"You cannot have her!" Torian screamed.
I was trying to think of what to do. "Jack, what about the crows?" I begged.
"Morrigan!" he insisted.
Which was when Keir burst into the atrium. "Rain!"
The Huntsman completely ignored him.
"Get out of here!" I insisted. "Keir, get out of sight!"
"Fuck that," he grumbled, not stopping until he was behind me. "They've already seen Torian. Shit, he's fixing the wards!"
"This place is mine!" Torian told the Huntsman.
The strange grey man didn't respond. He just turned his head and leaned in, looking like he wanted to press his face against the glass in an attempt to lay eyes on Aspen. My gaze jumped over there as well, but she'd pulled back, now so far into the shadows that even I could barely find her.
"Morrigan!" Jack demanded.
And my shadow stepped away from my feet. Sliding along the ground, the thing elongated, lit by the moonlight above and the flickering emergency beacons along the hall behind us. With each flash, it grew thicker, more solid. Just as it reached the glass, the damned thing stood up, but it didn't stop.
It walked right through the barrier, aiming for the Huntsman.
"Fuck," Keir breathed. "Shadows go through glass."
"Yeah," I realized. "They do!"
Thrusting both hands down, I poured out my magic and shoved it at the Wild Hunt. If they needed something to make them leave, then I would gladly give it. Swirls of fog raced forward. Some turned into hounds, wolves, or even horses. A stag's antler stood out in the swirling darkness, but also wings and so many scurrying feet.
Like a mob made from my will, the darkness pushed forward, but my own shadow wasn't under my control. Instead, the thing gestured around it, strange dark holes appearing in its face as the head turned back to me.
Eyes.
Awareness.
Fuck, it meant the darkness out there!
"What are you saying?" I asked.
"Just dosomething!" Torian hissed. "He's trying to drain the wards. Rain, his power is Wild!"
Which meant he could eat Torian's magic the same way I did. Fuck. Shit. Oh my god, this was so bad, and I was not trained in how to handle shadows in darkness. Wait, or maybe that was what my shadow was trying to say?
Closing my eyes, I reached as far inside myself as I could to find that pool of magic Ms. Rhodes always talked about. There. Once I had it, I tried to immerse myself in it like dunking my body in a swimming pool, gathering as much of it around me as I could.
"Rain..." Jack cawed softly.
"She's working on it," Keir told the crow. "Tor, how do I help?"
"Shield the goddamned windows!" he snapped.
I opened my eyes in time to see the rainbows appear between us. It made the Huntsman's head twitch, but nothing else. Then I took all the power I had and turned it loose. My conjuration was more of a directive than a fae spell. I wanted the Wild Hunt to go. I needed them drained, hurt, or even forced away from this entire building. I wanted them to catch the tail end of the storm and just keep going!
And in the middle of the night, there was nothingbutshadows. The entire world was covered in the shadow of itself. In the back of my mind, I could feel it all waking up, shifting, and trying to obey my order, but I wasn't enough. I didn't have the power to give all of it form.
"I need more!" I called out.
"Hold the windows!" Torian told Keir even as he turned to me. "And please don't fucking die, Rain."
