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“Ann! Ann!”
It’s Phantom, and he sounds scared.
“We’re over here! But Onyx was hurt!”
A second later, Phantom and Dusk come exploding out of the trees. They both have their swords out, but when they see us, they look around as if expecting trouble, then their swords slowly drop to their sides.
And then, Dusk seems to spot the staff. “How the hell is that here?”
I don’t know what to say. “We…had some trouble.”
Their faces fall, and they both resheath their swords, then join us. Phantom kneels down and begins frantically signing to Onyx. He responds, more slowly. All three of the men’s gazes keep snapping to me, then back to Onyx’s signing.
Oh boy, if they didn’t think I was useless before, I’m sure they do now.
Finally, the signing stops, and Dusk picks up the staff I tossed aside and looks at Phantom. “Shit.”
And I don’t know what he means by it and certainly we aren’t at a place in our…friendship…where he would tell me, but I agree completely.
THIRTEEN
Dusk
“What do we do now?”Ann asks, and there’s a quiet worry in her voice.
Onyx and I exchange a look, and then I speak. “Getting close to the Void is never a good idea, but normally, the creatures within cannot reach us during the daylight. The fact that they were able to drag you in says they’re getting stronger.”
“What does that mean?”
I try to phrase my answer in the least scary way possible. “You know those shiny shards you found?”
She nods.
“They are pieces from a moonstone.” Just mentioning the name of the precious item makes my stomach turn. Dark memories boil up, and I have to push them away. “The Shadow King has tasked his rot monkeys with planting the shards at night. It takes a great deal of his power to keep his creatures from…shattering in this bright world, even beneath the moonlight, so he is limited by how many he can send and how often he can send them. But if he leaves enough of the moon shards here to create a ring around the Void, he’ll be able to use his powers to expand his world. And once it expands, everything trapped inside the Void will be consumed by the darkness. He’ll use that power to spread the Void further and further until this entire world is gone.”
She stares, and I’m not quite sure if she’s having trouble picturing what I’m describing or if she doesn’t want to understand the implications of what I’m saying.
“So why don’t you just remove all the shards?”
Onyx signs, “Is she fucking serious?”
I glare at him, and Phantom answers her. “The shards are nearly invisible. They cast a small light on their own, but during the day, we can’t see it at all. And at night, we search for the shards, but miss many of them. We really have no idea how many the king already has here, nor how much time we have left before he has enough to destroy us all.”
“But the way I saw them glow…was really bright and really obvious.”
“Exactly. For you,” Phantom says, letting the words hang between us.
Her eyes brighten. “So that might be part of why the elder thought I could help? Because they light up for me, so I can actually find them?”
“Yes,” he says.
Onyx signs, “She’s conveniently forgetting that she’s supposed to accept our mate bond to really be able to help us win this war.”
I sign back, “One thing at a time. Now, lay back, you idiot. Rest. We don’t know exactly how her healing works, but it’s best to be careful.”
He glares at me from his bedroll and takes a sip of his soup like he’s a child I’m punishing.
“I want to go back home,” Ann says. I open my mouth to argue with her, but she continues. “But after being inside that place… I can see why you don’t want it spreading. I could stay, for a while, and help find the shards.”
