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Chapter Sixty-Nine

RAIN

B efore my eyes, the mist was thickening.

What had started out as the day's humidity rising up when darkness cooled the world was now so much worse - and getting thicker by the second.

The grey forms began shifting. Hooves crushed grass, evergreen needles, and dried leaves, making it clear there was more than one animal out there.

Then, from somewhere lost in the middle of the swirling paleness, the Huntsman said, "I come for her ."

"Go, go, go!" Keir was yelling at the courtiers, shuffling them through the gate that was only wide enough for one person at a time.

Hawke was beside him, further up the line, propelling people forward in a single line with his hands.

I saw all of it as I turned, but we'd wandered away for privacy, and now tendrils of fog were swirling in behind us.

The shape of those swirls was becoming more and more human-like, which meant hunters.

Fuck!

"Torian!" I yelled, knowing that no matter what, he would help his sister.

"Aspen!" he screamed back.

A flare of white cut through the fog, freezing it and making ice crystals fall to the ground.

That cut a swath, but we were further away than I thought.

Pushing Aspen, I guided her that way, knowing being on our own was bad.

The Huntsman wanted her - not me, and nothing else mattered but keeping her safe.

"Jack!" I screamed next.

"Morrigan!" he yelled, swooping through the fog and leaving tendrils swirling behind his wings.

But a sword lashed out. Jack turned sharply, yet it wasn't enough. I saw the flat of a blade smack his wing and my crow's dark silhouette angled quickly towards the ground.

"No, no, no!" Aspen muttered. "Not Jack!"

"Run!" I ordered, forcing her through the quickly narrowing gap.

Wilder must've made it. Or Torian. Or someone, but the one corridor without mist was our only escape right now, and I knew it was the only way to keep her safe.

It didn't matter who was on the other side, because the Hunt was behind us, and the sound of large things moving was getting both louder and closer - and fast.

"Rain, you need magic!" Aspen said.

"I have magic," I snapped, one hand on her back as I kept her from stopping. "I need you to be safe."

Because Torian was right. He'd been so pissed at me because his point was completely valid.

Aspen always gave me all the magic she had.

She couldn't imagine doing anything else, but it made her even more vulnerable.

She, the girl with more power than I could wrap my mind around, was wasting it on me.

I was supposed to be the fucking Morrigan. I had to figure out how to deal with this shit on my own - or die trying. My job wasn't to have everyone else carry me. And yeah, maybe I was shit at this, but I'd never be anything but a mistake in their history unless I figured it the fuck out.

"Freeze the fog!" Torian yelled.

"Shit, I can do that," Aspen muttered before thrusting her hands out, making the mists grow brighter and then trickle down like glitter in the darkening twilight. "Rain, keep up!"

"I'm right behind you," I said, just as something burst from the trees beside us.

The greyness solidified into a horse and rider. The beast shouldered Aspen, knocking her to the ground and cutting me off. I watched her silver hair flare in all directions as she rolled, and panic slammed into my chest.

I couldn't breathe. I could barely think, but I also couldn't stop. Ducking around the back of the eerie mist-like mount, I scrambled to get to her, to push everything away, and to make this all fucking stop! Groaning with my effort, I charged, slinging a hand out to shove the gigantic horse away.

Darkness exploded like a bomb, evaporating the mists immediately around us and spreading.

Where the edges touched, the greyness faded, but my power weakened as it spread.

The fog thinned, drifted, but was still there - except for a ten-foot circle right around me - and the beautiful pixie sprawled in the leaves and mud.

"Get up!" I begged. "Aspen!"

She crawled to her feet, then lashed out with her magic again. The fog glowed, iced over, and snowed down in microscopic crystals, but all that did was reveal the hunter on his horse and two more on foot behind him.

The rider smiled - then kicked the animal hard.

"No!" I roared, shoving my shadows up to make a wall.

The angle was off, but it still blocked us. The sound of the animal's hooves stuttered, changed, and then moved off to the side, so I pulled the shadows back, hoping I could use them again. Yet in the split second I was focused on that, the unmounted hunters charged.

"Rain!" Keir yelled. "Rain?"

"Here!" I replied, tucking Aspen behind me and backing up just as fast as I could.

A rainbow shot through the fog, slamming into me.

I sucked in a breath, feeling the increase in my shadows, and then darkness erupted from the center of my chest. Part of it encased me.

More latched on to Aspen, quickly changing into the blackest armor I'd ever seen. More shot out into the area around us.

"Rain!" Keir yelled again. "Steel stops them!"

"Shadow? Where's my fucking shadow?" I asked, scrambling back as the hunters were getting closer. "Aspen, I need light!"

Brightness flared. My shadow stood up, thrust my sword at me, and then turned to stand at my side just as the pair of hunters crashed into us.

