Spant stepped through the hole. He wiped blood from his mouth and scanned the rooftop for LJ. There was no sign of her. “Where did she go,” he thought.
“Spant!” Flea yelled out.
He stepped into the darkness. “Zayden wasn’t enough. Now LJ.” You picked the wrong night.
Flea stood on top of a billboard sign, juggling biters.
“Felix,” Spant’s voice echoed around him. “You walked into the wrong web.”
Flea spun around. He nearly dropped a biter as his hand trembled. “Your cheap parlor tricks don’t scare me, Spant!”
Spant emerged from the shadows behind Flea. “Go on.”
Flea dropped the biters.
They clanked as they bumped each other. Their contact initiated their timers. Spant grabbed Flea by the shoulder and launched.
The biters clicked once before exploding. Spant held tight to Flea as the blowback from the blast hit them. He landed on a wall. Flea flailed his arms as he dangled fifty feet above the ground in Spant’s grip. Sirens screamed in the background.
The explosions had been reported.
Spant crouched on the wall. He leaned in, saying nothing. Zayden’s words replayed in his mind. “I hate it when you go silent. It makes me uncomfortable.”
Spant stared at Flea, shadows wrapping part of his mask.
Flea looked down. His eyes widened as he stared back into Spant’s, silent unmoving eyes.
“I can’t—”
Flea jerked against his grip. “He’ll know I said it.”
The quiet became unbearable as Spant just watched him. Flea swallowed hard, choking down a breath.
Spant’s eyes didn’t blink as he pulled Flea in closer, peeling two fingers from his right hand.
Flea slipped. His foot slipped against the wall.
“WAIT! WAIT!”
“Talk.”
“You can’t do this! What about your code?!”
Spant’s right hand let go Flea, his left arm jerked.
“You don’t understand. It wasn’t my choice.”
Peeling three fingers on his left hand, Flea’s bodyweight pulled Spant’s arm lower as his foot searched for a miracle scraping against the wall.
A rat ran across the roof, knocking over a drink bottle. Flea’s eyes searched around. His hands trembled over his mouth.
His voice cracked. “S…Swarn. He made me do it.”
Spant didn’t move. His silent stare unnerved Flea. The rooftop noise thinned around him.
“Why?”
“Sh..she has something he wants.” Flea blurted out.
“He won’t stop… not until she gives it back.”
“Or she’s dead.”
His grip around Flea’s collar tightened. Spant heard a click. Flea barely had time to register the shift before Spant whipped his head toward the sound.
LJ.
“You brought company,” he growled.
Spant’s eyes narrowed.
There was another click. It came from inside Flea. He became still. Flea’s expression changed and he smiled. “He will have her. He always does.”
Spant flicked his wrist. A glob of wet, black filament pancaked across his lower face with a sharp thwip
Every muffled grunt was swallowed by the dense fibers. His eyes bugged out as he tried to force a shout through the barrier. The filament stretched slightly with the effort before snapping back, sealing the silence, instead.
“Not this time.”
Spant jumped from the wall, tossing Flea against it. He cemented Flea to the wall with his black filament from the neck down. Flea struggled to free himself but the filament only tightened more with each movement of his body.
“The more you struggle, the more it constricts.”
Spant was about to leap when he heard the slightest ripple in the air behind him.
He looked over his shoulder.
A swarnling tried to sneak up behind him. Landing on a nearby wall, and failing to blend into the background. Spant saw through it. “Not tonight,” he thought.
As he darted forward, he watched it out of the corner of his eye and waited before making his move. The swarnling flew after him, not knowing Spant had already seen it. Raising his arms, his foot pivoted mid step. Black filament shot from his wrists, making contact with its wings.
It fell to the rooftop as it struggled to free its wings. The creature skittered forward but paused.
While dashing across the rooftop, he kept it in sight. “You will delay me no longer.”
The swarnling leapt. Spant pivoted, grabbing it by its front legs and snapped them. It screeched in pain. After grabbing it by its collar, he slammed it head first into the ground. Green goo flew everywhere. Another swarnling climbed down the wall above him.
He punched his elbow into its face. Half of the creature’s face broke off. “She is here because of me,” he growled. “Out of my way!”
