Chapter 47
The shadows swarmed us. Loch and I whipped around, back-to-back, as they formed a circle that surrounded us.
“How do we fight shadows?” I asked.
“Fire,” Loch said.
“Which we don’t have.”
“That’s correct,” he responded.
“They have to respond to something else,” I murmured, thoughts racing.
I heard the rasp of Loch’s sword as he unsheathed it. “Why does the shadow king want you so badly?” he asked, and I answered, even though I knew it was a rhetorical question.
“I don’t know. It must have to do with my gran, but I don’t understand it any more than you do.”
“Listen,” he said over his shoulder, “the best we can do is fight them off and run until we get somewhere where the light can protect us.”
I glanced around the dark forest, trees and bramble shrouded in shade. “I don’t know if the sun is coming out again.”
“Then we run and don’t stop until we get near a source of light—somewhere we can hide and make a fire, ward them off.”
That sounded like a tall order, but I didn’t want to be negative when that was currently the only plan we had.
“Light is the best way to fight them, but we can still use other means to keep them at bay, to keep them from taking you. You’re what they want, and I won’t let them have you.”
The shadows closed in tighter, those red eyes glowing with a promise of destruction.
I swallowed, gut hardening. I thought of everything Leoni taught me in our weeks of training, everything Loch and Driscoll had taught me about using magic.
“I’m going to fly,” I said. “Draw them up and away from you.”
“Don’t you dare,” Loch said. “We face this together. You don’t go where I can’t follow, remember?”
“Loch,” I started.
“Together,” he said firmly.
“Okay, then.” I pushed out my hands, pulling at the invisible thread inside of me, letting it unspool as power flooded into my veins and shot out through my hands. It was so simple, I could almost laugh. Here I’d been thinking I couldn’t use my magic, when really, it had been there all along. It wasn’t some mysterious force I had to earn; it was already there, inside of me, waiting to be called forth. I’d just needed to realize it.
A blast of wind circled around us in a cyclone, whipping the shadows up and throwing them out. They flew backward into the depths of the forest, only to reemerge within seconds.
Just that blast of power had weakened me. Leoni had told me that building up stamina and strength took time. Years, even. I couldn’t use a huge amount of power like that again without risking depleting my stores. I’d have to use small amounts and pray to the Seven Spirits it would be enough until the sun came out again and gave me and Loch a chance to get away.
Loch grunted behind me as he sliced a sword through a shadow. The shadow separated into wispy clouds before reforming back together.
“Well, I have bad news,” Loch said as he ducked, a shadow grazing his head and flying past. “It turns out swords aren’t very effective against shadows.”
I shoved out my hands, blasting small amounts of wind at them over and over, each blast making that thread inside of me feel harder to grasp, slippery and weak. But I had to keep going. I couldn’t let the shadows take me. Couldn’t let Loch’s shadow escape all the way back to the shadow court.
No. This ended now. It had to. But the wind wasn’t working.
Behind me, Loch kept slashing, jumping, ducking, swerving. He wouldn’t be able to keep that up forever either. He would tire soon. He wasn’t at full strength, not without his shadow. Even if he hadn’t said it out loud, I knew it to be true.
I arched my neck. “Maybe I could move the clouds?” I said.
Loch rolled onto the ground, then popped back up onto his feet, stabbing at a shadow and making it disintegrate into what looked like a thousand shadowy pieces before it reformed. “You’re talented, but that’s advanced sky magic. Something I’ve only seen one sky elemental do. I’m afraid something like that would completely drain you. It’s not worth the risk.”
Four shadows whipped toward me at once, and I moved my hands together in a circular motion, creating a ball of wind that flew out, spinning at a dizzying speed, hitting the four shadows and spitting them away.
I leaned over, trying to catch my breath as a shadow knocked into Loch, sending him sprawling on the ground.
“No,” I said.
Loch’s chest rose and fell, sweat dripping down the sides of his face. “I’m okay,” he said. “Hey, at least I look good with a sword.” He sent me a wink that made me sigh and let out an exasperated breath.
I knew he was lying—and trying to distract me.
He jumped back to his feet right as a shadow whooshed around him. He kicked out his leg while jabbing his sword behind him, making the shadows fracture into pieces. Seconds. He’d only bought himself seconds. We wouldn’t be able to keep on like this. I glanced up, praying to Spirit Sky I’d see any flicker of sun. But through the pined canopies, the sky revealed dark plump clouds. A storm was coming.
“Poppy,” Loch yelled, and I whirled around, too late.
A shadow latched onto me, lifting me up into the air. Loch swung his sword from side to side, then up, then forward, breaking through the fog of shadows to run after me. I struggled against the shadow’s grasp, reaching my hand down as Loch stretched his up. His fingers grazed mine, so close to grabbing hold, before the shadow yanked me farther into the air.
“No,” Loch said, eyes darkening with a promise of vengeance.
