by Linsey Hall
Thousands.
All were made of black glass like the monsters we’d fought in the royal throne room. They roared, their cry vibrating my lungs. These beasts didn’t need their eyes to see. When we’d fought them before, they’d kept coming right for us, even when their heads were chopped off.
I spun in a circle, panicked as the darkness closed in around us again. We could only see when the lightning struck, and that was so brief that it wasn’t light enough to fight by.
We’d be slaughtered.
My heart thundered and my skin chilled.
Lightning struck again, and I spotted the first of our troops coming through the portal. The glass monsters howled, charging.
Desperation surged within me. I couldn’t let this happen.
I reached for my new magic, calling it to the surface. I hadn’t had time to practice, but that didn’t matter now. There was so much raw light inside of me that surely I could use it to illuminate the battlefield.
My mind went back to the lesson with Iain in the gamekeeper’s cottage. The light had glowed out of me then. I needed more of that.
I needed to become the sun.
I called upon my power, letting my magic vibrate along my limbs. As it had before, it glowed brightly from my skin, highlighting the sky around me.
More.
I called upon more of it, forcing it out of myself. Soon, my limbs gleamed a brilliant gold. All around, the battlefield illuminated.
Our forces, which had been disoriented, got their bearings and turned toward the oncoming monsters. The fighters charged, their weapons raised. Some of those who could fly launched themselves into the air, but others stayed on the ground to fight the creatures on their turf. Weapons clashed and magic flashed.
To my right, Iain swooped through the sky, his powerful wings carrying him gracefully through the air as he commanded massive blasts of water to slam the glass monsters into each other. Below, they smashed together so hard that they shattered.
I whirled, turning back toward the pillar of granite where Nix and Del were bound. The source of the darkness had to be there with them.
Fear pounded in my chest at the idea that they might not still be alive.
They have to be.
I flew toward them, darting across the sky.
Below, the monsters turned their attack toward me, shooting sprays of deadly sharp glass into the air. I drew my shield, blocking the attacks, but it was impossible to avoid them all.
More creatures launched themselves into the air, winged beasts made of jet-black glass. They shot for me, their hands and feet tipped with massive claws the length of daggers.
I shot a blast of fire at one. The flaming ball slammed into it, and the monster exploded into a thousand pieces. My light dimmed briefly, making the battlefield grow shadowed, and I had to force the light back to the surface of my skin so that our fighters could see.
Iain swept in front of me, taking out another beast with his sword. Aidan appeared at my side, providing protection from the left. He’d turned into a massive griffon, and the glass monsters were no match for his huge beak and claws. Cass joined him, her griffon form just as impressive. As a Mirror Mage, she could mimic any other creature’s magic, and this was her favored form.
With Aidan, she protected my side, shattering any monster that flew near her.
Still, they came for me.
Because I was the sun.
As long as I glowed bright to create light for the rest of the army, I would be a target.
But there was no other way.
Right below me, the buggy plowed through the glass beasts, crushing them beneath its wheels. Connor rode on the front platform, hurling potion bombs up into the air and taking out monsters before they could get to me.
Del’s hell hound, Pondflower, raced through the crowd, her fur wafting with black smoke as she slipped between them, her gaze pinned on the cage where Del lay trapped.
A small dragon appeared at Pondflower’s side, blasting fire on any monster that got too close to the hound. The dragon was roughly the size of a cow, with red wings and a green body. It was Jeff, Nix’s familiar.
If I’d had time to think, the sight of the loyal familiars rushing toward their mistresses would have made tears prick my eyes.
As I neared the tor, attackers came from the right. I drew my sword from the ether, ready to defend with my blade instead of my magic so my light didn’t dim on the battlefield.
Roarke joined Iain at my side, fully in his demon form. His skin was dark gray and his wings almost black. He swiped at the oncoming beasts, obliterating them with his claws.
As a group, we plowed through the sky, racing toward Nix and Del and the terrible darkness that crouched over them. Our ground forces provided cover from below, taking out creatures before they could get to us.
The closer we got to the darkness, the more the evil inside me tried to rise.
Burn the moor. Burn it all.
I forced it down, nearly choking on the burn. I kept my gaze glued to the cage that crackled with black lightning. This was what I fought for. My friends. My homeland. I couldn’t forget it, or the darkness would subsume me.
Finally, I got close enough to see Del and Nix’s slumped forms, and fear lit a fire in my chest.
A shadow hovered near their cage—shaped like a man but possessing none of the humanity.
It was the evil I sought. I could feel it.
But how were we going to get into that cage?
Jeff the dragon shot up to blast flames at the cage, but the bars didn’t so much as flicker. They crackled with light, looking impossible to break.
From fifty feet away, I swooped around the cage, my wings carrying me fast. The shadow’s attention turned toward me.
Perhaps I could draw him away so my friends could get Nix and Del?
I charged, then darted, hoping he would take the bait.
Instead, he turned toward the cage and waved a hand. The bars disappeared, and Del and Nix woke, shaking their heads as they climbed to their feet. They seemed disoriented, like they’d just woken from a weeklong nap.
