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“Just wait.”
In front of us, hairline fissures formed and spread across the boulder. Pieces fell to the ground, shed to reveal a hidden mouth with blunted teeth, crudely formed. Divots appeared where eyes might have been.
“Good morning,” the stone rasped. “Aren’t you a tasty-looking morsel?”
Casimir’s eyes widened. “Um, yes. She definitely is.”
“I wasn’t talking to her, you useless bag of flesh.”
Casimir sniffed, then narrowed his eyes at me. “That’s not nice, Little Bird.”
“Neither is this,” I braved. Before he could react, the fake face had Casimir’s torso in its mouth, launching upwards at break-neck speed.
Through my connection to the stone, I could feel Casimir’s powers pushing out. My magic locked onto him, halting his efforts. The force pushing back at mine stalled momentarily.
Too easy, I thought. It shouldn’t be this—
A sudden explosion of Casimir’s power crashed into my spell. I stumbled a step forward. My muscles seized as I fought to keep his magic under my control.
Holy Hecate!
Thiswas the strength I’d expected from the warrior. It felt like my abdominals were about to rip apart from the strain. Our bond blazed, interrupting my focus.
Steadying myself, I drew Casimir and the boulder back to the ground, gradually slowing enough so he could get his bearings. The rock released him and he landed gracefully on his feet in front of me. His pupils had all but taken over his irises, leaving a thin silver ring.
Fascinated, I watched as he got control of his breath. The black slowly receded, but his eyes remained bright.
“Are you angry?” my voice managed to escape evenly, hiding the knotted pain slowly receding from within.
“No. That’s not the word I would use.”
I bit my lip, intuitively reaching for the bond to get a better sense of any drastic emotion. It felt tangled, like conflicting energies were moving through it.
“What word would you use, then?”
He scratched at the stubble on his chin. “I don’t have one.”
Glancing over his shoulder at the faux monster I’d created, he asked, “How did you stop me from ghosting? I’ve never … I mean, how did you even know I was going to try?”
“My magics are covering the stone. I felt your power through my connection to it. Maybe it was an assumption, but I thought you were trying to shift. I can also feel you through our bond, so maybe I picked up on it subconsciously. Really, it was the most logical thing for you to do that far off the ground.”
Casimir ran one hand through his hair. “Did you know that some Shadows can carry others while ghosting? Like cover them in their shadow form and travel with them?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know what happens when it’s with someone who isn’t a Shadow demon?”
“No.”
Casimir disappeared, and I found myself staring through a dark filmy presence—a literal shadow. It flew in a circle around me.
“Let me tell you what happens,” his disembodied voice brushed past my ear. My skin erupted in goosebumps. “The moment the non-Shadow is released, both the Shadow and his passenger are inundated with a need so strong it is almost impossible to ignore.”
“Need?” I whispered. My feminine muscles flexed.
“Yes. Need.”
“For what?”
