Chapter 21

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Everyone turned, squinting off into the distance, where it looked like the darkness was moving. It was definitely shades or those shadowy tendrils moving through the dark sky.

Parker scooped up Eli's skateboard and headed to his car. Eli followed. James took half a step after him like he wanted to stop Eli from leaving and keep him close.

"We'll follow behind." Hazel hopped in the driver's seat of the van. Eli and Parker were already in the other car.

Sebastian leaned in close to James. "Go with him if you want."

James turned a piercing stare on him. "I'm not leaving you."

"Come on then." Sebastian grabbed James's wrist and pulled him into the back of the van. James's pulse fluttered under his fingers. "I know you don't want to lose any of us," Sebastian muttered. "I'm right here."

James swallowed and nodded.

Sebastian gripped his hand. He figured James's fear he couldn't keep them all safe was starting to overwhelm him. "Let's concentrate on what we can do. We're all together," Sebastian reminded him. "We'll hunker down somewhere safe like everyone else in town. "

Hazel did a U-turn and followed Parker back the way they'd come.

"Okay." James held on to Sebastian's hand. He seemed to calm slowly, getting his panic under control before it could take hold of him. "I don't want any of us going off on our own again. Not with this many shades around."

"I don't think we'll argue with you on that," Hazel assured him. "This is way more shades than I've ever seen in town."

The horde in the sky was getting closer. It was definitely shades and not the tendrils. Their eyes glinted in the gloom.

Parker turned right, and Hazel followed, putting the flying shades out of sight as they drove down a street lined with tall trees. They went north for a few blocks through nothing but a quiet neighborhood, and then, after a few turns, they were headed back in the direction of the center of town.

"I wonder where those shades were going," Sebastian muttered. "I don't see why they'd head for the darkness boundary. They aren't trapped like us, but the sunlight on the other side would stop them going anywhere until nightfall."

"True." James squeezed Sebastian's hand. "Unless the light-resistant ones can stand direct sunlight."

Hazel glanced at them in the rearview mirror. "We've never seen them out in direct sunlight. When there was still daylight, that is. That kind of light resistance would be a whole other beast compared to what we've seen." She stopped behind Parker, who was paused at a four-way stop. They were the only two cars on the road.

Just as Parker's car began moving forward, something crashed from the sky, slamming into Hazel's van. All three of them shouted in alarm. A second later, Hazel's windscreen was completely backed out.

A shade's face appeared in the window next to Sebastian, and he gripped James's hand with all his strength. "Were they heading out that way, coming for us?" Sebastian was bewildered. He'd thought they'd lost the shades coming toward them when they'd turned down the street with all the trees. Unless these were completely different ones?

James looked frantically between all the windows. "Can you see Parker's car?" There was panic in his voice.

"No." Hazel grabbed a shade-light from her glove box and flicked it on, sending the bright beam out the front window.

Some of the shades scattered. She swept the beam back and forth until they could see the other car. Shades had swarmed it as well.

"Why would they be coming for us?" Hazel tossed another shade-light into the back seat. "They aren't going after any of the houses."

"Maybe they don't want us moving around," Sebastian guessed.

James turned on the other light. "There's too many to risk getting out." He seemed to be ignoring the discussion, only focusing on being unable to reach Eli and Parker.

The ear-piercing screech of claws on metal came from above their heads.

"Fuck." Sebastian held tight to James.

Parker's high beams flicked on in front of them. Shades scattered, but one that was obviously immune to the brightness stayed where it was. The car surged forward, colliding with the beast. It burst into shadow, only to resolidify once Parker's car was through it.

Hazel followed suit, smashing into the same shade, sending it back into shadow form. As she moved forward, more beasts rammed the vehicles from either side.

"We need to drive into a garage at someone's house. Get inside somewhere with stronger wards," Hazel said as she continued to follow Parker.

They didn't make it far.

Three shades blocked the road ahead, hovering shoulder to shoulder. A pool of shadow seemed to form beneath them. Parker didn't slow down, even when his lights did nothing to scatter the shades. He drove right into them, hitting them with a loud crunch.

The shades didn't burst or abandon their solid form as the others had. They withstood the collision, stopping Parker's car in the street.

"Shit." Hazel slammed on her brakes so she wouldn't rear-end Parker.

