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“I can feel it too,” Casja said, looking around anxiously. “The air is shifting.”
“That’s where the lake is,” I said. “Perhaps it’s slowly coming from there. The water might be evaporating and... That could be how fogs begin in the first place. Are you trying to distract us?”
“No,” Brigid said. “It just feels odd. I don’t know if...”
But before she could finish her sentence, I could see it too. The forest around us hid underneath a grey blanket in a matter of seconds.
“It’s thickening,” Brigid said needlessly.
“Yeah,” Amarra said. “We can see it too, now.”
“It’s settling too quickly,” Casja added.
“It does feel odd,” I whispered as the fog became dense enough that the three of them and the campfire were all I could see without focusing really hard. “But we are in the mountains, perhaps it’s normal, we should...”
I felt her pain before I heard her scream. But before I could go to her or do anything, I felt pain swelling from all around me.
Shock was the first thing the monster folk felt.
Then, came fear.
From all over the camp, images of Seelie soldiers attacking erupted like a storm. I couldn’t see or understand all of them, but fear and shock were all we felt.
“No,” I whispered.
Mona came to us from the fog. She looked scared as she limped to stand beside Casja, who offered her a hand. Through me, the monster folk could witness each other. And they all knew what was happening.
“What is this?” Brigid asked.
“We’re under attack,” I said.
“Who is attacking?” Amarra asked, grabbing my arm roughly.
“The Queen of Light,” I replied. “They’re everywhere.”
I fell to my knees as the fighting began without warning. As we stood there, in complete calm inside the fog, shouts and sounds of fighting erupted all around us.
The monster folk fought. And quickly, they started to hurt.
I tried to reach out to heal them, but the soldiers were ruthless.
This was a planned attack. They did not hesitate or wait around for us to respond.
They were already killing us.
“Jasmine!” Amarra squeezed my arm. “Block them off, now!”
“I can’t,” I whispered.
Collin was fighting an elite soldier alone. He had no one to help him, but the elite soldier was part of a unit. They came into Collin’s tent right after the first man entered. Five of them attacked Collin at once. He got hurt. I tried to reach within him to mend his broken arm, but the dark-haired woman’s sword pierced through his heart.
And just like that, Collin died.
“No,” I whimpered. “No.”
Collin wasn’t the only one. Monster folk that could find each other, fought together, but we were outnumbered.
“The queen brought her army,” I whispered.
