Chapter 23
Mirage
As I stare up at the small rift, my skin twitches as if it wants to jump in the opposite direction.
I can’t really blame it. Most of the rest of me would like to jump that way too.
I glance back at Peri and the rest of our little family, who’ve come along with Rollick to see me off. Mostly I focus on my shiny mate, who isn’t all that shiny at the moment. “I don’t need to do this. If you’d rather I stayed here, so you have nothing to fear…”
The rhyme touches a little too closely to my own mood for comfort, but Peri’s grip on my arm calms my nerves a little.
“I’ll be fine. I didn’t feel any strain at all when we tested out how far you could go in the shadow realm—I don’t think our bonds are restricting us anywhere near as much as they used to.
And if anyone can help the beings caught up in this disaster, it’s you.
You know how to guide the way. But if you’re having second thoughts—”
I shake my head quickly. The determination that prompted me to agree to this plan in the first place expands inside me, buoying my resolve.
I’ve seen how hard my Rainbow has worked to help so many beings already. I’m not sure how much I’ve really contributed to the rescue efforts so far.
Long ago, when the humans with their scalpels and syringes held me in their cold metal cells, they tormented me into using my mind-altering magic to draw other shadowkind in. Remembering those days still leaves my stomach churning.
Now I have the chance to draw shadowkind who are in just as much danger to someplace safer, like I did for the humans days ago to get them out of the city. How can I refuse that opportunity just because I want to stay by my mate’s side?
If we can’t stop the destruction soon, we might be torn apart no matter what I do.
I give her and then Rollick a jaunty salute, drawing my body up straight like I’m one of those grouchy soldiers who are always marching around the evacuee camp. “I’m still on the team, prepared to do my duty. Let’s see what this fox can fix!”
Peri’s smile at my wordplay sets off a warmer glow inside me, echoing the affection that wafts through our bond. It’s a sensation that’s going to disappear the moment I slip into the rift, but I’m not going to let myself think about that fact.
She bobs up on her toes to offer a quick but sweet-as-ever kiss. “Don’t get too close to the warped areas, and don’t push yourself too hard. Come back as soon as you start feeling tired.”
I touch her cheek. “You look after yourself too, Rainbow. We need you more than anyone else.”
Rollick folds his arms over his chest, looking as if he’s getting impatient with our goodbyes. Before he can make any snarky comments, I shoot him a thumbs up and spring into the rift.
It’s a normal-sized one, no more than five feet across, floating over a hill just outside the city. Leaping through it as my physical body shifts into shadow form feels the same as it always has, like a gust of cool breeze rushing through my essence and then stillness settling all around me.
I turn in the portion of the shadow realm I’ve emerged into, absorbing the quiet and the dullness all around me.
With no concrete objects in this place where we shadowkind come into being, there’s nothing to see or smell or taste.
It’s all only drifting dark haze, the impressions of other beings whose essence we pass close to, and the occasional conversations we might take up if we’re so inclined.
What is there to discuss? We don’t even have any weather to make small talk about.
But this time, there is something remarkable about my original home. As I gather myself, tremors ripple through the atmosphere around me. They carry the same erratic energy the warped rifts give off.
My essence cringes in response, but I nudge myself toward the disturbance.
It’s what I’m here for. No running away now.
I’m not on the move long before I notice the thinning of the shadows that Rollick mentioned his people had observed. Everything is still dark, but it starts to feel as if I’m moving through clear air rather than fog. Air that could barely fill my lungs if I tried to breathe it.
Cries and whimpers reverberate through the atmosphere alongside the growing tremors. They form a disjointed chorus—not at all the sort of symphony you’d want an orchestra to play.
Let’s see if I can transform it into a happier tune.
I slow down, slinking closer through the filmier shadows. A being lurches out of them toward me, just as ephemeral as I am but with his essence roiling so forcefully it smacks against me as he squirms.
“Make it stop! Make it stop!” His presence jerks and shudders as if he’s trying to lash out with his essence while jerking it back inside. I don’t think he’s in control of it.
Does he realize he could die?
A deeper chill wraps around my heart at that thought. Shadowkind aren’t meant to be mortal in our natural playground, as un-playful as it is. The shadows are supposed to sustain us.
How has our world become so completely upended?
I nudge an illusion of serene music and calming currents around the being in distress. “Come farther away. Let the regular shadows heal you.”
I don’t know if they actually can, but if they can’t, nothing else will.
The being’s thrashing eases. With a shaky sigh, he propels himself past me, toward the thicker stretch of darkness I left behind.
The chorus of horror is still pealing through the air at full blast. So many other beings are caught up in confusion and pain—or possibly literally caught in the twisting strands of shadow Rollick mentioned.
When I creep a little closer, my whole presence squirms at the erratic energies resonating through me. I ease back and skirt the warped area as quickly as I can.
“Head this way!” I call out, projecting my voice into minds as well as shouting it into the atmosphere. I send it alongside a sense of soothing, cool darkness beckoning them and a dollop of butterscotch ice cream, because who wouldn’t come for dessert? “Everything you could want is over here!”
