Page 91 of What Blooms from Death

Only to slow just out of Nova’s reach, remembering the last time I’d charged at her while those solid shadows were snaking around her body. I wondered, briefly, if there was an even deeper hell than the one we currently stood in. If her shadows might send me crashing down into it if I made another wrong move.

But then she let out a small gasp—one laced with pain—and I no longer thought of the danger I might have been putting myself in. I raced forward without hesitation, placing my hands on her hips, steadying her.

Her shadows rattled with renewed awareness, and cold enveloped us both. Reflexively, I summoned light to my hands to counter the chill—just enough warmth to create balance.

She blinked. Lifted her head. Blinked again, trying to focus on my face. A flicker of recognition brightened her eyes after a brief struggle. Relief washed over her, the tension slipping from her shoulders…but without that tension, she didn’t seem to be able to keep upright any longer, and her legs crumpled underneath her.

I caught her as she fell, doing my best to avoid the wound on her shoulder. It looked deep.

How much blood had she already lost?

Carefully, I picked her up. Her shadows shifted into less solid versions, easing away as if they somehow realized I meant her no harm. She was still blinking rapidly, drifting in and out of awareness, as she tilted her gaze toward mine. “You’re here.” Disbelief clung to the words. “You…you came for me. Again.”

I gathered her more completely against my chest, my eyes still searching for Kaelen as I said, “Yes. We’re stuck together, I’m afraid.”

I glanced down just long enough to see the beginning of a wry smile twitching her lips. She faded again before it could fully take hold, burying her face against me. Shaking her and calling her name failed to wake her.

Muttering curses, I steadied myself under her weight and turned back toward the line of wraiths I’d crashed through a moment ago.

They were moving toward Nova without fear, now that her shadows had eased into less solid versions. They seemeddrawnto those safer, wispier versions of her power, in fact.

A particularly large one shoved its way to the front, rushing to within mere feet of me before stopping. His lips parted, revealing a black abyss of a mouth that contorted gruesomely as he hissed, “Give her back to us.”

“No.”

“She belongs tous.”

“The fuck she does.”

His hiss was unintelligible, this time, as he lifted a small metal lantern toward me. A blue flame burned within, and I watched as it seemed to suck in the wisps of Nova’s shadows and grow brighter with the effort.

So it wasn’t merely blood loss; they were draining her of her magic, too.

Fury brought my hand forward. Jagged cracks of light glowed down my arm before lifting from my skin, gathering into a swift dagger of energy that knocked the lantern from the wraith’s hand. He fell to the ground, chasing after it. I aimed another javelin of light into his back. The air crackled with a scent similar to rotting and burning flesh as he writhed about in pure, obvious agony.

It made little difference—several more simply appeared to take his place.

I shifted Nova’s weight in my arms as I dodged clawing hands and knocked away more receptacles full of flames.

Phantom bounded to my side, a frigid burst of energy accompanying his approach, driving several of the wraiths backward.

I felt a surge of warmth behind me and twisted around to see Zayn stepping between me and another line of the approaching fiends. Light magic sparked around him, feeding off what I’d already summoned. He’d withdrawn his sword as well. As one of the wraiths charged, he swung, gathering light to the sword in the same motion. It sliced cleanly through the wraith’s neck, severing its head and sending it flying.

“Still solid enough to lose their heads, as it turns out,” he said to me, while flashing a taunting smile at the other wraiths, who were now hesitating. “I’ve been wanting to test that theory.”

“Keep gathering evidence for that theory, why don’t you?” I said, twisting to avoid an attempted sneak attack.

Zayn gave me a little bow, accepting the challenge in one instant and spinning to slice his sword through my attacker’s neck in the very next.

Phantom took up the challenge as well, slashing and ripping his way through the swarming wraiths for several minutes,trying to clear a path so I could carry Nova away from them. But it was hopeless; there were simply too many.

“We need a different plan,” I growled, catching a wrist as yet another fist swung my way, and finishing my counterattack with a burst of blinding Light magic that sent the wraith stumbling backward, shrieking as it went.

I wasn’t certain Phantom could understand me the way he could understand Nova, but in the next moment, he was shifting his form.

When he finished, he resembled the beastly stallion Thalia rode—aside from his head, which was more dragon-shaped than equine-shaped. He snapped that head toward me, his gaze burning and expectant.

Understanding, I carried Nova toward him, hoisting her onto his back as he kneeled down.

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