Page 56 of Bright Soul

As I hadn’t wanted my hybrid status broadcast to the supernatural world, I’d left Wren’s staff behind. She didn’t seemto care much about its fate, still having the moon scepter tied to her hip. Walking next to her was Willow, also on her phone but for a different reason. She had our map and wore Grace’s microphone to coordinate with Tish.

“We’re taking a left two blocks from here,” Willow said.

“Got it,” Phaeron said.

Meanwhile, Wren narrated our walk and the information flashing on Willow’s phone as the map refreshed in real time. “The survivors have ransacked everything of value from these stores already. This road will lead us to a location where several skirmishes have been fought against Myuna’s creatures. They’ve wrecked enough cars here after dark…”

Phaeron shot an annoyed glance over his shoulder. I spoke up to distract him. “Just pretend she’s not there. It’s for the stream.”

“Right. Where others can watch what we’re doing,” he repeated dubiously.

“A lot of others,” Ben pitched in. “And they give us money for the cause.”

“Well then. Perhaps with the donations, you will stop trying to spend mine for me,” Phaeron said.

Ben covered a surprised laugh. “Nah, Big P. I still think you need to buy a car.”

“What use do I have for a car?” Phaeron put his palms up in exasperation. It was like they’d picked this argument up from where they’d left it before we were ever trapped here.

“Or a phone,” Geo rumbled.

I held my breath when there wasn’t an immediate reply. The dimensional took a breath and flashed a smile toward me. “I’ve promised to buy four of them,” he said more quietly. “Though I still don’t see why I need a phone too.”

“You do,” the three of us said practically on top of one another.

“Very well,” he chuckled. “Perhaps our task will be brief and we can take a couple detours. I am in want of new armor.”

I’d insisted on him donning a shirt for the sake of the stream. The hospital had a plain black one that fit him well enough. If he hadn’t still been simmering from me suggesting he stay behind, he might’ve teased me about covering up. There’d been the glimmer of the idea in his eyes, at least, before he’d silently shrugged it on.

“If we can find a shop that still has something in stock,” I murmured. As Wren had suggested, the storefronts we passed were completely looted. Most windows were smashed in, displays empty or turned over. We stopped at a corner mart to scavenge for crumbs, just to find a trio of rat-like unnaturals already in the process of doing just that.

We killed them without much issue, but Phaeron dragged their corpses out by their tails and lit the match to burn the pile of them on the sidewalk. “Leave nothing behind that she can consume,” he muttered when Wren panned her camera from the spreading fire to his profile.

He turned away, beckoning for the group to follow him. “Now that we’ve encountered her creatures, we can be sure there are more nearby. Stealth is of the essence,” he said.

“I’m great at stealth!” my handbook piped up next to my ear, startling me. It’d been so good on this trip until now.

I turned toward it, putting a finger to my lips. Together, we went “shhhhh.”

“See, I know the routine,” it squeaked smugly.

“Your shouting is going to get me killed one of these days,” I whispered at it.

In reply, it alighted its spine on my left shoulder. “You love me, Cressie-poo,” it replied, actually lowering its voice too.

Geo’s wings opened with a scrape of rock. He cleared a small area and took to the sky, hopping from rooftop torooftop above us as we headed for the place where our allies had had several skirmishes with the enemy. I knew it on sight due to the wreckage of a few cars sitting in the middle of an intersection. Judging by the number of lanes, this would be a busy thoroughfare if circumstances were different.

“Incoming,” Geo announced. We bristled with spells and weapons, waiting for the space of a few quickened heartbeats before several humanoid figures poured out of a gaping car repair shop across the street, alongside many more unnaturals that used to be various animals.

I was merging with Braza’s power all the while, clothed in her purple-black shadows and wearing a wolf-like visage over my face. “We want to keep the people alive, if possible,” Phaeron said before taking his own shadowborn form and leaping forward.

His shadows speared the nearest torchbearer, slamming him on his back and wrapping him in a layer of dark ropes. While struggling and gnashing his teeth, the man had his eyes wide open, staring at us. I could see why those who’d fought torchbearers thought they were zombies. His irises were bleached under a sheet of glowing white, unnatural and dead-seeming.

I cast Lux on my sword and joined the melee, warding away the bulbous birds dive-bombing my friends with a few swings of my light. The monsters were afraid as ever of my power, so I cast Luminaire with a warning shout, aiming to dazzle our enemies.

Monsters screamed, and torchbearers cowered, but words formed on their lips, dry whispers. “My lady,” rasped one. Another begged for mercy.

I froze, my mouth hanging open for one dumbfounded moment. They thought I was Myuna?

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