Author's Notes:
Written for Challenge 086: Shadow at dw100.

Spoilers: Silence In The Library.

Summary: When is a shadow not a shadow?

There are shadows in the library, shadows that shouldn’t be there, shadows with nobody to cast them, and that’s bad, because although the human eye perceives them as shadows, they’re really not. They’re something infinitely worse.

They’re known as Vashta Nerada, shadows that melt the flesh, a vast and perpetually hungry swarm, piranhas of the air. Let those shadows fall across any living thing, and the Vashta Nerada will strip flesh from bones in moments. They can’t be fought.

They’re not every shadow, but they can be any shadow, so if you see a shadow that shouldn’t be there…

Run.

The End