I glance back at my companions who’ve disembarked behind me. “Let’s round them up. Gracie, Jonah, I need you two especially. They might feel better seeing you with me, all normal-human-like.”
Gracie snorts, but she hurries alongside me and Jonah as we head toward the gathering crowd of humans. “If you can call me ‘normal.’”
The assistant follows us, not looking much less distressed than before. “The darkness over the city—it started fluctuating a couple of hours ago. Wavering back and forth like… like the wind was rippling through it. Except I think it came more out than in. It might have expanded over more territory.”
Even as she finishes speaking, another of those currents flows through the murky area. Just like she said, the deluge of shadows wobbles and sways, out and in, out and in… but definitely a little more in the ‘out’ direction.
My lungs constrict. If that development started a couple of hours ago—that was when we were confronting the soldiers about the bombs. Did our fight rile the rift up again even though we were far away?
The murk might end up sloshing all over the countryside even if no bombs fall. Unless we can clean up the mess right now.
The nearest bunch of humans turns toward us. There must be several hundred gathered amid the few remaining tents, with more spilling out of newly parked cars every second.
A brief wave of dizziness rushes through me at the thought of all these people listening to me. I draw my spine straight against my nerves.
There were probablymillionswatching me on the TV. This is just talking to them without a screen. And they allwantto listen to me.
I turn to my mates, who’ve slipped out of the shadows around me. “Mirage, can you project my voice far enough so that everyone can hear it?”
The fox shifter salutes me. “On the ball, helping you stand tall. I can handle it, Rainbow.”
To make my short stature more visible, I clamber onto a crate someone left behind. Most of the crowd turns to look. Some people point and nudge each other, maybe recognizing me from TV.
I’ve become a celebrity. At what point do I start coming up with signature perfumes and clothing lines?
Definitely not today while we have a much bigger problem to worry about.
I lift my hands for attention and project my voice, trusting Mirage’s illusions to spread it across the terrain before me.
“Thank you all so much for coming to help. I know the key to fixing this rift and the others like it. All it and the creatures it’s warped have wanted is to merge with your world, to find a place where they belong, to be a part of the mortal realm. They’ve just been going about it in… a very destructive way, because no one knew how to offer a proper welcome. We’re going to do that now, set the rift at ease and show it that it doesn’t need to twist or drown anyone.”
A voice hollers from the middle of the crowd. “What does that even mean? What are we supposed to do?”
I motion them toward the nearby factories. “We’re going to surround the city by the edge of the murky area. I need you to focus on the most happy, friendly feelings you can. Think about your friends, your family, the people you love.” Remembering my own confession of love to my men a few weeks ago, a pang resonates through my throat. “Both the pleasant parts and the painful parts that turned out okay in the end. Any feeling that brought you closer to the people in your life.”
Murmurs pass through the crowd. Probably my explanation sounds too woo-woo for a lot of them. Maybe it’d have gone over better if I’d shown up with flowers woven into my hair and an embroidered shawl so I looked like some kind of mystic.
Gracie kicks over another crate and jumps up beside me. “Peri knows what she’s talking about. She’s an expert on emotions. Let’s give it a try—what can it hurt? It’s not like thinking about the people you care about is some huge ask, is it?”
Some of the muttering people now look abashed. They turn and start walking toward the city.
More of my shadowkind companions have emerged around me.
“What do you need us to do, Peri?” Fen asks. “Just join in?”
I wave toward the humans. “Mingle with them. Remind them of what they need to be doing and keep them on track. Encourage any other shadowkind you see to join in too.” I glance around at all of the beings with me. “There’s no need to be nervous.Thesehumans trust us. They want to help. We’re all safe.”
They nod, but a little uncertainty flavors their determination.
I can’t be there raising all of their spirits while I’m focusing on the rift.
My attention slides to my mates. The tension in my chest tightens, but I know what we have to do. A lighter twinge inside tells me it’ll turn out right.
“Jonah, Mirage, Raze, Hail, I need you to spread out around the city so we’re surrounding the whole thing. Like we did with Viscera, but on a larger scale. You’ll know how to keep everyone’s spirits up for me better than anyone else.” I catch Mirage’s bright eyes. “And if you can keep projecting my voice all around as much as you can, that would be perfect.”
Raze frowns. “If we get that far away…”
I touch his arm. “It’s notthatfar. And I can tell… it’ll be okay now. Because there are no doubts left between us. Nothing shaking up our love. Our bonds won’t hurt me, because you’ll be thereforme.”
