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“Don’t worry. I won’t let that happen.” The Lost summoned shadows from the ground itself, and they burst through the sands in monstrous spires that nearly gutted us. Calem had rolled just in time and landed a few feet from Gaige. He scrambled toward Gaige’s motionless body and hoisted him up, but the Lost’s shadows were already poised to strike at them again. More premonitions bloomed in my mind, and I darted toward the forming spears and cut them at the base before he could command them.
He snarled in frustration and summoned more. “I can do this forever.”
All magic has limits.Isla’s words whispered through my mind, and I gritted my teeth as I again cut through the barrage of daggerlike shadows. The Lost couldn’t possibly maintain this level of power forever. His magic would eventually ebb away. I just needed to keep utilizing this precognition to stay one step ahead. The only downfall was that I had no idea how long I’d be able to hold on to Felicks’s power.
“Go, Calem!” I needed to buy them time. Gaige still wasn’t healing. Maybe if they got closer to the rift, closer to the real shadow realm, his restorative powers would strengthen.
“I already told you—”
“NOW!” I roared. “That’s an order from your guild master.”
The Lost shot more shadows soaring through the air, and while I deflected a few, a handful still found their targets. In the soft flesh of Gaige’s thigh. Calem’s shoulder and calf. He howled—in rage, frustration, pain, or some combination of all three—and glared at the Lost before finally, finally, dragging Gaige toward the ebony path.
I wasn’t sure if I’d ever see Calem and Gaige again, but at least I could give them a chance to live.
Turning my back on them and hoping Calem would, for once in his stubborn existence, escape, I gripped the hilts of my swords with renewed vigor. More tendrils knit around me in a shimmery armor, and I took a step forward.
“I will not let you have them.”
And with that, I lunged headlong into a swarm of writhing shadows.
TWENTY-SEVEN
GAIGE
When I managed to finally open my eyes, I thought I was still lost in the fog of my subconscious. All around me was a wet, milky-white mist that settled like a cold blanket against my skin. I couldn’t see anything else, but my body ached as if I’d endured yet another Slimack attack. I wanted to fall back into a deeper state of unconsciousness, but awareness flickered in my mind like a ripple on a pond. It was quiet at first. I couldn’t quite place the sound, but as it grew closer, louder, I realized it was scream.
Kost. I bolted upright as my memories slammed into me. That wasn’t my subconscious—I was physically surrounded by fog, which meant I was still in the mysterious realm where the Lost resided. I jerked my head around in search of Kost, but he was nowhere to be found. There was nothing but gray-on-gray, and the feel of smooth stones beneath me. Pain blossomed from my abdomen as I stood, and I gnashed my teeth together. Wincing, I grazed the healing, reddish-pink wounds puckered against my midsection.
On the beach, my body had refused to heal. I'd fallen unconscious in a pool of my own blood, my hands going limp over wounds that refused to close. But here… I glanced around. I still wasn’t entirely sure how I’d ended up in this place, but I knew I entered itsomewhere. And that somewhere was close. The real shadow realm was close. It was feeding my powers, making it easier for my body to heal.
That still didn’t explain how I’d escaped, though. The last thing I remembered was being buried alive by shadows, and now this. I couldn’t even see the path anymore. Somehow, I’d made it back into the foggy abyss. Somehow…
Another scream, closer this time, shattered the too-quiet surroundings, and a blurry outline whizzed past me. I barely glimpsed it at first, but it crashed into the ground nearby and a plume of mist furled outward at the sudden disturbance. A body covered in lacerations similar to my own appeared.
“Kost.” I ran toward him, ignoring the heat and stickiness of blood as one of my gashes reopened.
A dangerous growl, more feral than human, simmered from a chest too broad to be Kost’s. I skidded to a halt and waved away the mist above his head. Loose blond hair streaked with blood fell about wide shoulders, and Calem jerked his head toward me. Awareness clicked in his mercury-filled glare, and his brows smoothed a fraction.
“Thank fuck you’re finally awake. We need to move.”
“How did you get here?” I offered him my hand and pulled him to his feet. He didn’t meet my gaze, instead tracking invisible threats in the mist and settling lower into his stance.
“I’ll explain later. Right now, we’re being hunted.” As if responding to his words, a shadow wolf of my own making lunged from the fog and slammed into Calem with brutal efficiency. Fangs tore at his bicep, and blood spurted across the ebony stones at our feet. He summoned a blade in his other hand and drove it into the shadow beast’s heart. It exploded in a flurry of wispy tendrils as more eerie howls echoed through the mist.
Eyes lit with that dreadful, magical sheen bloomed to life allaround us. Calem pressed his back against mine and cursed. “Can you do anything about this?”
“The mage turned them against me.” My gaze flitted from one indecipherable shape to the next.
“Fucking prick,” Calem hissed. “I hope Kost kills him.”
I went stock-still. “Kost is fighting him?”
“He’s the only reason we’re alive.” Shadows curled around us as Calem called them close. Hundreds of blades formed a sphere around our bodies, and they hung perfectly equidistant from one another as they waited for the beasts to strike.
But all I could think about was Kost fighting against the mage alone. I knew I was weak. I hadn’t trained enough to hold a candle to the mage. Kost, though, had spent decades finessing his magic. He’d never settle for anything less than a perfect execution of his power.
And I still knew in my gut that he wouldn’t survive. He didn’t stand a chance against the Lost. A different kind of pain speared my chest, and my breathing hit hard. I didn’t know how he’d managed to come here, but he’d risked everything to save me. I’d be damned if I was going to leave him here to die.
