Chapter 31
Periwinkle
The first part of my plan is to zip back to the rift as fast as the van’s engine will carry us. My plan did not account for traffic jams.
The city with its draping of murk has just come into view in the distance when the van slows to a crawl. I slip through the shadows to a nook on the driver’s seat where I can see out the front windshield.
The stretch of pavement ahead of us is packed with cars. More are pulling onto the highway from a crossroad farther along.
I stare for a few moments before my mind kicks back into gear. I materialize next to Rollick’s seat. “What’s going on? It’ll take forever to get to the city now.”
The demon shoots me a baleful look. “I believe this is your doing. You asked for people to come—they’re coming. There are only so many routes into the city.”
“They won’t be able to help if I’m not there!”
“Maybe you should have thought of that before you put out your call from a hundred miles away.”
I can’t stop myself from grimacing at him, but my pulse thumps with more anxiety than annoyance. Major Yin said we didn’t have much time. What will the “top brass” do once they get here?
If it involves bigger bombs, then we’re in deep trouble.
Sorsha’s hellhound-shifting partner—Omen—emerges into the physical world behind me. “I saw something half a mile back that might help. How many beings do we need to get to the city for your plan to work?”
I swallow hard. “As many as we can manage. But especially me and my mates. And Gracie.”
The more humans we have involved from the start, the easier it should be to encourage others to join in.
Omen glances over at Jonah, who’s sitting on one of the benches with a similarly tense expression, and lets out a gruff sigh. “Let’s give it a shot. I’ll be back in ten or so minutes. Hold tight.”
It’s not like we have much choice unless the van suddenly sprouts wings so it can fly over the traffic.
Actually that would be a really handy feature. Why haven’t humans implemented it yet?
Omen vanishes, but I remain in physical form, gripping the seat back and peering at the cars ahead of us. “At least a lot of people want to help?”
Rollick gives a short guffaw. “Let’s hope that is what they’re coming for and they’re not here to slam us for asking.”
We creep forward a few inches at a time. At this rate, we’ll be back at the city next year. But it has only been about ten minutes when a whirring engine sounds beyond the windows.
Omen pulls over to the shoulder of the highway steering what looks like a miniature jeep. Its overlarge wheels bounce over the dips and bumps on the unpaved ground.
“We’re borrowing an ATV,” he calls over to us. “There’s room for the two humans to perch behind me. Everyone else needs to stay in shadow form. Find whatever dark hollows you can. I figure we can fit more than a dozen if you squeeze tight.”
My heart lifts. I glance around at the van’s shadowy interior. This means we need to leave the shadowbloods behind for now, but most of our other allies can come along. “Let’s go!”
I dip into the shadows and sidle up against Hail, who’s totally awake now but whose presence still feels a little groggy.
He leans into my touch with a waft of affection before we propel ourselves side by side across the gap between the vehicles and into the patch of darkness overtop one of the ATV’s wheels.
A flurry of fellow shadowkind dart after us and settle into their own spots, cramming close. Jonah and Gracie scramble out of the van on their feet and dash over to Omen.
As our sorcerer and my former captor’s daughter squish onto the seat, the hellhound shifter guns the engine. “Hold on tight!”
The little vehicle roars forward. It bounces across the uneven terrain, going not quite as fast as the van would on the road but moving a heck of a lot more swiftly than anyone’s driving the highway right now.
Thankfully, our position in the shadows cushions us from most of the movement. I hate to think how Jonah’s and Gracie’s insides must be getting shaken and stirred.
Squished close to me in the darkness, Fen lets out a nervous giggle. “We’re really going to do this.”
To my surprise, it’s Vim who answers, her voice still rough but less snarky than usual.
“Yeah, I think we are.” Her attention shifts to me with a sweet-and-sour mix of admiration and shame.
“You were pretty incredible back there, Peri. If you think you know how to fix the rift… I want to see what you can do.”
Despite my fears, a spark of joy lights in me. “What we all can do,” I say. “It won’t work without every one of us.”
The ATV tears past the line of jammed cars toward the remains of the refugee camp, just scraps of a settlement after most of the evacuees have been relocated. I wonder how many of the people arriving here now came from the city to begin with.
