Page 71 of Monster's Melody

In response, Zowen’s shadows, the ones that had spread throughout the room, shielding the skylights high above and hunting my classmates below, began to retreat, shrinking away from the army that moved inexorably closer and snapping back into Zowen’s form.

No longer blocked by shadows, sunlight poured through the skylights, creating small funnels of light throughout the room.

The shadow army flowed seamlessly around them, shifting and moving relentlessly forward.From the perimeter of the room inward, from floor to ceiling, they poured.

As the army moved forward, the students and professors of Blackthorn Academy fell back.

Elliot, Miki-Leopard, Kasi, Shadow and Jahrdran pulled away with them, all of them yielding the fight to the shadow-beasts of another age, beasts who’d risen as a shadow army.

That army showed Zowen no mercy.

They ripped into his shadows, shredding and tossing the pieces of darkness into the funnels of light around the room, until finally, the only thing left of the chameleon dragon turned Shadow Killer was that tiny spark of light that represented the love he’d once held for his mate.

I called that light to me and cupping it in my hands, sang the final verse of a song I’d read the year before in a book Kasi had retrieved from her shadow library.

Somehow, all those months ago,The Song of Shadowshad found a place inside me where it waited until this very battle to be sung.

The light inside never dies

It lives on, in all of us

Hold it close, this tiny spark,

then let it fly, so it never goes dark.

Let it fly, so it never goes dark.

I opened my hands and the light flew toward the shadow that had stood back while the army tore apart Zowen.

That shadow now streamed forward, shadow-hands held out to accept that small, emaciated light into its arms.

That light joined the shadow’s light at its center and the two merged into one.

As if that was all the shadow ever needed to move on, it simply dissipated, the light at its center disappearing in a flash of bright light.

That was when the rest of the shadow army streamed toward Kasi.

She stood not far from where the final battle had taken place, tears streaming down her face, Jahrdran’s arms around her, Shadow and Miki-Leopard flanking her.

Elliot crouched at Miki-Leopard’s side, his leopard-spotted wings spread out behind him.

As the melody of my song dwindled to a soft hum, the shadows streamed past Kasi, shadowy hands and arms brushing over her hair and along her sides.

Their shadows and hers, along with those of Jahrdran, Shadow, Miki-Leopard and even a few that seemed to be Elliot’s,mingled together for one long moment, then separated, the shadows of another era fading from the world one final time.

When they were all gone, Kasi let out a soft, keening sound, then collapsed in Jahrdran’s arms.

CHAPTER12

We’d beatenthe Shadow Killer, the shadows held prisoner in the Shadow Realm were finally at peace, and Kasi had a few answers, though perhaps not as many as she’d hoped for.

In the aftermath of the final battle, I shared my dreams with her.The ones of her parents and the endless love they’d had for her, the sacrifice they’d made and the sorrow they’d felt in leaving her to live her life in a world not made up entirely of shadows.

“They knew the Shadow Realm was no place for a child to grow and thrive,” I told her.“And so they let you go.I’m not sure how you came to be born in the first place, but I know they loved you with everything in them and they gave the world the greatest gift when they let you go.”

We all cried in the aftermath of that conversation, Mikaela and I holding onto Kasi as she mourned the two parents she’d never met, but who had loved her fiercely.

Not too long after, our mates all came bursting into our room, having felt our sorrow through the bonds, and found the three of us a sobbing, disastrous mess.