Page 90 of Misfit Monsters
I know those feelings too. I’ve tasted those exact flavors.
All from the same source.
My throat constricts so fast I lose my breath.
All those little bits and pieces I’ve stumbled on—they weren’t just coincidences. The sorcerer messing with this riftisthe man I knew, the same one who flung his shimmering net over me, shut me away in a cage, and dug his blades into my body to make me his anguished tool.
He’s here. He found these strange shadowkind and decided to turn them into his new slaves.
Any second now he’s going to realize that his attempt at latching on to my mind didn’t catch hold, that it bounced off the brief instruction Jonah gave me earlier. Then he’ll hit me even harder.
I don’t know for sure that my former captor has stronger magic than Jonah’s—but he is a lot older. He’s had much more practice. He commanded an army of shadowkind creatures a couple dozen strong.
If he captures me again—if he traps my teammates in his power?—
Horror sears through my veins alongside the blare of panic.
A shudder wracks my body, and my vision hazes. The dark emotions roiling beneath my skin heave to the surface.
The command Jonah gave me to control my power has faded since yesterday’s iteration.
Oh, no. I’m going to hurt them again. All of them, and every animal nearby, and?—
There’s one specific being Idowant to hurt.
The idea hits me just as the agony blasts from my body. Darkness surges in every direction.
No!
I grope for a shred of control, picturing the man’s stocky body and pock-marked face, focusing on the place where I sensed those noxious emotions.
With a grunt that bursts from my throat, I heave all the fear and misery gushing out of me toward only him.
The wave roars around me, warbling through the trees. Somewhere farther off, it smacks into a form with a flare of acid-sour pain that echoes back into me.
Good. If there’s anyone in this world who doesn’t deserve happiness, it’s him.
More darkness careens through the woods. I have to stop him. I have to?—
Jonah’s voice pierces my head in a shout of sorcerous syllables.
The power rushing out of me contracts in a jolt so abrupt I stumble forward and fall to my knees. The distant pain flickers and dwindles—I think the man who meant to capture us is running away.
I sent him fleeing before he could dig his awful sorcery into any of us. A grin crosses my lips.
Footsteps thud toward me.
“What was that?” Disappointment rings through Jonah’s voice and wafts off his presence. “Peri, you seemed fine. If you were getting worked up, you were supposed to warn us.”
Mirage shuffles over, rubbing a wound on his arm that’s dribbling smoky essence.
As I look at him, guilt clamps around my gut. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. There was—I had to?—”
“Youhadto screw up the whole mission yet again,” Hail interrupts in a caustic tone. He holds up one of Rollick’s devices. “All of the tech we brought is going haywire thanks to you, pipsqueak.”
What? I scramble to my feet, my pulse racing. “I tried to direct it away from you, away from the rift, as quickly as I could. I was throwing it over there—I mustn’t have been fast enough.”
Raze’s forehead furrows. “You let out that blast of darkness on purpose?”
