1. Chapter One

The shadow didn't show up the night I found my mother lying face down in a pool of her own blood, her face bruised beyond recognition, a bullet hole in her back. Nor did it show up when I was drugged and raped at the first party I ever snuck out to attend, left unconscious on the front lawn of a frat house until campus patrol found me. It didn't even show up when I took a full bottle of prescription pills and dragged a razor blade across my wrist, looking for an escape I couldn't find elsewhere.

No. Its arrival was much more subtle.

It appeared between heartbeats one night as I lay awake, mentally tracing the spider web above my bed that I hadn't bothered to clean. I'd never been a fan of spiders, but something about this one fascinated me. The way it thrived alone, doing what it had to do to survive. It reminded me of myself, just going through the motions, taking things one day at a time. In my loneliest moments, the spider kept me company, even when my twin sister, Lennon, was just down the hall.

I blinked, and it was there, a darkness in the corner of my eye. My heart dropped and icy fear swept through me, leaving goosebumps prickling over my skin in its wake. Heart racing, I looked over, expecting to find the worst. Maybe someone had broken in. Maybe it was my stepfather returning to finish what he started when he killed my mother.

I braced myself, prepared to scream for my life, and found nothing.

My stuttered breath broke the silence, and blood pounded in my ears as I searched the moonlit room for any signs of an intruder, but there were none. No shadows, no dark figures lurking in the corner. It had to be a trick of the light, my mind playing games because of the late hour. It was well past midnight.

I'm probably just tired.

After the long moment it took me to calm down, I went back to staring at the spider web, wishing my arachnid friend would return to keep me company. At least, that way, I wouldn't be alone.

Then, the shadow was there again, lingering in my periphery. A smudge of black standing next to the bed, keeping just out of my line of sight. My throat tightened, and I debated screaming, but what would I tell Lennon if she burst in? That I was seeing things? There was a figure in my room?

I looked over again, much slower this time, and the darkness disappeared, leaving me staring at the closet door sitting ajar and the dry erase calendar on the wall next to it. There was nothing unusual, nothing scary waiting to pounce. I exhaled a shaky breath of relief.

Squeezing my eyes closed, I willed myself to sleep. If I just went to sleep, the shadow wouldn't return. After a full night's rest, everything would be fine. It was a hollow promise I repeated until I finally dozed off, but after that night, the shadow never left for good.

It would fade in and out of my vision, never staying gone for more than a day, and never lingering for more than an hour. It stayed out of my direct line of sight, never venturing from my peripheral view, but it would grow darker and more menacing the longer I ignored it.

However, if I ever tried to look at it directly, it disappeared.

I could have told someone. I should have.

I should have woken Lennon that night and told her what I'd seen, but I swallowed down my panic and pretended the shadow wasn't there. It wasn't like my twin would believe me anyway. She was bold, courageous, logical. She would never understand why I was so afraid of the darkness that followed me wherever I went. She would tell me I was crazy, that I was stressed out or worrying too much.

So, I ignored it.

Until I couldn"t.

It was late, nearly midnight when the tattoo shop finally closed for the night. I wasn"t required to stay until they locked the doors, but I was already dreading the walk home as thunder rumbled outside, trying to psych myself up for the trek. It had been raining on and off for days, and I"d forgotten to bring an umbrella.

Still, walking a few blocks in the rain beat calling my sister and waking her up to come get me. We couldn"t afford to waste the precious few gallons of gas we had before payday. I"d suck it up and make it home, even if I got drenched in the process.

Luke, the tattoo shop owner, turned off all the lights and set the alarm before leading the way outside and locking the door behind us. It had been a long day, and he"d tattooed a massive back piece for fourteen hours. When I looked up at the towering man who was all muscle, covered neck to toe in tattoos, I could tell he was exhausted.

"You did good today, kid," he said, scrubbing a hand over his shaved head. I hated the way he called me kid, like he wasn"t just a few years older than me. He hadn"t even turned thirty yet. "That industrial was really clean."

I smiled. It wasn't often that Luke complimented my work, but it wasn't because I did a bad job. He just didn't talk much. After nearly a year, I'd become one of our shop's top piercers, but it was nice to hear him say it.

"Thank you. I…" My words faltered and my heart sank when darkness swirled into view in the corner of my right eye. Ice prickled up my spine, and I took a shaky breath. I knew what it was without looking in its direction.

The shadow.

It lingered unmovingly, just outside of my line of sight. It was dark gray, smudged against the side of the building, but after three years of it following me, I knew if I inspected closer it would disappear. It always did. The best thing to do was ignore it, pretend it didn't exist. It would linger for however long it wanted to—sometimes minutes, sometimes much longer—and then it would finally fade.

Beneath my fear was another emotion that had become much more prevalent these days: annoyance. I'd almost made it an entire day without the shadow showing up, but clearly I couldn't be so lucky. Whatever it was, whatever it wanted, it couldn't go a full day without harassing me. In fact, its visits had become more frequent over the last few weeks.

Luke cocked an eyebrow at me, and I cleared my throat.

