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Not that it matters.My leather gloves squeaked as I clutched the reins tighter. They were all on edge, and I could only assume it was because of me. We’d departed from Cruor a few hours ago, and already they were acting like I was bound to explode.
Why bring me along, then?I chewed on the inside of my cheek. No doubt Kost was worried about the shadows that’d lashed out during my dream state. It would make sense to keep me close, to monitor the behavior of my power and keep the rest of the members of Cruor safe from any more unexpected outbursts. It’s what I would’ve done. Even so, the thought of being carted around just so I could be watched soured my tongue.
I bit back a huff of annoyance. They’d all stressed the importance of mastering the shadows, even Noc and Leena. The moment they’d insinuated I could get lost in the shadow realm permanently, I took to the library and scoured the shelves for any credible information pertaining to such a fate. There were a handful of documented cases of assassins disappearing from our world, and it was after months—a few even making it to a year—of failed training. I’d only been recently turned. Even though my shadows behaved differently than a few others who’d recently been raised, I still had time. But the pressure to become something I reviled, something that completely eradicated my Charmer powers, only made me want to delay further. If not for Leena, I wouldn’t even have Okean. This was not the life I chose, but the path ahead of me would be my own.
We rode uninterrupted until early evening when a small, oblong clearing on the shoulder of the path came into view. Only then did Kost glance behind him to signal to his brothers that we’d be peeling off. One by one, we followed his lead and steered our Zeelahs toward a line of trees mostly unmarred by vines. Dismounting, I looped the leather reins loosely around the trunk, giving it a tug to secure the knot. Calem and Ozias immediately fell into routine, as they seamlessly began setting up camp. Ozias erected two tents before I could blink, and Calem paused only for a brief moment to receive some direction from Kost I couldn’t decipher. With a tight nod, he summoned his shadows and disappeared into the wood.
“Start a fire,” Kost said to me as he tended to the mounts, siphoning water from a pouch into tin bowls at their feet. “Calem will be back soon with food.”
“Right.” I crossed to the tree line and crouched. Brittle branches, twigs, and moss littered the forest floor, and I snared the driest wood I could find. The intense overgrowth from the leaves and pinesco pods above locked in moisture, making it difficult to secure logs that weren’t rotted from the inside out. But building a fire was something I could do, and even if it was a simple task, I wanted to prove to them that I could handle myself.
A twig snapped in the distance, and I glanced up. Crickets chirped in the air as the evening set in, and the soft hoot of an owl met my ears. Between the increasingly dim lighting and the density of the forest, there wasn’t much to see. Still, I squinted into the tangled tree limbs and undergrowth. I hadn’t sensed a Kitska beast nearby, but some creatures were excellent at evading attention. When nothing stirred, I went back to searching for tinder. If there were really a threat in the woods, the fowl and insects would fall silent.
As I snared a decent-size stick, a branch overhead creaked as if it were bearing too much weight. I jerked my head upward, butagain, there was nothing to be found, and the sounds of the forest continued on. Unease settled in my gut, and I stilled. I’d heard something, and yet… My gaze bounced from branch to branch until I spied a peculiar dark spot in the tree next to me. My eyes narrowed. The lighting in the woods was poor, but I should’ve been able to see the outline of the branches in the very least. Instead, it was simply an onyx void.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. Amovingvoid.
The edges of the abyss were writhing, collapsing and re-forming to loosely maintain the veil of darkness.
Shadows.My heart hammered against my rib cage. Was I sleeping again? When had I dozed? My fingers trembled, and inky tendrils began to form in my palm. They slithered around my wrist and skittered up my forearm, but as erratic and uncontrolled as their movement was, they still looked—felt—different than what I spied in the treetops.
Before I could investigate further, a body emerged from the abyss and rocketed toward me. Carried by the shadows, they were on me in an instant. I screamed as something—someone—slammed into me, and I careened into the clearing where Ozias and Kost were still setting up camp. I tumbled across the earth until I smacked into a jutted tree root. Wood splintered around me, and I dug my hands into the dirt for purchase.
“We’re under attack!” I shouted, quickly searching for Ozias and Kost. Ozias stood there, slack-jawed with hands limp by his side, while Kost grimaced. Gaze hard, he folded his arms across his chest.
“Remember your training,” he said.
“What?” I scrambled to my feet. The shrouded person was on the move, stalking toward me like a predator toying with its prey. “What’s going on?” The shadows around my hands quivered, and I shot a bewildered look at them.
“Focus on your stance. Center yourself,” Ozias called. His initial shock had been replaced with a grim determination as his gaze flickered between me and the attacker.
A jet-black blade careened toward my face and then peeled off at the last moment. Strands of freshly cut hair fell to my shoulder, and I fingered the space where my locks used to be as I whirled to face the assailant.
“Pay attention.” His voice was guttural and dark, almost feral. The shadows around his eyes parted for a moment to reveal muted-red irises ringed in mercury. Calem.
Confusion shifted to rage in a second, and my nostrils flared. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Trimming some of that hair back. I’ll keep at it ’til you and Ozias share the same style if you don’t stop me.” It was meant as a jest, but I couldn’t ignore the challenge in his stare. Leave it to Calem to turn everything into a battle. He sent a series of shadow blades aimed straight for my head, and I threw my arms up to protect my face. The shadows around my arms exploded, knitting together in two horribly formed shields with far too many cracks, but they deflected several blades while the others mysteriously changed trajectories and burrowed into the soft bark of the tree at my back. The weapons dispersed almost instantly, but not before Calem could attack again.
Another volley of blades, another round of hits. Within minutes, the malformed shields I’d managed to summon were gone. Calem had crouched low to the ground, his hands lazily toying with blades as he waited for me to find my balance.
Not a single weapon had hit its mark. Calem was better than that. Horrifically so. He lived for the hunt, which meant he’d been tailoring his attacks, pulling back when he knew I wouldn’t be able to deflect them.
“Nice work.” His grin was borderline unsettling, but he’d paused his assault. For now.
Slowly, I straightened. “Are you done yet?”
“Nope.” He slowly lifted his palms upward, and the shadows around him snarled in response. With ease, more blades manifested by his side, and he angled their deadly points in my direction.
“Let’s limit it to five, Calem. You keep calling off the extras, anyway,” Ozias shouted.
My gaze swiveled to Kost and Ozias. Neither of them had moved, but Ozias had turned his focus to Calem. Kost continued to study me as if I were a puzzle in need of solving.
Realization hit hard and fast, and I nearly broke my teeth I clenched my jaw so hard. “You told him to do this.”
“Correct.” He clasped his hands together. “The threat of blades seemed to trigger you into summoning your shadows. Harness that.”
The remaining shadows clinging to my frame sharpened. “You could warn me next time we’re about to train.”
