I repeat my command again, this time with a whole chorus chanting alongside me. More of the beasts peel away from the pack. The largest two pause with grunts and discomforted shakes of their heads.
Again. Again.
One and then the other fades into the shadows. I don’t know how far away they retreat, but they’re at least not poised to pounce on us any longer.
I let out my breath in a rush, holding my body back from sagging with the release. The other sorcerers chatter eagerly with each other over our temporary victory.
My own sense of satisfaction is tempered by the fact that I don’t trust this bunch not to start spouting their anti-monster garbage all over again. No matter how much panic jangles through me, I know down to the center of my being that the shadowkind deserve their place in this world just as much as we do.
One sorcerer glances my way again and goes rigid. “What’sshedoing here?”
In the moment before my head turns, I think he’s talking about Lilah, which doesn’t even make sense. Then I catch the gleam of teal hair.
Peri has appeared next to me. She twines her fingers with mine like she did when I almost slid into a panic attack earlier, but the vibe emanating off her is all urgency now.
“Can you come?” she asks quietly. “I think I need your help.”
17
Periwinkle
Jonah hustles after me without hesitation, back to where I left my other mates.
We found a spot away from the soldiers, where we wouldn’t have to worry about stray bullets tearing through us. Raze stands braced at the edge of the murky area, ready to swipe down any rampaging creatures that make a break for it. Hail is poised in a similar stance, his hands raised and glittering with an icy sheen. Mirage’s usually cheerful face has hardened with concentration as he attempts to lull both the shadowkind within the deluge and the humans in the camp behind us into some kind of calm.
I stop between them, my breath coming shaky. Their tension reverberates into me alongside my own—and alongside the discontented vibes churning all through the flood of darkness.
The new shadowy spew is stirring everything up again after it’d started to settle down. If we can’t soothe the atmosphere again…
I don’t want to think about what kind of messed-up meal it’ll make out of us.
The impulse that brought me racing to Jonah is still thrumming through my veins. I close my hand tight around his and extend the other toward Mirage. “I want us to make a circle of light like we did around Viscera. Maybe I can reassure the rift and the creatures coming out of it better if my powers have that extra oomph.”
I’m not sure if “oomph” is the correct technical term for what we’re attempting, but even thinking about combining forces with my men brings a fuller swell of love into my chest. The sensation echoes back to me from all four of my mates, melting the sharpest edges off their fears.
Jonah nods and squeezes my fingers. Mirage extends his arm toward me and to Hail at his other side. The winter fae pulls his slim frame straighter and holds his hands out at either side.
Raze completes our circle, his eyes smoldering with concern. “You don’t want to push yourself too far.”
“Don’t worry about that,” I tell him. “Just focus on how much we want to solve this problem. How much we’re hoping we can find a balance between the mortal and shadow realms and bring happiness rather than destruction for all the beings in both.”
Twinges of that hope waft through our bond. I stare up at the rippling mass of darkness and call on all the tender feelings of my own I’ve been able to turn to before.
Let’s be friends, I think at the flood of murk, the whirling bits of thicker darkness and all.There’s a place for you here. We can find it if we work together, like I’m working with my mates right now. See how easy it can be? We want to help you.
The turquoise light I’ve aimed toward the deluge before streams from the bond mark in the middle of my chest, bright enough to shine through my shirt. The matching marks glow on my men’s chests.
A current of loving light flows between us until it forms a solid circle. Jonah lets out an awed laugh.
We’ve only ever done this once before. I wasn’t totally sure it’d work—maybe he wasn’t either.
Now let’s see if I can put our giant mood ring to good use.
I train my attention on the emotions coursing through our glow—the fondness and exhilaration and longing to set things right. The awareness of those sensations quivers through every particle of my body.
Inhaling deeply, I will the light to surge out from our circle like a smaller version of the rift’s flood. Out and up and over there, in a glowing teal wave.
It washes over the road and shimmers against the murky edge of the deluge. One beam and another streaks through the darkness.
