A heavy rumbling like incoming thunder sounds overhead, then a rattling as if an earthquake is shaking the nearby buildings. I give the hunters the impression that the ground is lurching beneath their feet for good measure.
I have to makethemwant to go away. Make them run so far they’ll never bother us again, never touch any of us with those whips or nets.
The panicked urgency propels more of my power out of me. The brambles twine and grow, sprouting sharper thorns that glint a poisonous purple hue. A fearsome roar reverberates down the street. Scarlet lights flash right before the hunters’ eyes where only they can see, tinting everything the shade of blood.
Just a little more, and I can open up the thicket behind them so they’ll dash away.
Even as I think that, a gentle hand comes to rest on my forearm. Peri’s concern and love seeps through her warm touch.
“Mirage,” she murmurs, with another caress of her soothing emotions, “this isn’t how we make things better. The creatures are getting riled up. And I don’t think it’s good for you either. You always want to make people laugh, to play with them, don’t you? What if we played with the hunters too?”
My immediate instinct is to balk. Play with these pricks? We should tell them to suck their own dicks!
But her encouragement has twined through my essence enough to produce that rhyme, to bring a smile to my lips at the rhythm of it—if also a little at the picture it presents.
She is right. I don’t really want anyone feeling as trapped and anguished as I did in the scientists’ cage.
The hunters are being ridiculous. Calling us monsters when we’ve done more to look after the humans here than any of their fellow humans have. Let’s show them that absurdity.
The resolve has barely clicked in my head before my illusionary barrage shimmers in a new direction. The roar gives way to bright, childish giggles. The ground steadies and cushions the hunters’ feet as if they’re standing on a vast, cozy mattress.
The thicket’s vicious thorns sprout a rainbow of flowers giving off an upliftingly tangy scent. They stir in a soft breeze, and the brambles contract so rosy sunlight can drift across the figures within.
Bluebirds chirp and flit merrily overhead, one and then another flipping in a loop-de-loop. A couple of them tuck their wings together and spin in a little dance that I don’t think any real birds could manage, but it looks like fun.
The hunters shuffle backward, poised shoulder to shoulder. Their expressions look more befuddled than frightened now. I make one of the flowers form a face that blows a raspberry at them and then grins, and a couple of the humans actually chuckle.
The leader’s head jerks around as if he’s offended by the sound. I send a few of the illusionary bluebirds leapfrogging past him in a bouncy chain, and he pauses as if in a daze.
The sunlight I conjured spreads into a rainbow of colors, glowing vibrantly over the street in Peri’s honor. She squeezes my arm with a waft of affection.
Finally, the leader swipes his hand through the flowers around him—and realizes his body passes straight through the image. He waves his arm around some more as if trying to dispel it like a puff of mist. “What the fuck is the point of all this? Get it out of our way!”
“It’s not really in your way,” Peri points out. “You can walk right through it.”
He glares at her. “And we will. If you think your crazy games are going to change anything?—”
Several more figures stride forward at the edge of my vision. The reporters and their camerapeople come to a stop just a few feet away from the group of hunters.
I was so focused on our potential attackers, I’d forgotten the other humans were even here. Have they been filming this whole scene?
Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
One of the reporters has planted herself right in front of the lead hunter. She raises her microphone to her lips. “We’ve justseen a vivid display of how unsettling exteriors can turn out to be deceiving. Who doesn’t need more flowers and rainbows in their life? Sir, do you have any evidence that these specific… shadowkind, I believe they call themselves… have caused any harm in or around the city?”
The leader grimaces. “Well, I— You can’t go by the powers they throw around. They’re trying to deceive you.”
Another reporter pushes in. “It sounds like you’re the one dodging questions. We’ve been watching these so-called ‘monsters’ at work, and they really have been lightening the darkness that’s fallen over the city and calming down the violent creatures inside. Look at how they settled down the monsters over there right now.”
I glance over my shoulder. The warped creatures have returned to their lounging, their expressions relaxed rather than fierce. A smile tugs at my lips.
My ferocity riled them up… but my playfulness chilled them back out again.
Another of the hunters barrels into the conversation, her voice harsh. “You can’t believe anything thesethingssay or do. They’re lulling us into a false sense of security so we won’t be ready to defend ourselves.”
The first reporter lets out a skeptical cough. “I don’t know. I think it’s already been proven that wecouldn’tdefend ourselves from whatever this onslaught is. If these supernatural beings wanted to hurt us, we couldn’t be more vulnerable. Everything I’ve seen has shown that they’re trying to prop us back up. And that we could use that help.”
The third reporter jabs his microphone in the lead hunter’s face. “So tell us: are you and your colleagues going to be part of the solution or only add to the problem?”
