Page 73 of Lion's Share
Light-bringer, the griffin said urgently. Portal site. Where the way opened before. Shadow-eaters will mass there, hoping to feed on residual energies. If you come, can draw them away from human settlements.
I understood immediately. The clearing where I’d first seen the portal appear — that was where the shadow stalkers would expect to find the strongest concentration of otherworldly energy. If I went there, I could face them on ground of my choosing instead of waiting for them to bring the fight to me.
“I have to go deeper into the forest,” I said aloud. “To the portal site.”
“Absolutely not,” Ben said at once. “We don’t know how many of them there are, or how strong they’ve gotten.”
“Which is exactly why I can’t let them come any closer to town,” I replied as I took his hand, hoping he could feel the urgency in my touch. “The Hendersons, Eliza and Jasmine and Hope, all those innocent people — they’ll all be in danger if I wait.”
Dr. Rosenthal stepped closer, her eyes sharp with interest. “Ms. Lowell, if you’re planning some kind of confrontation with these entities, we should coordinate our response. Our weapons may not have been effective before, but we’ve made adjustments — ”
“No.” The word came out sharper than I’d intended, but this was no time to worry about being polite. “This isn’t a military operation, Dr. Rosenthal. Your weapons, your technology — they’ll just make things worse. Shadow stalkers feed on energy, and all your electronic equipment will be like ringing a dinner bell.”
Her jaw hardened. “Then what do you propose?”
I looked at the griffin, then at Ben, and the weight of responsibility settled on my shoulders. This was what I’d inherited, wasn’t it?
It was my duty to protect the boundary between worlds.
“I propose you head back to town and keep your people safe,” I said at last. “And I’ll do what my family has been doing for generations.”
You understand now, the griffin said approvingly. The guardian’s burden. The choice between safety and duty.
Ben’s fingers tightened around mine. “If you’re going, I’m going with you.”
“Ben — ” I began, even though I knew any protests would be useless.
“Don’t even try to argue,” he said firmly. “We’re partners in this, remember? Besides, someone needs to document what happens. For science.”
Despite everything, I found myself smiling. Trust Ben to find the research angle even in the middle of a supernatural crisis.
“Fine,” I said. “But we do this my way. No weapons, no electronics, just us and whatever powers I can muster.”
Dr. Rosenthal looked like she wanted to argue, but something in my expression must have convinced her that doing so would be pointless. “We’ll maintain our position here,” she said. “But if this goes wrong — ”
“If this goes wrong, running won’t help anyone,” I cut in. “The shadow stalkers won’t stop at Silver Hollow. They’ll keep spreading until someone stops them.”
Truth, the griffin agreed. Come, light-bringer. The shadows gather, and darkness gives them strength.
Yes, clouds had gathered overhead, heavy and charcoal gray, far more ominous than the usual low clouds and fog my part of the world experienced most of the time. Even as I stood there, I could feel the temperature dropping and shadows lengthening in ways that had nothing to do with the natural order of things.
Had the shadow stalkers summoned the clouds?
I found I didn’t want to think too much about that.
Instead, I gave a nod of dismissal toward Rosenthal and her two agents, and, hand in hand, Ben and I set off for the deep woods, the griffin moving silently ahead of us.
“Tell me you have a plan,” Ben said.
“I have the beginning of a plan,” I replied, trying to sound a hell of a lot more confident than I felt. “If I can open a stable portal to the otherworld — ”
“That’s a pretty big ‘if’,” Ben remarked, and I had to smile.
“True, but I have to believe that’s what these gifts…talents…whatever you want to call them…are all about. Otherwise, what would be the point in having them?”
In response to that question, he lifted his shoulders, and I guessed that he still wasn’t entirely convinced but was willing to go along for now.
“So if you open the portal, you can send the shadow stalkers back where they came from.”
