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“Even if they have the Moonstones, they can’t seal the rip without me,” she called over her shoulder, moving as quickly as she could, her words nearly swallowed up by the wind. “They need my magic.”
“Loren, you have done enough.” Her father might be forbidden from speaking about certain things, but the answer in his statement was clear, and she knew what she had to do.
“No,” she whispered. “I haven’t.” She kept moving, not slowing, Erasmus hurrying after her in silence.
She had one last thing left to give, and she would give it.
—
There were two demons left to kill.
Though Malakai and Travis had managed to take one down together, they were winded now, barely able to stand, barely able to keep their eyes open. With the threat of the Tricking forever looming at the backs of every magic-wielder in the world of Terra, no one in these tunnels had undergone training that might’ve aided them in the fight tonight. Every victory stemmed strictly from the will to live—to protect this city and the people in it.
And every victory was a miracle. But Darien had a feeling their miracles had nearly been used up.
The others were currently killing the second monster, the thing bellowing out one last roar that vibrated through the tunnels. The sound was soon dying off with a snap and a gurgle as Dominic and Conrad cut the thing’s head off with adamant blades, while Lace, Ivy, Hanli, and Sylvan held it down as best as they could.
It was the third demon that was the hardest to fell.
Darien kept himself slightly in front of Jack and Tanner as they attacked the creature, lashing out with magic and weapons. Darien was holding it down with the force of his shadows—the very last of his magic that he had been able to summon, after nearly costing everyone their lives by letting his shield fall. But his magic was weaker than it had been all night, weaker than ever before, and he was having trouble holding onto it. Sweat ran down his temples and burned his eyes. The exhaustion sweeping through his body told him the Venom was nearly out, and the bottle in his pocket was empty.
A mighty roar shook the tunnels as the creature bucked under the hold of Darien’s magic.
Darien stumbled back, ducking under a lashing of its barbed tail, an attack that likely would’ve been lethal, had it landed true.
The beast was moving again before Darien could gain the upper hand. A claw swept out with deadly speed, heading straight for Tanner—
Darien moved, pushing Tanner out of the way so hard, the hacker stumbled and fell.
“Darien!” Tanner was shouting his name, again and again, as he scrabbled back to his feet, eyes wide with fear.
There was no pain. At least not at first. Darien was barely aware of the razor-sharp claw sinking right into his side, sliding through his flesh with ease. It dug in deep, and when the creature retracted it, the flow of blood began. So much blood.
Tanner was hysterical. He was at Darien’s side, holding him up, hand pressed against the wound.
Jack rushed over, ducking under another swipe of the creature’s tail, the barbs coming so close to his head that Darien was able to react, able to project the very last drop of his magic out to protect Jack.
With a battle cry, Darien ended the demon with a lashing of his shadows that choked the whole room. It swept into the creature’s airways and eye sockets, arrowing into its skull.
It dropped dead with a slam.
That was when Darien dropped too.
He fell to his knees, pain splitting through the bone as they struck cement. Darien was vaguely aware that the only thing keeping him from fully collapsing was Tanner’s hands gripping his shoulders. Soon, Jack was there too, crouching beside him.
Tanner’s voice was a broken shout, the sound of it so defeated that it hurt worse than the wound in Darien’s side. “Why would you do that, Darien? Why would you do that? WHY?”
“Tanner, I’m fine.” But he couldn’t draw a breath. And as the seconds wore on, he realized the reason why he couldn’t breathe was because he was choking on his own blood.
There was moisture streaming down Tanner’s face. Sweat and tears, Darien realized, as his friend wailed, “We need you!”
“Yeah, well I need all of you!” Darien shouted back, wincing as the muscles around his wound tensed from the effort to project his voice.
Everything shimmered, as if someone had pushed his head underwater. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t clear his vision.
“Poison,” someone said. The voice was hollow.
Jack. That was Jack’s voice. Darien had never heard him sound like that, not once—
