"Told you, that you should teach me that word..."
Logan coughs.
"We are fine, officer, thank you." then, whispered, "Logan, now would be a good time, Logan..."
"The word doesn't work here." Logan seems intently looking at each building.
"Hey, that guy is bleedin'!" The cop says.
"We're taking him to the doctors." You reply.
"I'm gonna need to see some I.D., right now!"
Logan turns to the officer and begins to reach into his jacket.
"Un uh!" The cop says as begins to draw his pistol.
"Officer." Logan says, "I'm going to show you my I.D."
"Slowly!"
You step back as Logan pulls what appears to be a blank trump from an inner pocket and hands it to the policeman. "Here you go officer."
As he hands the trump to the officer who reaches out and grasps it. The officer stares at it for a moment. "What the fu.." The policeman starts to say.
Logan, still holding the trump, speaks a word and the policeman vanishes.
"Remind me before this is over to retrieve the constable." Logan says as he places the trump back into his jacket. "Now where the hell is she?"
Logan starts down the sidewalk, the pink-orange lights mix with the neon to cast strange shadows. You push Avery's wheelchair, the big man doesn't move but groans slightly.
"You seem to be keeping me in the dark quite a bit here. What's going on?" You ask.
"Oh?" Logan says. "Sorry, didn't realize I'd not filled you in." He says dispassionately. "I figured your trauma would subside enough that you'd remember everything." He stops and looks at you. "What do you remember?"
"All I remember was that you asked me to accompany you on some adventure, the next thing I know I'm waking up in cat-hospital."
"Yeah... about that."
"What the hell is going on?"
"This guy and his ilk," Logan jabs his thumb at the immobilized man in the wheel chair. "Have been systematically killing our kind."
You raise your eyebrows. You recall fighting this fellow, and the wound he received, any normal denizen of shadow would have been dispatched by you much quicker. "How is that possible?"
"I'm not sure exactly. That's why I asked for your help. We ended up in Marseilles, the shadow we were just in, when you got yourself shot. We were ambushed by a large force, seemingly out of nowhere." Logan stops to look into what looks like a apothecary shop.
"Where'd the come from?" You ask.
"Shadow Earth, I presume. I'm not sure how, but some Earthers have gained the ability to trump... to use advanced magic and even... walk shadow."
You stop walking. "Walk shadow?"
"Yes," Logan turns and motions you to continue. "Which is why we need this bastard, alive if possible."
"Why don't we go to a..." you start to ask.
"A regular hospital? He has bullet graze wounds and a thick-bladed-sword wound to his abdomen that would match that blade at your side. Which by the way..."
You quickly reach for it and it forms the ring on your finger.
"Thanks... an educated nurse or doctor would be able to put two-and-two together and we'd have more of our constable friend's talking to us. Besides, I'm not sure the technology here would save this guy. We need magic, even the healers here are going to have a tough time."
"So we need to find this..."
"Shar'Li." Logan finishes your statement as you stop outside a narrow doorway. Above the door is a placard written in Chinese. "Stay here." Logan says.
You wait as he vanishes into the doorway.
Moments pass and you hear a heated conversation erupt from inside the doorway.
Logan steps back out of the door. "She's not here... " A long string of what could only be Chinese epithets follow him. "... anymore. Damn I should have made a trump!"
"Why didn't you?", You ask. "Looks like you've drawn everyone and everywhere else!"
"Yeah, well... every time I tried to make a trump of her, it came out wrong, it wouldn't work. The one time I got one that worked, she destroyed it, something about her "soul" trapped in my images." He continues down the sidewalk with you pushing the wheelchair behind.
"Sound's like something I heard about photographs..."
Logan nods. "And I know a camera that can do just that."
You remind yourself to ask Logan about that some other time. For now you continue down the road. Your grumbling stomach reminds you that an Amberite needs food, badly, but the smells of this street are of heavenly food, and death mixed. You're not sure eating here would be a good idea.
You cross the street quickly as a car flies past you honking. People are closing up their shops and getting out of town. You notice several young people, seemingly trailing you. Every time you turn to look at them they turn and act non-chalant. As if that ever made someone less supicious, you note.
Logan stops inside a restaurant for a moment, again you wait outside. When he returns he's grinning and he says, "Hurry!"
You head further down the street and into an alley. It's begun to rain softly. As you move down the alley, three figures appear at the end of the alley. You hear several others behind you. Ambush.
Logan chuckles.
"So, where you going?" A thick accented boy says. He's in front of you. You look to him and see the glint of a knife. A girl stands at his side, glowing blue sparks coming off her fingers.
"Yeah... where you going?" Another boy's voice, this time behind you.
Logan grins at you, "Where's a cop when you need one?"
