Chapter 23

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Eleanor must have gotten the emergency alert sent because all their phones blared, cutting into the silence of the reception area. James and Parker groaned like the sound physically hurt.

Eli kissed Parker's cheek as he cleared the message from his screen. "I hope people leave."

Sebastian met Eli's solemn stare across the room. "I hope the shades let them."

"They should," Eleanor said from the hallway. "It was what that thing said it wanted. If it thinks it's winning, maybe it will let people go."

"The shades seemed to be letting other cars pass before," Hazel reminded them.

"Exactly." Eleanor gestured toward the door. "So why don't you all get going?"

No one moved.

"Please," Eleanor begged. "I'll come with you. We can all pile into the van. There's no reason to stay. This is not normal Moonlight Falls weirdness or our responsibility. We can all come home again once the National Guard or whoever-the-fuck kicks out the monsters. "

"Eleanor, we can't. You go. We'll catch up." Hazel sounded pained, and Sebastian felt a familiar stab of guilt. He pushed it away as best he could, but things had gotten so out of hand.

"Can't?" Eleanor narrowed her eyes at Hazel. "What's that supposed to mean?"

The silence that followed was thick with tension. So many words were on the tip of Sebastian's tongue. He could feel how weak the secret-binding had become. It seemed even flimsier than when he and James had told Eli and Parker, almost like telling Hazel afterward had weakened it further. But it didn't matter how easy it was to spill his secret. Sebastian knew they couldn't trap Eleanor by explaining.

Eleanor fixed Hazel with a serious stare. "What do you mean can't , Hazel?"

A loud crash came from above. Glass rained onto the reception area carpet, tinkling where it hit the desk and tiles by the door, glittering in the artificial light. The large front window halfway up the vaulted front wall had shattered. Black tendrils reached inside, feeling down and around.

"See, we need to go!" Eleanor shouted, grabbing Hazel's elbow.

The door to town hall creaked open. "You sound properly motivated." A familiar eerie voice washed over them as the huge shade glided into the reception area. Even with the lights on, Sebastian couldn't see it any better than before. It was like a walking shadow, no hint of a face, nothing, only a menacing presence.

Shadowy tendrils flowed around the base of the shade, slithering along the floor. The wards protecting town hall must have been completely shattered. Had they even been intact when they'd walked in?

Sebastian helped James stand. He didn't want them to be on the floor as the tendrils crept closer .

"There is no point staying to fight." The shade moved closer. "Your kind don't do well in the dark."

Eleanor took a step forward. "Then let us go."

The shade moved its blank face as if looking around the room at them. Sebastian swore it lingered on him and James, but he had to be imagining it. It was just his fear making him see things. The shade didn't even have eyes.

"All but one can go."

James's grip on Sebastian's arm turned bruising. Did he suspect the shade was looking at them too? But why?

Eleanor hesitated, still clutching Hazel's arm. "We're all leaving."

No one contradicted her. Even if they couldn't escape Moonlight Falls, it was better to get away from this shade before convincing Eleanor to leave them behind.

Typical-looking shades floated in through the open door. They didn't flinch at the lights as they lined the front wall of the room like sentries waiting to strike. Now that he could see them better, Sebastian realized how translucent they were, nothing like the well of darkness that was their apparent leader.

"If you don't cooperate, we won't let the rest of the town leave." The faceless shade glided forward, and Eleanor took an unsteady step back. "All but one. You choose, or I will, but there is no negotiating. You must cede leadership to me. Prove you understand by giving me a sacrifice, and you can go."

Sebastian's heart pounded. His instincts screamed in warning.

James squeezed Sebastian twice in quick succession, like he was trying to communicate something. Sebastian was lost. He had no idea what it meant. He just wanted to get out of there and keep James safe. Keep them all safe since it was his fault they were stuck in the damn town in the first place.

Even if they didn't hate him for it, Sebastian would hate himself if his curse got them all killed.

The carpet underneath the towering shade erupted in flames. Stinking smoke billowed as the fire roared. Eleanor and Hazel jumped in surprise, backing out of the flames' reach. Eli dragged Parker toward the hallway as the blaze spread, and Sebastian tried to do the same to James, but James was shaking, his body rigid and unmovable. At first, Sebastian thought it was fear, but then he realized James was straining with effort as he burned the room in front of them.

The shades along the wall caught fire and burst into shadow while the tendrils creeping along the front door did the same, shrieking as they disappeared from this world, but the shade in the middle of the room remained untouched.

The fire raced along the carpet, closer to where Sebastian and James were standing. "James!" Sebastian shouted in his ear as he pulled him.

James stumbled and almost fell into the growing fire. Sebastian caught him and dragged him backward toward the hallway. A burst of water sprayed in front of them, dousing some of the nearest flames. James wasn't holding his own weight. It terrified Sebastian as he dragged him closer to where everyone was cowering in the hall.

Cold air whipped through the room, and in an instant, Sebastian felt like he was freezing. The roaring fire snuffed out like it'd been nothing more than a small candle flame.

"Are we done?" The shade stood unaffected in the middle of the destroyed room, its voice as cold as the air.

Sebastian clung to James, unable to concentrate on the beast in front of him. James's eyes were hooded. He was barely conscious. All that magic for nothing. A sob tore out of Sebastian's throat. He needed to take care of James. He had to get out of there and find somewhere safe.

"Parker! Parker!" Eli shouted, but Sebastian felt like he heard it from far away. He turned to see the big man slumped on the ground. The water spell must have been his doing. Conjuring moisture was even harder than conjuring light or starting a fire .

The shade glided forward, stopping in front of Sebastian. "Bring that one, and come with me."

Sebastian felt lightheaded. Was it talking to him? Why? "I'm not coming with you." His voice cracked, but he made himself look into the blank face. He clung to James as tight as he could.

The shade let out a wheezing sound, almost like a sigh of frustration. It reached out and wrapped one limb around Sebastian's body and the other around James.

Sebastian went blind with panic. The contact burned like ice. He thrashed and sent sparks flying wildly, but they didn't catch. They were swallowed by the shade's darkness.

He felt James being pulled from his grip. "No!" he screamed until his voice was raw. He was vaguely aware of Hazel and Eleanor trying to set the shade on fire, but it was no use.

"You will stay here where you're needed." The shade shoved Sebastian back, releasing him and sending him crashing into the wall. It held a boneless James in its other limb. "The rest of you may leave. I have chosen my sacrifice. His blood will cement the claim Beyond has made on this place, as per the laws of blood and bone magic in the living world. There's no use fighting. Go or die."

It drifted up into the air as Sebastian lunged forward. He grabbed for the shade but his hands closed around nothing. It floated out the broken window, taking James away.