Without a Shadow by Julie Steimle (red queen ebook TXT) 📖

shaking his head all the while. He glanced up at me a few times, ignoring the rude things his little winged monsters were shouting at him. I heard the third passing bell echo outside the office door. Feet tromped on linoleum and my schoolmates chattered, full of gossip, while their mini-pals fluttered behind them with all kinds of wicked remarks sprouting out of their mouths. I heard it all, aching inside as I realized with every voice echoing in my ears that these little creatures were not going to go away.

“Miss McAllister, you may leave,” the vice principal at last said. He lifted up a pink square of paper. “Give this late pass to your teacher.”

I popped out of my seat gratefully, snatching the paper from his fingers, hearing his little shoulder demon shout for him to punish me for running in the halls. He didn’t stop me.

Mr. Beaver was not too happy with me when I came in late third hour, but he let me catch up with the rest on our science experiment without deducting any points. I dropped into my seat, took one look around the room, and saw that things were the same. Those little winged guys still crowded the room. I drew in a breath and gathered my beakers for the experiment.

I tried to measure, dump, and calculate the results of the assignment—but really, you try to keep focus when the room you are in is full of obnoxious shouting. It was just non-stop. After listening to Becky Dominae’s cupid-thing tell her to dump her experiment into Donna’s, I slammed my hands down on the table and bellowed, “Shut up!”

Everyone’s eyes popped up. Not one person had said a word. The room, in regular people terms, had already been quiet.

“McAllister—it looks like you need a time-out. Go to the vice principal’s office. Now!”

I closed my eyes silently. Opening them, I stacked my books and picked them off the table. I could hear all the creature things calling me a weirdo and worse when I walked through the door, closing it behind me.

The vice-principal sent me to the nurse’s office to get my ears checked instead of calling home. I had no idea what my mother had said during the first call, but here I was now sitting under a light in the nurse’s office. She didn’t just check my ears either. She had me take my sunglasses off and checked my eyes also.

“I think it is stress,” the nurse said at last.

Her shoulder monsters were shouting otherwise. “Schizophrenic. She’s a nut and should be locked up. Give her something to knock her out.”

I glared at them, trying to ignore how wretched I was feeling, missing now my fourth hour as I heard that bell ring.

“I think you just need some rest.” She actually glanced at a bottle of medicine the little obnoxious monster pointed at, but thankfully she didn’t touch it. Instead she let me close my eyes and sleep on the cot through the rest of the hour.

Not the Only One

 

Fifth hour. I was getting used to the chatter of the creatures around me. Since I was seeing what others could not, I wondered if pointing them out to people would even be worth it. After all, the nurse probably thought I really was schizophrenic. I figured lying down and sleeping the rest of the day was the best approach to the situation. I was all set on it, too, until Mr. McDillan came into the nurse’s office, casting a shrewd glare my way and pretending to have a sliver in his thumb. Sure…sure he had a sliver—from sharpening wooden stakes. I recognized that wicked glimmer in his eye, accompanied by the shouting of his little monsters to stake me then and there.

“Don’t even think about it.” The words slipped out of my lips before my teacher could step any nearer.

The nurse was flustered as she pulled on my History teacher’s arm. “Better come this way, Mr. McDillan. She’s having a serious episode today. We tried calling her mother again, but she seems to be out.”

“She’s shopping for food. Tuesday is shopping day,” I replied, still keeping a keen eye on my History teacher.

Mr. McDillan turned to look in the mirror on the medicine cabinet, peering at it as if mildly curious. I could see his grin in the mirror’s reflection, but I was obviously not even there. Chills ran through me.

“Yes,” he said with a nod and a deep throaty chuckle. “She certainly is coming down with something.”

His little shoulder demon shouted with glee. “Stake her! Stake her! Get out your holy water and throw it at her!”

“Shut it, you!” I shouted back at the winged thingy.

The nurse’s mouth dropped open.

Mr. McDillan glared at me, taking a step towards my cot. “You smart-mouthed young lady…don’t you talk to me like that. I’m your teacher.”

“I wasn’t talking to you,” I snapped a bit too huffily for safety.

His glare deepened at me and the mini-gargoyle still shouted for him to ‘stake’ me. I snatched out next to my teacher’s shoulder where the beast has been flying and got a quick hold on the thing. It was shrieking in terror because I had caught it.

