Page 2 of Stubborn as a Shadow

And wasn’t that just enough to scrub the rainbow from my sky?

I slumped in my cage, the metal bars cold and hard against my back.

I’d always heard magic couldn’t be contained. That anyone trying to lock up a supernatural being needed to be vigilant about maintaining their magical hold over a caged supe—it didn’t matter who was doing the locking up or who was being locked up. My uncle had talked about it a lot when the Supernatural Council had decided to imprison bad guys instead of… um… ixnaying them. He said it’d be a nearly impossible task.

So how could these not-nice people keep so many of us here? They couldn’t possibly be stronger than the SC. Which meant it was only a matter of time before someone else escaped.

Who knew? It might even be me.

And if it was me, I’d channel my inner superhero and get everyone out. No supe left behind. All for one and one for all. Or something like that.

But honestly, I’d make a fantastic superhero. I would look amazing in a cape. Although maybe less amazing in a skin-tight bodysuit. Puberty had come and gone and I’d never bulked up, so I doubted I would now. Not without a lot of gym time, and that just sounded miserable.

Besides, unicorns were lean and magnificent. We didn’t need bulky muscles to be beautiful.

I wiggled my bare toes. My toenails were getting long, but I doubted our captors would be passing around nail files anytime soon. Hmm… how long would it take to file through a metal bar? Probably a really, really long time.

As I imagined whittling away at the bar with my imaginary nail file, a new rush of excited whispers swept across the cages like a wave.

“Someone found us.”

“Help is here.”

“Someone’s come to rescue us.”

The sound of heavy, hurried footsteps came down the aisle. The squealing wheel of one of the trolleys they used to move the cages around shrieked alongside them. Everyone leaned forward, eager to see what was happening. The troll Vala, and her human friend Edgar skidded to a stop in front of my cage.

“Come on, unicorn boy,” Vala said, as they yanked my cage from its spot within the grid of cages. My cage tilted precariously as it—with me inside—dropped the few feet to the waiting trolley. Instinct had me clinging to the metal bars, as if that would save me. Metal clanged against metal.

I cried out as I jolted to the left, before the cage was shoved upright again. Blood filled my mouth. They’d made me bite my tongue.

“Oh, shut up,” the troll muttered.

They pushed me down the long aisle of cages. All the other captives stared at me as I was wheeled by. Well, this was interesting.

When we rounded the corner at the end of the aisle, I heard someone shout.

“Morgan!”

I looked up. Why would anyone call my name? Was it the dragon? Maybe he hadn’t been caught at all. Maybe he’d come to save us. Was he wearing a cape?

But it wasn’t the dragon I saw. It was a chubby black cat. His eyes were wide, as if he was in shock. Oh! Was he part of the rescue team the other caged supes were talking about?

I waved at him. Heroes needed to feel welcome, right?

Then my trolley kept on rolling and rolling until I went right into a shimmering portal.

The first thing to hit me when the cage rolled to a stop on the other side of the portal was the silence. The second was the stale and dusty air. The heavy stink of body odor and fear and… other things… was gone. I blinked into the blackness and realized the room wasn’t completely dark. Thin bands of sunshine pierced through cracks in the wooden walls. What was this place? There wasn’t even a door.

I don’t know what I had expected to happen when Vala grabbed my cage and rolled me down the aisle of the warehouse, but it wasn’t this.

This didn’t look like an improvement. Being isolated like this couldn’t be a good thing. Then again, being in that warehouse wasn’t a good thing either.

Hmm… Now what?

The portal shimmered a few feet away. Was someone going to follow me here? I stared at it for a long moment.

A small pouch sailed through the portal and landed just beyond my reach beside my cage.