the only way I cou ld ever know he was real in The R ealm.
I threw my arms around him, and he squeezed me back before pushing me behind him. Aden and Grayson appeared in that moment as well. The shadowed images began to creep closer and closer, then all at once they charged Aden. Draven and Grayson dove into the dark cloud to help him.
Madison and I instinctively ran toward them, but before we could take a step, men appeared in front of us. They were just like the men in the graveyard before: all in black, flawless images. Behind them, I saw gleams of light. I knew that Draven and the others were helping those shadows, turning them into light, but I doubted they’d see their way out before these men attacked us.
“Too bad we didn’t get that lesson from Silas,” I muttered.
“Maybe we don’t need it. Anything can happen here,” Madison said confidently.
I nodded to agree, then stepped boldly forward to the man in front of me. I reached my hand right though him. The shock of that act made me sick to my stomach. Inside, around my arm it felt like ice, but it also felt like worms; wet, slithery worms. I grabbed as many as I could with my hand and pulled my arm out as I stared into the vacant eyes of a man that was twice my size. When I pulled my arm out, black smoke came, but not as much as what I’d seen Silas pull out, so I reached in again and set my intent to pull every inch of darkness out of his body. The cold, slithery worms vanished, and I felt a rock in my hand. I pulled back, and with that the man fell as the black smoke drifted into the air.
I glanced at my side to see that Madison had figured it out, too; three men were at her feet, but more were appearing around us.
I couldn’t help myself. The black smoke made me think of my dream, and instantly my dream came to life. There was an ancient city around us, a stone road, and ash raining down like snow.
I didn’t have time to change my thoughts; another man was attacking me. I reached inside him as he reach ed for my neck with his hands. The man forced my mouth o pen, then began to breathe in . I didn’t know how he was doing it, but I was becoming weaker, and light was escaping through my mouth. Even though I could focus on the cold rock inside of him, I couldn’t pull it out. Then I felt a hand on mine inside this man. Panic caused me to close my mouth and push away from the man. It was entirely t oo easy to do so, even in The R ealm. The man fell to the ground instant ly, and when he did, I knew why it wa s so easy: Silas was b ehind him. H e’d killed him.
Silas had his back to me and was pulling the darkness out of everyone who came near me. Madison was at my side, so was Aden. I looked around frantically to find Draven. He was fighting these men with Grayson at his side.
It didn’t take long for Draven and the others to figure out how to kill them. They were faster at it than us; maybe because they were stronger, maybe because they were dark so there was no light that could be pulled from them.
“We have to stop this! How many are there?!” Madison yelled.
I looked past her and saw the image of Bianca on top of the distant building. I was sure she was causing this. With one thought, I left the security of Silas’ side and appeared in front of her. I didn’t wait for her speak. I pushed her to ground, and with all my strength, the building collapsed. The ash stopped falling from the sky, and the stone city was gone.
“STOP IT!” I yelled.
Before I could think of a way to kill her, to reach into her, someone pulled me off her. I couldn’t see who it was, but I knew it was one of the dark men because I could feel his ice-cold body against mine. I focused on warmth, and the butterflies appeared around me. Before Bianca could step forward, Draven appeared in front o f her. He pushed her back with nothing but a thought, then turned to help me, but before he could reach me Bianca turned into a man, one that was twice as big as Draven.
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