The shades didn't move away from Parker's car. They seemed unharmed. The one in the middle leaned forward, slamming its clawed hands into the hood, denting it.

James's grip on Sebastian's hand tightened.

Parker's car shut off, lights going out. More shades surrounded both vehicles, swooping and scratching the windows, making it hard to see what was happening outside.

James surged forward in his seat. "Drive up alongside them."

Hazel didn't need to be told twice. She pulled out onto the wrong side of the road, going slow so a collision with any shades that didn't dissipate wouldn't damage the van. As she pulled up, she left enough space for Parker and Eli to get their doors open.

Sebastian could just make out Eli scrambling into the back seat so he would be on the side of the car closest to Hazel, but before he could open the door, shades flooded the space between the vehicles.

Shit. How were Parker and Eli going to get across to the van?

The shade that had dented Parker's hood slithered up to the windshield. It raised clenched fists like it meant to smash the glass.

Sebastian, James, and Hazel all yelled in useless warning.

The glass smashed at the same time James threw the van's back door open and sent sparks at the shades blocking him from his brother. Sebastian scrambled to help, sending his own sparks. Shades burst, banished to Beyond, but more filled their place. James lunged out of the van and yanked the back door of Parker's car open. Sebastian tried his best to set the shades grabbing at them on fire, but there were too many. It was chaos.

James grabbed Eli from the backseat as Parker climbed out of the driver's door, blood running down cuts on his arms. A path cleared to Eli and James, and Sebastian seized it, pulling Eli into the van, but James didn't follow.

Shades converged on Parker like they had been ordered to strike him. In an instant, Parker disappeared, engulfed by a writhing black mass of ghostly forms.

"Parker!" James shouted.

Eli screamed. He tried to lunge around Sebastian, back out of the van, but Sebastian grabbed him in time. Hazel leaned across the front and threw the passenger door open for Parker, sending sparks flying. Sebastian did his best to send his own sparks while clinging to Eli. Getting out wouldn't help, and he had to keep Eli safe.

The sparks weren't doing enough. Every shade that burst into flame had two more to replace it.

"What are we going to do?" Eli wailed.

Before Sebastian could think of a response, James threw himself into the swirling shades, and Eli went deathly still in Sebastian's arms.

"Fuck," Hazel swore in a panicked whisper.

Fire burst out of the mass of shades, the heat hitting Sebastian in the face. Flames licked the van as shades ignited. The beasts were so packed together, and the fire so massive, that it caught from one to another, burning up into the sky, swathing the whole horde in flame.

There was nothing left but swirling smoke as the fire went out. It cleared, revealing James and Parker back to back and panting like they'd just run for miles. Parker slumped, losing his balance, and stumbled to his knees. James whirled around to catch him .

Sebastian was out of the van and helping James before he could even process it. The smell of burned cloth filled his nostrils. Parker could barely stand, and it was an effort to get him into the van even though they were right next to it.

Hazel pulled from the inside, and at last, Parker was in the passenger seat. He seemed dangerously drained and was struggling to hold on to consciousness.

Sebastian couldn't think about that now. They had to get somewhere safe. He slammed the door, closing Parker in, and herded James into the backseat. "Drive!" he shouted at Hazel once they were in the seats next to Eli.

Hazel floored it.

Eli was sobbing, trying to climb over the center console to reach Parker in the front seat.

"I'm okay. Sit down," Parker murmured, sounding exhausted. "If Hazel crashes, you're going to get yourself killed."

Eli let out a choked sound, words apparently beyond him.

James grabbed him around the waist and dragged him back into the seat, reaching across Sebastian to click Eli's seatbelt into place. "He's okay, Eli."

"No," Eli protested. "He's not. That wasn't okay."

Sebastian's heart pounded. Parker wasn't in great shape, but he hadn't lost consciousness. Sebastian clung to that faint shred of positivity as Hazel tore down the street. She turned onto northern Main Street but sped straight past Gray Electrical and into the town center.

More shades had gathered in the circle around the stone. Others drifted randomly around the road. Several streetlights had been smashed, making it much darker than the last time they'd passed through.

"Got through my wards," Parker grunted in tired outrage, clearly noticing the busted lights.

Hazel slowed as she drove by the school. It was completely dark now, and the cars that had been there before were gone. "Damn it, where's Eleanor?" Hazel growled.