The thing lay on the ground, mouth twitching. Spant kicked his boot through its abdomen.
***
LJ slowly woke. Her hand reached for an alarm clock that should’ve been on the nightstand. It wasn’t there. Her fingers brushed through the empty air and she shot upright. Thinking she had overslept, her body tipped and gravity pulled her.
She fell and a steel I-beam rushed past. Her hands shot out, reaching for the cold metal.
The I-beam was covered with shards from the skylight. A blade of glass cut into her palm, and she nearly lost her grip.
Her eyes flicked down. The penthouse looked like a dollhouse. Its polished floors were scattered with pieces of glass.
Several swarnlings waited for her to fall. She looked up at the broken skylight and remembered falling through it after the blast tore her from Spant’s arms. “Where is he?” she thought. “Why do Ah even care?”
Her arms shook and her shoulders burned as she pulled herself up.
“A fine mess he got me into,” she growled.
Her arm slid across another shard of glass and it dug into her. “Ah knew that man was nothin’ but trouble,” she thought. Her fingers slipped. She lost her grip.
The clicking grew louder beneath her. The creatures gathered in a circle, climbing over furniture, flapping their wings, snapping their jaws.
“Ah am not y’all’s dinner,” she hissed.
She threw out her right arm, trying to cast a shadow. Nothing happened. She looked down—the ground was rushing up to her. ‘No! Where are mah powers?!’
She tried again. A shadow shot out from her hand, wrapping itself around the I-beam. LJ smiled. “Bout time.”
A swarnling crawled to the top of the sofa. As she dangled from her shadow lasso, she watched as the creature launched itself at her. Its wings beat faster the closer it got to her. She yanked her right arm. The shadow responded snatching her up toward the beam.
Her eyes widened as it flew closer.She kicked at it and the creature’s jaw clamped down around her ankle. “Don’t touch me!”
She cried out.
The shadow jerked from the added weight.
LJ threw out her left hand. A shadow blade formed in her hand.The swarnling jerked its body, trying to pull her down.
She gritted her teeth and sliced her blade through its head. Green goo covered the tip of her blade. “Filthy beast,” she said as her shadow lasso snatched her back.
She landed on top of the I-beam. Her legs nearly buckled under her as pain from her ankle bloomed in her leg.
She looked down at the swarnlings from the safety of the I-beam. “He’s right. Ah can’t keep blaming him,” she said clutching her fists. “This is mah father’s fault. He did this ta me.”
Her eyes narrowed. “He has some explainin’ ta do.”
***
LJ’s boots scraped the beam as she caught herself. The swarm had stopped circling.
“That was close.”
She looked at the palm of her right hand. A shadow began to form. She threw out her arm. “Are y’all back now?” she asked, watching the shadow latch onto the skylight. “Ah just gotta get outta here fast. There’s someone Ah need ta talk to.” She yanked her right arm and the shadow pulled her upwards toward the hole in the skylight.
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There was a bump at the front door of the apartment. The creatures snapped their heads toward it, as did LJ.
She could hear someone fumbling with their keys. “Someone’s home,” she thought.
The swarnlings stopped clicking and stayed still. They all looked at her and then back at the door. “Disgustin’ vermin,” she said.
She watched the door as it creaked open.
She snapped her wrist.
Her shadow lasso vanished. “Ah can’t let them get inside the apartment.”
She flipped midair and landed with one hand planted on the I-beam. The swarnlings skittered forward. She cursed under her breath.
LJ kicked off the edge, tucked her legs under her and leapt. “Ah don’t have mah claws,” she said.
Shadows crawled over her left hand, forming claws. “These will have to do,” she said while her other arm cocked back, preparing for the impact.
She glanced at the door. A female hand pushed the door.
LJ landed on her good leg and kicked her bad leg through them.
“Hello,” the woman said. “Is someone in there?” she asked, pushing the door open.
LJ turned her head and lunged. She quickly slammed the door shut before the woman could enter. “Don’t come in here!”
“What?! Who’s in my apartment?” the woman’s voice said. “I’m calling the police!”
The woman’s footsteps disappeared down the hallway. “Ah’m not goin’ back ta prison!” she thought.
“Not for this!”
The swarnlings wings began to beat harder. Their clicking grew louder around her. She knew what was coming next.
