Page 48 of The Heart of Moonlight Falls

“Shit.” Princeton let out a surprised laugh. “There’s my chance. Best of luck to you all.” He darted out the front door and hurried across the circle, disappearing into the post office, presumably to get to his car parked out back.

Parker flipped the sign on the door to Closed, turned off the neon Open sign displayed in the window, and locked the front door.

“Should we head home?” Eli asked.

“James and I are still going to Storm House.” Sebastian glanced at James. “Right?”

“Yeah.” He gripped Sebastian’s shoulder. “But all four of us don’t need to go.”

Parker opened his mouth, most likely to argue, but a commotion outside stole his attention.

Shades reappeared around the stone. One screeched, and they all charged the rock, only to be held back by Parker’s ward, unable to touch it.

“Good thing you suggested we protect it,” Eli said to Sebastian. “Maybe they can’t bring the darkness back without it.”

A sound like the heater knocking came from above their heads. James looked up. It happened again, and he swore the ceiling shook.

Sebastian pressed against him. “What…?”

A vent over the counter rattled as a black shadow poured out of it, looking less like smoke and more like ink spilling into a glass of water.

James and Sebastian shot sparks at it simultaneously. The ink-black shadow burst briefly into flame before dissipating, sent back to Beyond.

Parker pulled Eli behind him. How had the shade gotten through? Had something been on the roof, working to break the wards this whole time they were standing around?

“Where does the heating system pull air into the building?” Sebastian asked.

“Out back.” Parker scrubbed a hand over his face. “Shit. They probably broke in back there. I should go repair the ward.”

No sooner had the words left his mouth than more inky shadow poured out of the vent. James struck again. At least it was easy to banish shades when they were confined to one narrow entrance to the room.

Parker pushed past into the kitchen, Eli in tow.

Sebastian grabbed James’s arm. “There’s a hell of a lot more of them outside now.”

Another shade came through the vent, and James banished it. He didn’t want to look away in case more came in. “What’s happening, Sebastian?”

“There’s got to be a half-dozen shades around the stone, and something’s coming out of the ground.”

“The ground?” James asked in alarm, just as another shadow appeared in the vent.

“Oh fuck.” Sebastian squeezed James’s arm. “It’s those tendril things. They’re swarming the stone.”

James turned to look. “Should we abandon the diner and try to fight them off instead? The stone is obviously important if they’re going after the wards on it.”

Worry creased Sebastian’s brow. “I don’t know if I can defeat the tendrils without using the veins. You have to find the center to kill the whole thing.”

“Ah, shit.” Just in time, James noticed a shade that had gotten all the way through the vent and was returning to solid form. He quickly banished it. “I wish we’d left when Princeton did.”

Parker and Eli burst back through the kitchen door. “Wards are secured. You wanna head out?” His last word faded as he looked out the front window.

Eli’s eyes widened. “Let’s not go that way.”

The tendrils had completely covered the stone. Did that mean the humanoid shade was nearby? It seemed to pop up along with the tendrils. Both clearly had more powerful magic than other shades.

A thundering sound interrupted James’s thoughts. Deer streamed out of the woods and through the park into the street. Several stags were among them, rearing on their back legs, unnaturally black eyes glinting. They surrounded the grass where the stone was being swarmed by the tendrils, the largest ones continuing to gallop around the street, tossing their heads.

James was speechless. There was no sense going out there to try and save the stone now. They should run out back, get in the truck and leave.

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