My stomach sinks. I slip after my three shadowkind mates into the patches of darkness.
The journey back through the camp in our shadow forms is much more sedate than my trip by car. Which means I have more time to take note of the human refugees around us.
Everywhere I look, my gaze catches on metallic gray glints on people’s chests. I think at least half of the humans we pass have the badges the hunters showed off pinned to their shirts.
We’re the ones who got these people out of the city before it could warp them to death. Are they really so scared of what else we might do?
Either because of that or for other reasons only the humans know about, a lot of them are packing up their meager remaining belongings. Buses parked at the edges of camp are taking in streams of passengers, I guess to bring them to other accommodations farther away from their original home.
Colonel Hueber did say they were planning on moving people elsewhere, but I didn’t realize so many of them would be gone so quickly. The sprawl of tents already feels much more vacant than it did a few days ago.
In a few days more, will it only be us, the army people, and all the hunters and sorcerers who keep arriving? What will they try to do to us if the news crews leave too and there’s no one to witness their hostility?
I’m trying to squash those uncomfortable worries when an imposing presence drifts over to us through the shadows.
I’m already braced for Rollick’s words when his low drawl reaches me in the darkness. “I’ve been hearing a lot of… interesting reports from my sentries. Something about a stolen car?”
Raze’s essence twitches. I jump in before he needs to explain. “It was only because?—”
“—a rescue operation was in order,” the demon supplies. “A couple of my people followed and determined that.”
Raze’s voice comes out gruff. “I left the car over by the factories. It didn’t take any damage—at least, nothing major…”
Rollick chuckles. “I’d imagine we can arrange its reunion with the owner without too much trouble. Better they go withouttheir car for a couple of hours than we go without our glowing friend here, hmm?”
He pauses, and I have the impression of him considering us with the full ominous weight of his demonic powers. When he speaks again, his tone is more somber. “Areyouall undamaged? I suppose I didn’t do enough to prepare you… I hadn’t expected the situation to escalate quite this quickly.”
The tang of his guilt slides across my tongue. It stirs my own conscience.
He tried to warn me. He tried to stop us from getting into this situation where more humans knew about our existence—and might decide to come after us.
And I didn’t listen.
I hang my head, as much as I have a head in my current state. “I think we’re all fine. I’m sorry. I had no idea—I didn’t think they’d besoscared after everything I said on the TVs.”
Why do so many of them hate us for what seems like no reason at all?
Rollick sighs. “It isn’t your fault, Peri. Maybe we couldn’t have helped word spreading farther, and your efforts have meant they aren’t as unwelcoming as they would have been otherwise. I can understand wanting to believe in people. It’s only that they don’t often justify the faith, in my experience.”
“Some of them have. But… so many of them think the worst of us without giving us a chance.” My insides squirm. “What if it only gets harder? What if even more of them start attacking us?”
Rollick’s presence halts at the edge of the camp, and we all stop alongside him. He’s quiet for a moment, but his energy continues roiling.
“I’ve been considering what measures we could take,” he says, “if we decide it’s gone too far, that we’re dealing with an emergency. Do you know about Andreas’s powers?”
Andreas—the shadowblood Riva usually calls “Drey.” I haven’t seen as much of him as some of the others.
I peer around us as if I might spot his dark, lanky frame. “No. Can he make humans like us more?”
The demon sounds as if he’s stifled a guffaw. “No. His supernatural skills mainly have to do with memory. With some effort, he could make all the humans here forget they ever saw us. And since shadowbloods aren’t affected by silver and iron like us, that includes the ones wearing badges.”
Hail sounds skeptical. “The rift would still be here. And all the people who saw us on the news.”
“We could continue working on the rift’s issues more discreetly than we are at present,” Rollick says. “As for our wider audience… Andreas has done some experimenting with using his powers at a distance. He may be able to broadcast them just like you did your little show.”
The idea gives me a rush of relief. If we could hide back away that easily, escape all the animosity that’s been aimed at us, pretend we were never here…wouldn’tthat be better after all? Has knowing about us actually helped anyone?
Even as the urge to tell Rollick to go for it full speed ahead wraps around me, other sorts of doubts rise up.
