Few things set my nerves on edge like Rollick’s frown. I’m a being so deadly I can kill without even meaning to, and the demon is many times more powerful than I am. It’s hard to say what could be as disturbing as seeing even him unsettled.
“You’re sure the flood expanded?” he says, peering at Peri, who delivered the news, and then the rest of us who are backing her up. “It wasn’t simply fluctuating the way it’s sometimes inclined to do?”
I speak up before Peri has to. “I could see the difference too. It wasn’t a big expansion, but the border moved at least ten feet out from where it had been—and stayed there even after the fighting stopped.”
Those last words bring a knot into my stomach. The fighting stopped because the soldiers managed to blast apartenough shadowkind that any who weren’t totally trapped by the sorcerers’ commands fled rather than continuing their attack.
It seems clear the group of shadowkind hit the humans first. I can’t exactly blame the humans for striking back. But the memory of their methods makes my skin prickle with apprehension.
What if they decide to turn their tanks at all of us, even when we’re trying to help?
If anyone comes at my Glowbug…
My fangs itch at my gums, and I have to flex my fingers to keep my claws retracted.
Jonah leans against the wall of the trailer. “With everything else we’ve seen, it makes sense, doesn’t it? The shadowy stuff lightens up when Peri projects welcoming impressions at it. So why wouldn’t it get worse in some way when people are being asunwelcoming as possible? It might be as much the fault of the shadowkind who launched the attack as of the soldiers who retaliated.”
Rollick nods slowly. “But either way, it all comes down to the conflict. And I don’t see how we’re sorting that out any time soon.”
He shoots Peri a glance as if he thinks she might change her mind about trying to mind-wipe all the humans who know about our existence, but she stares back at him firmly. “We haven’t had much time to make peace. And this time it wasourkind who started the fight.”
Hail clears his throat. “Does anyone else find it kind of concerning that the army was ready to aim tanks at shadowkind that quickly? And that the soldiers fired those guns even though they took down a few of their own buildings in the process?”
I suppress a shudder. “Like nothing mattered more to them than destroying us.”
Peri nudges my arm with hers. “Notus. Only the ones who were trying to kill them. Bad behavior all around.”
But how do we stop more of that badness?
“Have the soldiers said anything to you since the battle?” I ask Rollick. “They aren’t blaming us for it, are they?”
Rollick splays his hands. “I have no idea what’s on their minds. They’ve been clammed up for the past few days in general.”
I don’t like that either. Tension ripples through my muscles.
Peri spoke to that one major before, and he seemed open to her suggestions. She shouldn’t have to be the only one sticking her neck out to try to find a common ground with the humans, though.
AmIreally that scared of them when I could snuff out any of their lives in an instant?
I square my shoulders. “I think we should go to the military part of the camp. Stay in the shadows, listen in on their conversations, and get a sense of what they’re planning next. It’s not safe for Peri to go out and work on lightening the shadows if the soldiers might march on her.”
Peri’s forehead furrows. “But if I don’t keep trying, the flood might get even worse.”
Looking into her softly pretty face, my heart squeezes. “It’ll get a million times worse if we lose you.”
I don’t know how I’d stand that.
I said “we,” but really I expected my suggestion would be a solo mission, since I’m essentially volunteering. To my surprise, Sorsha’s partner Thorn—a big shadowkind who gives off an aura of dour power—steps forward from where a bunch of the other shadowkind have been following the discussion.
“I agree,” he says in his deep, somber voice. “We must determine what the humans’ current intentions are before we make further plans of our own.”
Several more shadowkind materialize from the shadows, looking at Thorn and then at me… as if waiting for additional guidance.
Rollick raises his eyebrows with a hint of a smile aimed my way. “Sounds like you have our next step figured out, basilisk. Pick your team.”
Even though the trust he’s showing is nothing but a compliment, my pulse stutters. Do all these other beings trust me to lead the way too—even Thorn, who I have the sense has been through more battles than I can imagine?
Peri grasps my hand with an emphatic squeeze, and I shake myself into action. I won’t be leading anyone anywhere if I freeze up before I can give the first orders.
