Why -would- they want that thing? The question repeated over and over in D’s head throughout the night. He couldn’t sleep because the shade outside the window never left, so he had plenty of time to think. Hendrick calmed down after the possibility of his son being encircled by that group of shades disappeared, and the other two offered to take shifts on watch while Hendrick rested. No such kindness was spared towards D, but he evidently didn’t need it.

  It occurred to D that he didn’t know the names of anybody besides Hendrick and Pascal, so he introduced himself to the two men they barged in on. The one with the beard was named Torn. He liked tea, but lamented how hard it was to get out here. He offered a cup to D made from the bark of the trees they cut down. D did not like it, but wasn’t going to be rude to the nicest person he’s met so far. “Wouldn’t deny tea even to my worst enemy,” he said with a smile.

  The other one was not so hospitable. His name was Ript, but D wouldn’t know that from talking to him. In fact, D wouldn’t know anything from talking to him. Ript adamantly ignored D to the point where D stopped trying to communicate. The two sat in silence during his shifts and stared out at the shade in the window. It almost seemed friendlier than Ript at times.

  Eventually, the sun did rise, and the shades retreated into the woods. It was Torn’s shift at dawn, so D asked him more about the shades. “This job started a long time ago,” he answered between sips. “Before I was here, anywho. King wanted to build a highway through this forest, so he sent us out to clear a small path through the forest. Ha! Sure ya saw how well that ‘small path’ went. Workers started disappearing one by one. Forest was infested with shades, sure enough. We told the king we ought to hire a mage or two to clear out the shades and have it done, but no, sir, that’s expensive. Ain’t that somethin’? Years of hard labor was cheaper than hirin’ a mage for a week. Anywho, the team was cut down smaller to avoid more casualties and we switched our focus from a small path to clearing out the entire forest. No shadows to hide in come morning? They’re all done for.”

  “Sounds like a dangerous job,” D commented. “What was a kid doing here?”

  “None of your business, Ratshit.” Hendrick was awake now. By the looks of it, he didn’t get all that much sleep either. He pulled up a chair across from D. “Now it’s your turn to answer questions. What’s with that line going through the forest? Where does it go?”

  How do I begin to explain that? “The line’s nothing, really,” D wasn’t lying. “It’s from me dragging my sword. It goes wherever it is I came from, but I don’t remember where that is,” D was lying.

  “Next question,” Hendrick barked. “How do you know what Pascal looks like if you’d never seen him before?”

  “I told you already. He was standing there in the corner last night, and he was in the other building when I was tied up. He was trying to warn me both times I saw him. If your third question is why you can’t see him, I don’t know.”

  Hendrick’s frustration was plainly written all over his face. “I don’t know why I saved you, but I really want a reason. I don’t -think- you want to kill us. You seemed pretty confident last night that you could kill anything with that hunk of metal in your pocket, so I don’t see why you wouldn’t use it on us if you wanted us dead. So why did I do it? Why did I save–”

  “I think Pascal wanted you to,” D interrupted.

  Hendrick paused for a moment before asking, “What?”

  “Look, I’m new here,” he admitted, “and maybe I don’t understand all this magic stuff. But, I know for a fact I’ve been seeing a kid that looks an awful like your son hanging around. You might not be able to see him, but maybe you knew he was there. Some kind of fatherly instinct or something, you know? Why were you coming to see me last night anyways?”

  Hendrick was dumbfounded. Admittedly, he didn’t know. Was it to question him further? Maybe he just wanted to hit D a few more times. No, none of those were right. He couldn’t think of a single real reason he went there that night. He started to believe it was Pascal guiding him there after all.

  Just as D was starting to break through to Hendrick, a whistle screamed outside. The three workers instinctively got up and headed outside. Ript moved to tie up D before the door was unbarred, but Hendrick stopped him. D wasn’t going to run. He knew the shades existed now. He would be too scared to go through that forest again.

  D saw the outpost up close in plain daylight for the first time. All the buildings looked like old, English cottages.The only exception was the rickety watchtower everyone was gathering under. He didn’t really notice it before, but they were all wearing very basic clothing. They didn’t have any designs or vibrant colors and were all made out of some rough material. D wondered why they would work such a dangerous job when it didn’t even provide better accommodations than this. His job back at the old video store didn’t exactly offer a gilded lifestyle, but even the pay from that seemed like more than these men had ever seen.

  The workers loosely formed a half circle in front of the old foreman as he began to sound off names. When a man’s name came up, he would shout out “here” or “aye.” Roll call, huh? It didn’t take long to finish the list. All in all, there were only fifteen workers besides the foreman, and everyone was present. The foreman moved on to the next topic.

  “Now, we’re all worried ‘bout ‘endrick’s boy, but we’ve still got work ta do,” he announced. “Cannae let the sunshine go ta waste. Maybe even find the lad out in the trees, eh? Take the day ta do what ya need ta do, ‘endrick.” He finally saw D out in the crowd next to Hendrick. “Say, what’s ‘e doin’ ‘ere?”

  Hendrick let out an exasperated sigh. “I know it’s a damn dumb thing for me to say, but I don’t think he actually did anything to Pascal. I got a better read on Ratshit last night. Doesn’t seem like -that- bad of a guy. More confused than anything. Don’t worry, I’ve still got an eye on him.”

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  The foreman shrugged. “Aye, ‘e’s yer prisoner. Do what ya want wit’ ‘im. Don’t ‘ave much in the way ‘o’ rations for ‘im, though.”

