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I summoned all the courage I could muster and climbed through the broken window, too. I was careful not to let any of the shards scratch or cut me.
I ran toward Nylah and my mom. Mom had added her magic to Nylah’s so that they blocked the darkness Erol pushed against them. They held him back well enough, but they couldn’t use extra power to help Zita. They had nothing left to give.
Zita lay in the dirt, curling in pain as the darkness tried to consume her from within. Erol’s power was so much stronger than I’d ever felt it before.
I ran to Zita. I could heal her.
I felt Erol’s eyes on me, burning, dark, menacing. I refused to look into them. The man was gone, and only the monster remained. I couldn’t afford to let him get into my head, to let his power take control of me, too.
I put my hands on Zita’s chest. She looked toward the heavens without seeing anything and screamed repeatedly. The darkness had gotten a hold of her, and it squeezed the light out of her, crushing her. I forced my power into her, flooding her with light. I pushed so much into her, any other Conjurite or Fae might have buckled under it. The darkness in her was so strong, it wrestled with the light.
Zita’s skin became mottled and purple with bruises as she fought the darkness inside of her. My light helped, but it looked like we were going to lose this battle.
“We can’t hold him off much longer!” Mom warned me.
Erol came closer and closer. With every step he took toward me, the power pulsed thicker. My ears rang, it pushed against my skin like a giant hand, and it made it impossible to breathe.
I turned my focus to my own magic and used Erol’s rhythm to pulse it into Zita’s chest.
It was the only way I could do it without his power railroading me completely.
Zita gasped as if she’d finally come up for air, and the bruises on her skin started to fade.
I helped her to her feet.
Nylah’s and my mom’s magic started to buckle. The darkness was too much.
“We have to get out of here!” I screamed.
“Go!” Nylah yelled. “I’ll hold him as long as I can!”
“We can’t leave you!”
“You won’t, I’m right behind you!”
I nodded, and Mom grabbed Zita’s hand. They ran toward the window we’d used to get out and climbed through it. I hurried after them. Nylah followed behind us a moment later. We waited until she was with us before we ran through the castle.
The darkness was everywhere. We could barely see anything. The lights in the castle were on, but they did nothing.
“We have to find Erol’s family!” I shouted. “I don’t know where they are, I can’t sense them at all!”
Nylah stopped.
“We have to go.Now!”I urged.
Nylah didn’t move. She closed her eyes, and her magic rippled outward like a sonar.
“They’re in the dungeon,” she finally said, opening her eyes.
Terror filled my body.
“We have to get them,” Mom said.
I froze. “I can’t go down there again. I can’t—”
“We have no choice. We can’t leave them behind.”
The castle trembled, the walls groaning around us, and we felt the darkness grow thicker still. Erol had just entered the castle; I had no doubt about it.
