36. Frankie

Chapter 36

Frankie

I blink rapidly, the harsh fluorescent lights of the hallway assaulting my eyes as I’m jolted back to reality. The floor’s freezing under my feet. It’s so different from that stuffy pink room. The shadows are going crazy in the corners, and the air feels charged with secrets and unspoken threats.

The emptiness of the corridor stretches before me, broken only by the figure of the woman who haunts my nightmares.

Valerie stands before me, her appearance as sudden as it is unwelcome. A part of me wonders how she found me, but those questions are drowned out by the flood of memories her presence brings—memories of pain and betrayal all triggered by that sickeningly familiar perfume of roses and something darker.

Her perfume’s everywhere. I can’t escape it. It’s making me feel sick. Beneath it, I catch a whiff of something else—fear, sour and acrid. The fluorescent lights hum overhead, their harsh glare casting Valerie’s face in stark relief, highlighting every line of desperation. The taste of bile rises in my throat, bitter and acidic, as memories flood back.

My heart’s going crazy. The shadows under my skin are moving around like they want to attack her—they can probably tell how scared I am.

“Francesca,” Valerie says, her voice soft and cajoling, a melody I once found comforting but now recognize as the song of a siren luring sailors to their doom. “I know this is a shock, but please, let me explain.”

I take a step back, shadows coiling around my fingers. “Explain?” I spit, my voice dripping with venom. “You think you can just waltz in here and explain away years of abuse? Fine. Talk. But know this—every word better be the truth, or these shadows will be the last thing you ever see.”

Valerie’s eyes dart around the empty hallway, like a prey animal sensing danger. The confident mask she always wore is cracking, revealing glimpses of... fear or desperation? “Not here,” she hisses, her usual poise faltering. “It’s not safe. We need to go somewhere private.”

“No,” I growl, the temperature in the hallway dropping, our breaths visible in the suddenly frigid air. “You don’t get to make the rules anymore. Talk. Now.”

She sighs, her shoulders slumping. For a moment, I see a crack in her perfect facade, a glimpse of the woman behind the monster. “Fine. I’m defecting from Blackwood. He’s planning something terrible, something that could destroy the shadow realm and our world.”

For a moment, I freeze, the name hitting me like a physical blow—Blackwood. I knew there was something wrong about him, something innately twisted. The shadows around me roil in response to my turmoil, casting strange, writhing patterns on the walls.

Even worse—Valerie knew all along.

A laugh escapes me, harsh and bitter, echoing in the empty hallway like the cry of a wounded animal. “And I’m supposed to believe you suddenly grew a conscience after everything you’ve done?”

“I know I hurt you,” Valerie says, taking a tentative step forward. I tense, ready to defend myself, the shadows at my command hissing their eagerness for violence. Her voice cracks in a rare display of vulnerability. “But I’m begging you to listen. Not for my sake, but for everyone’s.”

“Prove it,” I challenge, my eyes narrowing to slits. The lights keep flickering. It’s like they can’t handle all this darkness. “Tell me something Blackwood’s planning—something I can verify.”

Valerie hesitates then nods, her usual grace replaced by a nervous energy that sets my teeth on edge. “The eredar beasts… Blackwood’s not just studying them, he’s trying to control them. He thinks he can use them to destabilize the shadow realm and reshape it in his image. He’s calling them through ley lines. Ask Bishop. He knows.”

I freeze, remembering the odd conversations I overheard between Bishop and Blackwood and the way Bishop’s been acting lately. “Bishop,” I mutter. “He knows something about this, doesn’t he?”

Valerie nods, her eyes widening slightly. “You’ve noticed it too? Yes, Bishop’s involved, more than you know.”

My blood runs cold, ice replacing the fire in my veins. The eredar I encountered flashes through my mind—its raw power and ancient wisdom. The thought of Blackwood controlling such creatures sends a shiver down my spine that has nothing to do with the chill in the air.

And Bishop knows? I stuff down the hurt that he kept yet another secret, adding it to the growing pile of betrayals I’ve endured.

“How?” I demand, my voice barely above a whisper. “How is he planning to control them?”

“There’s a ritual,” Valerie explains, her voice low and urgent, as if the walls might be listening. “An ancient spell that can bind the eredar to a shadow shifter’s will, but it requires a sacrifice—a powerful shadow shifter, willingly given.”

