Page 109 of Claim the Twilight
The sky rumbled, and the ground shook again.
The green energy swelled in the breach, glowing brighter and brighter.
“It’s about to crack!” Kaster called out.
A boom rang in my ears, and the world blazed neon green then went dark.
Silence settled around us, pressing in like an unwanted embrace.
“Orina?” Ordell’s hand found mine as the darkness bled to gray to reveal a new world ahead of us, green mist hanging low against cracked, broken earth. Jagged mountains rose in the distance, reaching toward magenta skies, and silhouetted in the distance was a fortress of black stone, its many towers clawing at the sky. The ghosts were gone, but the cold ones remained, their numbers doubled—an army waiting for instructions to attack.
“Oh fuck…” Nyx breathed.
“It’s all right,” Sin said. “This is different.”
Her jaw tightened, and I caught a flash of fear in her eyes, something I wasn’t used to seeing.
My stomach trembled. “Wecando this.”
Her expression hardened, a familiar wicked smile curling her lips. “Damn straight we can.”
In the distance, a smoke cloud hurtled toward us. My stomach tightened, and I knew on instinct that the cloud was Loviator.
She was coming for us.
My gaze flicked to the fortress.
Hurry up and get out, Hemlock.
The cold ones attacked.
MERRY
The breach pulses, each beat pumping out more critters—insectile beasts, four feet high with a taste for flesh. My blade flashes as I cut them down. No need for blessed blades for these monsters.
Crush and the ogre bloods stay close, surrounding me so that I’m never overwhelmed. Their weapons catch the afternoon sun as they slice and dice. We’re mere feet from the metal fencing that stands on either side of the breach, somehow intact even with a mystical aperture cutting through it.
Behind us, the school building lies empty.
A school for humans. Thank goodness it’s a weekend. Thank goodness there’s no one on the premises.
Not that they’d see any of this.
White wings shoot celestial rays from above, swooping over the mass and cutting a path with their power. The Faoladh, now in beast form, tear the critters to shreds.
Holly hangs back, hurling bottles of colorful potions that explode, taking groups of critters with them.
The breach pulses slowly like a confident heartbeat, and after a while, the influx of critters ebbs.
We’re making headway.
My heart lifts.
Not long now before we can leave. An hour was what Kaster said when he dropped off Holly.
A ball of fire engulfs the final mass of critters, and we’re left in silence, surrounded by dismembered critter bodies and charred carcases.
Bryce pads over to us, the spines on his back smoothing back as he stands down. “Is it over?” he asks, his voice like the rumble of thunder.
