I looked down into the town and saw that he was right. The bustling market had completely disappeared, everyone now inside.
I stopped fighting and ran with him instead, toward the end of the wall, where a bit of an overhang extended over the path. The rose, the one I had coaxed to bloom, the one that shouldn’t exist, that Griff had tucked behind my ear, fell to the ground, the splash of red vibrant against the dim gray stone and overcast sky. I tore my eyes from it as Griff urged me to go faster, but the image was burned into my mind, the color unerringly that of spilled blood.
He pushed me down, and I curled into a little ball as he covered my body with his—a human shield. We hunkered under the edge of the wall. I threw up a hastily constructed ward, using everything Deirdre had taught me, with my own twist—I pulled up all seven channels for good measure, weaving them into the barrier.
Not a moment too soon.
All light disappeared. The air grew sticky. Something slithered over the ward protecting us, but Erde must have been with me today. Even as I felt it shift and push, the ward held strong. I couldn’t imagine what that feeling would be like without the ward, oozing over our bodies. I held myself still, willing the trembling to stay internal, huddled under Griff until it had fully passed and the sun came out again. He waited a moment more before releasing me, and I unwove the ward.
“Whatwasthat?” I asked him, my voice wavering slightly. I was actually proud of how steady it was, all things considered.
He ran a hand over his chin. “We think it’s basically a search party, searching for some power, something, that’s destined to appear. You’ve read the prophecy.”
He said it as a statement, but I nodded anyway.
“There’s a lot we don’t know about the prophecy, a lot I’m convinced will only become clear after the events transpire. But I think it’s referencing something that the darkness wants. That it’sever searching for. Finn agrees with me, but we’ve been unable to get anyone else to listen.”
His words struck something deep inside me, ringing true, chilling me to the bone.
“Is it what’s causing the holes in the Veil?”
“We don’t know. Could it be that it exists here, inside the Veil, and opens them from the inside? Or is it something outside the Veil that is able to swoop in once a hole has opened? There are too many questions and very few answers.”
“And everyone knows to go inside when it appears? What happens if they get caught outside?”
Griff gave me a sideways glance that told me I didn’t want to know the answer. My heart fell. Just like a hufen, this darkness could infect someone too.
“But it can’t get inside buildings?”
“Not yet,” was the ominous reply.
“My ward held against it,” I mused.
“It did. I was surprised by that, honestly. Most wards don’t hold.”
I turned to him. “I don’t think I have enough strength or control to ward the entire town. But maybe a few places.”
He nodded, understanding where my mind was going. “I know the chieftain. I’ll take you to him.”
Griff led the way back down to ground-level and to a large building that functioned as the town hall, where he found the chieftain. Letting Griff do the talking, I pulled power from the earth. It rose up, eagerly filling my reserves. Instead of the more typical dome-like ward I had practiced with Finn, I wove this one differently, as I had done with Deirdre. It was the exact shape and size of the building, including the ground. When it settled, it fell like a blanket over the structure.
I sagged against Griff, and his arm came around me like I knew it would, keeping me upright. I meant to push away as soon as I caught my breath, but there was something steadying about how he tookmy weight as though it was nothing, his hand splayed across my ribs.
“Are you alright?”
I shook myself off and stood, putting distance between us once more. “What’s the next biggest space?”
He gave me a look like he could see through me, but led me to the next place.
I wasable to ward three buildings before I started to lose my balance and had to stop. Griff had been pacing since the second building, and I knew if I didn’t finish with the third, he would decide for me.
I hated leaving the village, but at least I had given them a modicum of protection—places they could go to wait out the searching darkness. I had no idea how long it would hold, though. I made the chieftain promise that if he felt any weakening, he would get a message to Griff.
At least I wasn’t as drained as I had become accustomed to after using my powers. Deirdre’s trick of replenishing with power drawn from the earth was life-changing. I would have to try it with the other elements too.
“How often does this happen? In how many places?” I asked softly as we left.
He knew what I was asking. “Too many,” he replied.
