Page 44 of Shannon in Sombra

With Loki’s orb guiding the way, we follow it, but there’s still no sign of him or Alana. I strain, listening for my daughter’s coos, hearing nothing but a few stray animal noises. The white pinpricks of watching eyes have become few and far between. Mainly because we’re so far into the shadows now, if we find one, it’ll be a big threat, like the huigitz.

I’m still determined. My adrenaline is long gone, and part of me wants to slump down to the ash, drop my head into my hands, and sob. Only knowing that Alana needs us—needsme—keeps me going. Without a word of complaint, everyone follows.

Just in case we are getting close, we’re all quiet. We don’t want him to know that, whatever’s been thrown at us, we’ve gotten past it. Though, I do wonder if my friends have figured out what it took me way too long to see.

As I glance behind me, I realize that Fate brought us all together for a reason.

I grin, my first one since the red moon.

Smart bitch.

Lucian, too. He saw that each of us would have a purpose to coming along on this search. Freya wouldn’t have braved the shadows if it wasn’t for Kennedy. Hope helped me find the ashbalm. Tandy, Sierra, and Billie were essential to getting past the huigitz.

The prophecy about whether to save Sombra or see its fires extinguished… it’s almost like, in a way, all of our destinies brought us to this point. Kennedy wouldn’t have been in the shadows, or given Freya if she hadn’t bonded with Loki. Hope wouldn’t have gone after the ashbalm flower if she wasn’t trying to save her bond with Sammael.

Dagon helped Sierra get over her bastard of a cheating ex. Glaine lets Billie take center stage—and helped her get through her own journey through the shadows. And Tandy… she finally found someone to love her, even if it happened to betwosomeones with the gift of sight.

And because each one of them found their happily-ever-after, they’re here with me, ensuring that mine and Mal’s gets to continue.

We just need our baby back, and as the air in the shadows starts to stir—the first gust of something that might be wind rushing past us—I can’t help but hope that this… this is it. We’ve done it.

Up ahead, there’s another block. I’ve become an expert at spotting them. As dark as it is, they wards are even darker. They are imposing. Threatening. They warn us from moving on, but when we find a way past them, they reluctantly let us go.

This one? It’s the largest one we’ve seen. It spreads as far as I can see, and I don’t have much hope of getting around it if this isn’t the sort of block that we can climb under. It reminds me of the final boss level in a video game. That we’ve done every challenge we have to, and if we can just confront who is hiding behind the shadows, I’ll finally find my daughter.

Only one problem.

Before I can even attempt to approach it, a white ball appears between us. It starts small, the size of a gold ball maybe, before it grows and it grows and, holy shit, it’s now bigger than a hula hoop.

It’s super bright, too. It doesn’t lose the white color, and as it gleams against the dark shadow background, it freaking glows so much, my eyes burn.

I know what it is, though. It might not be like any one I’ve ever seen—considering portals from Earth to Sombra look more like flames than an eclipse—but that?

That’s a portal.

I glance at Sammael. “I thought you can’t create a shadow portal in here?”

Sammael frowns. “I cannot. And that is my speciality. If I can’t do it, it cannot be done.”

Loki grunts softly. “It is taking all of my magic just to keep the orb spell running. The shadows suck it in faster than I can create it.”

“No need now,” says Billie pointedly. “Whatever’s happening, we’re all gonna sear our retinas by the time it’s done.”

She’s not wrong. At least for the human women, we’ve gotten used to the darkness inside of the shadows. Loki’s spell saved us from walking into the trees or tripping over the bones, but it’s still like walking around the woods at night with only the moon above to help us see.

That large, white circle? Whatever it is, it’s not a shadow portal. Not really. It’s not even anything like the summoning spell that yanked Mal out of Sombra and into my apartment.

And, even as I squint so that it doesn’t completely blind me, I can’t help but watch its glow get impossibly brighter.

Mal drapes his arm over my shoulder, tugging me close in an adorably protective manner. Like he’s prepared to battle whoever might pop out of that light…

A moment later, we’re about to find out because four notable silhouettes appear in the distance. They’re linked, holding hands as they zoom toward us, and it’s easy from the sizes to tell that the figures on the ends are demon males, with the two in the center definitely human women.

Together, they step out of the portal. The white light blinks out from behind them. It takes me a few seconds to make sure my eyes are still working right before I look up at them and see?—

“Your Grace,” breathes out Sammael, reverence in his tone. “I did not know that you possessed travel magic.”

Duke Haures is on the left. Holding his hand, I see a pretty brunette with a vaguely familiar face. She’s dressed in a gorgeous blue dress, her hair piled up on top of her head. Amy Benoit—my friend from Connecticut—is holding onto her, though she releases the other woman once the portal thing disappears. And, since Amy’s hear, the identity of the second male becomes obvious: Nox, Amy’s Sombra demon mate.

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