"I-I'll see you tomorrow," I said quickly, turning on my heel and marching down the sidewalk away from the shop. If I couldn"t tell Lennon about the dark figure that haunted my vision, I certainly couldn't tell my boss.

No, this was my burden to bear. My secret to keep.

Lightning lit up the sky, followed by the crack of thunder, and I picked up my steps. The smell of rain was everywhere, making the air around me heavy. Any second, the bottom would fall out. I was wearing my favorite black combat-boots, which were semi-waterproof, and a knee-length coat, but neither would keep me from getting soaked.

In my periphery, the shadow swirled like smoke, its stone gray color gradually shifting closer to black. My heart skipped a funny beat, but I continued to ignore it, keeping my eyes trained straight ahead.

Walking home alone normally didn't faze me much, especially considering I was just a few blocks over from the college campus. Patrol cars drove by every few minutes, and there were plenty of streetlights to illuminate the way, but that didn't stop my stomach from churning when the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.

I felt like I was being watched, but I was fairly certain it was just the shadow causing the unsettling feeling. I never felt truly at ease until it disappeared.

"I sure wish you'd fuck off," I grumbled under my breath, acknowledging the shadow without looking in its direction. It didn't reply, but that was probably a good thing. I might have shit my pants if it had.

Thunder cracked again, and a fat raindrop landed on my cheek, making me jump. My heart raced, but I assured myself I was just imagining things. A quick look over my shoulder revealed an empty sidewalk. I was completely alone.

Except I wasn't.

I was still keenly aware of the shadow in the corner of my eye and the nagging feeling that I was being watched, followed. I had to get home.

Picking up the pace, I was nearly jogging when more raindrops fell. My breaths were quick and heavy, my pulse pounding in my ears, and all the while the figure in the corner of my eye grew darker. It was black now, and so opaque it hardly looked like a shadow. I could make out a black hood and broad shoulders…

I gasped and finally gave in, looking to the right and expecting to see the shadow of a man, but just like it always did, the shadow disappeared before I could get a good glimpse.

Fuck.

I slowed down, breathing heavily. Rain was falling faster now, soaking into my clothes, but I didn't care. The only thing I could think about was the shadow and how I'd nearly caught a clear glimpse of it. After seeing the same blurry image for so long, nearly catching it in full view was exhilarating.

And absolutely terrifying.

There was no longer denying what I'd known all this time to be true: the shadow wasn't just something. It was someone.

It might have disappeared, but I could still feel the presence of the shadow lingering, weighing on my subconscious. My senses were on high alert, expecting it to return or materialize in front of me, but it didn't.

When I got to our apartment building, I sped up the two flights of stairs and fumbled with my keys, desperate to hide in my room until the sensation of being followed abated.

Despite my urgency, I snuck inside quietly to avoid waking Lennon. The walls were horribly insulated and did little to muffle the noise, so I kicked off my shoes by the front door and hung my wet coat on a wall hook before tiptoeing across the room.

I exhaled a deep, shaky breath, relieved by the comfort of home. It wasn't much, a small two-bedroom apartment we could barely afford, but I'd never been more glad to see our tiny dining room table or our blandly decorated living room.

Christ.I was still jittery, my fingers trembling from the adrenaline pumping through me, but at least there was still no sign of the shadow. For that, I was grateful. Maybe it would stay gone for another day.

I ran my hands through my shoulder-length hair, pushing the black and teal strands away from my face, and silently made my way toward my bedroom. I paused in front of the hallway mirror to give myself a once over. Even in the dim glow cast by the nightlight a few feet away, I could see the exhaustion on my thin face.

The dark circles beneath my eyes were accentuated by the limited lighting, and my hair was a mess, plastered to my head with rain and sweat. I wasn't sure how much longer I could keep going like this—studying all day and working all night—before my body just gave up and I dropped dead.

I wasn't old by any means, barely twenty-two. I shouldn't have felt like I'd been hit by a semi truck, my bones aching from the couple hours of sleep I managed each night, but here I was. At least it was better than couch hopping, so I was grateful. Maybe one day, things would change. Maybe one day I wouldn't feel like I was constantly drowning.

Maybe one day the shadow will leave me the fuck alone.

I scrutinized my appearance, wondering if I would have time before class in the morning for a quick shower or if I should go ahead and bathe, when a noise in the kitchen made me jump. Creaking and groaning wasn't unheard of in our building—after all, it was several decades old, and old buildings had a habit of complaining—but I was still so on edge that it scared me.

I looked down the hall, standing impossibly still while I waited for something to happen. Nothing did. I waited another minute, trying to stifle my breaths that seemed much too loud in the deathly silent hall. Finally, when I managed to convince myself that I was truly alone and there was nothing lurking in the other end of the house, I looked back at my reflection.

However, I wasn't alone.

There, at the edge of the mirror, was a figure made of swirling darkness. I froze, stunned still, just watching it and trying to convince myself it wasn't really there. My heart rate spiked through the roof. Blinking several times, I expected it to disappear, but it didn't.

Then, after a painfully long moment, it shifted and I screamed.