Character Spotlight: Shadow

I'm starting a new blog series spotlighting my favorite characters from the Rising Elements series. For week 2, it only makes sense to focus on the dark and mysterious Shadow.

Shadow is the epitome of tall (but not as tall as Aki), dark, and handsome. He is also broody and secretive... and somehow always there when Everly needs him.

He is the last remaining Spirit Guardian, the special class of Fae who were gifted with spirit magick, and he has the ability to shapeshift into a wolf at will. He is also the spymaster of Aki's rebel group, and he's in charge of slinking around to learn all the queen's secrets.

When we first meet Shadow in Sparks and Shadow, it's when he saves Everly's life after she is kidnapped to the land of Faery. Well, kind of. More like, she uses him as a distraction to attempt to escape back through the portal to Seattle. What follows is one of my favorite encounters when he speaks to Everly for the first time. Everly's sass comes out full force. Here's a snippet:

***

My eyes struggled to adjust to the cave’s darkness. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and turned on the flashlight. It was a pinprick in the oppressive blackness, but it was better than nothing. I tracked the light across the uneven cave wall, searching for some sign of the portal we’d come through. If I could find it, I could slip back into it before Erza and that other dude realized I was gone. With any luck, I could slurp back to Seattle, somehow fight off Bria and her pack of angry monsters, and be home in time to eat frozen lasagna with Mary Beth and the other residents of Hammond House.

Frozen lasagna had never sounded so good.

There. That portion of the cave wall looked portal-ish.

I ran at it without a second thought.

There was no slurp. Instead, I bounced off the wall like a pinball and landed on my back.

Okay, maybe that wasn’t the best approach. Or just the wrong wall.

I got to my feet with a curse and stepped up to the wall again. This time, I placed both hands on it. The stone was rough and cool against my fingers. I walked the length of the cave, waiting for my hands to sink into the wall somewhere.

They didn’t.

I wanted to scream in frustration. Where was this stupid portal thing? Did I have to do something special to open it?

Movement sounded at the cave’s entrance. I flipped around and put my back against the wall. If I had to beat the crap out of Erza and force him to open the portal…

The black wolf padded into the darkness. He sat just inside the entrance and looked at me with golden eyes, his head cocked slightly to the side.

I didn’t know whether to be relieved or more concerned.

I was leaning toward the latter.

“Open it,” I demanded, pointing at the wall next to me.

The wolf bowed his head. When he looked up, it was the man’s face staring back at me. He unfolded from a crouch, fully clothed, and brushed invisible dust from his jacket.

That was a neat trick. I tried not to show him how creeped out I was.

I pointed at the wall again, with emphasis. “Open it, wolf boy.”

The man folded muscular arms across his chest. “I can’t.”

I looked at him like he was crazy. “What do you mean, you can’t? I just slurped through there a minute ago.”

A cool breeze fluttered through the cave, lifting my hair and tossing it across my face. I used one hand to shove it out of the way, and when I looked at the cave entrance again, there was a second man standing there.

Okay, I was already sick of this magic mumbo-jumbo.

***

I'll give you one guess who the second man is (hint: we'll do his character spotlight next week).

Shadow is one of my favorite characters. He's tall dark and mysterious in book one, but we start to learn more about him in book two. And finally in book three, he'll lay all his cards on the table... and we'll get to dive into his mind because some chapters will be from his POV!!

Haven't read the series yet? Now is a great time to start! Grab book one now. Book two is also available, and book three will be here in January. <3

If you've read any of the books, drop a comment below and let me know what you think. I love hearing from my readers!