The armoury smelled of herbs and magic, the air biting my pores and skin. The sunshine of Wynvail’s silver-white magic made the cabinets of bottles, unusual objects, and magic shit much more unearthly than earlier than. I gave the tables a large berth as I adopted him inside, not wanting one other annoying sapphire man to spring to life.

I reached deep inside me for the place the place my curse magic—or titan magic, if I believed Cronus, which I’d moderately not—lived, greedy it in a decent sufficient grip that my forearm glowed crimson, a built-in torch that I swept over the cabinets I handed.

“Hearken to this,” Emlyn murmured, jogging down the hall and into the room, and I jumped when a crackly, distorted voice got here from the obscure define of a radio in his palms, the aerial pointing straight up like a rapier. Em twisted the dial till the radio was loud sufficient for us all to listen to, and I edged nearer to Verena simply in case she wanted a hug. Fuck, I wanted a hug.

“—can now hear from Rone Evans, our New York correspondent. Rone, are you able to describe what occurred when the curtain of darkness fell?”

“All of it occurred within the house of some minutes, Sarah. We’re nonetheless placing the items collectively, however the curtain, because it’s being referred to as on social media, blocked out all mild sources in varied cities the world over. New York was one of many worst hit, and there have been quite a few casualties, nearly all of which had been attributable to highway collisions the place drivers had been unable to see the vehicles round them, or pedestrians unaware they’d walked into the highway.”

“Shit,” Harvey breathed, scrubbing his hand over his jaw. “That is fucked up. So it is all over the place.”

“Earlier than they spoke to this girl,” Em murmured, “they had been speaking about London, Paris, Seoul, and Rio.”

“Fuck,” I breathed, wanting to remain robust and assured for Verena however simply … unable to.

Wynvail struck a match to mild one of many candles beside a row of unusual, brass globes, however the second the match was lit, darkness swallowed it. I could not inform whether or not the candle was lit. It was like a ghost in Wyn’s moonlight. It forged no mild.

He blew out the match and threw it apart, his jaw clenched.

Rone Evans continued to speak in regards to the individuals who’d been caught in accidents due to the curtain, and the way shares had been crashing as a result of stockbrokers could not see their computer systems to trace the numbers, and even how opportunists had begun to loot outlets. Each phrase she spoke twisted my abdomen—and this was taking place all the world over.

“Possibly this can be a good factor,” Wane mentioned quietly. “Possibly we can’t must combat him; all of the international locations he’s hit can ship their armies.”

“Possibly,” Harvey agreed gently.

It appeared unrealistic.

“Effectively, hold us up to date on—” Sarah, the radio presenter started, however a girl’s sharp, piercing scream lower her off. “Rone? Are you able to inform us what’s taking place? Are you protected? Rone?”

It wasn’t Rone who answered; it was a person, and an area judging by his accent. Panic colored his voice, quickening his phrases till my palms began to shake.

“The entire highway simply turned to mud,” he screamed. “All of the buildings are gone. A number of the individuals are gone, too. It is the top of the fucking world! I mentioned we should not have made all these memes in regards to the aliens; we pissed ’em off, man.”

“I am sorry,” Sarah mentioned to her listeners. “We’ll return to occasions in New York after we can get better our reference to Rone. It appears her mic was stolen—”

“It is the fucking aliens. The following road simply collapsed. Oh fuck, I am lifeless. The entire borough’s falling. Run in your lives!”

The audio lower off earlier than he may proceed, however the harm had been carried out.

I swallowed, wrapping my arms round my center, and jumped when a heat hand brushed up and down my again. I leaned into Em with a shaky breath, resting my head on his chest. His coronary heart beat quick however robust—however for the way lengthy? How lengthy till Cronus discovered us, and snuffed us out? He’d simply destroyed a complete fucking borough in New York.

“We’re—listening to reviews of comparable occasions in Moscow,” Sarah mentioned, having a tough time preserving her voice calm. Had Rone Evans simply been murdered reside on radio? Had Cronus turned her to mud like he did to Wyn?

If he wished us lifeless, how would we cease him? We had no actual shields, no plan, no weapon that might hurt him. I solely had considered one of my god-killers, and it hadn’t carried out a lot good after I had each anyway.

“Oh fuck,” Verena choked out, backing up till she bumped right into a desk. Wyn launched ahead and caught her, transferring her swiftly out of the way in which and steadying the jars and potions earlier than they might smash. “That Asta girl was proper. He’ll discover us, he’ll kill us—”

I may need simply had these very same ideas, however they had been sobering coming from a thirteen-year-old.

“He will not,” I mentioned gently, my coronary heart pulling tight when Wynvail held Verena’s shoulders, trying like he wished to hug her however wasn’t certain how. “I promise you,” I swore, having no proper to make such guarantees. “I—I may need an concept the way to beat him. I simply do not understand how the hell to do it. And Wyn has this room—it is stuffed with lethal shit that’ll give us an edge.”

“What’s your concept?” Kai requested, driving a pointy fringe of depth. I held my hand out to him, and he rushed throughout the slender room to clasp it. I despatched as a lot calm by the bond as I may when the radio was nonetheless itemizing the harm Cronus had wrought on the world.

“I informed you what occurred after I died,” I murmured, glancing at my household and wishing I may see them correctly, not simply forged in silver and pink by magic. “My soul was protected by shadows—the unique darkness. The man who actually invented darkness. Erebus. I get the sense he was an excellent highly effective god 1000’s of years in the past. He informed me about Cronus, and what his plan is and—why he wished your shadows so badly, Wane.”

Wane straightened, his expression unattainable to learn on this mild and his soul compelled calm. Shielded. I hated that his shields had been again up.

“Cronus desires your magic as a result of your darkness is inherited from Erebus, and it is true energy, in its rawest kind. I believe that is the way you had been capable of weaken Iapetus,” I mentioned, and shut out the recollections of that vile bastard. “Your energy’s totally different to ours—it is not demon or god or titan or any of that. It is magic from the very begin of the universe, and Erebus mentioned it may be used to unmake the world. And remake a really totally different one.”

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