We reached the waiting SUV, and I climbed into the backseat without a word. Mario took the passenger seat, and Jareth slid in beside me. I tapped on the back of the seat in front of me and the driver pulled away. I stared out the window as we rode in silence, clenching and unclenching my fists. The bond was faint at the back of my mind, her emotions muted but still enough to be a distraction. I pushed it away, focusing on the threat at hand.
“Where exactly are we going?” I asked.
Mario turned slightly, his expression grim. “The southern edge of the territory, near the border with the Ashen faction.”
My hands tightened into fists. “The Ashen,” I muttered. “Surely those damn sea serpents wouldn’t be dumb enough to fuck with me.”
The streets seemed unnaturally quiet as we drove on, the usual hum of life replaced by an eerie stillness that gnawed at the edges of my composure. My shadows coiled at my fingertips, their movements slower than usual, almost sluggish, as thoughthey were mirroring my unease. Frowning, I flexed my fingers, willing the dark tendrils to obey.
“It could’ve been the Ashen,” Jareth said, his tone light but his eyes sharp, cutting through the silence. “Or someone trying to frame them. You know how it is—everyone’s got a grudge.”
I glared at him in response. The idea wasn’t far-fetched, but it didn’t make me any less furious. Whoever it was, they would fucking pay.
Still, something felt... wrong. The shadows were an effortless extension of my will, and yet, that connection seemed distant now. Like it had when my father attacked me. I clenched my jaw, letting a single tendril curl away from me. It wavered, flickering like a flame in a strong wind, before dissipating entirely.
I tried again, focusing on drawing the shadows into my palm. This time, they gathered reluctantly, as if resisting my call. The effort was greater than it should have been. My fingers curled into a fist around the writhing darkness, but even then, the energy felt unstable, slipping through my mental grasp.
“What the fuck?” I muttered under my breath, flexing my hand again as if that would somehow fix whatever was wrong.
“Something bothering you, boss?” Jareth asked, and I whipped my head toward him. He was watching me closely, his eyes narrowed.
“Focus on the job, Jareth,” I snapped, letting the shadows dissipate, their absence leaving a hollow sensation in my chest. I wouldn’t admit it aloud—not yet—but my magic wasn’t behaving as it should. And I had no fucking idea why.
The SUV rolled to a halt as we reached the edge of the farmland. I stepped out into the crisp morning air, and the sight before me stopped me cold.
White stretched out as far as the eye could see, a stark and unnatural canvas smothering the fertile land I’d worked so hard to secure for my people. For a brief, disorienting moment,I thought it was snow. But upon closer inspection, I saw how wrong it was—too even, too smooth, and clinging like ash to everything it touched.
The crops were worse. Once vibrant and thriving, they now hung low and withered, their leaves curling in on themselves like dying embers. Some had already turned brown, the brittle stalks crumbling under the weight of decay.
I stalked forward, my shadows licking at the ground in my wake.
Two farmers hurried toward me, their faces pale and etched with worry. Their boots kicked up small puffs of the white substance with each step.
“Boss,” one of them started, his voice trembling slightly. “We don’t know what the hell happened. Everything looked fine yesterday. The soil, the crops—everything was thriving. And then this—” He gestured helplessly to the destruction around us.
I crouched, scooping up a handful of the white material. It was fine, powdery, and cold to the touch. “What the fuck is this?” I demanded, turning to the farmer.
He shook his head, his hands wringing together nervously. “We’ve never seen anything like it. It wasn’t here last night, I swear. We checked the fields before we locked up, and everything was fine.”
I tossed the powder back onto the ground, brushing my hands off on my coat. My shadows slithered restlessly at my feet, a reflection of my growing fury.
“Where did it come from?” I barked, my gaze snapping to the other farmer.
“We don’t know,” he said quickly, his words tumbling over each other. “It just appeared overnight. There’s no trace of how it got here, no tracks or signs of anyone tampering with the land.”
I straightened, my jaw tightening. “I want samples taken immediately. Soil, crops, air—everything. I want to know exactly what this is and where the fuck it came from.”
Mario nodded and pulled out his phone, stepping to the side to make the call to my fleet of scientists.
Behind me, Jareth strolled closer, his boots crunching loudly over the brittle, dying plants. He crouched, running a gloved finger through the white substance before inspecting it.
I turned to him, my shadows curling tighter around my shoulders.
He straightened, brushing his hands off and tilting his head as he regarded the fields. “If you ask me, whoever did this doesn’t just want to scare you. They’re baiting you, boss.”
My eyes narrowed. “Baiting me for what?”
Jareth shrugged. “Could be anything. A distraction, a power move, maybe even a personal vendetta. The question is, what are you going to do about it?”
