Page 66 of Cherish

“It’s okay!” I tell her, jumping in front of them. As I do, a giant snake slithers up my back and wraps itself around my neck. “They won’t hurt you.”

“The fuck they won’t!” Flint growls, grabbing a shadow lizard off his leg and throwing it as far into the field as he can.

Jaxon reaches for a shadowy bird that’s flying at him and snatches it out of midair. Seconds later, he sends it careening head over tailfeathers in the other direction.

Eden shoots a stream of ice out of her mouth at a couple giant shadow spiders that are at her feet, then snarls as they scatter before it can hit them.

“Seriously, stop!” I yell. “This isn’t like the shadows at the Trials. These are umbras. They aren’t trying to hurt you. They just want to say hello.”

“They’ve got a very aggressive way of saying hello,” Heather answers. But she must decide to believe me, because she stops squirming and lets the curious little umbras move over and around her.

Eden hisses when one gets too close to Heather’s throat and moves to intervene, but I step in between them. “She’s fine, Eden. I swear.”

And she is, despite the fact that dozens of umbras are currently slithering up her sides and tangling themselves in her shirt and pants and hair.

Heather laughs as one of them leans down and gives her what sounds like a smacking kiss right on the cheek. Then cries out a little as another one of them starts to tug at her braids.

“Come on, little one,” I say, holding out a hand to the one pulling her hair.

It squeaks in protest, but eventually it gives up and scampers onto my hand and straight up my arm to bury itself in my curls.

“If these aren’t shadow monsters, can I ask what the fuck they are?” Jaxon demands, brushing the last of the umbras off him.

The other creatures have obviously decided to give up on my hostile friends, because they are now swarming Hudson, Heather, and me.

“They’re umbras,” I say again. “Shadow pets, but real. If you hold one instead of fighting them, you’ll see that they have mass. They just look like shadows.”

“Shadow pets,” Eden repeats, sounding unconvinced. But at least she’s stopped trying to freeze them.

Jaxon and Flint also seem to be reserving judgment. They aren’t actively attacking the umbras anymore, but both of them are still in fighting stances.

Macy, on the other hand, just goes all in, plopping down on the ground and letting the umbras swarm over her.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Eden asks, moving closer to her like she wants to protect her.

“It’s fine,” she says, and her laugh sounds like a tinkling bell ringing through the air. It’s a laugh I haven’t heard from my cousin in a while, and a soft smile lifts a corner of my mouth.

But now that I’ve got everyone else under control, I turn my attention to trying to coax an umbra salamander to let go of my curls long enough for me to put it on the ground. The others take the hint and slither back down to the purple dirt, but the salamander isn’t budging. It keeps slipping and sliding along my neck, darting between my curls and into the collar of my shirt every time I get close to grabbing it.

I turn to share my amusement with Hudson, only to find him standing completely still. He’s being swarmed by umbras, dozens of the little creatures wrapping and sliding and clawing their way across his chest, over his shoulders, down his legs.

But he doesn’t even seem to notice. Instead, he’s staring far into the distance, jaw clenched and throat working like every breath is a struggle. And that’s when it hits me. None of the umbras currently winding their way around him is Smokey.

Devastation swamps me, and I close the distance between us in a single leap. I was so sure she would be here—so sure that the timeline would reset for her, too, since she was hit by time-dragon fire. Hudson was, as well. And now that she’s not here, now that we were wrong…it feels like losing her all over again.

“I’m sorry,” I tell him, wrapping my arms around his waist and holding him as tightly as I can. “I’m so sorry.”

He doesn’t move.

“Hudson, baby.” I want to tell him that it’s okay, want to tell him that she has to be somewhere in the Shadow Realm and we’ll turn this place upside down until we find her.

But I just don’t know if that’s true anymore. I expected her to be here waiting for him—expected her to launch into his arms and coo at him like she did from the very first minute she met him. And now that she’s not here, now that all of his hopes are dashed…I don’t know what to say to him.

I sure as hell don’t want to overpromise anything else. Not when giving him false hope just feels cruel.

Tears burn the backs of my eyes and clog my throat as I press my face against him and hold on as tightly as I can. Not finding her here is a giant hole inside me. I can’t imagine what it feels like for him.

“What’s wrong with him?” Jaxon asks from right next to us. He sounds as shaken as I feel.

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