Page 22 of Chaos and Crowns

“I thought something seemed different with it when we came here before, and—something with its powers have been altered,” Antony whispered.

“Well, it has been millennia since you’ve seen it so maybe you remember it wrong,” Odelle argued, “Besides, if something is wrong, all the more reason to get it back to the Sanctuary.”

Antony wavered, before nodding, though his expression remained pinched.

A piercing, inhuman screech split the air as soon as Odelle’s fingers grazed the crown. She snatched her hand back as if that would stop the noise, but it was too late. Footsteps pounded in the direction of the stairs. Antony’s head whipped back and forth, but there was nowhere for them to run. They were caught.

9

Before either Antony or Odelle could move a muscle, Mrs. Whitehall burst into the room. Her eyes were so wide that the whites shown all the way around, and wiry gray curls escaped from her sleek chignon to curl like snakes around her face.

“Take your filthy hands off my crown!” she spat.

Before she could say more, Mr. Whitehall tumbled into the room after her, beet-faced and puffing. He looked back and forth between the intruders and his wife in shock. Thad piled into the doorway as well.

As Mr. Whitehall attempted to put himself between his wife and the intruders, she shouldered him aside, letting out another piercing shriek—a sound that would seem more appropriate coming from a wounded eagle than a human woman.

“Dear?” Mr. Whitehall said in a tone that sounded like he was suddenly unsure whether to be more afraid of the people who had broken into his home, or the noise currently tearing itself from his wife’s throat.

Before he could say anything else, Mrs. Whitehall leapt at Odelle. The fingers on her outstretched hands clawed like talons, and Odelle’s arms flew up instinctively to protect her face. Mrs. Whitehall was yanked back by her husband’s arm around her waist just before she could claw out Odelle’s eyes.

“Darling, no!” he protested. “Call the police!” Mr. Whitehall ordered nobody in particular. Thad made no move to do so.

Mrs. Whitehall writhed in her husband’s grasp, feet kicking the air and head thrashing from side to side. Bringing up an arm, she elbowed him in the face with a sickening crunch. He dropped her, hand flying to his nose. Before Odelle could react, Mrs. Whitehall turned around, jumping on her husband like a deranged spider monkey. One moment of struggle, followed by a sickening crack, and then Mr. Whitehall crumpled to the floor. The world stopped for a single second as Odelle stared in horror at the unnatural angle of his neck.

Then Mrs. Whitehall rounded on Odelle. Her eyes held no shock or fear, just single-minded focus. Odelle’s hip hit the sharp edge of the display case as she tried to back away. Then, she saw it. Filling the hallway outside the door were grotesque, shadowy figures. Formed of twisted darkness, they oozed into the room.

Shattering glass broke the pregnant silence as Thad, who had stepped fully into the room to avoid the Shadows, plunged his hand into a display case and emerged with a jeweled dagger. The noise caught Mrs. Whitehall’s attention, and her head snapped towards Thad.

In her moment of distraction, Antony, who had been preternaturally still, leaped into action. He lunged towards Odelle, grabbing the crown out of the case at her back.

Another shriek pierced Odelle’s eardrums, but Thad had Mrs. Whitehall and the Shadows occupied. He bobbed and weaved among their sickening forms, slashing with the dagger. The Shadows instantly dispersed when he made contact, dissolving into the air like acrid smoke.

“Run!” Thad ordered.

Odelle hesitated, watching the crush of Shadows surround Thad.

“Go! I’ll be fine,” Thad insisted, demonstrating his skill by dispatching a Shadow with a slash over his shoulder, not even looking at it.

Antony grabbed Odelle’s elbow and hauled her towards the window at the back of the room, slamming it open. This window only slightly overlapped with the second-floor balcony, enough that they would have to jump to land on it instead of plummeting three stories into a bush.

Antony clambered up on the sill first, only hesitating a moment before leaping to the balcony. He landed in an awkward roll that was sure to give him bruises, but at least wouldn’t break anything important. Scrambling to his feet, he reached up for Odelle. She stood on the sill, hesitating. The legs she wore were not built for shock absorption, and as awkward as Antony’s tumble was, she didn’t think she could pull even that off. He had the crown—he could run.

Heat pricked at the back of Odelle’s neck, the fear of the Shadow surging in her mind. She leaped.

To say Antony caught her would be an overstatement, but he did break her fall. They tumbled to the icy ground, a tangle of limbs and ice. The momentum caused them to roll, Antony landing on top of Odelle, pinning her to the ground. The pointed laurels of the crown in Antony’s hand narrowly missed gouging her in the eye. Odelle was stunned for a moment before she saw the open window over his shoulder, Shadows starting to drip out of it like hot tar. Her brain oscillated between relief that most of them were following instead of overrunning Thad, and terror at their pursuit.

She would have screamed, but the force of their landing had knocked the wind from her lungs. Instead, she shoved Antony off her, scrambling on her hands and knees towards the stairs. Rough decking caught on the socks covering her knees as she managed to push to her feet. Antony was hot on her heels as she hurtled down the stairs and sprinted across the lawn to her parked car. It seemed that panic had temporarily bolstered his energy. Odelle didn’t know how fast Shadows could run, but she prayed that it was slower than her used sedan.

She nearly brained herself on the doorframe as she flung herself into the car. The engine seemed to turn over slower than usual, leisurely chugging to life as Odelle watched the Shadows gaining ground in the rearview mirror. Odelle slammed the accelerator down with her hand before Antony even had his door fully shut.

She weaved through the sluggish city traffic as fast as she could, earning honks and rude hand gestures as she squeezed between stopped vehicles. She mentally apologized to any drivers she had flipped off for reckless driving who were actually being chased by the physical representation of fear and hopelessness.

“The park!” Antony barked. “They can’t follow us through the portal—the crown will be safe at the Sanctuary.”

Odelle, whose only thought had been to put distance between her and the dark abominations on her tail, pulled a sudden turn to follow his instructions. At the speed she was driving, she couldn’t afford to take her eyes off the road in front of her for long, but she chanced a glance in her rearview mirror. Shadows oozed between and over cars. They didn’t seem to have to run, instead billowing like thick, dark fog at a relentless pace.

The screech of tires split the air as Odelle swerved to avoid a bike messenger. As she glanced in her side view mirror to make another sudden lane switch, she caught sight of Antony out of the corner of her eye. His pale skin had taken on an ashen tone, and his fingers clutched the crown in his lap with a vice grip. Whatever adrenaline had carried him this far, Odelle prayed it lasted a bit longer.