“Ash!” Tejus barked, making me jump. “We need more sentries and guards. Everyone, secure the barriers!”
The ministers already working jumped to attention, refocusing themselves away from the creeping horror to the strengthening of the only protection we had.
“I need to go down there and help. Stay here and be with your family?” Tejus turned to me, his dark eyes fixed on mine.
“No. I’m helping you. I’m a sentry. I can help maintain the barrier, and so can the witches from The Shade.”
Tejus growled, yanking his hand through his hair. Ash and the remaining ministers were already rushing past us down to the borders. “At the first sign that it might collapse, you run inside. Do you understand me?”
“I understand you.”
He nodded sharply. “God help me, Hazel—I’ll pay for the danger I’ve put you in one day.”
I ignored him and we ran down to where the other ministers and guards were standing. It wasn’t true that Tejus put me in danger—the first kidnapping instance, maybe, but after that it was all my own doing. I’d chosen to fight.
“Everyone spread out! Cover as much ground as you can!”
Tejus barked out commands, his voice splitting the cold evening air. I watched as he marched over to the witches, asking for their help. The sensation of dread and fear was getting stronger. I felt almost crippled by it—like a hand was grasping tightly at my heart, clamping my organs still. I was having difficulty breathing, my lungs and throat grabbing at the thin air.
At Tejus’s command, I lifted my hands up and closed my eyes. I tried to find the ball of energy I knew would be inside me, the bright light that was now part of me. The fear was distracting. I tried to ignore the spidery clutches of terror running across my body, concentrating on imagining energy, light—
There you are.
I found it. With everything I had, I threw the energy outward. Its electricity left the tips of my fingers, feeding itself as it dispersed, growing brighter and more brilliant inside of me.
I opened my eyes.
It was working. I could almost feel the barrier becoming stronger, its translucent skin building itself, becoming thicker and more solid.
I looked over at Tejus. He was standing to my left, his eyes fixed ahead as the shadows became longer, slowly working their way up the barrier, casting all of us in their darkness. His mouth was set in a grim line, and were it not for the slight tremors that ran through his muscled frame, I would have thought that this was costing him no effort at all. His face, the pronounced cut of his jaw and cheekbones, had almost entirely been swallowed by the gloom, but his eyes, as black as onyx, seemed to blaze like a cat’s in the dark.
“Hold steady,” he whispered.
I turned my gaze back to the barriers. The shadow was still lengthening across its surface, but I could feel our protection working. The horrible, fearful sensation was still present, but it wasn’t growing, it couldn’t hurt us.
Then the whispers started.
Low and indistinguishable, the voices felt like they were coming from the inside of my head—purring, curling soft sounds that should have been gentle, but were so discordant and filled with malice that I thought I’d go mad if they continued. My energy wavered, the gold light inside of me dimming.
“Hold on. Listen to my voice, Hazel!”
I swallowed, trying to tune into Tejus, like sorting through radio frequencies.
Stop! Stop whispering to me!
“It’s just sounds, they have no power over you. I know it sounds like they’re inside you, but they’re not, they’re just voices.” Tejus talked to me, his voice jagged and desperate, willing me to hold on.
It wasn’t just me who was slowly losing the will to fight back. I could feel the barriers becoming thinner as the rest of the sentries tried and failed to keep the whispering at bay.
We needed more energy, more light.
“Mom! Dad!” I called out into the darkness, hoping that they weren’t far away.
“We’re here, Hazel—what can we do?” My mom answered me. She was only a few yards away—she and the rest of GASP must have stood by, watching the sentries and witches work, powerless to do anything else.
“I, we, need your energy—all of you. Will you let us syphon?”
“Anything. What do we do?” my father replied, sounding confused that I was somehow performing the same magic as the rest of the sentries.
“Just be willing,” I replied. “Tell the rest to do the same—each of you, as close as you can behind a sentry. Hurry!” I felt my light dimming.
A second later, my mom reached out and touched me gently on the shoulder.
“I’m here, Hazel.”