Chapter 152: SECOND SHADOW
They were on their way back to camp when Cinder stopped beside a patch of moss near the water.
Aiden saw why a second later.
The moss stood up.
Mud fell from a body almost as wide as Cinder. Four thick legs made of roots pushed it out of the shallow water, while long vines hung from its sides and dragged across the bank. There was no real head. Its mouth opened under the moss instead, full of pale thorns.
Aiden backed away from it.
"I've officially seen enough of this fen."
The creature moved first. Three thick vines flew across the bank. Cinder caught one across her chest and bit down on it, while Miasma slipped under the second and ran toward the creature.
The third vine went for Nyx.
Two copies appeared beside her.
All three Nyxes ran in different directions.
The vine followed the one on the left and hit it hard enough to throw mud into the air. The shadow burst apart, leaving the creature holding nothing.
Aiden stared.
"Oh."
Nyx seemed just as surprised. The real one slowed, glanced toward the place where her copy had vanished, and nearly got caught by another vine.
"Admire yourself later!"
Her other copy kept running around the front, pulling another vine after it. Nyx jumped onto the bank beside the beast and bit into its side.
Her muzzle passed straight through the roots.
The moss beast shook and pulled away.
Green fluid came out from between the roots even though Nyx had left no hole on the outside.
Aiden grinned.
"That's nasty."
Nyx looked pleased.
The creature did not. Several vines turned toward her at once.
Nyx ran, but she was still learning how far her new legs carried her. She cleared the first vine, stepped too far on the next turn, and a thick one wrapped around her back leg.
It pulled her off her feet.
"Nyx!"
Cinder still had one of the creature's vines in her jaws. She planted all four paws in the mud and pulled. The beast slid toward her, but it kept its grip on Nyx.
Miasma reached the creature while it was busy with both of them.
She ducked beneath its body and bit into a pale root near one of its legs. The root darkened around her teeth, but the creature stamped down and forced her away before she could stay on it.
Aiden ran toward Nyx.
Another vine came straight at him.
Aiden reached for Shadow Clone.
A black copy appeared where he'd been a moment earlier, frozen in the middle of his run.
Damn it. Why are you just standing around?
The vine went for the copy instead and passed straight through it.
Aiden kept running.
"Good enough."
The creature attacked the fake Aiden again while Aiden reached Nyx. He grabbed the thick vine around her leg with both hands and triggered Solar Plexus.
Heat rushed through his palms. The vine blackened, smoked, and broke apart.
Nyx pulled her leg free.
"Go."
She was already moving.
His clone remained where he'd left it. Another vine hit the fake body and went through the same place as before.
Aiden looked at Cinder.
"Pull!"
Cinder was already doing it.
She bit harder into the vine she held and dragged the creature away from the water. Its legs dug into the mud, but Cinder kept walking backward. One root came free, then another, and the whole beast slid onto the bank.
That exposed the bottom of its body.
There was much less moss underneath. Pale roots wrapped around a soft brown center.
Miasma saw it too.
She ran in while Cinder kept the creature pulled to one side. A vine came down at her, but Nyx's remaining copy crossed in front of it. The vine hit empty shadow instead.
Miasma reached the soft center and bit.
The creature shook hard.
Nyx split again and three dark bodies ran toward it together.
The creature sent vines at the first two. Both copies disappeared.
The real Nyx went under its body. Her head passed through the roots around the center, and this time her bite went deep.
The creature went still.
Cinder gave one final pull.
The root legs gave way and the whole mass fell onto the bank.
Nyx came out from underneath it with green fluid around her mouth. Miasma backed away from the other side, then sat in front of the water and began cleaning her paws as if none of this had been unusual.
Aiden waited to see if the creature moved again.
It didn't.
"Good."
Aiden heard a pole touch water behind him.
The forager had stopped her small boat in the next channel. Aiden had no idea how long she'd been there.
She looked at the dead creature, then at Nyx, then at the place where Aiden's clone had stood.
Neither of them spoke.
Then the forager pushed away from the bank and disappeared between the reeds.
Aiden watched her go.
"Well. That's going to become a story."
Cinder dropped the vine from her mouth and shook mud from her fur.
Most of it landed on Aiden.
He pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Thank you."
Cinder's tail moved.
Aiden wiped mud from his cheek and looked for his clone.
It was gone.
"It lasted about ten seconds."
Nyx came over.
Two copies appeared beside her. All three walked around him.
"No."
Three Nyxes stopped.
He pointed at the middle one.
"You're real."
His finger passed through her nose.
The copy disappeared.
Aiden looked at the other two.
"Fine."
He tried the one on the right.
Fake again.
The real Nyx sat on his left and looked extremely pleased with herself.
"Enjoy this while you can."
Her pale eyes curved.
Aiden used Shadow Clone again.
A second Aiden appeared beside him, frozen with one hand still raised from pointing at Nyx.
Cinder walked over and sniffed it. Her nose passed through its chest.
The clone didn't move.
Cinder tilted her head at the real Aiden.
"Yes. It's fake."
She pushed her muzzle through the copy again.
"Still fake."
Miasma came over, took one look at it, and walked past.
Aiden folded his arms.
"Nobody appreciates my new ability."
Nyx made two copies and all three of them sat in front of him.
Aiden stared at the three shadows.
"Yours is better. We all understand."
Nyx scratched behind one ear. Both copies did the same.
Aiden looked at his own clone. Still standing there. Still doing absolutely nothing.
Then it disappeared.
Nyx's copies could run, dodge, and make an enemy choose the wrong target. His could not move at all. But the moss beast had attacked his clone three times.
That was enough to let him reach Nyx.
Aiden smiled.
"Actually, I like mine."
Nyx tilted her head.
"It only needs someone to be stupid for ten seconds."
Her eyes narrowed.
"Not you."
Cinder bumped Aiden toward the path before he could continue arguing with a beast that couldn't answer him.
"Right. Home."
Miasma climbed onto Cinder's back, avoiding the mud in her fur with careful steps. Nyx walked ahead, her two copies following her until they faded.
Aiden watched the copies disappear, then picked up his bag.
"Okay. This one's useful."