LJ rushed forward, slashing with her shadow claws. “Nasty little bugs!”
She punched a hand down one of their throats. Her claws tore through its side. Goo sprayed across her face. A creature flew at her. She leaned back as it flew over her. As it passed overhead, she raked her claws down its abdomen. Its guts fell to the floor with a wet sound. “Y’all got me madder than a wet hen,” she said. The swarnling shrieked. “If Ah’m goin’ down, Ah’m takin’ a lot yah with me!”
LJ’s right elbow bumped the front door as she backed away. She realized she was now cornered by them. Shadows crawled down her right arm, forming a sword in her right hand. “Nowhere ta go,” she said.
“The swarnlings formed a line and went still. Even the clicking stopped.
She raised her shadow sword with both hands. It faded in and out. “Don’t you dare!” she yelled to the sword.
One broke from the swarm. It skittered toward her.LJ swung her sword.
The creature’s severed head fell to the floor with a loud thud.
LJ looked down at the head and back at them.“Who’s next?”
Their clicking stopped. The swarm parted in the middle, revealing smaller creature. It was the size of a terrier. Its dark eyes locked onto her with a tilt of its head.
LJ wiped her lips. “What are y’all waitin’ for? Ah ain’t got all day!”
Its eyes flashed black. A shadow crept up its leg as it straightened, body clicking. The swarm began clicking again but stilled, watching her.
She took a step backwards. “What tha! Y’all can mimic now?”
The creature’s mandibles vibrated with a sickening, dry clicking sound.
“Gross!” she hissed, his voice cracking as she scrambled backwards.
The creature moved with a speed that startled her. It didn't crawl; it launched. A blur of mahogany brown slammed into LJ’s chest, the weight knocking the wind from her lungs.
LJ thrashed, her clawed hands catching the cold, hard plates of the creature's thorax. Its legs wrapped around her torso, the hooked barbs at the ends sliced through her shirt, digging into her ribs.
The thing tasted her skin as she felt a sharp, hot puncture in her shoulder. She fell back against the wall as it jaws clamped down tighter. Her shadow sword faded. With a surge of adrenaline, she grabbed it by the head. Its mandible dug deeper into her skin as she tried to pry it off. Biting down a scream, she pulled again. “Ah hate…. bugs!”
It bit harder. She nearly passed out from the pain. As shadows crawled up the swarnling’s legs, it wings snapped out. They began to beat, flapping faster as it tried to lift her. Through squinted eyes, focused her attention the swarnling’s shadows.
Her grip around the creature’s head tightened. Shadows swirled around her hands, mixing with his. Its eyes widening, the swarnling stared at her. Her nails sank into its head deeper. Her eyes glowed black. A soft wet crackling sound emitted from the thing’s body. It stopped clicking. The wings faltered to a complete stop. LJ, only inches off the floor, feet reconnected with it.
LJ yelled out. “Ah hate BUGS!”
The swarm stilled, their eyes locked on her.
Shadows bled from the swarnling’s crackling body through tiny fractures in its armor. She slowly straightened, as she adjusted her grip, snapping off one of its mandible claws.
The creature shrieked. Greenish ichor, sprayed across her face.
LJ let go of it as the shadows levitated it in front of her. It spun. Faster as more shadows spilled from its body. Ichor flew at all directions, landing on the walls, furniture and the floor. Suddenly it stopped spinning. It struggled to free itself. LJ leaned in. It stilled.
Her eyes never left it. She leaned in. The creature’s body exploded from the inside out into tiny pieces, as shadows escaped from it. She turned toward the swarm.
A shadow blade forming in her hand, claws on the other hand. Her shirt torn in spots, blood dripping down her arms. Her eyes flashed black as her gaze settled on the creatures.
The swarnlings hesitated. Their bodies began clicking.
She raised her sword, her breathing becoming heavier.
“Who’s next?”
The line broke, and the swarm rushed her. Sirens wailed somewhere in the distance, growing louder by the second.
***
Miles away at that exact moment, in another part of the county, a dark sedan crept slowly up the long driveway, lit only by moonlight. It stopped in front of a modest mansion. A silver-haired man exited the sedan and stormed up the walkway to the home.The man glanced at the doorbell but ignored it. He looked at his watch: 3 AM. He raised his left hand and banged on the door.
