Page 11 of Unveiled

Adrian spun, hand half-raised—

Nothing. The seat was empty.

The windows clear.

The village blurred beyond the glass.

Cold sweat broke across his spine.

Adrian let anger rise, hot and steady, to meet the fear. “Fine,” he whispered. “Watch me.”

Max appeared then, beanie in hand, smiling. Adrian started the engine. The headlights snapped on. The shadow recoiled, thinning, retreating to the edges where light faltered.

“Found it,” Max said cheerfully, climbing in.

“Close the door,” Adrian said. “Let’s go.”

“You all right? You look spooked.”

Adrian reversed. “I’m fine. Long morning.”

He didn’t look back again, but he could still feel it like a weight in the air.

As he departed, the lamplight fell away and the road narrowed, flanked by stone walls and dark hedgerows. The hills rose like sleeping beasts on either side. The sky was a bruised purple, the first light of the upcoming sun pricking through.

Adrian exhaled slowly, trying to shake off the sensation of facing off with a malevolent shadow.

Suddenly, the car’s interior temperature dropped. Not the gradual chill of evening. A sudden, unnatural cold that fogged the edges of the windscreen.

Adrian’s breath misted.

Max swore. “What the fuck’s going on? Is the air conditioner on? It’s bloody freezing in here.”

Adrian couldn’t hide the situation any longer. He tightened his grip on the wheel and spoke into the empty car, his voice clipped, no longer pretending. “I think we’re being followed by something.” He shifted gears. “If you want something, show yourself.”

The darkness beyond the headlights seemed to ripple. And in that ripple, for a heartbeat, Adrian saw a shape that wasn’t a shape. A suggestion of height with long limbs.

“Jesus, what the hell is that thing?” Max leaned forward to stare out of the window. “Something from the village?”

Adrian nodded tightly. “They did warn me about shadows. I guess it’s decided to introduce itself.”

He forced the car faster, the engine responding with a low snarl. His lips pulled back from his teeth, a silent snarl. “You picked the wrong King to mess with,” he said, his voice rough. “And you picked the worst day.”

The cold eased slightly, as if the night itself had listened. Then, from somewhere ahead—too far to be human, too close to be weather—came a sound like a sigh.

The road dipped. And the village vanished behind him, along with the shadow.

“It’s gone,” Max said quietly. “Whatever the fuck it was, it’s gone.”

Adrian didn’t speak, simply drove on, the headlights carving a narrow tunnel through the dark. “Don’t say anything to anyone about this,” he muttered softly. “Let’s keep it between us for now.”

Max nodded, his face contemplative. “I guess this is all getting real now, isn’t it? I think we have some interesting times ahead.”

Adrian nodded grimly. “And I think it’s only just begun.”

Chapter Five

Connor