Page 106 of Lunar Diamonds
It’s back. It’s back. It’s back.
It melded with the darkness, its eyes floating crimson balls.
“Get away from me,” I rasped, sweat beading across my skin.
It lunged forward, taking a swipe at me. My body reacted, running on pure survival instinct. I felt the air change rather than see the move, managing to duck and roll out of its trajectory.
An Aurora perk?
I rolled down the sloping shore, hitting the frozen lake. I slid across the ice, going too far out.
By Hecate!
Those red eyes tracked me from the shore. The shade stayed there, watching.
Waiting? Plotting some terrible suffering in my immediate future?
All of the above, for sure.
I got to my knees. The ice groaned beneath me. I stilled, desperate for a plan. My powers were offline and my witch bangle’s lights were dead.
“Stay where you are!” I yelled.
Fabulous. What a way to tell the shade off.
Not.
It moved down the shore, those eyes bobbing.
There had to be a way out of here. The other side of the lake? Yes! Maybe this was a test before I could claim the diamonds. Some sort of trial.
Too afraid to stand, I pushed myself across the ice, gathering speed, willing for me bump into another snowy beach. What I needed was light. A hell of a lot of light.
The shade appeared before me, taking a swipe. I yelped, reeling at the last second with incredible reflexes.
It hissed, going for another strike. Despite the cold and the dark, my instincts continued to fire, allowing me to anticipate each attack.
Definitely a perk of my Aurora blood.
Hiss, hiss. Swipe, swipe. The dance went on with no sign of an ending.
“Leave me alone!” I cried, ducking another attack.
Light. It broke the darkness. A distant thing, but there. The shade paused, hissing, turning its attention toward it.
The light expanded into a greater curve of gold. Like the tip of a circle. A rising sun, chasing the night away.
Isaac?
The shade hissed furiously, backing away from me as the sunlight spilled across the lake, more of it cresting the horizon.
“Isaac?” I called.
“I’m here!” he responded.
Relief hit me like a wave. I got to my feet, a little unsteady.
The ice beneath me began to melt. Groaning, cracking under the heat I only felt for a second. I scanned the area for Drake. He was nowhere to be seen, and I couldn’t hear him anymore.