Inside the home, an average-sized man in dark pants and a white shirt hurried through the dark living room. He frowned at every pound on the door. He shoved one arm into his black jacket. “Whoever it is has no etiquette,” he thought.
At the same time, the owner of the mansion walked down the flight of stairs, tying the straps of his robe. “Who is it, Harrison?” the man asked as he slid his shades on his head.
Harrison straightened the jacket. “Whoever it is has no respect for time,” he said, walking to the door.
The man with the shades stopped at the bottom of the stairs and flicked a light switch. The grand living room immediately lit up. Harrison didn’t unlock the security chain before cracking the door open. “May I ask who is calling, and the nature of your business?”
The older man’s eyes flicked from the chain and back to Harrison. “Where is he?” he barked.
“Who?” Harrison asked.
The man with the shades recognized the voice on the other side of his door. “I know that voice, Harri...” he started.
Before he could finish his sentence, the older man shoved the door into Harrison, breaking the security chain.
Harrison gasped.
The door hit Harrison in the nose with a sickening crunch.
He stumbled backwards, reaching for his face.
The angry man loomed over Harrison. “Where is he?”
Harrison felt something warm trickle down his lips. Red drops landed on one of his shoes.
He clutched his fists. “That’s quite enough, Randall,” the man with the shades said. Harrison didn’t move immediately. Randall noticed Harrison’s bloody nose and smirked.
Harrison stared Randall in the eyes as his fist trembled.
He stepped between Harrison and his angry guest. “It is 3 AM. You’d better have an excellent reason for barging into my home and attacking my butler.”
“We need to talk,” Randall said. “Alone.”
“Very well,” he said. “Harrison. Make us a cup of coffee.”
Harrison bowed, giving Randall a long silent stare. “Very well, sir.”
The man placed a hand on Randall’s back, guiding him deeper into the living room.
“Why have you come to my home, Randall?” he asked, walking to his bar. “I thought we agreed you were not to be seen outside of the retirement home for the time being.”
He grabbed two shot glasses. “What if your daughter had seen you?”
Randall removed a pack of cigarettes from his jacket. “She is at home asleep. She does work the graveyard shift.”
Randall pulled out a cigarette. “We have a problem, of sorts.”
He poured himself a drink. “Couldn’t this wait until morning, Randall?”
Randall placed the cigarette between his lips.
He removed a Zippo lighter with a sticker saying “World’s #1 dad” on it from his pants.
He lit the cigarette.
He blew smoke into the man’s face. “No.”
The man coughed and threw his drink in Randall’s face. “You know the rules. No smoking in my house.”
“The boy who was watching Lila Jean,” Randall said, wiping his face with his hand. “He didn’t show up for his late night check in. I can’t reach him on the phone.”
“Do you think your daughter caught wind of him following her?”
“I don’t know. Lila Jean takes after her mother. She is very clever,” Randall said.
“You’re slipping up, Randall,” he said, pouring himself another drink.
“He called me an hour before Lila got off. Said he wasn’t far and was on his way to meet me,” Randall said.
“He never showed up. Have you called him?” he asked.
“What do you think?” Randall sneered. “He’s not answering his phone.”
Harrison returned to the room, tray in hand. The men had taken a seat opposite each other on the sofas in the center of the room. Harrison placed the tray on the table between the sofas and poured their coffee. Randall grabbed a coffee cup and held it out.
Harrison ignored him, pouring the man’s cup first and handed it to him.
Randall watched, still holding out his cup.
Harrison straightened and turned to Randall.
Randall looked up at him, his cup still in his hand. “I guess it’s my turn now,” he snickered.
“In more ways than one,” Harrison mumbled, pouring the coffee into his cup.
***
An hour later, the two men walked to the front door. “We will discuss this further later, Randall. Go home before you blow this,” he said, clutching his shot glass.
Harrison walked onto the porch, stopping beside the man. They both watched as Randall got into the back seat of his sedan. Randall lit another cigarette and looked straight ahead as the car drove off.
Harrison rubbed his nose. “He’s going to be a problem.” He removed his jacket. “You should have let me kill him.”
