Page 40 of Monster's Melody

I’d seen what Zowen had done to Mikaela’s roommate, Leslie, siphoning off every bit of her magic until she was nothing but a shell, then tossing her back to us like a piece of discarded trash.

I’d heard and witnessed all these stories, yet still, nothing could have prepared me for the reality of the Shadow Realm.

There was darkness everywhere.

A darkness that no light penetrated.

Shadows wrapped around me, which was weird since they shouldn’t exist in the absence of light.I also shouldn’t be able to feel them, yet I did.

Worse, I heard them.

The shadows whispered to me, of darkness, of pain to come.

There is no hope,they whispered.You are lost to the world.Let us in.

I struggled as the shadows writhed around me, pouring over me and in me, their voices everywhere.Yield to us.Let us in.

For a heartbeat, for a lifetime, I was frozen, in shock, the shadows pressing in on all sides, whispering of a darkness I could not fight.

Yield, lost one.Let us in.

Then, other shadows came and they whispered so softly I almost couldn’t hear them,Fight, fight the darkness.Fight.

Yield, there is no hope.Let us in.

Fight, He’s coming.

Let us in.He’s coming.

Fight.He’s coming.

Let us in.

If you fight, we fight.

He’s coming.

Fight!

You are mine,the shadows growled.

The shock of being claimed by shadows jerked me from my frozen state and I did what I always instinctively did when frightened.

I threw my voice into the abyss.

My scream reverberated around us, light fracturing the darkness, and for one tiny second, I saw the Shadow Killer in his chameleon dragon form.

He roared in rage, snapped out one long shadow-wing that wrapped around me and flung me from the Shadow Realm.

I hit the floor hard, rolled across it and came up groaning.

“Jasmine.”Vorzak slid to his knees beside me and hauled me into his arms.“Are you okay?Where are you hurt?”He patted me, as did his snakes, all of them wrapping around me, hissing their displeasure while also giving me tiny nips of affection.

“I’m okay.”I was shaking so hard, but the feel of Vorzak’s arms and snakes wrapped around me, holding me tight, kept me from completely losing it.

I was so focused on the feel of Vorzak, it took me a moment to realize Mikaela was also on the floor with us, babbling.

“We tried to find you, Miki-Leopard and me.”She was crying in Elliot’s arms.“It happened so fast and the shadows were everywhere and we didn’t know how to find you.I’m not connected to the Shadow Realm the way Kasi is.I couldn’t feel you so I came back to get help.”