The fire escape rattled with every step, vibrating against Ren's injured arm.
"Slow down," Ren hissed, clutching his shoulder. The pain was a dull, throbbing roar, radiating from his joint up to his neck. "I need... I need a hospital. Seriously, Jian. I think something tore."
They reached the alleyway behind the school. It was filled with dumpsters and the smell of wet cardboard.
Jian stopped, checking the corners before turning to Ren.
"No hospitals," Jian said flatly.
"What? My arm is hanging out of its socket!"
"If you walk into an ER right now," Jian said, pointing a finger at Ren's chest, "the EKG machines will scream. The MRI will magnetize itself to the wall. And when they take your blood, it won't look right under a microscope."
Ren stared at him. "You're joking."
"You are a walking reactor of spiritual energy," Jian said. "Modern medicine relies on electrical signals. You are currently jamming every frequency in a three-block radius. If you go to a hospital, you won't get treatment. You'll get quarantined by the CDC or locked in a psych ward."
Ren slumped against the brick wall. The reality of it hit him harder than the pain.
"So what? I just let it heal wrong?"
"Grandma," Jian said. "She knows the old ways. Bone setting. Herbal poultices. It hurts like hell, but it works."
Ren closed his eyes. "My parents. I need to call them. They sent the crate. They have to know what this is."
He fumbled for his phone with his good hand. The screen was cracked, but it lit up.
"Don't," Jian warned.
Ren ignored him. He dialed his mother's number.
Ring... Ring...
Then, static.
Not normal static. It sounded like wind howling through a tunnel, overlaid with a faint, rhythmic scratching.
Krr-krr-krr.
"Mom?" Ren asked, his voice shaking.
...Site 404... Do not... Signal lost...
The call dropped.
Ren looked at the screen. No Service.
"They're at an excavation site," Ren whispered. "They said it was remote, but..."
"It's not just the reception," Jian said gently. "The Fracture isolates you. The more you engage with the Underworld, the harder it is to reach the normal world. Your parents are on the other side of that static, Ren."
Ren lowered the phone. He felt a cold hollow open in his stomach.
No doctors. No parents. Just a dislocated shoulder, a spray bottle, and a gamer who failed gym class.
"Come on," Jian said, adjusting his backpack. "We need to get you home before sunset. Shadows get hungry when the light dies."
The walk home was a blur of pain and paranoia.
Ren kept his head down, clutching his arm against his chest. Every car horn sounded like a scream. Every person walking past felt like a threat.
"Don't look at faces," Jian instructed, walking slightly ahead. "Look at feet. Shoes are real. Ghosts don't usually wear Nikes."
Ren focused on the pavement. Sneakers. Boots. Sandals. Sneakers.
He tried to count his steps. One, two, three...
He stopped at a crosswalk, waiting for the light to change. The late afternoon sun cast long, stretched shadows across the asphalt.
Ren looked at his own shadow.
It was long and thin, stretching out in front of him.
Then, Ren shifted his weight to his left foot.
His shadow stayed on the right.
Ren froze.
He blinked, thinking it was the painkillers he wished he had taken. He shifted back to the right.
The shadow waited a full second—one Mississippi—before sliding lazily across the pavement to join him.
It wasn't casting a shadow. It was mimicking one.
"Jian," Ren whispered, his voice trembling.
"Don't," Jian hissed, not turning around. "Keep walking."
"It's lagging. My shadow is lagging."
"I know. I saw it two blocks ago."
"Why didn't you tell me?!"
"Because if you acknowledge it, it tries to climb up your leg," Jian said, his voice tight. "Green light. Walk. Now."
Ren forced his legs to move.
He stepped onto the crosswalk.
Behind him, his shadow didn't move. It stayed on the curb.
Ren took another step. The shadow remained detached, a dark pool of ink on the sidewalk.
Ren's heart hammered against his ribs. He felt a pulling sensation in his gut, like an invisible thread was being stretched to its breaking point.
Come on, Ren thought, sweating. Come on, just follow me.
He reached the middle of the street.
On the curb, the shadow finally moved. But it didn't slide. It stood up.
It peeled itself off the concrete, rising into a 2D silhouette of a boy. It tilted its head, watching Ren walk away.
"Jian," Ren choked out.
"Don't turn around," Jian ordered. "We're almost there. Turn the corner. Break the line of sight."
Ren walked faster, the pain in his shoulder forgotten. He turned the corner onto his street, practically running.
He risked one glance back at the intersection.
The silhouette was gone. The shadow had snapped back to his heels, looking perfectly normal.
But Ren could feel it. It felt heavier now. Denser.
As they reached his front porch, Ren looked down at his feet.
His shadow was there. But deep inside the dark shape, where the head should be, two white eyes blinked open.
They stared up at him.
And then, his own shadow smiled.