Chapter 21 #2
Light-bringer, the griffin said urgently. Portal site. Where the way opened before. Shadow-eaters will mass there, hoping to feed on residual energies. If you come, can draw them away from human settlements.
I understood immediately. The clearing where I’d first seen the portal appear — that was where the shadow stalkers would expect to find the strongest concentration of otherworldly energy.
If I went there, I could face them on ground of my choosing instead of waiting for them to bring the fight to me.
“I have to go deeper into the forest,” I said aloud. “To the portal site.”
“Absolutely not,” Ben said at once. “We don’t know how many of them there are, or how strong they’ve gotten.”
“Which is exactly why I can’t let them come any closer to town,” I replied as I took his hand, hoping he could feel the urgency in my touch. “The Hendersons, Eliza and Jasmine and Hope, all those innocent people — they’ll all be in danger if I wait.”
Dr. Rosenthal stepped closer, her eyes sharp with interest. “Ms. Lowell, if you’re planning some kind of confrontation with these entities, we should coordinate our response. Our weapons may not have been effective before, but we’ve made adjustments — ”
“No.” The word came out sharper than I’d intended, but this was no time to worry about being polite.
“This isn’t a military operation, Dr. Rosenthal.
Your weapons, your technology — they’ll just make things worse.
Shadow stalkers feed on energy, and all your electronic equipment will be like ringing a dinner bell. ”
Her jaw hardened. “Then what do you propose?”
I looked at the griffin, then at Ben, and the weight of responsibility settled on my shoulders. This was what I’d inherited, wasn’t it?
It was my duty to protect the boundary between worlds.
“I propose you head back to town and keep your people safe,” I said at last. “And I’ll do what my family has been doing for generations.”
You understand now, the griffin said approvingly. The guardian’s burden. The choice between safety and duty.
Ben’s fingers tightened around mine. “If you’re going, I’m going with you.”
“Ben — ” I began, even though I knew any protests would be useless.
“Don’t even try to argue,” he said firmly. “We’re partners in this, remember? Besides, someone needs to document what happens. For science.”
Despite everything, I found myself smiling. Trust Ben to find the research angle even in the middle of a supernatural crisis.
“Fine,” I said. “But we do this my way. No weapons, no electronics, just us and whatever powers I can muster.”
Dr. Rosenthal looked like she wanted to argue, but something in my expression must have convinced her that doing so would be pointless. “We’ll maintain our position here,” she said. “But if this goes wrong — ”
“If this goes wrong, running won’t help anyone,” I cut in. “The shadow stalkers won’t stop at Silver Hollow. They’ll keep spreading until someone stops them.”
Truth, the griffin agreed. Come, light-bringer. The shadows gather, and darkness gives them strength.
Yes, clouds had gathered overhead, heavy and charcoal gray, far more ominous than the usual low clouds and fog my part of the world experienced most of the time.
Even as I stood there, I could feel the temperature dropping and shadows lengthening in ways that had nothing to do with the natural order of things.
Had the shadow stalkers summoned the clouds?
I found I didn’t want to think too much about that.
Instead, I gave a nod of dismissal toward Rosenthal and her two agents, and, hand in hand, Ben and I set off for the deep woods, the griffin moving silently ahead of us.
“Tell me you have a plan,” Ben said.
“I have the beginning of a plan,” I replied, trying to sound a hell of a lot more confident than I felt. “If I can open a stable portal to the otherworld — ”
“That’s a pretty big ‘if’,” Ben remarked, and I had to smile.
“True, but I have to believe that’s what these gifts…talents…whatever you want to call them…are all about. Otherwise, what would be the point in having them?”
In response to that question, he lifted his shoulders, and I guessed that he still wasn’t entirely convinced but was willing to go along for now.
“So if you open the portal, you can send the shadow stalkers back where they came from.”
“Theoretically.” I ducked beneath a low-hanging branch, and he followed suit while I tried to think of all the things that could go wrong. “The problem is that opening a portal must take a lot of energy, and maintaining it while fighting off potentially dozens of shadow stalkers….”
“One problem at a time,” Ben said, and he paused so he could take both of my hands in his, then leaned down to press an encouraging kiss against my lips. “First we have to find them, and then we’ll figure out how to deal with them.”
