Page 112 of Hunted in the Shadows
I set my gaze on one earth affinity hovering near the ceiling, who was recovering quicker than the others around her. I shaped another frozen javelin in the air before me, ensuring the point was sharp before hurling it upward with all the force I could muster. The ice grazed the fairy’s shoulder and tore directly through her right wing. I turned my gaze away the moment I saw her plummet. The cries of fury and shock from the two others made my ears ring.
This was enough to startle the others, who now gave me a wide berth. I flew to Jon, my heart pounding like a war drum. The sight of him made me freeze for a moment. His handsome face was pale, devoid of its usual flush of sun-kissed color. His brow was slightly furrowed, dark lashes fluttering, and lips slightly parted as though lost in an unreachable dream. The crown of flowers placed on his head made him look almost sacred, like a piece of artistry rather than a warrior.
I had never seen him look sofragile.
Closing the distance to him, I screamed his name again and again, shoving his cheek until his eyelids fluttered open.
“Hi, Sylv,” Jon mumbled drunkenly, struggling to focus on me before his eyes fell shut again.
“Wake up!” Even a blast of frost to the chest couldn’t seem to jolt him. “I can’t leave you behind,please! I need you both!”
It wasn’t enough. I neededmore.
In my desperation, my hand slid into the satchel, fingertips grazing the gemstone. Without a thought, only will and focus, I placed my other hand on Jon’s forehead. I had seen healers rouse unconscious fairies before, but I had never been skilled enough to master the incantation. Nonetheless, I pictured it—the magic pulsing into Jon to counteract what he was fed.
The magic roared in my ears, every hair standing on end. This was more than my own; I was a conduit for something far more powerful. The light pulsed into Jon’s skin, webbing out—
He awoke with a violent gasp that made me dart back in alarm.
I laughed shakily, tears trickling from my eyes and relief coursing through me even as panic still clawed for dominance. Alertness saturated Jon’s gaze, snapping to the restraints wound around him. I froze the thickest vines around him, turning them brittle and black from the stark cold. With a sudden jerk, Jon tore one arm free, sending frozen shrapnel across the stone.
I hurriedly wheeled around in the air to revive Cliff. My heart clenched at the sight of him, too—soft blossoms trailed over his cropped gold hair, giving him a regal look even in his daze. Anyone might have mistaken him for a fallen prince rather than the brutal fighter he was. The stillness of his body felt so wrong. As I pressed my palm to his cheek and brushed the gemstone with the other, I hoped he would forgive me.
Cliff roused with the same sharpness, his body jerking immediately against the binds.
“What thefuck?” Cliff groaned. His voice was hoarse and raw as he struggled against the bonds and squinted to make sense ofhis surroundings. His green eyes rested on me, breathing heavily as recognition set in. “Wasn't sure you were coming back.”
“Me neither,” I confessed. I cupped my hands—a well-aimed slice of frost broke through the bindings laced over his chest with a sharp crack. Several of the thinner vines withered and recoiled from the impact, as though fleeing from the taste of winter. From there, Cliff was able to break free. He clawed every flowering vine from his body, letting them fall in a heap.
I backed away as Jon and Cliff both rose to their feet, their movements sluggish at first, disoriented as though fighting through a haze. I watched their posture shift into honed instincts as the frozen waves began to crack under their weight—the one thing separating them from the wailing sirens on the other side.
“Move back!” I shouted.
Jon and Cliff wrenched off the remaining vines and scrambled onto solid ground just in time to avoid plunging into the water as my spell gave way, along with the section of stone they had been offered upon.
The boys dove for their weapons. Handguns, knives, and blades had all been laid in an indent in the stone, scattered with tinder to be set ablaze.
“I’m going to tear that commander fuck in half,” Cliff muttered, tossing a silver-hilted knife to Jon, who caught it smoothly.
Their enraged expressions filled me with equal measures of fear and hope—wewouldfight our way out of this, andfucking stars, I was glad we were on the same side.
“Aureline!” I cried over the din. She was toward the front of the pack of sirens savagely trying to climb over each other to reach the hunters. “Please—I told you, these hunters are mine! Tell your sisters to stand down!”
The young siren, hauntingly innocent as ever, didn’t relent.“I have yearned all my life for this moment. Tales say human flesh which fights back tastes even more divine!”
Fairies were circling us again. Perhaps they didn’t want to killme, but Jon and Cliff were vast targets. One well-aimed hit could send either of them into the water, and nothing would save them.
While they armed themselves, I countered a blaze of fire and a pair of shooting vines that attempted to restrain the hunters again. When anyone came too close, I drove them back with blasts of frost—but I was quickly becoming overwhelmed by a trio of fairies who were attempting to bindmeinstead. I could pull from the gemstone again—but it was a finite store. If I were too reckless, I would have nothing left.
“Get back, Sylv!” Cliff grunted, stepping in front of me.
I did as he said, watching with wide eyes as he dove for a finely woven net from the scattered belongings and hurled it at the incoming attackers. The fairies hit the ground hard, pinned beneath the fine mesh. Cliff readily tossed iron knives onto either side of the trap to subdue their attempts to break free with spellwork.
“Karma, bitch,” he remarked, and I realized one of the struggling earth fairies was the one who’d viciously taunted him upon our arrival.
My breath stuttered. I hadn’t seen this mode of attack before from the hunters. Inspiration could only have come from their battle outside of Elysia.
Surrounded, we were forced to move with measured precision. The hunters wielded their iron blades to ward off the bolder fairies who tried to get too close while I took out attackers from afar. Jon and Cliff both held guns in their other hands, but I could tell they were being conservative with spent bullets, taking out only the sirens that managed to throw themselves within grabbing distance.
