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Smoky let out a slow whistle. “Trillian and I will be there in a few moments. Shamas is out in the yard. He’ll come, too. Where are you?”
I gave him the address. “Can you come through the Ionyc Seas? We need you here fast.”
“I’ve never been there, but I know a park nearby. I can carry both Shamas and Trillian. Five minutes…ten at the most.”
“Make it five. And bring silver weapons. That’s the only thing that will touch these creatures.” I hung up and turned back to the egg.
As Roz did his best to fend off the would-be sacrificial offerings, a vibrating hum began to fill the air. The noise started like a faint ringing in my ears, quickly increasing in volume as the egg began to rock. I dropped to my knees, holding my hands over my ears. Delilah was doing the same. The piercing wail was unrelenting, but still the supplicants attempted to get to the egg. Roz was doing his best to stop them, ignoring the sirenlike shriek.
Morio yelled something at me, but I couldn’t hear him between covering my ears and the wail of the egg. He pointed to a spot high on the silver orb, and I squinted; the pale sun was glaring in my eyes. But then, as a cloud passed between the light and us, what he was looking at became clear.
Fuck. Narrow veins began to appear, the cracks slowly rippling across the egg, like a spiderweb or an intricate mosaic. A glowing violet light began to shimmer from the hair-width fractures, and in my gut, I knew it was the energy of the Netherworld peering out. The energy of the spirit demons.
My stomach knotted. The thing was about to hatch. I tried to stand, but the noise drove me down again. Roz, Morio, Shade, and Vanzir were all on their feet—it must have been just Delilah and I who were affected.
“Please, Moon Mother, let it hold off until the others get here. We need all the help we can get,” I whispered, unable to hear myself but praying still the same. I couldn’t use her magic in this battle, but maybe—just maybe—she’d send us a little luck, a little boost.
And then the sirens fell silent, and—disconcerted—I pushed to my feet, Delilah doing the same. We gathered up our blades and turned to face the egg. The cracks had nearly covered the surface now, and the violet veins of light were shining through them, but so far, they hadn’t gotten any wider. I had no idea whether it was like a chicken’s egg—were the spirit demons pushing against the inner walls of the shell? Would they emerge one by one, or in a huge, writhing mass? And how many were in a nest, anyway?
So many questions, and unfortunately, we were poised to find out the answers. The hard way. I glanced at the others, uncertain.
“Should we rush it now, while they’re still inside? Smoky, Trillian, and Shamas are on their way. Should we wait for them? I don’t know what to do!” Frantic, I turned to Vanzir. “You know the most about them—what do we do?”
He looked just as terrified as I felt. “They’ll go for the magic users first. I’d say for you and Morio to get the hell out of here, but you wouldn’t be able to run fast enough. A nest contains dozens of the demons—but they won’t be at full strength yet. They’ll be fast and they’ll be ravenous, even though Gulakah has been sending them food.”
“When should we attack?”
Shade interrupted. “Not till they come out. If we break the shell now, they’ll all pour out at once. If we’re lucky, then they’ll only be able to come out a few at a time. I don’t know for sure, but I say we don’t give them any help.” He gazed up at the sky. “Pray for more clouds—there are a few but not enough for me to slip into shadow. I may not be able to attack them with my magic, but I could use it to navigate.”
Finally! Something I could manage!
“Hold on.” I sheathed my dagger and raised my arms to the sky. I couldn’t call the lightning to fight, but I could gather the clouds. The sky was overcast enough now for me to summon them.
I inhaled deeply, pulling in the scent of rain on the horizon. A storm was on the way, and I could bring it faster. Not strong enough to give us a deluge, but a bank of nimbostratus clouds was near enough to summon. They were low-level and dark and filled with enough precipitation to spur on moderate showers. I quickly unzipped the pocket and pulled the horn back out, thrusting it into the air.
“Master of Winds, Lord of the Depths, hear me. Bring the storm, bring the rain, bring the cloud cover, not to attack but to help camouflage and protect!”
As I spoke, a loud crack of thunder rumbled in on the currents as the clouds began to move, shifting rapidly, piling up as if we were watching a time-elapsed film. The wind picked up, whipping my hair, the faint taste of rain caught in the gusts. I laughed—the sheer joy of the elements washing through me, cleansing my fear.
Replacing the horn in my pocket, I zipped it up and turned to Shade. “Will that be enough?”
He gave me a sultry smile. “You’re the best,” he said, and vanished into the sudden glut of shadows that spread across the lawn.
As the clouds continued to build, I realized that I’d called more than a simple storm. Something big was going on up there. But there was no time to worry about it now—because as Smoky, Trillian, and Shamas came racing up the street, the egg began to shatter—shards of pale gray shell falling every which way. A host of shadowy creatures began to rush out, nebulous but visible, and they descended on us with a fury. I raised my silver blade. The fight had come to us, and we were sorely outnumbered.
Chapter 12
The rush of spirit demons was an eerie sight against the backdrop of darkening sky. We watched as a fountain of light shot up, sparking with the violet flames of the Netherworld and, flying out of that fountain, the nebulous forms of the spirit demons.
We’d never actually fought any of the creatures, though I wondered how much worse than the bhouts could they be, but that question was answered all too quickly as one landed in front of me.
While it was ethereal, I could see its face and body, and the hollow sockets were filled with glowing fire—burning brilliant orange. The body itself was vaguely bipedal, resembling a human though not of human descent. But where the heart would have been was a hole of swirling mist, and out of that hole, feelers emerged—thin tentacles that reminded me of Vanzir’s neon feeding tubes. They were silent as they writhed toward me, and I dodged as one of them swiped toward my head. It missed me by inches.
Holy hell! The things were fast, and there were so many of them it was hard to estimate the horde we were fighting. I slashed at the one in front of me. It was close enough to touch, and I managed to score a direct hit. It screamed as the silver bit into its side and launched itself at me again. Again I ducked and countered, and again, I managed to hit. The second time, the spirit demon vanished in a whiff of flame.
I killed it? That had to be a joke! But then I realized that we were dealing with newly hatched creatures and, demon or not, they were still vulnerable. Once they began to feed now that they were outside, they’d become much more dangerous.
Roz’s voice echoed over the fray. “No! Damn it to fucking hell!”