If only I could have stayed like that forever, savoring his kiss.
The universe had other plans for me, unfortunately.
Close now, the griffin said, a note of warning in that inner voice. Can you feel them, light-bringer?
I could. The wrongness I’d sensed earlier was much stronger here, like a pressure against my temples, making my head begin to ache. And beneath that, there was something else — a hunger so vast and alien, it made my stomach turn.
We emerged into the same clearing where Ben and I had first seen the portal weeks ago, and my breath caught.
Where once there had been a stone circle and hundreds of glowing flowers, there were dozens of moving shadows, all of them flowing around the space where that otherworldly gateway portal had opened before.
But the shadow stalkers weren’t attacking yet.
No, they seemed to be waiting.
They sense you, the griffin said as he settled into a defensive posture, a crouch that would allow him to use his powerful haunches to spring at any enemy that came near. But something holds them back.
And then I sensed another presence in the clearing, ancient and powerful and benevolent.
The unicorn stepped out from behind a cluster of trees, its silver coat gleaming even in the uneasy light of those bilious storm clouds overhead.
Its horn blazed with gentle radiance that made the shadow stalkers hiss and recoil.
Guardian, the unicorn said, its mental voice resonant and calm. The time of choice has come. Will you claim your destiny?
I looked around at the assembled shadow stalkers, at the griffin ready to fight beside me, at Ben standing steady and tall and determined despite the supernatural chaos that surrounded us.
Either I would step into the role that was my inheritance…or I would fail everyone who was counting on me.
“I will,” I said aloud, even as power began to build inside. Not the wild, uncontrolled energy I’d experienced before, but something focused and purposeful and ready. “I am the guardian of Silver Hollow, and I protect what’s mine.”
The shadow stalkers seemed to sense the change in me, because their waiting posture somehow shifted, and the largest of them, a writhing mass of darkness that appeared to absorb light around it, flowed toward the center of the clearing.
Too long have the guardians slept, it hissed in my mind. Too long have the barriers held us back. Now we feed. Now we grow strong enough to break all walls between worlds.
“Not on my watch,” I replied, raising my hands as electromagnetic energy began to crackle between my fingers.
Light-bringer, the griffin said, spreading its wings wide. Whatever you mean to do, do it quickly. They will not wait much longer.
I reached out with my abilities, feeling for the threads of energy that connected this clearing to the otherworld.
They were there, damaged but not severed, still resonating with power.
If I could open the portal, create both a way home for the griffin and as a means of banishing the shadow stalkers… .
But when I reached deep within to gather the energy I’d need, I heard the unwelcome sound of vehicles approaching through the forest. Engines growling, radio chatter, the heavy footsteps of tactical teams crashing through the undergrowth with absolutely no concern for their surroundings.
Dr. Rosenthal hadn’t stayed put after all.
“Shit,” Ben muttered, clearly hearing the same things I had. “This is about to get a lot more complicated.”
The shadow stalkers heard the ruckus, too, and their attention shifted toward this new source of life energy. Several of them began flowing in the direction of the approaching federal agents, leaving trails of supernatural cold in their wake.
I had maybe ten seconds before this became a three-way battle between federal agents, otherworldly creatures, and whatever abilities I was able to summon.
No problem.
“Hold onto me,” I told Ben, even as I sensed the power within me building to dangerous levels, crackling along every nerve ending. While it didn’t exactly hurt, it was still as frightening as hell. “Whatever happens, don’t let go.”
He stepped close and put his arms around my waist even as the portal began to open, reality bending around us like heated glass. And in the distance, I could hear Dr. Rosenthal shouting orders to her team as they encountered their first shadow stalker.
Judging by the screams, it wasn’t going very well.
Now, guardian, the unicorn said, his inner voice urgent. Show them what the light can do.
I reached deeper into my power than I thought possible, and the clearing exploded into brilliant, cleansing radiance.
The white light that poured from me wasn’t just electromagnetic energy — it was something purer, older, connected to the very fabric that kept the worlds separate in their own spheres. The shadow stalkers shrieked and recoiled, their forms becoming less substantial as the radiance washed over them.
Impossible! the largest shadow stalker hissed, its voice filled with pain and rage. The guardians are gone! The bloodline broken!