Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 112089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
Austin shifted, the muscular man turning into an enormous snow-white polar bear, larger than its natural counterpart.
The mages in the trees started to back-pedal, but that wouldn’t matter. The spell would find them. Their hands clutched at their robes.
The rest of the shifters jogged into the meadow behind Austin, and the fliers rose into the sky. Hollace had to venture further into the meadow before he shifted into a great bird that swept over the crowd and into the air. The ground crew couldn’t help but duck. None of the training they’d had could’ve prepared them for this.
Sebastian’s spell bloomed and then fell. One of the mages, clearly the quickest thinker in the bunch, lifted his hands, but it was at that moment that Jessie engaged.
Then all hell broke loose.
TWENTY-SEVEN
Swirling darkness swelled through me as I shifted and rose above the meadow. Red tinged the sides of my vision and then spread, pulsating like my magic. Anger and aggression took over me until I felt like I was sinking into the abyss of it, down and down, drowning.
Fear crowded my senses. The desire to push back, to shift into my human self and shrug off these feelings, was almost overwhelming. I wasn’t sure I could give myself over to the inky well waiting to consume me.
I clung to my humanity, to the safety net of what I’d always known, of what was acceptable in the polite society in which I’d resided for most of my adult life.
Warmth surged through the bond. Support. Austin was urging me to let go. He was reminding me that he was there for me. He wouldn’t let me lose myself to the darkness.
I trusted that. I trusted him.
But we had a long battle in front of us. A battle where I’d be in the air, and he’d be on the ground, worlds apart, it seemed. It would be impossible to connect with him if something went wrong. If the darkness locked me in its grip, we wouldn’t have time to coax me out until maybe it was too late.
“Let go,” Ivy House said. “Become one with it.”
An enemy mage lifted his hands to do a spell.
Without waiting, unable to completely succumb, I slammed a spell down on the mages. They dropped their hands, and two of them sank to the dirt, not ready for that level of power.
Sebastian’s potion-spell fitted itself over them, just barely large enough, locking on to the ground and solidifying with a mustard-yellow sheen. They looked up in surprise. Their hands immediately started working, some with spells, some reaching into the pockets of their robes. The countdown had begun. Time to hit the huge crowd of ground troops, six dozen or more.
I roared again, flying above the battlefield. What looked like lasers zipped around me. One sliced across my shin, but my tough skin barely tore. Nathanial had been right: gargoyles were built to withstand certain types of magic.
Those trained footmen below weren’t.
I slammed down spells, crushing the enemy beneath my magic. Cyra flew overhead before diving, opening her beak and blasting them with fire. It rolled over three men standing in a crisp line—these troops were highly trained and organized, as Sebastian had said. They screamed and slapped at their faces for a moment before regaining their composure and lifting their guns to fire at her. They ignored their bodies, and I instantly saw why: their bulky gray uniforms were flame-resistant. While Cyra could increase the heat to blistering levels, the stream would be small, only able to scour one at a time and maybe taking a while to burn through. It would take too much of her focus—less than ideal, as we’d lose the brunt of one of our strongest allies.
Hollace flew overhead, and his lightning crackled down. Prongs of it hit three bodies, making them shake with the rush of electricity before collapsing. A fourth missed, though, and fire sprang up in the dry grass.
I reached for the spell to quell it but hesitated. My magic surged and boiled, rushing within me one moment and strangely subdued the next. My gargoyle was struggling with my logical side, with my Jane side, I knew, off-kilter and less effective. My fear of the dark violence was hindering me—I knew I had to let go, but I was unable to fully do it. The effect was worse than if I hadn’t tried at all. If I attempted elemental magic right now, there was no telling what might happen. I would almost certainly make it worse.
Thankfully, the enemy troops shuffled through quickly, dousing the flames as they surged forward to get at our people. Blasts flew through the air from dozens of magical guns, forcing Hollace higher. His aim up there would be precarious, and the threat of fire, burning our people as well as theirs—burning the basajaunak’s forest—would increase dramatically. We were losing another of our powerful players.