  Everyone but D and Hendrick made their way into the forest with nothing but the clothes on their backs and a hatchet strapped to their belts. D assumed they must have left the rest of their tools where they left off yesterday. They can’t chop down these thick trees with just those tiny hand axes, can they?

  “Come on,” Hendrick beckoned D to follow him. “Sun’s bleeding dry.”

  What? Who says that? Hendrick had left him behind, so D quickened himself to catch up. “Where are we going?”

  “Into the forest,” Hendrick answered without taking his eyes off the trees in front of him. “Pascal’s in there somewhere, and you’re gonna help me find him.”

  “Hang on,” D’s path parted from Hendrick. He ran over to where his sword still laid in the ground. The workers really weren’t able to make it budge. Hendrick watched with amazement as D picked the slab of stone as if it were made of paper. “I’m not going in there without some kind of protection.”

  “How?” Hendrick demanded. “That doesn’t make sense. It must be magic.”

  “That’s what I’m hoping,” D sighed.

  He jumped at every noise in the forest. Anything that wasn’t him walking or talking was a shade with its talons inches away from the back of D’s head. Hendrick shared none of D’s fear. He was used to the shades’ behavior during the day. On the slim chance they ever encountered one, it would be so sluggish that it was easily avoidable. One quick step back into the sunlight was all you needed to be safe from it.

  “I’ve been wondering something,” D wanted to tap into Hendrick’s knowledge. “If the shades only touch things when they want, how come that one never walked through the wall last night?”

  “I’ve been wondering something, too,” Hendrick responded. “How come you don’t know a thing about shades? They’re not that rare. A big horde of them like in this forest, sure, that’s rare, but they’re everywhere. Children know what shades are, but you don’t.”

  D hated repeating this lie, but the truth was less believable. “God, I’ve said it a million times. I don’t remember anything from before I woke up in your outpost. Why couldn’t the shades walk through the walls?”

  “Don’t know why,” Hendrick shrugged. He still wasn’t buying the amnesia story. “They just don’t go through walls. They’re not really all that strong either, so if you keep the door locked and the windows closed they won’t be able to break down either of them.”

  Maybe it’s like that old rule about vampires. Polite ghosts? It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility, but it seemed off to D. “Guess nobody locked my door last night then.”

  “Guess not,” Hendrick confirmed.

  They spent the whole day searching. The lack of food was starting to affect D now that the adrenaline was wearing off. This would be his third day without food, and all he’d had to drink was Torn’s bark tea. Hendrick had told him the forest animals had long since gone, but that didn’t stop D from fantasizing about catching something out here and eating it whole. The hunger made him sour and frustrated.

  That was hardly a good mood to be in while facing down a shade. Hendrick hadn’t noticed it yet, but it was standing in the canopy’s shadows, watching D. D pointed his sword at the monster, and it shrunk back. They’re afraid of it. He approached it without lowering his weapon. “Can you speak?” he asked. “I won’t kill you if you tell us where the kid is.”

  The shade did not respond. It only kept staring at D. It almost looked pathetic in the day. Hendrick noticed it by now.

  “Hey!” D shouted out to nobody in the forest. “Ghost kid! Where are you? I’d like your help right about now!”

  “What the hell are you doing?” Hendrick asked. “Back away from that thing.”

  “Should I?” D asked, haphazardly swinging his sword near the shade. “I’ve got the upper hand on it now. It doesn’t want to come anywhere near this thing, but I don’t think it’s fast enough to get away from me.”

  The boy appeared in the corner of D’s eye. He couldn’t risk turning his head to look. The second he didn’t know what the shade was doing, his facade of bravery would crumble. “Get where I can see you, kid,” he requested.

  Without making a sound, the boy stepped across the forest ground and in front of D.

  “You’re Pascal, right? Where are you, kid? We’ve been looking for you all day, and I’m getting a little tired.” D asked.

  The boy pointed at the shade.

  “W-what?” D stammered, his sword revealing how much his hand was shaking. “I don’t get what you’re saying.”

  The boy pointed at himself and back at the shade. He pointed at the space his eyes would have been before pointing back to the shade. Shit.

  “Hendrick,” he called out, “look at this shade’s eyes. What do they look like?”

  Hendrick was confused. “They look like eyes? I don’t know what you–” it hit him. “N-no. Pascal? Pascal, is that you?”

  D was lucky Hendrick was with him. Only a parent would know the smallest details of their kids. They could tell when a single hair was out of place. They would know when their child had a bruise underneath their clothes. They would know their child’s eyes anywhere.

  “What do we do?” Hendrick became frantic. Tears streamed down his face. “What do we do? Pascal? Pascal, buddy, Daddy’s right here. It’s okay, alright? Daddy’s got you, Pascal.”

  D had to hold him back. If not for him, Hendrick would have fallen right into the shade’s arms. He was struggling to keep the shade at bay and hold back Hendrick. “Pascal, what do we do? How do we help you?”

  Pascal pointed at D. He spread out his other hand and pointed at it. Then, he walked up to the shade and touched it.

  He wants me to touch that thing? It was hard to think. His heart was beating faster and faster. Hendrick was becoming more unruly. D’s eyes darted around, looking for other shades. Why do I have to touch it? What happens? I’m not touching that. I don’t have to. Hendrick doesn’t know. I can just say Pascal told me to kill him. That would be the end of it. It’d be easy.

  So why am I doing this? D touched the shade with his bare hand and disappeared.