It’s their home. They have the most to gain by saving it. But from what I’ve seen, humans have a large capacity for looking out for each other, even if they’re not always great at acting on it.
Rows of cars are already parked all along the sides of the highway in the camp and the smaller roads that branch off around the edges of the city. Omen brings us to a stop by the cluster of trailers Rollick had his people drive farther afield.
One of Rollick’s assistants is standing outside one of them, wringing her hands. “What’s happening? Where did all these people come from?”
As we sped back to the city, my certainty about what we’re going to do—what I’m going to do—has grown. Resolve rises up in my chest as rich and potent as a perfectly glazed ham.
I materialize beside her. “I’m going to balance out the murk. Get the rift back into harmony with both realms so it stops messing things up. But I can only do that if all these people work with me.”
I glance back at my companions who’ve disembarked behind me. “Let’s round them up. Gracie, Jonah, I need you two especially. They might feel better seeing you with me, all normal-human-like.”
Gracie snorts, but she hurries alongside me and Jonah as we head toward the gathering crowd of humans. “If you can call me ‘normal.’”
The assistant follows us, not looking much less distressed than before.
“The darkness over the city—it started fluctuating a couple of hours ago. Wavering back and forth like… like the wind was rippling through it. Except I think it came more out than in. It might have expanded over more territory.”
Even as she finishes speaking, another of those currents flows through the murky area. Just like she said, the deluge of shadows wobbles and sways, out and in, out and in… but definitely a little more in the ‘out’ direction.
My lungs constrict. If that development started a couple of hours ago—that was when we were confronting the soldiers about the bombs. Did our fight rile the rift up again even though we were far away?
The murk might end up sloshing all over the countryside even if no bombs fall. Unless we can clean up the mess right now.
The nearest bunch of humans turns toward us. There must be several hundred gathered amid the few remaining tents, with more spilling out of newly parked cars every second.
A brief wave of dizziness rushes through me at the thought of all these people listening to me. I draw my spine straight against my nerves.
There were probably millions watching me on the TV. This is just talking to them without a screen. And they all want to listen to me.
I turn to my mates, who’ve slipped out of the shadows around me. “Mirage, can you project my voice far enough so that everyone can hear it?”
The fox shifter salutes me. “On the ball, helping you stand tall. I can handle it, Rainbow.”
To make my short stature more visible, I clamber onto a crate someone left behind. Most of the crowd turns to look. Some people point and nudge each other, maybe recognizing me from TV.
I’ve become a celebrity. At what point do I start coming up with signature perfumes and clothing lines?
Definitely not today while we have a much bigger problem to worry about.
I lift my hands for attention and project my voice, trusting Mirage’s illusions to spread it across the terrain before me.
“Thank you all so much for coming to help. I know the key to fixing this rift and the others like it. All it and the creatures it’s warped have wanted is to merge with your world, to find a place where they belong, to be a part of the mortal realm.
They’ve just been going about it in… a very destructive way, because no one knew how to offer a proper welcome.
We’re going to do that now, set the rift at ease and show it that it doesn’t need to twist or drown anyone. ”
A voice hollers from the middle of the crowd. “What does that even mean? What are we supposed to do?”
I motion them toward the nearby factories.
“We’re going to surround the city by the edge of the murky area.
I need you to focus on the most happy, friendly feelings you can.
Think about your friends, your family, the people you love.
” Remembering my own confession of love to my men a few weeks ago, a pang resonates through my throat.
“Both the pleasant parts and the painful parts that turned out okay in the end. Any feeling that brought you closer to the people in your life.”
Murmurs pass through the crowd. Probably my explanation sounds too woo-woo for a lot of them. Maybe it’d have gone over better if I’d shown up with flowers woven into my hair and an embroidered shawl so I looked like some kind of mystic.
Gracie kicks over another crate and jumps up beside me. “Peri knows what she’s talking about. She’s an expert on emotions. Let’s give it a try—what can it hurt? It’s not like thinking about the people you care about is some huge ask, is it?”
Some of the muttering people now look abashed. They turn and start walking toward the city.
More of my shadowkind companions have emerged around me.
“What do you need us to do, Peri?” Fen asks. “Just join in?”