Wicked Deal (Shadow Guild: The Rebel 2)

After two hours of walking, I said, “This seems to be much bigger than Guild City itself.”

“It is,” Ogden replied. “The tunnels take a circuitous route, so we’re covering far more ground.”

We passed a dark tunnel to the right, and movement sounded from inside. A rough scraping, like stone against stone. Or shifting rubble.

Ogden shouted into the darkness. “That you, Jack?”

A shrieking laugh from within made the hair on my arms stand on end. I shivered, squinting into the dark.

The Dwarf reached into one of his many pockets and withdrew a lighter and a little metal canister. They didn’t look like magical charms to me.

The laughter sounded again, and Ogden said, “I’d step back if I were you. Jack has sharp claws.”

I retreated onto the tracks, keeping an ear out for the sound of an oncoming t

rain. The odd laughter came closer and closer.

I leaned toward Mac. “Do you know who Jack is?”

“No idea.”

“It’s Spring-heeled Jack,” Grey said. “A bogeyman from Victorian times. He used to terrorize the humans in London until the witches trapped him down here.”

“That old urban legend?” I asked, vaguely remembering.

“A legend, yes. But a true one,” Grey said. “Same for the pigs.”

My eyebrows rose as I looked at him. “The pigs?”

“Another urban legend that’s true. Slightly later than the Victorian period. It says there’s a herd of feral pigs down here.”

“That’s hogwash,” Ogden said. “No pun intended.”

“You just don’t want anyone coming down and hunting them,” Mac said.

Ogden grumbled, and I could almost sense the truth to the rumbling noise. Another laugh sounded, shrill and close. From the shadows, a slender, cloaked figure leapt out. A manic grin stretched across the skinny face, and the eyes gleamed like fire. Long claws tipped the ends of its fingers, and the creature leapt two meters into the air as it approached.

I flinched backward as Ogden flicked on his lighter and pressed the button on the metal canister. An enormous jet of flame shot out, and Jack shrieked and scuttled back into the dark.

“You just have to speak his language,” Ogden said.

My heartbeat thundered as I searched the darkness for Jack. I could hear him scuttling about, laughing and muttering to himself. He really was the stuff of nightmares.

“Come on, now.” Ogden turned and strode past Jack’s tunnel, continuing down the old Underground line toward our destination. He shouted to the back of our queue, “Hurry up at the rear! Jack recovers quickly. You don’t want to meet those claws.”

I heard a few of the shifters growl. I had a feeling they’d be a good match for Jack. As we continued down the tunnel, we passed Tube stations that I recognized. The platforms were empty, though they shouldn’t be at this hour.

“Why are the platforms empty?” I asked.

“These are shadow stations,” Ogden said. “Just like the train. There are people at the real station, most likely—but we’re not really there. Our territory was expanded into the human realm using our magic.”

I met Grey’s eyes and whispered, “So there were magical Dwarves in the Tube lines when I was riding from place to place?”

“In a sense,” Grey said. “It’s like how the Fae realms are located on earth but in a different realm. Two realities on the same piece of land—human and Fae—neither ever seeing the other.”

Scarcely able to wrap my mind around that, I turned to Eve. “Can I visit one?”

“Maybe.” She smiled a bit sadly. “Not mine, though. Even I’m not allowed back there.”