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And they hated sound. My gaze cut to the toppled bell. How? They were strong beasts, but they didn’t have the critical thinking skills to dissemble a tower. At the cacophonous intonations, they should have just fled or burrowed beneath the earth to escape the reverberations. Yet the structure had been cleaved in half with the precision of a massive blade—something else Slimacks couldn’t do. Among the wreckage, an ink-black tendril darted between fractured pieces of wood before slithering through the marsh. When it reached the forest edge, a pleased, collective sigh seemed to rise from the darkness itself.
And then a massive Slimack came barreling from the depths of the forest. Unlike the others, this one’s hide had been leeched of color and it was easily double in size. With uncanny speed, it unhinged its jaw and tore through the earth to dive beneath the surface. I watched in horror as a mound of dirt followed in its wake, and it circled behind the normally docile beasts to erupt from the dirt. The guttural cry raised every hair on the back of my neck. The Slimacks shuttered in response and resumed their attack, driven by the undead Kitska beast at their backs.
My stomach roiled violently as a chill swept down my spine. Shadows. Even now, I could see them ringing the Kitska Slimack. I’d trained with Kost and then dreamt of the Lost. And I knew in my bones that my companions would suspect my powers were responsible. Even now, presented with what I knew about Slimacks’ natures…it was hard not to blame myself.
A pained shout from Calem spurred me into motion, and I left my fear and doubt on the bridge. I joined Kost and Calem at the same time Ozias did, and the four of us put our backs together as we faced the cavernous, open maws of the Slimacks. Instead of teeth, hundreds of writhing, barbed tentacles slipped over each other, prepared to trap and consume anything within reach.
“What do we do?” Shadow blades hung in the space around Calem, quivering with anticipation as they waited for him to execute an order. His mercury eyes were full of malice, and he crouched low to the ground as scales formed and receded across the skin of his arms.
“Sound will drive them back.” I cut a glance again at the broken bell and suppressed a shiver. Had I caused this? Still, the Slimacks shouldn’t have attacked. They lived harmoniously with people, their excrement fertilizing the soil and creating a nutrient-rich base for plants. They ate dirt, for gods’ sakes. Again, my gaze found the monster lingering in the back. Waiting for the opportunity to strike. Even it shouldn’t be acting this way. But those dark tendrils had propelled it forward as if it were doing the bidding of something—someone—else. “Ozias, get the bell.” Kost held his glittering rapier steady.
“On it.” He vaulted toward the tower with the help of his shadows, reaching the structure in no time. But his sudden departure alerted two of the Slimacks, and they peeled off after him.
Kost glared at the Slimacks prepared to intercept Ozias, but we’d have to trust that he could handle them. For the moment they’d left, the ground beneath our feet had begun to move. Earth and muck and cattails spilled over one another until two more Slimacks appeared to replace the ones after Ozias. There was no telling how many more lingered beneath the surface.
“Calem, shift. Now,” Kost commanded.
Calem didn’t need any further prompting, and in the span of abreath, he shed his human form in favor of the monster in his veins. Stone-like scales pushed through his skin, and he fell on all fours, massive claws cutting through the loam like knives through butter. A ferocious growl rumbled from deep in his chest as he sauntered forward. Glistening fangs caught in the moonlight, and he stood tall before the threat, a monstrous hound with mercury eyes. Tipping his head to the night sky, he let out a harrowing howl that sent gooseflesh rippling down my arms.
Frantic, wet hisses engulfed us as the Slimacks quivered, and they rammed their bodies into one another as they failed to shake the sound. But rather than flee, they lunged. Their mucous bodies slipped over Calem’s tough hide, and they wrapped around him like cobras until he kneeled to the ground. He was left prone to a single, larger Slimack that had abandoned its legs and was slithering toward him, mouth open, at an unearthly speed.
“Kost! It’ll swallow him whole!” The monster’s mouth grew impossibly wider as it moved, opening large enough to inhale Calem and the creature’s fellow Slimacks. But Kost was faster, darting forward with the help of his shadows. As he moved, his rapier grew longer, deadlier, and with one clean sweep, he arced it high and brought it down behind the base of the creature’s head. Black blood splattered our forms and flooded into the glades. Kost turned to rush to Calem’s side, only to have his feet swept out from under him. The Slimack he’d thought he’d murdered had spun around, revealing that its rear—complete with the same gaping maw as its head—was just as deadly.
“They regenerate! Severing the head won’t do anything.” I thrusted my hands outward and begged the shadows to come to my aid.Please.I closed my eyes and thought of the cool, gray expanse from my dreams.Please.The feel of ebony sand and the sight of jagged, sawtooth rocks.Please.The swirling, angry orb of shadowsthat had calmed and crossed the waters at my beckoning.Please.I imagined a faded-blue stare rimmed in crimson.
Power surged through to my fingertips as I peeled open my eyes. Shadows, virulent and angry, spiraled around me and I forced them to listen. To obey. They writhed as if they’d been electrocuted, but still rushed forward to pry the Slimacks off Calem’s back and thrust away the one looming over Kost. My vision quaked as an invisible weight settled on my shoulders. I tried to push against it, to stand tall, but my knees buckled as my breath turned ragged and sweat dampened my brow.