It hits me all at once. I can barely breathe when I realize what she means. “Me,” I whisper, the word hanging in the air between us like a death sentence. “He wants to use me.”

I didn’t ask for any of this, but now I’m stuck with it, and it feels like the whole world’s on my shoulders. How many more secrets are lurking in the shadows of my past?

Valerie nods, her eyes filled with what looks like genuine concern. It’s an expression I’ve never seen on her face before, and it unsettles me more than her usual calculated calm. “That’s why I had to warn you. I couldn’t let him?—”

“Stop,” I interrupt, holding up a hand. The shadows around me pulse with my growing anger, tendrils of darkness reaching out as if to strangle the truth from her. “Just... stop. You expect me to believe that after years of grooming me, of... of selling me, you suddenly care about my well-being?”

Valerie flinches at my words but quickly composes herself. I watch the mask slide back into place, the familiar icy demeanor reasserting itself. “I know it’s hard to believe, Francesca, but I’ve always cared about you. Everything I did, I did to protect you and prepare you for your destiny.”

“My destiny?” I scoff, the word tasting like poison on my tongue. “You mean the destiny you and Blackwood cooked up for me? To be what, a weapon? A broodmare for your twisted plans?”

“No, that’s not—” Valerie starts, but I cut her off, my patience fraying like a rope about to snap.

“You knew, didn’t you?” I ask, realization dawning on me with horrifying clarity. The shadows around us writhe and dance, responding to the storm of emotions raging inside me. “You knew I was a shadow shifter all along. That’s why you kept injecting me with... whatever that was. You were trying to force my powers to manifest.”

Valerie’s silence is all the confirmation I need. I’m so angry, the shadows are going crazy, and the lights are flickering like they are scared of me or something.

“Francesca, please,” Valerie pleads, reaching out to me. Her fingers, once instruments of comfort and pain in equal measure, now look frail and desperate. “I know I made mistakes, terrible mistakes, but I’m trying to make it right. Blackwood is the real enemy here.”

I step back out of her reach, my skin crawling at the thought of her touch. “And what makes you any better? You used me, Valerie. You broke me down and rebuilt me into what you wanted. How is that any different from what Blackwood’s doing?”

“Because I’ve seen what Blackwood is truly capable of,” Valerie says, her voice cracking with genuine fear. “He isn’t just manipulating the shadow realm, Francesca. He’s trying to become a god, and he’ll destroy everything in his path to achieve it. I... I can’t let that happen, no matter what it costs me.”

I shake my head, torn between my anger and the urgency in Valerie’s voice. The rational part of my mind screams that this is a trap, another manipulation, but deep in my gut, in the place where my power lives, I sense a truth I don’t want to face.

“Even if what you’re saying is true,” I say slowly, each word carefully chosen, “then why come to me? Why not go to the council or the guardians?”

“Because they are compromised, and I trust you,” Valerie whispers, her eyes darting nervously around the empty hallway. “Blackwood has eyes and ears everywhere, and some of them... some of them aren’t even human anymore. He’s changing people, Francesca, turning them into something... else.”

“Trust?” I laugh bitterly, the sound echoing in the empty hallway. “That’s rich, coming from you.”

Valerie’s face falls, real pain etching lines around her eyes. For a moment, I see past the mask to the woman beneath—scared, desperate, and possibly sincere. “Look, I know you don’t trust me, I get it, but this isn’t just about us anymore. Think about your friends, your pack. Blackwood will eventually come for them too.”

Her words hit home and images flash through my mind—Leo’s goofy grin as he hands me yet another punny coffee mug, Matteo’s quiet presence as he stands guard nearby, the weight of Dorian’s ancient tome in my lap, and Bishop’s latest puzzle box sitting half solved on my desk. The thought of them in danger sends a fresh wave of determination through me.

Valerie’s smile is full of satisfaction, a predator sensing weakness in its prey. She believes she has me exactly where she wants me.

“What do you want from me?” I ask, my voice tight with suppressed emotion.

“Help me stop Blackwood,” Valerie says, her eyes gleaming with a fervor that’s equal parts exciting and terrifying. “Together, we might have a chance. I have inside knowledge of his plans. Combined with your power, we could end this before it’s too late.”

