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“Fuck,” Finn growls before pulling me in another direction. Kai and Corvus curse under their breath as well.
“Should we take to the sky?!” Kai yells but Finn shuts that idea down quickly.
“And be an obvious target with two crowns up in the sky for all to see?” Finn shouts back. The roar of the falling trees is deafening. Kai curses again between breaths.
We finally reach an opening and burst out into a large meadow. Four other groups are already gathered here too, opposing one another with their crowned students hidden in the center of the groups. Everyone seems too stunned to do anything. We all just watch as the trees crash to the ground. The entire forest is leveled in a matter of minutes.
Dust and black smoke rise from the debris and one sole individual stands in the center of the destruction, clutching the long black hair of a severed head dangling at his side.
“Edgar?” I whisper his name.
The students recoil at his power and disperse in different directions, herding their crowned individuals to the backs of their groups.
The five of us remain still, stunned and shocked, not certain yet if we should be running as well.
Edgar’s lifeless eyes lift to me and he starts walking slowly towards us, raising his hand in front of him just as he did when he attacked me on the bridge.
“Move, now!” Raine shoves me behind him as his Shadow falls over his shoulders as heavy black smoke. Finn doesn’t waste a second, pulling me to run, but I can’t unlock my eyes from my brother.
More than anything I don’t want to give up on him, but he’s not giving me a fucking choice anymore.
I plant my feet firmly and I tear my arm from Finn’s grip. He looks back at me with surprise.
“We can’t leave Raine to fight alone,” I shout. Kai and Corvus stop running too and glance uncertainly at one another.
Finn’s brows pull together in anguish but he nods. “Okay. Kai, keep going and keep your fucking head.” It’s not funny in the slightest but Kai bursts out laughing, maybe from the shock of it all.
“I’m staying,” Kai says firmly.
I look back to Raine. Edgar approaches at the same slow pace, calm and forceful, the head in his hand bleeding profusely and making my stomach churn. It’s one of the queens, her long black hair muddied from the ash of the trees and her own blood. It doesn’t look cleanly cut; it looks like he ripped her head from her body.
Raine’s Shadow grows to an enormous size, bones rising from the darkness around him and forming the ominous Shadow dragon I’ve only seen once before. The bones of wings rise into the sky, and an entire being made of nothing more than shadows and bones lets out a roar so deafening it shakes the ground.
“Are you sure he even needs our help?” Kai says in awe as the Shadow beast flies above us. Raine looks back at us. His eyes aren’t as confident as his power suggests.
Amser calls from the back of my conscience. Sully has broken all the casts. The Destiny Shadow cannot fight him alone.
My stomach clenches and dread consumes me entirely. “Yes, he does need our help.” I run back to Raine’s side and ignore his angry shouts for me to flee.
Finn takes my other side and glares at Edgar. “We don’t need to fight. You already have a crown,” Finn says icily to my brother in an attempt to prevent any more bloodshed.
Edgar’s soft brown hair is matted with crimson. His face is already horrifying with the missing flesh over his jaw and teeth, but there’s something sinister in him now. More than just his Shadow’s darkness. It’s his own rage and malice too.
“I have to collect two,” Edgar says eerily. His voice is a ghastly, broken sound. It shatters my heart because it makes him seem so inhuman.
“Two?” I say, eyes widening. How fucking terrible.
“It’s nothing personal,” Edgar mumbles as he raises both hands toward Finn and darkness whips out toward his neck. A flash of fire catches and lines Finn’s neck like an iron neck guard. The darkness collides with Finn but he holds his footing.
For a moment, we stand in silence. It’s too morbid to imagine how it came to this. How my sweet, pure-hearted brother became this.
I step forward, conjuring my power. Tick marks of time arch above my head like a clock. Edgar looks at me and a flicker of pain sears through him, but the emerald green that once lit his eyes is gone. An unsettling red has taken its place.
He looks like he’s merged with Sully, but his eyes aren’t gray. Amser speaks quietly in my mind. The headmaster cannot control Sully. No other Shadow can.
I grit my teeth and prepare to attack my own flesh and blood.
“Don’t interfere, Terra.” Edgar’s eyes narrow on me.