The man smiled as the car’s taillights disappeared into the darkness. “In due time, Harrison. In due time. You’re right about one thing.”
Harrison turned to him.
“He is a problem,” the man took a sip from his shot glass. “One that will have to be dealt with.”
Harrison and the man turned and walked back inside the mansion. Harrison closed the door behind them, snapping the lock in place. With a flip of the switch, the porch light died along leaving Randall’s future shrouded in darkness.
***
In her office at Beacon, Selene Kade leaned back in her chair with her legs crossed on the desk. She watched the moon sink behind a nearby building. She had come in early to put the final touches on an article she was eager to publish.
She smiled. “It’s ready.”
Selene uncrossed her legs and lowered her feet to the tiled floor. She leaned forward, her gaze settling on the computer monitor in front of her.
On it was an article titled “Infamous Cat Burglar Set Free to Terrorize City Once Again.” There was a large image of LJ to the left side of the text. The picture was taken very recently while she was at work.
The article painted LJ in a bad light, listing every burglary she had been tied to or suspected of committing. One sentence was in bold. “Can a thief truly reform?”
Selene reached for her landline phone on the desk. She pressed a number on speed dial. A woman’s voice answered. “Ms. Kade. It’s 4 AM. Is something wrong at Beacon?”
Selene straightened even more in her chair. “No. I am working on an editorial I want to be on the front page preferably by the end of the week.”
The woman yawned on the other end of the line. “Well, I can work it in on Friday’s paper. There’s nothing important scheduled for that day.”
“Excellent,” she said as she zoomed in on LJ’s face in the article. “Go back to sleep. I’ll see you when you come in later.”
***
The swarnlings had corned LJ by the front door of the penthouse. Her arms shook from exhaustion, as sweat rolled down her face. Although the room was loud with clicking, she heard sirens getting closer and knew what that meant.
“Tha police are comin’. Ah can’t be found here,” she thought.
LJ looked around the room. Dead creatures surrounded her. There were just a handful of them left. The odds were in her favor. As long as her powers didn’t quit on her.
“Ah just need to clear a path back to the center of the room.”
She planned to cast a shadow lasso and swing herself back toward the center of the room. Any other time, she could’ve cast one from where she stood and latched onto whatever she wanted. But tonight—and truthfully, for weeks now—her powers hadn’t been right. They still couldn’t seem to decide whether they were staying or leaving.
Her shadow sword vanished first. Then her shadow claws. She stared at her bare hands and then the swarm. “Not good,” she mumbled.
The swarnlings didn’t hesitate. They charged toward her. LJ backed away. Her hand brushed her jeans front pocket and she remembered the swarm song. “Tha whistle. Ah forgot Ah took it with me.”
Earlier when Spant told her not to bring it, she grabbed it anyway as a precaution.
She held it to her mouth. “Prepare to die, you nasty little bastards!” she hissed.
The swarm froze when she blew the whistle. Their eyes rolled in their heads, and their legs buckled beneath them.
A crash sounded above her. LJ looked up just in time to see Spant coming through the skylight. “The whistle,” he groaned as he fell.
“Spant!”
Spant managed to control his fall, using the momentum to catch a wall. He clung to it for a brief moment. His grip failed and he landed hard onto a chair with a loud thump as it broke under his weight.
LJ limped to him, avoiding the twitching dead swarnlings. She knelt next to him. He didn’t move. She grabbed his arm. “Come on, hero. We gotta get out of here.”
Spant’s eyes opened. “Didn’t I tell you to leave the whistle?”
She rolled her eyes. “Ah don’t take orders from you.”
“Obviously. You are hard h-”
He stopped mid thought. His eyes tracked the ceiling, floor and a corner wall in quick succession.
“Ah’m not hard headed, you-!” she stilled, watching his eyes. Her eyes followed his but saw nothing.
She frowned. “What’s wrong?”
Spant said nothing. He didn’t look at her.
His head tilted, his eyes focused on a something she couldn’t hear.
“Hero?”
Still he said nothing.
“Somethin’s not right,” she thought.
LJ swallowed. Her grip on his arm loosened.
Still nothing.
Then she realized—
“Somethin’s here.”
The floor trembled as if something huge had just stepped on it.