Page 107 of The Shade of Things
Eli stiffened, scrabbling at his throat.
My vision narrowed down to two pinpricks of light. Sadie remained in the throes of her panic attack, and I couldn’t leave her here alone at Jason’s mercy. I fought as hard as I could to stay conscious and do something, anything, but I couldn’t access my magic. Our impending deaths were a pit I couldn’t scale.
I seized up, my lungs burning.
A loud whooshing sound deafened me, and then everything grew still and white. I was convinced I’d died until I realized that I was holding my breath. Jason’s magic had lost some of its power, and I gulped down air, though I was still stuck in place.
Despite my initial assumption, the brightness wasn’t death, it was Sadie’s shadow looming over us, made of dazzling white light. All except for the pitch-black eyes, which mirrored Sadie’s, even the whites of her eyes now obsidian.
I gasped. No. Not that. Not magic. What even was this? My stomach dropped into my toes. “Sadie!”
She didn’t hear me.
Eli’s mouth had fallen open, his upper lip curled back and his eyebrows in a deep V.
My daughter held up her hand, the shadow mimicking her.
Isla ran full charge toward my daughter, but when she hit the shadow’s palm, it was as though she’d run into a brick wall. A shriek pierced the night, and Isla slammed backward into the dirt.
Jason spun, eyes wide, and drew back a hand as if he was going to fling a ball of magic.
Sadie’s shadow elongated its arm in a tentacle of hard light and touched his shoulder.
Jason’s body bucked, swirling magic drawn from him like taffy and sucked into the shadow.
“Oh my God,” Eli whispered.
Jason’s hold on me fell away, and I pushed shakily to my feet. “Shut it down, honey.”
The man screamed, his face red and the tendons in his neck straining as his power poured out of him and into Sadie’s shadow.
When I couldn’t physically move her, I sent Delilah to block Jason from her shadow. I didn’t give a damn about him, but Sadie glowed so brightly that I had to avert my eyes. I was terrified she’d overload from magic absorption.
The white light dimmed.
Jason’s legs buckled, and he crumpled to his knees.
“Tell me where that gambling room is.” Unable to understand his slurred answer, I shook him. “Speak clearly and enunciate.”
He spat out an address in London, then with a roar, he tore free of my grip and lunged for my child.
I grabbed his fingers and snapped them backward.
Jason yowled in pain, sparks of magic crackling off him to fall uselessly to the ground.
Sadie was pale, her dark head bent close to Eli’s as her dad spoke soothingly to her, but her shadow and eyes were normal.
My heartbeat pounded in my ears. I yearned to let Delilah tear Jason to pieces, and while I wouldn’t traumatize Sadie with the sight, I let the full force of my hatred and savagery fuel the dark stare I gave Jason.
He flinched.
I leaned over him, like I was imparting a secret of great worth. “I saved your magic for a special reason.”
With a single shove, I cast Jason into a shadow, flinging him into the Kefitzat Haderech. Hopefully the smoke monster would kill the Ohrist like he’d sworn to do to Laurent.
Isla, pale and trembling, got to her feet. “I’m sorry!” she cried and ran off.
It would have been so easy to stop her. I shook my head. Isla was consumed by hate and grief in the wake of losing her husband and what had befallen her pack and her family. Living with that barb in her soul was a far worse fate than anything I could inflict on her.
