Page 65 of Bright Soul

I pitched my frustrations into the intermittent fights that followed. It took less than an hour for us to travel to the top floor and clear it, though I spent a significant amount of timeafterward forming a burn pile of slain unnaturals and filling the truck bed with unconscious torchbearers. One of us would have to return to the library sooner than expected.

Chill wind kissed my face, and I risked a glance at the sky as clouds skidded over the sun. An angry gray storm flowed toward us from the horizon, moving impossibly fast on magic-kissed gales. With that realization came a pricking sensation over my scalp. The ghost of white talons trying to burrow into my skull.

The Hungering Darkness was coming.

25

CRESS

“Totally chic, don’t you think?” I asked Braza, eyeing the dress displayed on one of the last standing mannequins in a storefront. We were taking a quick break while Phaeron cleaned up the mess we’d made of the unnatural nests we’d stomped.

“You should try it on. Dark colors look nice on you,”she answered in my head.

“Maybe if we get a chance to shop.” I practically pouted. Maybe it was my entitlement showing, but I’d hoped the mall would’ve been relatively empty and untouched. A shopping spree in a mega mall with just my men and Braza?Yes, please.

“Are you talking to yourself again?” my handbook asked, fluttering in for a landing on top of my head.

“Quiet. There are still monsters,” hissed Jin. I hadn’t taken her on this mission on purpose, but she’d stowed away in the truck anyway while Milo and Bella remained safe with the other familiars at the hospital. I stooped to scratch her behind the ears, and she loosed a reluctant purr.

“Is the kitty mad at me?” my handbook asked in a loud whisper.

I put a finger to my lips, and again, we went “shhhh” at the same time.

Braza crackled with electric surety.“Something’s wrong.”

I lifted my weapon and spun, looking for the danger. Ben and Geo stirred nearby, alert within moments. Under the sound of my breath, I could hear the calls of unnaturals on the levels below us, plus the sound of claws on tile. “They’re all on the move,” I murmured.

Phaeron took form from shadows just as I was smothering my blade’s glow. A crazed glint flashed in his gemstone eyes, his teeth bared in a snarl. Braza reacted first, throwing out a wave of energy that suffused him within moments.

He flinched and grasped his head. With my weapon dimmed, he was nearly one with the dark mall around us. “Endaeron is almost here,” he growled.

A winged shape dive-bombed us. The creature, a former seagull with a puffed-out chest like a water balloon, released a shrill scream. It exploded with a wet sound when Geo smashed it on the flat of his shield. “Myuna is not content to wait for nightfall,” he rumbled.

“Much as I want to fuck up Garroway…we’re outnumbered,” Ben pointed out.

Thunder rumbled overhead. Rain began to aggressively patter against the ceiling.

“I moved the torchbearers we rescued to the entrance foyer,” Phaeron said. I heard the rasp of his sword leaving its sheath. “It’s too late to retreat.”

“Well, then it’s time we stood and fought.” Despite everything, Ben smiled. There was a sound like glass cracking, and then he had purple liquid on his fingertips and painted a bold eye symbol between his brows.

Geo took to the air with a heave of his obsidian body. There was an outraged series of shrieks that followed, accompanied by the sound of buckling metal. I encouraged Braza’s shadows over my face, parting the impenetrable darkness to spot what he’d done. He’d dropped his considerable weight in the middle of the closest escalator, buckling it in half and stranding the unnaturals that were halfway up its stationary length.

Dozens of hands grabbed for the gargoyle, dragging him off balance toward the seething mass of unnaturals.

“He can handle himself,”Braza reassured me. A split second later, he’d taken to the air again, shaking off a doskalo-like creature trying to cling to his ankle. It dropped for a hard landing a floor below.

Every prickling length of her shadows had gone taut with awareness, pressing into my skin with an electric sense of danger. The Hungering Darkness was somewhere close, its presence swirling over our heads in search of an opening.

“Go hide,” I whispered to Jin, who scampered away but not too far. I could still feel my connection to her, the ferocity I could borrow if I needed it.

“Geo!” I shouted. We needed him here, with us. He was in the process of destroying the other escalator, set a few yards away from the first. It wouldn’t stop the unnatural infestation below us, but they would have to find another route to the top floor.

White shadows took form right in front of me. Garroway moved like a blur, striking my sword right out of my hand with a full-strength snap of his own blade. The Lux spell sputtered out, throwing our surroundings into dim murk. The relentless gray storm overhead prevented any natural light from interfering.

Phaeron charged him with a shadowborn’s roar, shattering the air with his fury and the ring of steel on steel. Ben helped me up while I sent out a tendril of Braza’s shadows to retrievemy sword by its hilt. The mark on Ben’s forehead glowed a faint purple.

“Can you see with that?” I asked, pointing at it.

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