Ravyn turned to me, her rage burning brighter in her eyes than in her still flaming fist. “Rusty, take these two to Cerrydwen and come back as soon as you can.” She glanced back at Naomi, “You remember the emergency password don’t you, darling?”
Naomi nodded. “I do.”
“Good. When you get to Cerrydwen’s place, make sure you tell Rusty what they are, OK?”
Naomi nodded again as she stood up with Alexa before grabbing a small bag that she had managed to pack. “I’m ready.”
I turned back to Ravyn. “Are you going to be alright?”
She shrugged. “I’ll be alright so long as I know that these two are safe. If you hurry back, you can help me to save as many of the others as possible.” She glanced back down the hall before looking at me again. “Get these two to safety. We can’t let Alexa fall into the arms of these monsters.”
“I’ll be back.”
A tear rolled down Ravyn’s cheek as she turned away and stalked off to do battle. “Good.”
I sheathed Excalibur and picked up the rucksack that I had dropped earlier. I reached my left hand out toward Naomi. “Come on. Let’s get you two to Cerrydwen.”
As she and Alexa drew near, I focused my Will and summoned the Shadow.
Nothing happened.
“Shit.”
“What’s wrong, Daddy?”
I waved my free hand to silence the questions and tried again, this time though, I reached as deep inside of myself as possible, summoning all of Will. I would not, could not, be denied.
Except that I was. Again, nothing happened.
“What the fu…dge?” I looked at Naomi. “I think something is blocking me from calling the Shadow.”
Her eyes narrowed. “How can they do that?”
I shrugged. “I wish I knew…”
I was interrupted by an ear-piercing, unearthly scream of rage of fear that was itself interrupted by an explosion that rocked the foundations of the house. I held on to Naomi tightly as the floor buckled and lurched beneath us. For the briefest of moments there was a dead kind of silence, but that was soon shattered by the sounds of other battles being fought elsewhere in the house.
Once things stopped shaking, I slammed the door to the room shut and ran over to the shattered window to get a view of what was happening out there.
At first, I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, which was strange in itself. Sensing that all was not as it seemed, I shifted my sight into the Shadowland. That’s when everything became a hell of a lot clearer and I became a hell of a lot more concerned.
In the Shadowland, I could see the ring of man-sized figures that stood stock still, arms extended towards each of their neighbors. Extending between them was a web of crackling energy that seemed to form a dome over the entire Phoenix Coop. I had no idea who or what these creatures were and how they were doing it, but they seemed to have created some kind of bubble that was meant to keep anyone from leaving the place, especially through the Shadowland…
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