“I was talking to this!” I held up the squirming little winged monster in my fist.

The nurse yelped and fainted away.

Mr. McDillan leapt back, colliding with the medicine cabinet mirror, sending it crashing into the wall. It shattered into pieces that still didn’t reflect me any better than the last time I looked into it. His goggling eyes fixed on the thing in my hand and he gasped.

“That’s a bloody vicious imp!” He sputtered.

He saw it. He actually saw it.

I let out a relieved sigh and sank back on the bed. Yeah, I was still terrified of my teacher standing over me with another imp (since I now knew what they were) telling him to stick a wooden cross into my heart. But his reaction as he focused on the little fellow in my hands was immensely gratifying.

“See! See! I’m NOT just hearing things!” I yelled, sitting up so I could move from the cot. “These things have been making noise all day and driving me crazy! Now leave me alone. I’m going to lunch!”

I hopped to my feet and hurried to the door to make my escape. Mr. McDillan grabbed the wrist of the hand that held the imp and pulled hard to keep me inside the nurse’s office.

“And what will be your lunch?” my teacher demanded with a fierceness that still said he would kill me.

Swallowing, I writhed in his grip, letting the imp go. “A burrito and some chips. What of it?”

He dropped hold of my wrist and moaned, shaking his head. “You are infinitely weird. What in the world are you Eve McAllister? You certainly aren’t human.”

I could feel my face instantly turn dark red. Clenching my teeth, I spun on my heels and stomped out of that room so fast that even the man’s old dog couldn’t have caught up with me.

Nearly Nervous Breakdown

 

“Where have you been?” Jane asked, staring at me as I sat down with my lunch tray.

I picked up the burrito I had just told Mr. McDillan about and unwrapped the plastic. What could I say? How would Jane handle the news that I was seeing imps around school and that my reflection vanished? I shrugged. “I was at the nurse. She wanted to check my ears or something.”

I took a bite before she expected to hear more.

Jane glanced at me out of the corner of her eye and just shook her head. “Ok…But Eve, really, first late meeting me for school, and then late for lunch. It’s not like you.”

I decided not to reply to that, changing the subject to our planned Halloween costumes and the school dance. This year we were going as a pair, but we had not agreed on a good idea yet.

We went to P.E. together after lunch, and I continued talking about what I thought we could do for our costumes as we played basketball. I should have known I couldn’t keep the truth from her, though.

“Are you standing under a cloud?” Jane said, looking up at the nearly clear but cold sky.

I looked up also, seeing no clouds large enough to cast a significant shadow. “I don’t think so.”

My friend shook her head and pointed at the ground under my feet. “Then how can you do that? You have no shadow.”

I blinked and peered at my feet. She was right. No shadow.

I felt a certain panic creep within me. Looking over at the others to see if it was just some prank to make me nervous, I saw full dark shadows under everyone and everything else. Only I had no shadow.

“Eve! Eve!” The sound of Jane’s voice was distant at first, as I blinked upward trying to regain focus. Generally, I don’t faint. So really, I don’t know why I ended up on the ground staring at Jane, Melissa Pickles, and our teacher.

I rubbed the back of my head, lifting it off the ground. “What happened?”

“All right, there you go,” my teacher’s voice came as if from out of a distant tunnel, my ears ringing. “You, Jane, take her back to the locker room and have her sit with her head between her legs.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” Jane sounded a little freaked.

When Jane and Melissa helped me to my feet, I glanced at the shadows on the ground. There was no way to discern if I had one still. They all clumped together over me.

“You had no shadow,” Jane whispered in my ear as she propped me. Her imps shouted for her to call me a weirdo, but I saw her actually brush them away with the thought.

I looked at my feet when we walked. My shadow was back beneath me. Deciding it must have been a fluke, I shook her hold off to stand upright and drew in a breath.

“Do you really think you can stand on your own?” Jane’s incredulous voice seemed to echo behind me. Her imps still shouted, but I heard one curse because Jane wouldn’t ever listen to it. I always knew Jane was an extraordinary girl.

I tried to stand, and I was fine. I peered once more at my feet to see if my shadow remained. And it did…but only for a few seconds in which it faded away to nothing.

“Holy moly!” Apparently Jane had also noticed.

“Give me your hand,” I said, reaching