Chapter 36
Chapter Thirty-Six
BELLAMY
I arrived at the tall gate near the entrance to the shadow court. The sun had sank below the horizon, the sky lavender and stars emerging.
Shadows swirled around me. They didn’t touch me, didn’t even seem to notice I was there, but the minute I started climbing the gate, that would change.
I arched my neck to gaze up at the stars, wondering just how many shadows’s minds I could infiltrate at once and if it would be enough.
There was only one way to find out.
I stretched my hands up, beckoning the stars. In response, they sparkled, brightening, beams of their silver light shining down over the shadows.
It wasn’t sunlight or firelight, not a type of light that the shadows feared since stars were just as much a part of the darkness as shadows. But that didn’t matter. I didn’t need the shadows to fear the light. I just needed them to respond to it.
I wasn’t entering their minds as in depth as I sometimes did with others. I stayed just on the surface, enough to make the shadows still, to calm their minds and fill it with thoughts of sleep. I held out my hands, drawing the starlight to each shadow that swirled around me, and one by one, they all began to droop, their wispy forms hanging in the air as I walked through them.
I kept my mental connection to them as I forced my body forward. This was strong magic, but I’d spent my early life training in the Wilds, using my magic in all different ways as my father and brothers pushed me hard. They didn’t want to always have to step in and be my protectors. They wanted me to be able to protect myself one day.
And they had taught me well.
I climbed up the gate, the shadows unmoving. It was working. I couldn’t believe I’d actually done it. I looked up, no Kairoth swooping down from the sky. Which meant whatever Driscoll and Leoni were doing was working too.
I couldn’t even imagine how they’d distracted him. But the thought of it made me smile. Those two were persistent. Annoying. But they were growing on me. And I’d gone and pushed them away like I did everyone. It was for the best. We’d part ways after this mission. I likely wouldn’t see them again. So why even bother?
I continued to climb, keeping my star magic focused on the shadows behind me. Something whooshed over my head, and I stilled for moment, halfway up the gate.
Another shadow. I looked up, beckoning for more starlight to stop the shadow. The gate trembled under my hands, rattling. The vibration echoed through my body. A low rumble, like thunder, rose over me, and I slowly looked up to see hundreds of shadows staring down, red eyes glowing bright.
I reached for more starlight, but I wasn’t quick enough. One of the shadows snatched me from the gate, holding me tight to its wispy form. It felt so solid for something that looked as transparent as a cloud.
I struggled against it, throwing my head back, kicking, but it wouldn’t let go. My magic weakened, and the rest of the shadows far below began to jolt awake. The shadow flew me higher, making my stomach flip.
I didn’t fear heights, but this shadow could drop me at any moment, and then it would all be over. The thought made me go still and stop struggling.
We flew higher until we were eye level with the mountaintop where Kairoth’s castle was perched. If this shadow delivered me to Kairoth, it could ruin any trust I’d built with the god. It could ruin my chances of ever getting more nettle weed. I arched my neck, gazing at the stars and commanding them to help me.
Their silvery light blazed on the shadow, and I closed my eyes, going inside the shadow’s mind. It was the same as the last time I dove into a shadow’s head. Eerie. Empty. No color, no thoughts. That made the shadow hard to manipulate. I couldn’t create dreams in an empty space. Down below, I just used the starlight to keep the shadows still, but up here, I didn’t know what I could use the starlight to do. If I tried to fight the shadow with the starlight, it could drop me. If I tried to make the shadow go still, it could drop me. If I tried to make the shadow lose consciousness, it could drop me.
I groaned in frustration and left the shadow’s mind as it flew me closer to the castle, dark and foreboding as ever.
Leoni had been wrong. I couldn’t use my magic to do anything, and soon I was going to be right back where I started, except in a worse position. Because now Kairoth would have everyone watching me.
Panic flooded my veins, my stomach twisting into a tight knot as I wriggled against the shadow’s hold. I had to do something.
Think, Bellamy, think.
I summoned the starlight again, and yet again, its light beamed down over the shadow.
Tell us what to do, the stars seemed to say as the power thrummed in my blood.
Stop , I commanded the shadow. Make it stop.
