When I can't be the toughest witch in town, I settle for being the sneakiest. 
Shadowpact #3 is an issue of the series Shadowpact (Volume 1) with a cover date of September, 2006. It was published on July 19, 2006.
Synopsis for "The (Short) Year of Living Dangerously"
The Pentacle captures the members of the Shadowpact. Aside from Detective Chimp (who is being maligned elsewhere), they are all held captive inside one of Strega's magic containment bubbles.
Meanwhile, Sister Witch leads a man named Tom towards the Murder Hole. She emphasizes the fact that he must enter it willingly, and his sacrifice may even save the lives of his family. Strega tells him how painful it will be, noting that his fear is an essential part of the formula. Tom enters the Murder Hole and dies.
Karnevil returns to the spot where he had been torturing Detective Chimp, only to find that the monkey is missing. Detective Chimp leaps out from behind the bushes and attacks him, battering the unsuspecting psychopath to the ground. He ties him up to a tree, and scampers off to find his friends.
The White Rabbit decides that he no longer wishes to associate with the Pentacle. He does not believe that they are people of honor, and he uses a mystical box to free the Shadowpact from Strega's containment spell. As soon as they are free, the Enchantress knocks him out with a magic blast.
She tells her teammates that she may be able to take command of Strega's more powerful magic and operate them remotely, but such a feat will likely come at great cost. The rest of the team leave her to formulate her plan while they go off to distract the rest of the Pentacle. Nightshade lures them all to her location and uses her powers to encase Jack of Fire inside of a darkness cube along with Blue Devil and Ragman. Ragman draws upon the strength of the souls from his rags and beats Jack of Fire down. Nightshade finishes him off by having a giant shadow warrior step on him.
The Enchantress meanwhile casts her spell, and the red barrier surrounding Riverrock collapses. The rest of the Pentacle are captured, but Strega manages to get away. When the team emerges they find that they have all aged exactly one year. This was the price of the Enchantress' spell. She had to borrow slivers of life essence from everyone inside the barrier and as such, everyone lost a year of their lives. Oddly enough, a year's worth of time has also passed outside the barrier.
Appearing in "The (Short) Year of Living Dangerously"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Rex, the Wonder Dog
- Witchfire
- Tom (Dies)
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Notes
- This issue is reprinted in the Shadowpact: Pentacle Plot collection.
Trivia
- The title of this story is a reference to The Year of Living Dangerously, a novel by Christopher Koch.
See Also
Recommended Reading
- Blue Devil #1-31, Annual #1
- Day of Vengeance #1-6, Special #1
- Infinite Crisis #1-7
- Phantom Stranger (Volume 1) #1-6
- Phantom Stranger (Volume 2) #1-41
- Phantom Stranger (Volume 3) #1-4
- Ragman (Volume 1) #1-5
- Ragman (Volume 2) #1-8
- Ragman (Volume 3) #1-6