I squeeze my eyes shut, my chest heaving as I struggle to control my breathing. The fluorescent lights buzz overhead, the sound grating on my already frayed nerves. I can smell the lingering scent of cleaning products in the hallway, mixed with the faint trace of Valerie’s perfume. My mouth is dry, tasting of fear and old grudges. The shadows pulse against my skin, cool and comforting, reminding me that I’m not powerless anymore. My fists clench, my nails biting into my palms as I fight the urge to lash out and make her feel even a fraction of the pain she caused me.

When I open my eyes, Valerie is watching me intently, hope and fear warring in her expression. She looks smaller somehow, less the larger-than-life monster of my nightmares and more a flesh-and-blood woman caught in a web of her own making.

The air between us crackles with unspoken tension, years of pain and manipulation hanging heavily in the silence. I can almost taste the bitterness on my tongue and see the regret etched in the lines around Valerie’s eyes.

“I don’t forgive you,” I say, my voice hard as steel. The shadows around me pulse in agreement, hungry for retribution. “I don’t know if I ever can.”

Every fiber of my being is screaming at me to run, to fight, to do anything but trust this woman who’s hurt me so deeply, but if she’s telling the truth about Blackwood... can I really turn my back on that? The weight of this decision feels like it might crush me.

I take a deep breath, trying to steady myself. “If what you’re saying about Blackwood is true, then we need to stop him, so for now, we’ll work together, but I swear, Valerie, if this is another one of your games...”

I let the threat hang in the air, shadows swirling around me in response to my emotions. The temperature in the hallway drops further.

Valerie nods, wearing a small, sad smile on her face. “I understand. Thank you for giving me a chance to make things right.”

I clench my fists, trying to calm the storm of emotions raging inside me. Working with Valerie feels wrong on every level, like willingly sticking my hand into a viper’s nest, but if she’s telling the truth about Blackwood...

“We’ll do this my way,” I say firmly, injecting every ounce of authority I can muster into my voice. “No more secrets, no more manipulation. You will tell me everything you know, and I’ll decide how we proceed. Understood?”

My mind races, piecing together a plan—trust nothing, verify everything. This game of shadows just got a lot more complicated.

Valerie nods quickly, almost eagerly. “Of course. Whatever you need.”

“Verify,” I say, the word sharp as a blade. “Every. Single. Word. Starting with Blackwood and the eredar.” My eyes narrow, shadows gathering around me like a cloak. “You mentioned Bishop. What exactly does he know and, more importantly, why does he know it?”

A flicker of hesitation crosses Valerie’s face, there and gone in an instant. “Approaching Bishop directly might be risky. He’s close to Blackwood, and if word gets back to him that we’re asking questions...”

I narrow my eyes, suspicion flaring anew. “Then we’ll be careful, but I need to hear it from someone I trust, not just you.”

Valerie sighs but nods in agreement. “There might be another way. Bishop keeps detailed records of his research. If we could access his office...”

“Breaking into a TAs office?” I can’t help but let out a bitter laugh, the sound harsh in the quiet hallway. “No, I’ll ask Bishop on my own.”

“You can’t,” she yells, licking her lips. “Verify some other way.”

I tilt my head to the side, studying her. “And what if I decide you’re the real threat, Valerie?” I ask, shadows coiling around my fingers.

Valerie’s eyes meet mine, a mix of fear and acceptance in their depths. “Then you’ll do what you have to, Francesca, just like I taught you.”

I turn to leave, my mind reeling from the weight of Valerie’s revelations. Suddenly, I feel her hand grip my arm, her touch sending a jolt of ice-cold terror through my body. In an instant, I’m transported back to that pink room, helpless and afraid.

The shadows around us explode into motion, responding to my panic. They whirl and surge, forming razor-sharp tendrils that lash out at Valerie. The fluorescent lights above shatter, plunging the hallway into darkness broken only by the writhing mass of shadows.

I straighten my spine, feeling the power of the shadows thrumming through my veins. No more running, no more hiding.

As I struggle to regain control, one thought cuts through the chaos—no matter what happens next, nothing will ever be the same. The line between ally and enemy has blurred, and I’m standing on the edge of a precipice, unsure if the next step will lead to salvation or damnation.

One thing is certain—I’m done being a pawn in someone else’s game.

It’s time to become a queen.