Page 82 of Woven Souls

“Viktor, grab Jonah and put him in the car. I have Kwil. Willow, grab the keys from in—”

Just then, a surge of demons pours out from the surrounding woods. There have to be over a hundred of them. They swarm like ants, running across the ground, climbing up trees, and on top of surrounding cabins. Windows break, and wood explodes as they break into the small houses.

Campers rush out of their cabins all around us. Their screams seem to only entice the creatures. I watch in horror as heads are bitten clean off, limbs go flying and blood erupts like geysers from the victims. For a heartbreaking moment, I wonder if this is it. If being mauled to death by a demon is how I go out.

Then I snap out of it.

Dragging my eyes away from the horror unfolding, I pin Bardon with a steely look. “I’m going to put you back into your body, and you’re going to help us rid this place of these menaces. Do you understand?”

Around me Theo and Viktor are already moving. Theo places himself over Kwil’s body as Viktor races for the cabin and Jonah.

“Yes! Hurry up before we’re eaten!” Bardon is frantically trying to submerge himself in his fleshy vessel to no avail.

“You’ll be disoriented and may not even wake up right away. I’ll try to keep them back while you get your bearings,” I warn.

I don’t know if he or the others hear me, but I have to act now if we’re all going to make it out of here alive. With a hard shove, I send all eight spirits back into their bodies. At the same time, I turn and throw out power in every direction. Demons drop here and there, but there are so many it doesn’t slow the masses down.

“Willow, I got the keys! Get to the car!”

I can hardly hear Viktor’s voice as he bellows out his order, but I don’t have time to respond. I take out seven demons at once, followed by an eighth as it chases after an older couple. As Theo throws Kwil’s body over his shoulders like a potato sack, Viktor races out of the cabin and reaches Jonah.

Before I can run, I’m surrounded by demons of various shapes and sizes. Red eyes blaze bright in the darkness. Yellow teeth flash, and claws swipe through the air. I stop breathing. Quickly, my veins grow colder as I call up more power.

With just a thought, the ground quakes violently, throwing them away from me. Dark mist rises from the dirt and whips around the small group of us. It grows thicker and darker, spinning up and around until we’re in the eye of a storm. The world turns gray, and the air grows frigid. My breath puffs out as mist in front of my face as I work. The ground freezes with frost. The dark clouds build higher and higher until it passes the tree line and stretches up into the night sky.

Screams of unholy terror echo faintly around us.

These screams are not ones from the living. These are the screams of spirits from the Realm of the Dead as I bridge the gap between here and there. Whatever they’re seeing must be terrifying, but I don’t have the time to ponder about what my powers are doing to a realm I’m not yet a part of. Right now, I’ve thrown all of us as far as we can into the Veil without facing repercussions. Any further and I risk killing us all. The living cannot survive in the Realm of the Dead.

The creatures gunning for us aren’t deterred by the opening of the Veil, nor by the danger it presents to all of us. They are creatures that live somewhere in between alive and dead, and therefore can survive in both places. As they crash through the dark cloud that acts as a barrier, their souls immediately rip out of their bodies and dissolve. They come in pairs and sets, trying to rush us, but they don’t get close.

Somewhere behind me, I hear the soft groans as the Ghosts begin to rise. I can also hear the sound of the van doors sliding shut. Hopefully, these guys are ready, I can’t keep us hovering between both realms like this. The focus it takes to keep us here, rather than sucked in, requires my full attention. If the Ghosts strike me down now, we’re all dead.

The frost on the ground turns to a thin layer of ice as it continues to grow colder. Snow (or is it ash?) starts to break away from dark swirling mists, giving us cover. My fingers grow numb, and my body shakes as the temperature drops another ten degrees. If we don’t get sucked into the Realm of the Dead, we may just end up freezing.

“Willow…”

An unfamiliar voice calls to me. The sound is so faint I may have been able to chalk it up to my imagination if it wasn’t for the fact that it sends a wave of awareness down my spine and stirs desire between my legs.

Desire? Really?Now? Of all the times to get hot and bothered, I feel like this is one of the least appropriate.

“You can’t do this. Step out of the Veil. It’s not your time,” The voice sounds so far away, but I can hear the concern loud and clear. My heart does a funny flip.

If only I could drop the Veil. I have to wait until the others are conscious and ready for battle. Otherwise, it’s going to be a massacre. The thin layer of ice spreading across the ground builds. The stuff falling from the dark clouds around us thickens, and that’s when I realize it’sbothash and snow. Crap, we’re falling too far into the Veil. I clench my jaw as I try to adjust my power.

“Go, Willow. Send them to me, and I’ll take care of them, but you must go!”

The dark clouds turn black as they continue to swirl and rise around us. Is this what the spirits see as they cross over? How much further can I send us into the Veil without killing us all?

I can’t wait around to find out. This was a big enough risk as it was.

“Everyone, get ready!” I yell over the roar of the wind. “We’re headed back!”

Behind me someone asks, “Back? Back from wh—”

With a deep breath, I let go of my hold on the Veil. As the clouds abruptly disperse, I hear,

“Be careful…”

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