Page 66 of The Cursed Sebastian Storm

James didn’t seem to know how to respond. He probably still wanted to get everyone somewhere safe, but Sebastian knew he was fighting against his sometimes-irrational anxiety of losing people and wouldn’t want to seem overbearing. Though Sebastian thought he was being perfectly reasonable right now.

After a strained moment, Hazel asked, “Why would the two boundaries be the same?”

“The veins end here.” Eli pushed on the invisible boundary again, like he was glad to finally get back to explaining. “I sent the skateboard with one of my meters on it past where we’re trapped. I was able to record energy flow in the veins right up until here, where it disappears completely.”

Sebastian eyed the boundary. “Is that normal?”

“Sure.” Eli shrugged. “Veins don’t go on forever. Fixed ones have set boundaries. The theory is that where the flow ends is where it leaves this world and goes back into Beyond. Whatever created the darkness has to be using the veins to do it. There was an energy surge when we think it was created, and it looks like the darkness is tied to the veins with some sort of magic, just like we are through the curse.”

Sebastian turned away from the barrier and looked back down the road toward town. Knowing the darkness was another problem tied to the veins made his heart sink. If he knew anything, it was that they were terrible at untying anything from the damn veins. Even if the darkness wasn’t related to his curse, dealing with it felt just as insurmountable.

Sebastian caught movement in the sky off in the distance. He grabbed James’s arm, turning him around. “Look.” He pointed.

“Shit.” James grabbed Eli. “Come on. Time to go. That looks like a whole lot of shades heading this way.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Everyone turned, squinting off into the distance, where it looked like the darkness was moving. It was definitely shades or those shadowy tendrils moving through the dark sky.

Parker scooped up Eli’s skateboard and headed to his car. Eli followed. James took half a step after him like he wanted to stop Eli from leaving and keep him close.

“We’ll follow behind.” Hazel hopped in the driver’s seat of the van. Eli and Parker were already in the other car.

Sebastian leaned in close to James. “Go with him if you want.”

James turned a piercing stare on him. “I’m not leaving you.”

“Come on then.” Sebastian grabbed James’s wrist and pulled him into the back of the van. James’s pulse fluttered under his fingers. “I know you don’t want to lose any of us,” Sebastian muttered. “I’m right here.”

James swallowed and nodded.

Sebastian gripped his hand. He figured James’s fear he couldn’t keep them all safe was starting to overwhelm him. “Let’s concentrate on what we can do. We’re all together,” Sebastian reminded him. “We’ll hunker down somewhere safe like everyone else in town.”

Hazel did a U-turn and followed Parker back the way they’d come.

“Okay.” James held on to Sebastian’s hand. He seemed to calm slowly, getting his panic under control before it could take hold of him. “I don’t want any of us going off on our own again. Not with this many shades around.”

“I don’t think we’ll argue with you on that,” Hazel assured him. “This is way more shades than I’ve ever seen in town.”

The horde in the sky was getting closer. It was definitely shades and not the tendrils. Their eyes glinted in the gloom.

Parker turned right, and Hazel followed, putting the flying shades out of sight as they drove down a street lined with tall trees. They went north for a few blocks through nothing but a quiet neighborhood, and then, after a few turns, they were headed back in the direction of the center of town.

“I wonder where those shades were going,” Sebastian muttered. “I don’t see why they’d head for the darkness boundary. They aren’t trapped like us, but the sunlight on the other side would stop them going anywhere until nightfall.”

“True.” James squeezed Sebastian’s hand. “Unless the light-resistant ones can stand direct sunlight.”

Hazel glanced at them in the rearview mirror. “We’ve never seen them out in direct sunlight. When there was still daylight, that is. That kind of light resistance would be a whole other beast compared to what we’ve seen.” She stopped behind Parker, who was paused at a four-way stop. They were the only two cars on the road.

Just as Parker’s car began moving forward, something crashed from the sky, slamming into Hazel’s van. All three of them shouted in alarm. A second later, Hazel’s windscreen was completely backed out.

A shade’s face appeared in the window next to Sebastian, and he gripped James’s hand with all his strength. “Were they heading out that way, coming for us?” Sebastian was bewildered. He’d thought they’d lost the shades coming toward them when they’d turned down the street with all the trees. Unless these were completely different ones?

James looked frantically between all the windows. “Can you see Parker’s car?” There was panic in his voice.

“No.” Hazel grabbed a shade-light from her glove box and flicked it on, sending the bright beam out the front window.

Some of the shades scattered. She swept the beam back and forth until they could see the other car. Shades had swarmed it as well.

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