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Black smoke turns the noonday sun hazy by the time sirens sound off in the distance.
Did they watch and wait to see the monster fall, then wait longer to make sure it stayed down before sending in reinforcements?
At this point, I don’t even care as exhaustion weighs on my body.
I stumble out of the carnage of smoke and ash, searching for Sharpe to make sure he’s safe.
He stands among his people, directing them to use the SUVs to haul the fallen trees off the road to make room for emergency vehicles. The ones still attached to the forest floor will require chainsaws and more man-power than we have right now. But it’s a start.
Grateful that no one got seriously hurt in the fight, I turn toward Flint, ready to congratulate him, and my stomach drops in horror.
Flint is still where I last saw him, but his feet no longer touch the ground, and his body looks transparent, the SUV behind him visible through his clothes. A purple glow rises from his skin, and his black hair glistens with starlight.
Someone gasps behind me. “What’s that?”
I spin to see beings with shimmering, nearly transparent bodies appearing on the road. Their forms are hard to make out in the hazy air of the morning light, but I see the outline of long arms and torsos that end in tendrils.
A bulb at the top of each body roughly resemble the shape of a head, though not one that would ever be mistaken as human. More tendrils rise from their backs with veins of fuchsia pulsing in time with my pounding heart.
Spiritfarers, drawn by the souls that surround Flint.
Vibrant purple slits open in their heads, taking in the people who surround them. A few officers cross themselves, while fear morphs to awe in others. It’s rare to feel the judgment of death while still alive, and several people openly weep.
Then the figures’ gazes latch on to Flint.
“No!” I throw myself into their path. “He’ll release them. You can’t take him!”
As they slip past, leaving a chill in my bones, a pair of purple eyes settle on me, and a voice fills my head.He is a child of ours. If he wishes to enter the veil, it is his choice.
“No!” I shout, racing after them. “You had your chance to claim him, and you refused!”
It was not his time.
“It’s not his time now, either!” I pass them and skid to a stop in front of Flint, reaching for him, but my hands can’t make it through the spirits that cling to his body. “Flint, you have to let them go!”
His gaze drops to me, a mirror image of the spiritfarers. “They’re in so much pain.”
“Then let them go!” I shove at the spirits, trying to get through. “You have to let them go!”
“I can’t.” A sad smile spreads over his lips. “They’re scared.”
“I’mscared!” My heart squeezes so hard it feels like it will crumble to dust. “This is not how you go!”
The spiritfarers reach us, surrounding me in bone-chilling cold, and they grab hold of the souls that cling to Flint. A shimmering tear opens in the air a few feet away, and they drift toward it, dragging them into the veil and taking my love with them.
“No!” The creature inside me stirs, lifting its head. “I won’t let you have him!”
Gold light bursts from my skin, fire rising from my pores, and my hand moves through the spirits to grasp hold of Flint’s icy fingers.
“Stay with me,” I beg, tears burning away on my cheeks.
His fingers spasm in my grasp, then curl around mine in a tight grip. He tries to fight free of the spirits, but they refuse to let him go, and the spiritfarers drag us both toward the tear in the veil.
Panic breaks through Flint’s peaceful expression when he realizes what’s happening. He tries to let go of me, but I hold on with dogged determination.
If he goes, we both go.
Strong arms wrap around me, and Sharpe’s voice fills my ear. “I’m not losing either of you like this.”
