Page 135 of Avalon Tower

“Um…excuse me?” a male voice calls out. “Commander Melisende?”

Commander? I like the sound of my new title. Commander Melisende it is. I turn to the man. “Yes?”

“What’s that?” He points out to sea.

I turn to look, and my heart sinks.

Shimmering fog rolls ahead of the Fey battleships, a presence that buzzes loudly in my ears. The veil.

Why hadn’t I thought of this possibility? The veil isn’t a wall anymore. It’s a weapon.

“They don’t need to risk their lives to conquer England,” I mutter. “They intend to kill everyone with the veil.”

“Can you disable it?” Raphael asks, an edge to his voice.

My legs feel weak, and my thoughts are so panicked, I can hardly think straight. “For a few seconds. A minute, maybe, but eventually, I’ll have to stop. All they have to do is blanket the city with it and wait.”

Raphael has gone completely still, the autumn breeze toying with his dark curls. “I thought killing Caradoc meant the veil was disabled.”

“Just the border veil,” I say. “Which was hundreds of miles long. This thing is much smaller, but still large enough to roll through a city. All they need is one veil mage to…”

I trail off, searching the approaching ships through the binoculars and listening to the sounds of the veil, focusing on where the humming is strongest.

“What is it?” Raphael asks.

“There!” I point to a ship where a figure stands at the bow, draped in black. “That’s the veil mage. Sergeant, do you have marksmen?”

He frowns. “Yes. But…didn’t you say the Fey are impervious to iron now?”

“Some of them. But bullets will still stop them, even if the iron isn’t poisonous. Shoot them enough times, and they die, just like a human. Can you take that Fey magician out?”

The sergeant barks his commands into the radio, and the rifles start firing.

The air shimmers. More firing fills the air and clouds of gun smoke. The figure still stands, and the sergeant curses.

“What’s going on?” I ask.

“Some sort of magical shield,” he says.

The veil is almost upon the city now. Focusing, I summon my Sentinel power, letting it bloom inside me. I can see the mist clearly as it moves forward and the magical energy woven around it. And beyond the veil, a different barrier. Unfamiliar. That’s the one I need to disable.

“I might be able to take it down for a few seconds,” I say. “Sergeant, fire on my mark.”

“Yes, Commander.”

I clench my jaw and channel my powers at the barrier. It isn’t like the veil, a web I can untangle. It’s more like a fixed wall of energy, and my powers just bounce off it.

“Nia,” Raphael mutters.

I grit my teeth. There’s a point in the barrier where the magic seems thinner. I lash at it with all my strength.

It shatters.

“Now,” I shout.

I hear the sound of guns firing. The freezing cold of exhaustion slides down to my bones, and I start shivering. Raphael wraps his arm around my waist, enveloping me with his warmth.

“We need you to stay with us, Commander,” he whispers in my ear.

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