You cannot control what does not want to be tamed.
The shadows deserted me in a rush, leaving me raw and vulnerable. At least Calem and Kost were safe. They’d righted themselves and come to my side, just as the Slimacks regrouped and once again encircled us like the prey we shouldn’t have been. The first one lunged and Calem responded, leaping into the air to crash into it with enough force to knock the creature unconscious. But the others didn’t falter, and they converged in a rush. Calem tore into their slimy bodies, leaving deep gashes in his wake as he tried to claw his way out of their deadly embrace. Yet those barbed tentacles were impossible to track, and they began to work their way beneath his scales and lift them off one by one. Howling, he tore into the meat of their stomachs, and blood slicker than oil, fragrant with the stench of rotten fish, surrounded us.
Three more charged toward Kost and me. Rapier held high, he waited for them to strike. They reared back with lethal purpose, but as they cracked open their gaping maws and lunged, a rock wall with molten-lava veins erupted before us. They crashed into the jagged surface, and I couldn’t separate their pained hisses from the sizzle of burning flesh. I tracked the vein of lava through the marsh to see Ozias protected behind a barrier of his own with an enraged Jax byhis side. The cracked bell hung from his powerful jaws, waiting to be struck. But it was as if the creatures knew, because more and more Slimacks were rupturing through the soil and attacking Ozias.
I touched my gloved finger to my key. “Help them.”
The groaning hinges of the beast realm door crested over the cries of the Slimacks, and they writhed at the uncomfortable sound. It didn’t compare to Okean’s roar, though, and he landed in our world a snarling, howling ball of rage. He didn’t even wait for my command. Water surged from his jaws as he targeted the Slimacks attacking Ozias and Jax. The powerful torrent careened them into the woods, and he jerked left and right to target each new monster breaching the earth’s surface.
A wayward Slimack sped through the air and slammed into the rock wall protecting Kost and me. Rubble shattered around it from the impact, and Calem bounded toward us. Black blood stained his fangs, and he was coated in slime. A few scales had gone missing, revealing soft hide beneath and wounds of his own.
And then an eerie sound, like a hard swallow magnified for all to hear, turned my blood to ice. Time slowed as I dared to look at the Slimacks. They’d all halted in their attack to eat. They were scooping up particles of Jax’s wall and ingesting them, lava and all.
Wide eyed and frozen, Kost stared at the writhing ground before us. “Will that kill them?”
I barely found my voice. “No. They can stomachanything. And they take on the properties of what they consume until they eat again.”
Before our eyes, their once pallid, pink skin shifted black and hardened like coals. Faint lines of red tracked the surface and pulsed in time with their heartbeats. Calem had managed to take down a few by skewering their inner organs directly. Now…
Standing, I ran toward Ozias, Okean, and Jax with Calem and Kost on my heals. “Sound the bell!”
All around us, the beasts lunged. We were tackled to the ground, the Slimacks’ rough hides now tearing into our skin. I lost sight of everything beneath the weight of thrashing monsters. A torrent of water smacked into the Slimack directly atop me, but another simply replaced it. Calem was howling, Ozias was screaming—there were so many sounds and none of them good. Kost yelled something over the cascading roll of hisses, but I couldn’t quite grasp it.
Until finally, the bone-deep reverberation of the bell. The toll rolled over us with the force of a tidal wave. The monsters retracted in on themselves, forming tight balls and hissing loudly as they tried to block out the sound. I craned my neck in time to see Ozias had fashioned a hammer out of the shadows. His muscles bulged and contracted as he struck the bell with enough force to widen the crack. The toll cascaded over us, and some of the smaller Slimacks finally retreated. Only the larger ones, hardened by Jax’s rock wall, remained. And the monstrous Kitska Slimack lingering on the fringe of it all. For a moment, I was free. I scooted backward through the muck, sliding away from the now-quivering Slimack that had previously pinned me.
Ozias slammed the bell again, this time fully cracking the metal and breaking it in two. A few creatures peeled away, but with the bell now shattered, I wasn’t sure there was anything strong enough to derail the remaining Slimacks. Especially not the undead one. It slammed into me and my breath left my lungs in a rush. I tried in vain to keep its yawning maw away from my head. Barbed tentacles slashed against my skin, and I tasted my own blood.
You caused this.I sank further into the earth beneath the weight of the monster I’d summoned. Okean had either given up on his water assault or needed to recharge, because he’d thrown himself at the Slimack and was violently clawing to try to pry the creature off me. But the Slimack’s lethal rear end reacted, and before I couldwarn Okean, tentacles had sunk into his hind quarters and were dragging him back.
“No!” I flailed against the monster. I couldn’t lose Okean. Iwouldn’t. Tears stung my eyes as I tried in vain to summon my shadows. Faint wisps, weak and intangible, slipped through my fingers. Why did they fail me when I needed them most? Why couldn’t I protect the ones I loved? A wordless, defeated screech burned my throat raw as I watched Okean slide dangerously closer to the monster’s vast maw. I couldn’t save anyone. And I’d never be able to.
