” Cyrus frowned. “Um…yeah. I think you might be better by practicing in public.
Not
using magic in public,” he added hastily. “Just projecting the
ignore-me
vibe. Hey, maybe that should be our slogan.”

I laughed. “So, this group thing’s definitely happening?”

“Sure, if you want to.” He looked from me to Howard, to Berenice, who’d sat down by the TV.

Her eyes were closed.

“Berenice?”

A prickle ran down my spine. I leaned over toward her and waved my hand in front of her face. A tremble went through her body, and she gasped, eyes flying open. Her arms wrapped around herself, and she curled up, whimpering, like she had in the alley last night.

“Berenice!” I said, grabbing her hand impulsively. Her skin was ice-cold.

Her eyes flickered open again. “Get off me,” she spat.

In a sudden movement, she lurched to her feet, knocking me aside. She ran across the room, and before any of us could do so much as take a step, opened the door and went out.

The three of us stared after her.

“What’s up with her?” said Howard, looking uncomfortable.

“I don’t know,” I said, standing up, “but I’m going after her.”

“She didn’t contact the Darkworld, did she?” said Cyrus, alarmed.

I shook my head. “I have no idea. Maybe she fell asleep, had a bad dream?” I approached the door. Neither of the others came after me, though Cyrus’s face was creased with worry.

“I’ll come back and tell you what’s up,” I said as I went out.

Back in the common room, no one noticed me come downstairs, though a few more people had gathered around the TV to watch the match. I glanced up and down, wondering if Berenice had gone back to the flat. I checked in the bar, but it wasn’t open. The door to the ladies’ was ajar, however, and as I slipped inside, I heard sobbing.

Berenice.

I found her bent over a sink, furiously scrubbing at her face. Make-up was scattered around her, and there were dark smears under her eyes, like she’d tried to reapply it with shaking hands.

“Go away,” she said, tremulously.

I stayed put. “Are you okay?”

Her eyes narrowed. “Go. Away.”

“Look, I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s wrong. Did something happen back there?”

“You could say that.” She shivered. “This isn’t for me. I can’t–I can’t meet with you guys, I can’t use my Darkworld connection. It’s so…” She shuddered again. “Jude told me he could help me but the bastard tricked me.”

Jude. “What did he do, Berenice?” I asked. “You can trust me. I won’t tell a soul. I don’t gossip.”

Not strictly true, but hey, suddenly, all the times I’d started rumours at school didn’t seem so funny when I was on the receiving end after that party. Besides, who the hell would I even gossip to?

Still, the words hadn’t come out as sincerely as I’d wanted, and Berenice hesitated.

“I won’t even tell Cyrus or Howard, if you don’t want me to. But we’re like you. We can
help
you.”

“Right.” She didn’t sound convinced. “What if I told you that whenever I go
anywhere,
it’s like I’m wearing a neon sign that tells shadow-beasts to come and attack me? What if I told you the demons speak to me, whisper awful–awful things, whenever I contact the Darkworld? Even…even here.”

“Is that what happened?” Goose bumps sprang to my own arms at the thought. I hadn’t seen a true demon since that day I’d fallen from Lola’s balcony. According to my parents, demons often appeared to new magic-users, just out of curiosity, but rarely followed them unless they had something the demon wanted. Like if their parents had offered up their child to them. Whatever creepy-ass demon cults did. I didn’t want to know too much about it, to be honest.

“It’s what
always
happens,” she whispered. “For two years now. Didn’t know how lucky I was before I came here. This place is supposed to be safe? What a fucking joke.”

“Campus is safe. You know nothing can get —”

“Oh,
please.
The Venantium have fallen before. You ever heard the full story of the demon wars? Half of them—more than half—were killed in a
single night.
And they’re worse than they were back then. Bunch of heartless backstabbing idiots.”

“Uh…backstabbing? Is this about Jude?” I was way out of my depth here. “Did-did he spike your drink last night?”

She glared at me with red-rimmed eyes. “If I say
yes,
would that stop you bleating on at me about it?”

I raised my hands. “I’m just looking out for you. It’s what friends are supposed to do. I’m not going to stab you in the back, or whatever other people did to you. Hell, I’ll leave you alone if it’s what you really want. Just, you know, you could report him to the police for that. You
should
report him.”

She shook her head. “I don’t know for sure if he did. When we were at that club, I was fine until I heard this…voice. It wasn’t a demon. It sounded—well, human. It told me to come outside, and for some reason, I just couldn’t stay put, I had to go after it. It was like someone else was
controlling
me. And then I saw Jude, but he just left me…let the shadow-beasts attack me.”

“Huh.” I shook my head. “So, something manipulated you into a shadow-beast’s trap?”

“Some-
one,”
she said. “I think Jude did it.”

“Are you sure?” Implications free-fell through my mind. Had Jude—a
venator
supposed to protect and help people—set her up? Why? For that promotion Biker Guy said he wanted? None of this made sense.

“He did it,” she repeated. “He’s worse than the demons. I’m not safe here, none of us are.”