Page 121 of Tower of Tempest
“Goodbye, Gran,” I said, pawing at my tears, but I didn’t have time to mourn, not when Loch’s shadow was still so close.
All the shadows lurked near the trees, unsure if they should take Gran or not.
“Let’s get your shadow back, Loch.” I came to a stand, pushing the grief aside for enough time to get Loch’s shadow back. Then I’d allow myself to wallow, to scream, to do whatever I needed.
I glanced behind me when Loch didn’t respond.
My stomach dropped when I saw his form crumpled on the ground right by us.
I ran back to him, dropping at his side. “Loch!” I rolled him over onto his back. “No. No, no, no.”
I’d lost my mother. I’d lost Gran. I would not lose him too.
His chest rose and fell with shallow breaths. I ripped open his shirt, the blue lines touching right where his heart beat. They slowly began to spread from his heart, an inky web creeping up to his face, down his stomach, to his arms. The blue lines stretched out, mottled and twisted to every part of his body. I stared in horror.
“Blood and skies.”
I had to get his shadow back. Now.
I jumped to my feet as the shadows began to fly away, deciding they were no longer interested in us now that Gran was gone. My wings flapped behind me, and I rose into the air, flying fast and hard, blocking the shadows as they tried to escape.
“You’re not going anywhere,” I said to Loch’s shadow.
The shadows must’ve decided I was a threat because they lungedand gripped me tight. Their wispy bodies slithered around me and curled like a rope, holding my arms to my sides, keeping me immobile. This might’ve been a bad plan. I had no idea how I could fight back, what I could do against this onslaught. The shadows felt like ice against my skin, so cold they burned. I shivered, struggling against their hold, but each time I struggled, they only tightened their forms around me.
Loch’s shadow swam around my legs. Meanwhile he had gone completely still on the ground.
Spirits below, he couldn’t be dead. He couldn’t be. Loch’s shadow let out an inhuman sound that split the air. It flew up from my boots and to my neck, wrapping around it. I choked, unable to even clutch at my throat, hands and arms still stuck at my sides.
Above the gray clouds parted just slightly, allowing a small sliver of light through. It wasn’t enough to infiltrate the forest, not this deep in. Not unless I could somehow move the trees to let the sun in.
This was it, then. After everything, this would be my end. The information about the shadow king would never go beyond this forest. It wasn’t just our lives at stake—it was everyone’s. And we’d failed.
Suddenly, I was so, so tired. A bone-weary exhaustion that sank deep into me and wouldn’t let go. I was tired of feeling weak. I was tired of feeling grief. I was tired of feeling scared. I was tired of feeling worthless. My gaze flicked to Loch’s. But I wasn’t worthless. I’d never been worthless. I’d just been too stubborn to recognize it. Too scared to trust that I could be enough. Just me.
Black spots dotted my vision as my lungs burned, my body growing weaker and weaker. A light burst into the forest, so bright I had to close my eyes as it seared down.
“We’re back again, bitches,” Driscoll yelled from somewhere nearby.
The shadows’ holds on me loosened, and it was the push I needed to fight.
I screamed, and my wings burst open. The shadows launched backward as I flapped my wings harder and rose in the air. My breathing was ragged and uneven, but I was alive, and that was all that mattered right now. My entire body felt beaten, bruised, and so weak, but I would not give up. Not when so many others kept fighting for me. Not when Loch still had a chance.
Driscoll and Leoni stood there, Driscoll with his hands out, bendingthe trees to let light into the forest, while Leoni twisted her hands, creating a wall of water that trapped the shadows from leaving.
His gaze flicked to my gran, lifeless on the forest floor. “Is that...?”
“We don’t have time!” I yelled, gaze narrowing in on Loch’s shadow.
“We have to hurry,” Leoni shouted as her arms shook while she maintained the massive wall of water that encircled us like a bubble. Driscoll continued to bend the trees this way and that to allow sunlight in, to force the shadows into the only sliver of darkness left.
I pumped my wings and flew straight toward Loch’s shadow. With nowhere to go, it hissed and shrieked, stretching out its arm and slicing at me. I ignored the pain that seared through me when it swiped at my arm, grabbing onto it as it writhed and squirmed. I held on with all my might, and we slowly sank to the ground. Leoni let the wall of water fall, while Driscoll continued to part the trees and let the sunlight barrel down.
Spirits below, this thing was strong. But of course it was. It was Loch’s shadow.
Leoni ran to where I wrestled on the ground with it. It swiped at my right wing, a pain burning through the tissue that made me cry out.
“What do we do?” I yelled as I rolled over the shadow and pinned it down, muscles quivering, sweat dripping from my face.
