Page 63 of Monster's Melody

Fight!

Night after night, I woke with either that command ringing in my head or the whispered threat/promise,We’re coming.

Sometimes I dreamt all night long, and the whispers blended together, so they became a litany ofFight!We’re coming.Fight!We’re coming.Fight!We’re coming.

Then one night, the dream changed.

The streams of people slowed, then slowed again and again, until there were only two.

Two wrapped in each other’s arms, more shadow than flesh, their sorrow unending.

We cannot leave her.

We must.

We can protect her.

The shadows will consume her.

But to leave her?—

It’s the only protection we can offer.

She’s too little.

She will be strong enough to endure.

She’ll be so alone.

She will be strong enough to endure.

I woke in tears.

When Vorzak demanded to know what was wrong, I struggled to explain.

“I don’t understand what’s happening, but I think the dead are speaking to me,” I finally said.

“Necromancy?”

“I don’t know.I don’t think so.Backsight maybe.”It wasn’t a power I’d ever wanted and if it was manifesting now, I’d rather give it back.

“Visions of the past?”

I nodded.I didn’t want to say it, but I was terrified the couple I’d just dreamt about were Kasi’s parents.

They’d been in so much pain, saturated in a sorrow that weighed down the world.“It was too far back, too much in the past.There was nothing I could do to help them.”

“Help who, my love?”

“The people in my dreams.The ones who are nothing but shadows now.”

Vorzak and The Hissies tightened around me and he murmured in my ear, “Then they are long gone from this world, sweet Jasmine, and they are not yours to save.Try to sleep now.”

Though I needed the rest, I fought it as long as I could, for when I slept, the dead walked in my dreams.

Eventually, though, I dropped off again, and as expected, they came calling once more.

This time, though, it was the shadow army, marching on Blackthorn Academy again.Streaming from the shadows in unending waves, they whispered,