"I'll call." James had his phone out and was scrolling through his contacts.

They needed to get inside a warded building but Sebastian couldn't ask Hazel to hide before they knew if Eleanor was safe. He watched out the window anxiously as Hazel made her way to the west end of town, seemingly at random.

Sebastian gripped Eli's shoulder in comfort as James spoke hurriedly into the phone on his other side. Eli's face was red and puffy, his cheeks wet. He trembled slightly, but he'd stopped crying.

"She's at Nora's," James informed Hazel before he hung up.

Hazel made a sharp right. A car passed them, going the other direction. "We need to tell people to stay inside." Hazel gripped the wheel tight as she took another turn.

James put his phone away. "I told Eleanor to get in the house."

"She wasn't already?" Hazel sounded livid.

As they approached what had to be Nora's house, Sebastian caught sight of a figure on the sidewalk. It didn't look like Eleanor had listened to James.

Hazel slammed on the breaks as they drew level with Eleanor. "What are you doing?"

"Getting in my car." Eleanor pointed to a small vehicle parked ahead of them.

"Get in with us," Hazel shouted through her closed window.

Eleanor's confused frown turned to shock, her eyes going wide. "Hazel!"

Before Sebastian knew what was happening the world flipped upside down. Someone screamed. There was a loud crash. The dizzying motion stopped, but Sebastian was still upside down, the seatbelt biting into his neck. He looked around frantically. James and Eli were hanging on either side of him, and out the window, there was nothing but the dark asphalt .

The van had flipped, and they hadn't even been moving. How had that happened? Hazel and Eleanor were shouting. James and Eli were simultaneously trying to ask everyone if they were all right as someone wrenched the door next to them open.

"We need to get out," James said from beside Sebastian. "Unbuckle yourselves."

Sebastian scrambled, bracing an arm on the roof below him so he wouldn't fall on his head. He managed to free himself and crawl out after Eli. He didn't see Hazel or Eleanor.

What had flipped the van?

James crawled out closely behind Sebastian. As soon as he was standing, he immediately began checking Sebastian and Eli for injuries. Something rustled in the air above them, and Sebastian looked up. Two shades hovered, peering down at them.

"They flipped us?" James sounded as shocked as Sebastian felt.

"Grab his other arm." Eleanor's voice cut through Sebastian's confusion. She and Hazel were on the other side of the van, helping free Parker.

Eli rushed toward the two women just as the shades struck. One went for Sebastian and James, while the other bore down on the other side of the van.

Strong hands gripped Sebastian's throat, knocking him off his feet. He couldn't draw enough breath to form the words to summon fire.

The beast was heavy and undeniably solid. Sebastian had a second to think: this must be one of those damn complex shades before it burst into flames. The pressure on his neck disappeared, only to be replaced by burning. He choked on the air as he drew breath, fire in his face. Then, there was nothing but smoke and shadow.

James's face filled his vision. "Sebastian." James cupped his cheeks, anguish in his eyes. "Shit, did I hurt you?"

"I'm okay." Sebastian pushed himself up. It had been close, but the flames had only been near him for a split second before they'd gone out, and he hadn't been burned.

Fire flared on the other side of the flipped van.

Eleanor appeared beside them, grabbing their arms and dragging them to standing. "Come on." She pulled them toward the house.

Hazel and Eli were helping Parker move unsteadily. Eleanor didn't wait for any of them. She rushed forward, picked up a flowerpot next to the front door, and threw it aside, grabbing a key underneath.

As Sebastian and James rushed to help Hazel and Eli with Parker, movement caught the corner of Sebastian's vision. "Hurry."

Eleanor held the front door open. Eli pulled Parker over the threshold, and everyone stumbled inside.

James looked around the darkened hallway. "Where's Nora?"

Eleanor heaved a ragged breath. "She and her family drove off a few minutes before you got here. They're leaving town for now."

"I hope they got out—" Hazel's words were cut off by a loud hiss.

Shades converged on the doorway. The wards on Nora's house stopped them from entering, but Sebastian's skin crawled at the sight of them so close.

Eleanor slammed the door in their faces. "We need to get Parker something to eat."

"No," a deep, eerie voice echoed around them. "We must speak."