The light went dazzlingly bright so that I had to close my eyes, but when I opened them, I realized I’d made the wrong move, because the shadow did stop, but it also lost its grip on me.
I fell from its arms, straight through the sky.
I grasped for air, my arms wheeling around and around as I dropped.
A memory surfaced, one of me training with Ryder. He was the fighter of my brothers. The strongest. The fastest. The fiercest.
“Get up, Bellamy,” he’d said one day after I’d jumped from a tall rock and had fallen. “Get up and try again.”
I hadn’t wanted to, crying for Soloman, who I knew would gather me in his arms and tell me it would be alright.
But Ryder wouldn’t have it. He’d scowled down at me. “I said get up.”
Tears had been streaming down my face, but they’d had no effect on my older brother. “You don’t get to give up, Bell,” he’d whispered, hooking a finger under my chin. “You know why? Because one day we won’t be here for you. One day, you’ll be left to fight your own battles, and I need to know that you will fight them. That you’ll fall, but you will get back up again.”
I opened my eyes to see white all around. Something soft brushed against my cheek. A feather. Feathers surrounded me. Swans. My swans.
After not seeing them for weeks, my heart sang at the sight of them.
They flew around me as I fell. My brothers were here. Their wings flapped powerfully. Even Solomon. They might not be able to talk, but they were here and telling me I needed to fight.
I reached for the sky, feeling the ground growing closer. Then I commanded the stars to shine on me.
Fly , I thought, even though it was impossible. My magic was strong but not that strong. I want to fly.
As soon as the command entered my mind, the star light entered my veins, and my body stopped. It just stopped. In midair. A weightlessness took over me as I floated. I stared at my body in disbelief. My red dress swished around my ankles, my hair lifting over my shoulders.
The swans formed a V on either side of me. I was the point. They wanted me to go with them. To lead them.
I’d missed them so much.
I had no idea how I was doing this. How I was commanding the starlight to help me fly. That wasn’t something I should be able to do. Wasn’t something my father ever prepared me for. But I’d worry about that later.
For now, I was with my brothers, and I was alive.
I kicked my feet and moved my arms like I was swimming. My body waded through the air like it would water. We soared together over the jungle in perfect formation. The moonlight bounced off the black water in the distance. The breeze rustled the trees. We’d have to go deeper into the jungle to find the nettle weed, but that could wait.
Right now, I just wanted to soar.
The starlight glowed over me, bathing me in its light as I swooped and dove over the trees, all the swans following me.
The wind pushed against my face, my hair whipping around me in a frenzy. When I’d flown with Kairoth a few weeks ago, I’d been so caught up with the feel of his strong arms, his chest, his scent. But now, I could just focus on the feeling of complete freedom as I rose and dipped through the night sky. I felt so close to the stars, even though they were still impossibly far away. I’d never used my magic like this, and the exhilaration of it filled me until I was brimming with it. The swans around me started to hiss, deviating from the V we’d formed.
I looked around, trying to understand what was happening when I felt it. The starlight that was shining on me darkened, and I looked up to see clouds moving over the stars, blotting them out.
My pulse spiked as my magic bled from me. It happened in an instant. I dropped straight through the sky. My brothers squawked and whirled around me, but I would be too heavy for any of them to catch. If they tried, I’d just end up bringing them down with me, so I just shook my head at them as they darted forward.
I came closer to the jungle canopies and curled my body in a tight ball, bracing for the hard impact.
My brothers stayed with me, flying around me, trying to protect me like they always had, but when my body hit, they curved upward in sharp arcs. I hurtled through the leaves, my back cracking on a branch, then I bounced off and rammed into the hard tree trunk. I grappled for anything I could grasp onto, my hands on fire as they scraped the bark and branches. I recoiled, falling again until I hit the jungle ground with a hard thwack.
My ribs cracked in my side, and every breath hurt. I touched my head, my fingers coming away with sticky dark blood. I pushed myself up, trying to stand but instantly yelled out in pain and collapsed back down. I reached out and yanked off my boot, my ankle swollen and red. My entire body felt bruised and broken, but I managed to drag myself to the nearest tree so I could lean against it.
Shadows lurked under the tree canopies, flying in lazy circles, their red eyes trained on me.
This was a complete mess, one I wasn’t sure how I was going to manage to get myself out of.