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CRAMMING INTO THE LIVING room after eating an early dinner, we watched the news and waited for fresh disaster to fall. The channels had all been replaying footage of the Dread Wraiths attacking a town in Russia and Harrow’s hybrids attacking small villages in the Czech Republic.
“Here we go,” Jonah said when a special bulletin came up. The news anchor looked shaken as she relayed the news she was hearing through her earpiece. Just as we’d expected, Morgwen had sent her army out to decimate another town. Harrow’s hybrids also began to harass and kidnap people. While there were fewer bodies left behind from his minions, all of their captives were going to die. Their souls were apparently being used to repair the wooden mask.
“That’s our cue,” Quin said and we all stood. “How many people can you teleport at once?” she asked Rudy.
The leprechaun screwed up his face in thought. “Only fifty or so,” he confessed. “Trying to take any more than that drains me too quickly.”
“It’s going to take too long to transport two thousand shifters,” Jake said with a frown. “The hybrids will have kidnapped most of the humans by the time we all get there.”
“We can help,” Jonah offered, pointing at himself and the other two ghosts.
“How many people can you take through the veil?” Quin asked.
“We’re not sure,” Winston replied and slid a look at Jonah. “Young Jonah and I would like to try something. If it works, it could prove to be very handy.”
“Will you need my help?” Brandi asked, clearly feeling left out.
“Of course, my dear,” the ex-Archivist said.
“What exactly are you going to do?” I asked.
“We’re going to try to combine our power and shift a bunch of our troops through the veil,” Jonah replied.
“You can’t do that unless you’ve been to the area we need to travel to,” Rudy reminded him.
“Take us there,” Quin ordered. “We can come back for the others.” She turned to Blair and Jean. “Get everyone gathered together on the surface. Make sure they’re geared for battle. We won’t be gone long.”
With that, Rudy snapped his fingers and teleported us away from the Scottish Archives to a small town in the Czech Republic.
Screams sounded from the beleaguered town. Creatures darted after the fleeing humans. They were the same types we’d seen cropping up in the States. Rat-like monsters grabbed hold of anyone they saw and carried them off into the shadows. Aquatic looking things with green skin and fins running from their heads down to their lower backs were also present. Gigantic spiders with human heads scuttled here and there, shooting webs at their prey. There were other things that we hadn’t seen up close yet as well.
“They must be taking the humans to the druids,” Connor said, watching the civilians being kidnapped.
“Let’s move,” Quin ordered, eyes flinty at the scene that was unfolding. Our job was to protect people and she had to be feeling helpless right now.
Winston did the honors and used the veil to transport us back to the Scottish Archives. We arrived near the cottage to see everyone was ready and waiting for us. The shifters were armed with guns, knives and a variety of other weapons.
“We’re ready when you are,” Blair said. His wife and daughter flanked him, both holding their guns pointed at the ground. Quin had decided the true shapeshifters should remain in their human forms during the battle. The last thing we needed was for the authorities to mistake them for the bad guys if they turned into their animal forms. They would most likely open fire on us. It wasn’t a full moon, so the were-creatures wouldn’t be changing into their animal forms either.
Quin nodded at Winston, signaling him to begin his experiment. “Right,” the ghost said and rubbed his hands soundlessly together. “Jonah and Brandi, take up positions triangular to me. When I give you the signal, grasp hold of the veil and allow your power to spill out as far as you can across the shifters. I’m hoping we can combine our strength and transport everyone at once.”
“Will do,” Jonah said with a salute. He vanished and reappeared on the far side of the crowd. Brandi gave me a nervous smile, then she and Quin both disappeared as well. She had to take our boss with her to be able to reach the outer edge of the group.
“All right,” Winston said as he began to concentrate. “Here we go.” We all crowded in together, then he lifted his hand and let it drop, which I guessed was his signal. A shiver went up my spine as I felt a hint of dark magic emanate from him. It spread outwards, covering the nearby shifters. Jonah added his power, draining some energy from me, but it wasn’t enough to be a problem. Brandi called on her link with Quin and did the same. “We’re nearly there,” Winston said, face showing his strain. He reached out with his hands and clenched his fists. “That’s it!” he said. “We’ve got them all. Now to see if this will work, or if we’ll all end up in the Deadworld.”
Rudy opened his mouth to utter a protest the risk we were about to take, but it was already too late. The Earth lurched around us and we were suddenly standing near the town where the leprechaun had taken us to a few minutes ago.
“Move out!” Quin barked and the shifters scattered. Crooking her finger at her team, we followed her as she targeted an arachnid as it tucked a web-shrouded human beneath one leg. We had to sprint to keep up with it as it scuttled away from town.
“Druids,” Quin said quietly when she spotted a group of five men wearing black robes. They stood around a glowing white circle, chanting to keep it open. The spider tossed the human through the portal, then hurried back to the town to kidnap someone else.
More monsters emerged from the shadows with their victims slung over their shoulders or held beneath their arms or other appendages. Former humans themselves, they’d been transformed by druidic magic into Harrow’s and ultimately, Spencer’s, slaves.
“What’s the plan?” Mirra asked, eyeing the druids.
“Grab one and kill the rest,” Quin replied. “We need to know where that portal leads and what we’ll be walking into if we go through it.” It went without saying that the mask would be somewhere on the other side. Why else would they be sending humans through it?
Waiting for a lull in the monsters that were ferrying victims to the druids, Quin pointed at the man she wanted to capture. With a nod at Jonah, she gave him a signal to nab him. He disappeared, put his arms around the druid and reappeared next to us.
Unprepared for an attack, the remaining four sorcerers didn’t have any defenses prepared. Our bullets cut them down and the portal became inactive. An aquatic creature that had just arrived halted, stared at their bodies for a few moments, then turned and loped off in another direction. It was no doubt heading for another group of druids with its human cargo in tow.
Mirra turned her power on, but waited for me to act before bothering to bamboozle our captive. He attempted to chant a spell, but Jonah slapped his hand over his mouth. I reached out to touch him on the forehead and he tried to flinch away. I’d consulted the grimoire earlier and it had shown me an enchantment that would work. I spoke a few words and pushed my power into him. Eyes going wide in horror, he began to gibber when the spells Morgwen and Harrow had crafted to protect him from being questioned were shorted out.
“It’s up to you now,” Quin said to Mirra. The siren smiled and went to work.