Confusion clouded my mind.
Why the hell had the evil released them?
I charged, determined to get to them first. But the dark shadow moved so fast it was nearly impossible to process. One moment, he stood near Del and Nix, the next, he had lunged for them, sweeping over them like a ghost and sucking the life from their bodies.
It happened so fast that they couldn’t defend themselves, and they collapsed, their bodies still and lifeless.
I could feel their deaths like a blade to the heart, slicing so deep I thought I would bleed.
Shock lanced me, followed by the empty coldness of grief.
As they lay cold and dead, the shadow grew twenty feet, a monster of darkness and evil. The bastard had grown stronger by taking Del’s and Nix’s life force.
A hole opened in my chest—weakness from the loss of my friends.
That’s why he’d taken them. Not just to draw us here, but because they could give him strength while weakening us.
Cass shrieked, rage and pain in the sound. From down below, a hound howled. A dragon’s flame burst through the sky. Cass shifted her form, becoming a massive black dragon. Her scales gleamed with ebony light and her talons glinted. She swooped toward the shadow, rage in her red eyes.
Fear sliced me.
She reached the dark shadow and blasted him with fire, pulling up short to see if her flame had struck true. When the orange and red died, the shadow still stood. It lashed out at Cass, swiping her across the chest with its shadowy hand.
She toppled backward, lifeless as she fell through the air. Her black scales glinted under my light as she hurtled toward the ground. Aidan roared, a sound of pain that chilled me to my core. He darted after her.
My entire body turned to ice.
The shadow could kill with a touch.
And it had just taken my best friends.
They were gone.
My head spun, the horror of it threatening to drown me.
Below, Aidan’s huge griffon form caught Cass before she smashed into the ground, lowering her gently to the grass. I watched, nearly insensible with grief, as he leaned over her, checking her for signs of life.
Finding nothing, he roared again. The agony in the sound sliced through me.
She was really dead.
Aidan launched himself into the air and charged the dark figure, who had grown again, thirty feet tall. He was a shadow man of dark mist that reeked of evil, and I’d never seen anything more terrifying in all my life.
“No!” I screamed.
Aidan would die.
Maybe he didn’t care.
I shot toward him, taking a hit to the arm from one of the glass minions’ claws. I didn’t even feel the pain. Narrowly, I managed to grab Aidan’s back leg and yank him away.
He roared his frustration, and I shrieked, “He kills with a touch. Stay away from the shadow!”
My voice was loud enough to carry to the airborne troops, and they retreated. Aidan flew backward, his huge wings carrying him as he vibrated with rage. He dived for Cass’s body again, determined to protect her from the glass beasts that converged on her corpse.
I swooped toward the monster, calling on all the magic that I had inside me. I let it rise, shooting to the surface. It burst out of me as a massive blast of light directed at the dark evil who lurked on top of the tor.
The light plowed into the creature’s chest, igniting an explosion that deafened me, making my ears pop and my lungs compress.
I had to force my sunlight to keep shining, but the battle had stopped, frozen with shock from the blast.
When the light faded, the monster was gone.
A chilling laugh echoed all around, coming from every side of me.
I spun, catching sight of dozens of shadow monsters. They were shaped like men, and roughly the same size. But there were so many.
“Did you think that would work?” the shadows shrieked. “That same trick, blasting me with the light?”
Below, the glass army roared, renewing their attack. All around, the shadows darted through the air, many parts instead of one. All deadly.
All headed for me.
Iain raced in front of me, slamming his shield into the closest shadow. The force of his blow threw the creature away, but another darted for him. He sliced with his sword, but the metal went right through. Then the shadowy monster grabbed his arm. He went limp, falling through the sky.
“No!” I darted after him, faster than the shadows. I managed to grab his arm, but he hung limply from my grasp, his body so still that I knew he was dead.
Agony tore through me, pain like I’d never known. It froze my heart and threatened to dampen my light.
A dull screaming sound echoed in my head, and I realized it came from me. I choked it back, feeling frozen from within.
I’d lost Iain.
Lost him.
But the fight was still going. The shadows charged Iain and me, my friends narrowly managing to hold them off. If I collapsed now, we would all die.
But I couldn’t leave Iain lying in the battlefield. Tears burned my eyes at the thought.
“Here!” Connor’s shout caught my ear, and I spun, spotting him riding at the front of the buggy.
I flew toward Connor and dropped Iain on the front platform, my soul screaming.
Giving my brother one last look, I swooped upward toward the sky.
Fight.
It was the only thing I could focus on right now or I would collapse.
All around, chaos raged. Our forces continued to battle the glass monsters, but now the shadowy beasts had taken to the air. Many of the fighters from our side had shifted into their most powerful forms—some of them using magic that I had only ever seen once.
A massive black crow—the Morrigan—swooped through the sky, striking the shadows with her claws. Her talons seemed to be impervious to their death touch, thank fates. A huge thunder bird soared over the battle, beating her wings and driving the dark shadows away from the troops.
