Chapter Eleven #2
Ryder follows, less graceful, muttering under his breath as he shoves his way after me.
“Asha, I really don’t think this is a good idea,” he says, reaching for my arm, his hand a pale sail in a sea of bodies.
“We’re almost there,” I snap, deliberately bumping into students as I pass, shoving harder than necessary, desperate for any sign of life. Any flinch. Any breath.
Nothing.
Ryder exhales again, sharp and unhappy, but then we break through the last row.
River stands directly in front of us.
Nala is just beyond him.
“You wake River. I’m getting Nala.”
Ryder nods and turns on River immediately, tapping his cheek, hissing for him to wake the fuck up. I catch Ryder’s eye, silently urging him to be gentler—but he ignores me and brings his hand back hard.
Crack.
I freeze, breath locked in my chest, half-expecting River to lunge, to swing, to react.
He doesn’t.
A cold sickness crawls up my spine.
Nala is staring straight through me. My reflection swims in her green almond eyes, but there’s nothing behind them. No recognition. No fear. No life. I wave my hand in front of her face. Nothing. Click my fingers beside her ear.
Still nothing.
If a slap didn’t wake River, I don’t even know where to begin with her.
I swallow hard. I don’t want to hurt her, but that thing could come back at any second, and whatever it wants with her makes my stomach twist.
“I’m sorry, Nala,” I whisper, guilt threading every syllable.
Her hand is rigid in mine, cold and unyielding. I summon the light anyway.
A bright, searing orb blooms at my fingertips. The flames curl into her palm, licking her skin. Heat crackles through my fingers like static, wild and buzzing. The orb doesn’t burn me, but the sound does it for me.
A sharp sizzle.
Her skin blisters beneath the light.
I flinch, nausea rising as the smell hits my nose, my grip tightening even as my heart screams for me to stop.
Please wake up.
“Ah.”
She winces violently, eyes flying open as a thick, black substance worms its way out of her ear.
It leaves a slick, tar-like trail down her cheek before hitting the floor with a wet, nauseating thump.
The thing recoils, then slithers away, impossibly fast, vanishing before I can even register what I’m seeing.
“What the fuck are you doing?” she snaps, yanking her hand from mine. She scrubs at her cheek with her sleeve, disbelief etched across her face, but the more she looks around, the more confusion takes hold.
“Where am I?” Her head whips from one end of the room to the other, eyes skimming over the unmoving bodies surrounding us—silent, hollow, wrong. Her breath stutters. “What am I doing here?”
“No time,” I breathe, calling out to Ryder. “Heat works! Let me try River.” I usher Nala to follow and sprint toward him as fast as I can.
Grabbing River’s fist, I heat it like meat on a grill while Nala tends to her burns. The smell of burning flesh churns my stomach, but I stay focused until River moves.
“Ouch! What the fuck, Asha!” River yells, but his gaze shifts to Ryder as a black substance drips from his ear. Ryder stamps on it quickly before looking at me, startled. “What are you doing on the Sun side? Do you have a death wish?”
“Look around, lightbulb—there are no sides in this room. Asha just saved you. Everyone in here is fucked if we don’t get them out right now,” Ryder says, his voice stripped of any warmth.
River looks stunned, mouth opening to argue, but I cut in before he can.
“Give me your hands—both of you.” I glance at River, then Nala. They obey, placing their hands in mine. Power hums beneath my fingers as I seal the burns, weaving new flesh over damaged skin. “There you go. Good as new.”
I release them. They stare down at their hands, flexing their fingers as the last traces of damage fade.
“Thanks, Asha,” Nala says slowly. “Now remind me—what the fuck are we doing here?” Her gaze sweeps the room. No one moves. She elbows a kid beside her. Nothing. “And why is no one else moving?”
“I’m not sure,” I admit. “We’d just left the Shadow Realm when Ryder sensed something wrong with River—”
“You’re welcome,” Ryder cuts in, flashing River a wink. I roll my eyes.
“And then we came back to the school,” I continue, “but no one was there—”
“Long story short,” Ryder interrupts again, clearly done with exposition, “we followed some blond kid here and found you—and the rest of the school—hypnotised by some shadow man.” His jaw tightens. “Point is, we’ve got to move. Now. That thing could be back any moment.”
“What about everyone else?” Nala asks, eyeing up Trina in the corner. My eyes catch hers, and for a moment, I see something twinkle in her eyes. The same glint that shimmers in mine when I look at Ryder.
Had I missed this?
“Asha, try and wake as many people as you ca—
Too late.
It’s back.
The darkness corrupts the space faster than my mind can comprehend, and suddenly it is all I can feel.
Its murky limbs seem to burrow into every orifice, smothering even the memory of light inside me.
My lungs expand, but the air slips away, as though the darkness itself has stolen the oxygen from the room.
“Run,” I shout into the void, praying my words aren’t swallowed the way my breath is. The shadows thicken, pressing in from every side as my eyes strain to focus through the gloom. Nala’s voice fractures into a hundred overlapping echoes, ricocheting from every direction at once.
“Over here.” Her voice sounds close and far at once—loud yet whisper-soft, echoing from everywhere and nowhere.
Bodies clog the space, slowing me, but I shove through them and ignite an orb, its light flaring bright enough to banish the shadows. The crowd, still trapped in their trance, recoils from the glow, parting like water and carving a clear path forward.
I spot the exit doors ahead and turn back to make sure Nala, River, and Ryder are close behind—but their faces twist in shock, and I know instantly that something is wrong.
My hair reacts first—prickling, standing on end. Then the cold hits, seeping into my bones as a shadow stretches over me. I swallow hard.
An alien sound slithers behind me—chittering, static-laced, like a broken radio—and I freeze. Slowly, carefully, I turn my head, forcing my breath to stay steady.
Shit.
The faceless being stands between me and the door. It tilts its head, studying me. The hollow of its mouth drips with black glue, oozing and pooling as it shrieks and lunges.
“Asha, run!” Ryder grabs my arm, shadow hawks bursting from his hands and streaking toward the creature. It catches them mid-flight, crushing them into obsidian sludge that smears across its skin. I watch in horror as it grows—just a few inches taller—as if the hawks fed it.
What the fuck is this thing?
“Asha, portal—now!” Ryder shouts as the bodies begin closing in.
“What about Trina?” Nala cries, panic breaking through her voice.
But River has already dragged her through the portal.