I kicked and scratched and clawed, but it didn’t matter. The shadow held me tight, and the other shadows swirled upward, a tornado of inky black, Loch disappearing in their wake. No. No, he had to get his shadow back. I couldn’t let this happen. Lightning cracked the sky above. If only I could move the clouds, make the sun come back. Bring light.
Another bolt of lightning sizzled through the dark clouds. Or I wished Spirit Sky would appear and grab a bolt from the sky, stab it straight into the shadows.
Wait. I stopped fighting, stopped struggling altogether. Lightning. A lightning strike. I could summon lightning, use it to scare the shadows away. I’d summoned it before, briefly. I wasn’t sure how it might drain me compared to summoning wind, but if I didn’t do this, Loch and I might not survive. And I had to survive. Our story wasn’t finished yet.
I closed my eyes, searching for that thread of power, small and dwindling but there. I tugged at it, imagining the jagged, hot light, and soon, the heat of a bolt sizzled in my hand.
The shadow holding me hissed and dropped me. I pumped my wings, flapping them as I swooped down and straight through the cyclone of shadows surrounding Loch. Shrieks erupted from them, and they scattered, the prince’s shocked face coming into view. I landed on the ground, then drew back my arm as Loch’s shadow flew down, swiping at my arm as it shrieked like it was in pain just being near the light. I didn’t know how to capture the damn thing while also repelling the other shadows. It hit the bolt from my hand, and the lightning shot straight into a nearby tree.
The bark exploded in light and heat. Sparks and embers popped and crackled in the air, and Loch tackled me as wood chips vaulted toward us. His big body covered mine, protecting me and my wings from the destruction happening overhead.
I couldn’t see them, but I could hear the shadows screeching, their cries growing faint as they got farther and farther away. No. Now Loch’s shadow was once again gone. Loch stayed like that, lying on top of me, until the sounds of splitting wood died down.
I pushed at the prince, and he rolled off of me, both of us coming to our feet, and—the entire clearing around us was now caught in a blaze. Fire everywhere I looked. Smoke poured in like a thick fog.
“Can you fly us out?” Loch asked as the fire crept higher.
I coughed, smoke burning through my nose and throat. I tried lifting Loch, but there was no way I had that kind of strength.
“I don’t know if I can,” I cried, the smoke so thick now that my eyes watered and I could barely see him.
“That’s okay. We’ll figure it out.”
Even in the face of death, Loch was trying to keep me calm.
I met his gaze through the thick swath of smoke. “I don’t think we will.”
“Listen, you need to fly away.” Loch grabbed my shoulders. “You have to get yourself to safety.”
I pressed my hands against his chest, clothes damp with sweat as the fire closed in on us. “I won’t leave you here. Never. You said where I go, you’ll follow, remember?”
He swallowed. “This might be the one time I can’t follow you.”
Tears filled my eyes. I couldn’t—I wouldn’t—leave him. Fiery branches fell down around us, and Loch swung me out of the way right as a crackling branch hit the spot where I’d just stood seconds earlier.
Loch pressed his forehead to mine. “Go. Do what you were always meant to do: soar.”
The tears spilled down my cheeks now. “Loch?—”
“Your gran is still out there. Answers are still out there. You could be the key to finding out who this shadow king is, what he wants. You could save us all from his plans. You’ve got to do this. You’ve got to fight. It’s not just about me and you. It’s so much bigger than us.”
I squeezed my eyes shut and pressed my mouth to his.
“I love you,” he whispered.
“I love you too,” I said, voice breaking.
“Now go.” He shoved me away from him.
A huge branch dropped in between us, ablaze with orange and red flames. I stepped aside, but I wasn’t fast enough and the branch hit my arm, striking me down and blistering my skin. Burning pain seared across my arm. I tried to take a deep breath and stand, but smoke filled my throat, my lungs, my head. Spots dotted my vision. I couldn’t see anything but a curtain of gray.
I stretched out a shaky hand, hoping I might touch Loch, but my hand swept through air. I tried to summon the strength to stand but could barely breathe.
My head lolled, and I rolled onto my back, staring up at the inferno my lightning had created. My eyes were heavy, so heavy, and I blinked, trying to keep them open.
Suddenly, I was being lifted into the air, floating in someone’s arms. No. Not someone. A shadow. It couldn’t have infiltrated all that fire, that light, but as I looked around, I didn’t see any light, just a heavy cloak of gray smoke. The shadow flew me higher, and I reached down toward the smoke.
“Please, get Loch, get him too,” I rasped, but the shadow paid me no mind.
It flew me out of the smoky fog right as rain started to fall. Heavy and thick. It poured down over us. The shadow flew me away from the fire, then abruptly dove down into the forest until we landed on the ground.
It dropped me in a heap, and I stayed there on my hands and knees, breathing hard, lungs still burning, the smell of ash filling my nose.
“Well, girl, you’ve certainly made a mess of things,” a voice said.
A voice I’d recognize anywhere.
My head snapped up, and there stood Gran, looming over me, a scowl on her face.