A massive black dragon—not Cass, but the one she had mirrored—shrieked as it hurtled through the air, blasting fire at the shadows, driving them away from the ground troops.
On the hillside, the familiars fought with a viciousness that rivaled my own. Cats and hounds, raccoon and badger—all leapt into the air, slamming into the dark shadows that attacked the mortal fighters. The familiars’ magic seemed to make them impervious to the death touch, and they used that to protect those who might fall.
I lost track of the buggy in the mess of fighters, so I missed it when it happened.
But I felt it.
Grief shattered me, making me howl.
Connor.
He was… gone.
He’d been killed.
Frantic, I spun in a circle, searching for the buggy. For his body.
It was nowhere to be seen.
There was carnage all around. Shadows and glass monsters and Fae and friends.
It all happened so fast.
I was supposed to die accomplishing this. And I was willing. I was willing.
But it was my loved ones who were dying instead.
Cold agony filled me, nearly dampening my magic.
What was I supposed to do?
18
Burn the moor.
The thought flared in my mind, the darkness surging inside me.
Burn it and end this.
I couldn’t blast the darkness—that had only caused more problems. But if I set this place alight—if I did what it kept commanding me to do—then the darkness would be satisfied. It would leave the rest of my friends alone. Maybe they’d even escape.
But then it would spread. That was the end goal, wasn’t it? The whole world?
My friends could only run so far.
And I couldn’t sacrifice the moor that way.
“Can’t try the same trick twice!” the darkness shrieked. I couldn’t tell if the words were shouted into the air or directly into my head, but they echoed inside my mind.
I had been so obsessed with the idea that I might be walking to my death, but now that I was here, there was no obvious part of this battle where I could sacrifice myself to save the day. It wasn’t just my death the darkness wanted. It wanted to make me part of it… to make me do its bidding.
It wanted to subsume me.
The gods’ words echoed in my head.
You need to become more.
The Oracle’s words.
An idea flared.
If the darkness could subsume me, maybe I could subsume it. It was already part of me, after all. Light had no meaning without darkness. I just had to embrace it, then overpower it. I had to be strong enough to hold onto it and keep it from destroying everything I loved.
And maybe I couldn’t control it forever—but I could control it long enough to let my friends gain the upper hand.
Instinct driving me, I spun around, searching for the closest shadowy evil. When I spotted a ragged form that was shaped roughly like a human, I flew toward it. A shriek of dismay sounded from my left, and out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of the black dragon. She hurtled toward me, eyes alight with worry and fear, clearly intending to stop me.
Before she could push me out of the way, I put on a blast of speed, colliding with the dark shadow and gripping it close. It thrashed briefly, burning against my grip, then disappeared inside me.
I gasped, waiting to see if it would kill me.
It didn’t. I felt mostly normal.
Holy fates!
That had worked.
I darted for another shadow, grabbing it and yanking it close. It, too, drifted inside me. There were still dozens left, but I was fast.
I raced around, grabbing as many of the shadows as I could and absorbing them with my light. Soon, they began to put up a fight. They fled from me, trying to escape my
grasp.
My allies—the ones who’d survived—seemed to get the message. Most of the glass monsters had been destroyed, so they turned their attention to keeping the shadows from fleeing. They shot magic into the air, forming a barricade around the battlefield.
The black dragon swooped around, using her flame to corral them toward me. Jeff the dragon joined her, his flame driving them at me from the other side. I grabbed the shadows as quickly as I could, yanking them toward my chest and forcing my light to absorb their darkness.
The thunder bird used her powerful wings to force them toward me, and Tarron of the Unseelie Fae used his command of the elements to blow them toward me on powerful gusts of air.
The huge crow carried them in her impervious claws, and I yanked them from her, sucking them into my body with my magic. I moved faster and faster, grabbing them up and absorbing them, hoping they could stanch the flow of grief that threatened to take me down.
In the distance, I caught sight of the king and queen. Still alive. Still poisoned.
I reached for them with my light, using it to draw the darkness out of them. They stumbled on the battlefield, going to their hands and knees when the dark shadows burst from their chests.
When I’d collected the last one, the remaining glass monsters shattered into dust.
The battlefield fell silent.
Bodies lay all around, so many of our number.
So many of our friends.
My soul screamed, pain slicing through me.
Now what? I wanted to scream. But I had no voice. There was only agony.
So many had died.
Should I be next? The darkness was inside me. If I were killed, would it die with me?
A fox’s shriek caught my ear, and I looked down, spotting Puka. She was too far away for me to hear her thoughts, but her eyes gleamed as she stared at me.
I could feel the strength of her life force as her gaze drilled into me. That life force beat inside my chest, as if we were one.
All around, sobs began to break through the silence. With the battle over, the living were finding the dead.
Tears poured from my eyes, grief threatening to consume me. Puka shrieked again, drawing my attention. She was determined to tell me something.
When I looked at her, something beat even harder inside my chest. Her life force. It was so strange, but I could feel it strongly.