The beings that were only disoriented start following my call. Some weave here and there as if they’ve forgotten what a straight line looks like; others flit past me like they’re starving for buttery delights.
I hope they’ll accept the consolation prize of being out of the warped area when the treat I teased doesn’t materialize.
A few beings heave toward me at a sluggish pace, still gasping or groaning. The sounds remind me all too well of the scientists’ laboratory, of the poking and prodding.
An icy shiver travels through my being. My essence wobbles with it, and I fight the urge to race off in search of my own ice cream cone.
Bracing myself, I project another call, another promise of good things this way. I lay out as clear as possible a trail for my fellow shadowkind to follow away from the writhing murk that’s invaded our home.
As I send out my powers, I keep gliding along the edge of the most unnerving area. Yikes, it is huge. I feel as if I’ve been floating onward for an hour without finding the end of it.
Someone needs to tell these messed-up rifts that size isn’t everything. And pacing yourself is healthier than going overboard. There’s no need to be so ambitious.
If only there was a real chance they’d listen.
Not all of my fellow beings have gotten the short end of the stick from their warped encounters. One being passes me singing nonsense words to a bright tune. She doesn’t reply when I greet her, too lost in her strange music, but she sounds happy enough.
Another rolls past me in what feels like a series of continual backflips, all shadowy gymnast. I’m not sure his limbs are exactly where he’d want them to be, but the change has left him extra limber, at least.
As I project another call, ignoring the first prickles of strain at the back of my mind, a thin cry that sounds almost familiar reaches my ears.
“No. I wasn’t supposed to be here. This shouldn’t be— It isn’t fair!”
Frowning, I swivel toward the sound. It’s coming from deeper within the thinned, unsettled area I’ve avoided doing more than dipping the edges of my being into.
A noise of pure agony follows the words. With a lurch of my pulse, I push myself forward.
As soon as I get close to the being, I recognize her. I never spent all that much time around Gloss at the academy, but her icy, polished attitude laces even her ephemeral presence.
That presence is stretched thin now, dispersing with her fading essence. The smoky substance leaches into the haze around us in jittery tendrils. She squirms and struggles, but I can’t tell what she’s fighting against.
Did she end up tangled in the twisted streams of shadow that have trapped other beings here? Or did the warping effect of the rift rake through her body, unraveling it in ways essence should never be pulled?
The memory of how she battered my mate makes me want to bare the fangs I don’t exactly have here, but Gloss’s anguish is undeniable. I’d be as bad as her if I leave her to suffer.
“Can you move?” I ask her. “Try to propel yourself this way. In the thicker shadows, you might heal.”
I extend more of the soothing impressions I’ve been offering, but I don’t want to over-promise. What I can sense of Gloss feels more like a tattered rag than a living being.
She lets out a gurgle that doesn’t appear to be a response and makes a wriggling motion that only dispels more essence. My innards tighten in horror.
I reach out and try to tug her with me, but the moment my essence touches hers, a spasm of energy shoots into me that sends me jerking back. Unfortunately, I think I snag another scrap of her fraying presence in the process.
“No, no, no,” Gloss keeps muttering between gasps, but her voice is ebbing alongside her disintegrating form. I swivel around her, trying to figure out a way I can push or pull her someplace at least a little safer—and her words fade away completely.
The spark of life that energized her essence snuffs out. All at once, I can’t detect anything in the atmosphere right in front of me except more aimless shadows.
As much as I disliked my cruel classmate, a cry of my own slips out of me. I grasp instinctively toward the spot where she was, but there’s nothing left I can catch hold of.
And a wave of unnerving dissonance roars in the distance, surging toward me.
Yelping, I fling myself back the way I came. The wriggling quivers of warped energy nip at my heels.
Even in my panic, I don’t forget my purpose. As I dash away from the expanding warped zone, I exude my power like I once colored the whole sky in rainbow hues to bring Peri back to me.
“Come with me! Come with me! It’s safer this way! Happier, much more delightful! Everything you’ve ever dreamed of having, you can find it over here!”
Okay, I might really be overselling the situation with that pitch. But what do we all dream of more than staying alive?
Nothing else we could want is possible if these beings shatter apart like Gloss just did.
So technically, it’s true.
Along with the words, I project a swell of tinkling music both calming and uplifting, to encourage their spirits to take action.
I add juicy hamburgers, pumpkin pie, and caviar to the imaginary buffet I’m offering, so there’s something for all tastes.
I guide the way not with a path of light like I did for the humans in the city but a streak of thicker darkness that’ll lead to a shadowy embrace.
More and more presences flit over. Even as I flee the warped rift’s onslaught myself, my spirits rise. So many other beings are soaring beside me.
I’m bringing them with me, out of danger this time. Toward something better. This is what my powers should always be used for.
I just hope we can shut down the rifts for good before there are no safe shadows left to hide in.