I hacked, but the one before me blocked. Her hair flew out behind her, just as grey as her dead-looking eyes. Her sword was white, though. The sound of steel on whatever-that-shit-was rang out, followed by something else.

The tone was different, and possibly more intense.

I dared a glance to see my shadow swinging a weapon of its own.

It was a replica of mine, but a shadow !

Shit, I'd never even considered that. The thing might have a mind of its own, but it was mine .

That meant it followed my lead, so it was time to do a little leading .

"Aspen, stay behind me," I ordered.

And then I fought with all I had. Iron hurt the fae. These things were fae, even if they no longer looked like the sort I knew. All I had to do was cut one, and it didn't matter if I was pretty about it. I just had to hack, slash, and bash.

In the distance, I could hear the sounds of chaos. The screeching from the school meant someone had managed to pull the Hunt alarm. Which explained the sound that had caught my attention. Those were battle cries - and they were coming closer.

They just weren't here.

The Hunt wanted Aspen, and I was the only thing holding them off.

Me and my shadow had to hold out. We needed to stop these things, but I couldn't use my usual tricks.

Keir's blast - or attempt at a shield? - had given me a little power, but it wouldn't last forever.

I needed to be smart about this. I had to make every bit of darkness count. I had to...

The huntress before me kicked at my feet, interrupting my thoughts.

I stumbled, just for a blast of ice to fly past my face, slamming into her.

The huntress staggered back, giving me a chance, so I took it.

Grabbing my sword with both hands, I swung as hard as I could, but the angle was bad.

The flat of the blade hit, forcing a huff from her mouth and dropping her into the grass.

"Torian, get your ass over here!" I roared.

But I didn't get an answer. I barely had time to turn and get my sword up before the hunter attacking my shadow came at me. Yet the moment I focused on it, my shadow darted off, lunging at the woman I'd been fighting a moment before.

Ok, I could do this. We also had to keep backing up, because our friends were that way. My zez always said the goal was to keep our feet moving, keep our minds going, and get to backup. So blocking and parrying more than anything else, I retreated before the grey monster before me.

"Aspen, keep going," I panted, feeling my arms burn with the exertion.

Then she screamed. I kicked out at the man before me and dared to look back, only to see another three hunters rushing towards us. Fuck, this was bad. It was so damned bad, and I could barely handle one of these things, let alone five !

"Torian!" Aspen screamed.

"Hit her!" he yelled back. "Rain, remove them!"

Aspen turned and shot a string of the bluest flowers at me, and I felt the darkness surging. "Don't waste it!" I snapped. "Aspen, you're as strong as me!"

"I'm not the main character," she muttered, citing something her and her brother had argued about after the last Hunt attack. "I'm not the point of this! I don't want any of this!"

"Don't think they care," I pointed out. "And right now, Aspen, I need you to keep a few of these off us. I need you, Aspen!"

"Make a tornado!" she begged.

I blocked the next hunter to rush in, and managed to get out, "That took emptying both of you. Aspen, I can't!"

Brightness flared behind me, proof she was fighting back. "I don't know what to do!"

"Make it up!"

More light burst, looking like strobes with the intensity of them. The world slowed, but I pushed myself to move faster. The moments of darkness in between made me think night had fully hit, but I didn't get the chance to reach for it. The hunters were not about to give me a chance.

I bashed the face of the one before me, and grey began to ooze from the gash I'd left behind.

Turning, I slashed at the huntress again, trying to gain a little space.

She jumped back, so I swung at the man one more time, only to see the cut I'd given him mere seconds ago was almost completely healed!

Then blackness darted in front of my face and another hunter crashed to the ground. I hacked at the now-unwounded man before checking - to find Jack pecking and clawing at a hunter's face. The huntress immediately rushed in.

"No!" I yelled, grabbing the darkness around her and using it to fling her as far back as I could.

And the shadows obeyed. I didn't get the chance to think about that, though, because the other hunter punched me in the side of the head.

My world spun. My body turned. I caught myself in time to get my sword up again, but I'd seen Aspen throwing ice and lashing out with vines at the rest of this group. Yeah, she was fighting like a badass, but I needed to stop this - and now!

So I forced out the kind of battle cry which should strike fear in the enemy, turned, and shoved myself right into the hunter's face.

My free hand caught the back of his neck.

The other arm shoved, pushing my blade right into his gut.

Then I forced the two together, pulling with one arm while pushing with the other, and roaring with everything I had.

The stone on my leather cuff flashed. Blacklight blinded me for a moment before my eyes could adjust. Yet the moment it was gone, I found my face right up in the hunter's.

He groaned, making the first real sound I'd heard from a hunter. His eyes snapped to mine, the greyness clearing quickly to reveal his irises were blue. Worse, his skin was shifting, changing, and that unnatural grey color was simply dissolving.

The warmth trickling over my hand made me look down. Blood. That was red, and it was real blood! There was nothing grey about it.