His hands burned where they wrapped around her wrists to pry her off of him. With a shaky breath and a little nod, Effie started to sprint for the door. She didn’t dare to look back. Not when the loud slam of doors bursting open echoed down the hall or the sound of wet grunts filled the air.
With a choked cry, she pumped her legs faster. She was almost down the hall when there was another splintering crack. The sprinkling of dust on her arms was the only warning she needed. Effie flung herself forward, rolling awkwardly as she hit the floor.
Panting, heart lodged somewhere in her throat, Effie stared at the mountain of debris that was now filling the hallway. The ceiling had caved in. Two seconds more and she would have been trapped beneath it.
A large hand grasped her by the arm and pulled her up.
“No time to linger.”
“Ronan,” she gasped, “the kind of power necessary to do this—”
“Shadows, aye, I know. We’ve killed them before; we’ll do it again.”
“Yeah, with an entire army. Ronan, an attack of this magnitude—” Effie shook her head, unable to finish the sentence.
Placing both his hands on her shoulders, Ronan shook her slightly. “Look at me.”
Stomach rolling, she obeyed.
“You cannot worry about the odds. One enemy at a time. That is how we’ll win. Do you understand me?”
Effie nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“Good. Now, we have orders—”
“Ronan!”
Reyna’s shout had both their heads snapping toward her.
“Reyna?”
“RUN!” she screamed, bloodshot eyes wide with panic as she frantically raced toward them. She was only half-dressed, but already covered in blood and ichor, a lone curved blade her only weapon. For the Night Stalker to flee instead of fight . . . that could only mean one thing. She was badly outnumbered.
Behind her, three blue-robed healers followed suit, one tripping in his haste. He fell to the ground with a pitiful whimper, one of his friends skidding to a halt to turn and help him. It was the last thing they ever did.
Just behind them, four Shadows stalked forward, forming an evil sort of diamond as they chased those fleeing.
The central figure, more skeletal than anything animated with life had a right to be, held out its hands. The two healers began to gasp, clutching their throats as the Shadow pulled the air from their lungs.
Effie watched in growing horror, their strangled cries breaking her heart. Without weapons of their own, there was no way to fight back. Not even to distract the Shadow long enough for the suffocating healers to try and escape.
Ronan let out a savage roar, calling up his twin powers of Fire and Earth.
Effie gaped, remembering Ronan didn’t need weapons to be deadly. He was Chosen. His power was more than enough to protect him.
Maybe they had a chance after all . . .
The Shadow grinned then, most of his teeth visible through the gaping hole in his cheek. His eyes focused on Effie as he curled his left hand into a fist, cutting off the healers’ cries. The silence more horrifying than anything else as their lifeless bodies dropped to the floor.
Ronan threw his power into the ground. The effect was instant, the ground began to grow and swell, cresting like a wave.
“Let’s go!” he shouted, not waiting to see the result of his efforts.
Reyna was already barreling past him, the last of the healers hot on her heels. With a final glance at the four Shadows, Effie watched the shock wave make contact, knocking the Shadows off of their feet and slamming them to the ground.
Knowing it wouldn’t keep them occupied for long, Effie started running.
“In here!” Ronan called, slamming open the dining hall doors as he careened into the empty room.
“We need weapons,” Effie reminded him. “How is hiding in here going to help us?”
Ronan lifted a brow, moving to the back of the room. “We’ll never make it to the armory before they catch up. At least in here we have options.”
She eyed the rows of wooden tables with their stacked dishes. “Are we planning on hurling plates at them?”
The Shield held open the door to the kitchen with a dark grin. “I find that chef knives can be quite deadly.”
Of course.
Reyna was rifling through the knives, running her fingers along the blades and testing their balance. “These will work well for throwing,” she murmured.
Effie’s attention was seized by blades twice the size of her forearm. Hefting the meat cleavers, she gave a test swing, trying to get used to their weight in her hands.
Ronan let out a low whistle. “You’ll have to get close with those.”
It was Effie’s turn to give him a savage grin. “Without fire, the only way to stop them for good is to remove the head. I was going to have to get close anyway. At least these will be faster than a dagger.”
Ronan nodded, selecting a heavy-looking mallet and the longest knife as his own. “I can’t risk using my Fire without burning the entire place down around us.”
“Decapitation it is then,” Reyna said, moving to stand beside him.
Reyna’s dark hair was unbound and tangled, hanging to her waist in a mess of braids. Her skin was deathly pale and waxy, her lips cracked and her eyes feverish. She hardly looked well enough to stand, let alone fight. The lajhár poison had affected her far worse than the rest of them. Effie could only assume it had something to do with her being a Night Stalker, since she and Kael both seemed to have made full recoveries.
“Maybe you should sit this one out,” Effie murmured.
Reyna’s eyes went dark and dangerous. “The day I stop fighting is the day I die.”
“What about you?” Ronan asked, talking to the healer curled up into a ball near the massive hearth.
“I-I don’t fight, sir. It goes against everything I believe in to cause harm.”
Tossing a blade at the shaking man’s feet, Ronan said, “Perhaps you better learn how to get over that. It’s them or you. Your choice.”
Looking like he was about to be ill, the healer nodded, picking up the knife with trembling hands.
“You know which end to use, right?” Ronan added.
Effie would have thought Ronan was joking if his face hadn’t been cast in such grim lines.
“Yes, sir.”
“Good.”
Even though Effie was waiting for it, the crash of wood smacking into stone made her jump.
“They’re here,” she said, tightening her grip around the heavy wooden handles.
Chapter 29
Effie peered out the wide window, taking care to stay hidden.
The Shadows moved into the dining hall, looking like they were out for a leisurely stroll. There was no need for them to rush, the victory—in their minds—assured.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” one of them crooned in a rasping voice.
“Be careful what you wish for,” Reyna snarled, hurling the first of her knives.
It struck true, burying itself in the rightmost Shadow’s eye.
“Now that wasn’t very nice,” it said, pulling the blade—and its eye—free with a disgusting pop.
“These are the same Shadows that killed the healers, so we know at least one of them controls Air,” Ronan murmured, standing on the opposite side of the window as Effie.