“I’d imagine I know a lot more about the shadowkind—and everything they’re capable of—than you do,” I say evenly. “Idefinitelyknow more about what’s happening here, considering I’ve been monitoring this rift since before it even expanded, and you only just showed up.”
Another of the sorcerers lets out a scoffing sound. “You’ve been brainwashed. You’re probably under the control of one of those mind-altering fiends.” She waves her hand toward the murk. “This is what they’re made of. This is where they comefrom. Look at what it’s doing to our world. And you’re going to help them take over our home?”
Even though I automatically balk at the lie in her final question, her other points stir up memories of walking through the shadowed city. The twisted buildings, the mutilated bodies, the deranged creatures. My pulse hiccups.
I’ve seen what happens when shadowkind get too much power. I barely survived the last attempted invasion.
I set my jaw firmly against the wobble in my nerves. “I’m helping them stop the problem from getting worse. None of the beings I work with”—and do other things with that I’m not going to mention in this company—“want the shadow realm collapsing into this one. They like the mortal realm as it is.”
The first sorcerer snorts. “Right. They like it to be easy pickings. But now that option is off the table, so they’re going to swarm us all if they get the chance. I don’t believe for one second you don’t know they’re capable of it, no matter how hard you’re pretending.”
The image of the leviathan wavers through my mind again. My mouth goes dry.
The sorcerers turn away from me to murmur amongst themselves.
“We’ve got to find some way of getting a handle on these freakish things,” one grumbles.
“Imagine if this immunity spreads? If we can’t get a grip on any of them…”
“We’ll alter our techniques, learn to adapt just like they are. We can’t let them get the upper hand.”
The first man glances over into the haze and braces himself. “They’re coming.”
The creatures are prowling nearer, most of them now focused specifically on the humans beyond the murk. Their eerie eyes—some smoldering, some glinting, some multi-faceted panes likean insect’s—raise the hairs on the back of my neck when their gazes pass over me.
A tiny voice wakes up in the back of my mind, niggling through my thoughts.Why are you going along with all this? What if this is your chance to put an end to it—find a way to stop the shadowkind from breaking into this world at all?
For a second, the idea knocks the breath from my lungs. It’s brought a smack of horror, yes, but also an uneasy surge of exhilaration.
I could protect the entire mortal world. I could put an end to all the conflicts and the pain.
If I worked with the humans here rather than the shadowkind, with everything I know— Even if we can’t order around the warped creatures, we could bring the regular beings under our sway and call on them to fight back more avidly?—
There’s an odd sort of comfort in those thoughts, and that’s what turns my reaction completely sour. I recoil within myself, swallowing hard.
Sure, it’d be nice never to have my awful memories triggered again. Never to live through that old panic. But that’smyproblem to deal with. None of the shadowkind I know now had anything to do with it.
And how can I say the shadowkind were the only problem, even back then? The ones who killed my parents and kidnapped me were using sorcerer powers they stole by devouring humans who’d enslaved and murdered shadowkind first.
Here I was imagining commanding the beings whoaremy friends, my colleagues. Doesn’t that make me a monster too?
Just like them, I can make the choice not to be one.
My voice comes out ringing with conviction. “We should be able to affect the creatures if we all focus on the same intention. Don’t try to push against their natural inclinations so much.They don’t want to fight each other. They do want to feel safe. Tell them to run deeper into the shadows and seek shelter.”
As the other sorcerers peer over at me, their brows knitting and heads cocking, I swivel toward the approaching creatures and take my own advice, even though I know it won’t do much good on my own.
I summon all of the sorcerous energy I can instinctively sense deep within me and channel it into my message.Run away. Flee into the shadows where it’s safer. Stay far away from humans, from danger.
A burst of gunfire from back where the soldiers were stationed punctuates my orders, but the creatures only stare at me. A couple of them slink closer.
My heart thumps harder. I repeat the syllables that spring to my lips, tamping down my despair?—
And another voice rises to join mine. Lilah’s, from my other side where she must have joined us without me noticing.
Then another, and another, as the newcomers must decide my suggestion is worth giving a try. Our magic-laced words with their odd sounds wash across the urban terrain.
A few of the smaller creatures quiver and turn around. Two scamper right off, vanishing into the darkness as they do.
