Cold dread spread through Aiden. It spiked into terror when Morgan lifted his hands and set them against the barrier. A little whimper escaped Aiden. Morgan had destroyed his shield so easily at the prison, like it was made of paper.
“You can hold against him. You must,” Nuala said.
Aiden knew his spell had gotten stronger, but he didn’t have faith that it had gotten strong enough. Sweat dampened his armpits, and the metallic taste of fear filled his mouth.
Morgan pushed. Aiden poured everything he could into the shield. Everyone was counting on him.
The force of Morgan’s power was immense. It felt like being lost in a cave. No light, no way out.
Tiago changed into human form and stood close, not quite touching. “You can do it.” Humid air and soft fur brushed against Aiden’s mind, like a comforting hand in the darkness.
The barrier held.
Morgan frowned. “You have been training.” His chilling smile returned, and he pushed harder. “Aiden Spencer, let your power be disrupted.”
The shield weakened, and for a heart-stopping second, Aiden thought it would break.
“C’mon, Aiden!” Dylan encouraged.
Aiden tried to draw more power from the boulevard nearby, but there was only one tree barely waking up from winter and a tiny strip of dead grass. He wished he were in the woods, or that it was the middle of spring rather than the tail end of winter. More sweat broke out over his body, and he started to shake with the strain of using so much magic. But Morgan couldn’t get through.
With a frustrated snarl, the dark fae took a step back. “Not your true name then,” he muttered. “How long can you hold, Aiden? No one is coming to get you. My companions are using the power of your ridiculous wards to fuel a barrier around us. By the time they’ve used up the energy, the pathways to Faery will be open again.”
Aiden fought against rising panic. They were stuck in here.
“Bring the bodies!” Morgan shouted, taking a few more steps away. Something moved in the dark with a dull rattling sound. It took a while for Aiden to make out the strange shape, and when he did, his stomach lurched. A dark fae was pulling a large, flat cart. It was piled high with corpses.
“Place them here. I want them to watch.” Morgan pointed, and the other dark fae dumped the bodies in a heap. Aiden turned away, swallowing hard at the horrible, meaty thuds.
Did he know people in that pile?
“Bastards.” Dylan growled, getting up to stand next to Aiden.
Aiden dared to look. Two more people walked up to the pile, carrying bloody bodies. Dalton’s parents. They set the corpses down.
“Good, good,” Morgan said. He turned back to grin at Aiden and the others. “Even without you, this should be enough blood and death.” He closed his eyes and inhaled. “Ah, I have waited so long for this.”
Dalton’s parents growled, claws springing from the ends of their fingers. Then they turned and leapt at Morgan.
The dark fae’s eyes snapped open, and his hands whipped out. Ice formed around both werewolves, catching and freezing them midair. “And so comes the betrayal.”
Their heads had been left free of the ice. “We can’t let you do this,” Kathleen snarled.
“Let? Oh, you are amusing.” Morgan tilted his head. “Fresh blood will help things along quite nicely.” He pulled a dagger from his belt and slashed her throat.
Stanley let out a wail of anguish as his wife choked, blood gushing bright red against the ice. Aiden turned away, sick horror threatening to make him faint.
Morgan laughed. Aiden imagined dying like that. Watching Tiago die like that.
“We gotta do something.” Dylan’s face was pale in the faint glow of the barrier.
Aiden forced himself to look. Both of Dalton’s parents were dead, and Morgan had formed a glowing purple circle around himself and the dead. “How?”
Morgan moved his fingers, and a dark purple symbol appeared on the ground. It was similar to the one Dylan had used to open a door to Faery both times but not exactly the same.
“We have to protect your mom, and we’re outnumbered.” What would happen when all the pathways opened? Would dark fae pour into the world? Morgan and a handful of others had killed so many supernaturals. What would a hundred, a thousand dark fae do to mundane humans?
“We just need to take out Morgan,” Dylan said, as if that were easy. He looked like he could barely stand, let alone fight someone so powerful. And Aiden was worn out from the battle and keeping the barrier up.
Morgan drew the next symbol. Aiden racked his brain for an idea.
“Aiden!” Nuala said sharply.
He looked over his shoulder, and she pointed. Aiden didn’t understand what she meant. Nuala made the gesture again, sharper, and he realized she was pointing at his hip.
At the cloaked dagger. Aiden couldn’t see the weapon, but he felt the weight of it at his hip. If Aiden could get close enough, he could use it to kill Morgan.
No, someone else could do it. Aiden could give the dagger to Nuala and have her attack instead. He opened his mouth to say so, then realized Morgan couldn’t see or sense the dagger. If Aiden gave it to someone else, Morgan would see it and they would lose the element of surprise.
“What about the shield?” Aiden couldn’t leave Bryn and Nuala vulnerable.
“The dragonkin is stable. I can protect us both while I heal her now.”
Both. “But what about—”
“We can hold the others off,” Sakura said.
Izume and Dylan nodded eagerly.
Aiden looked at Tiago. “You can’t fight dark fae.” Even at full strength, Aiden and Dylan had only survived through luck. His boyfriend looked a little better than he had a few minutes ago thanks to his supernatural healing, but Tiago was still clearly injured.
Tiago grinned. “We don’t have to fight them, we just have to keep them busy.”
The thought of losing Tiago was like having his chest ripped open. And Dylan… His friend looked like he was ready to fall over. Sakura and Izume looked rough too.
This was way too much for them to handle, but no one was coming to help. Bryn was barely alive. Nuala had to stay with her. Mr. Johnson and the others were cut off by the dark fae. If Aiden and his friends didn’t do something now, Morgan would open all the pathways to Faery.
“We gotta do it now,” Dylan said, voice tense.
Aiden turned to see Morgan had drawn three symbols and was in the midst of the fourth.
Tiago pulled Aiden into a quick, desperate kiss. “Let’s go.”
Terrible certainty settled over Aiden. No matter the risks, they had to do this. Dropping the barrier spell, Aiden ran toward Morgan.
* * *
Just as Aiden reached the circle, the purple light flared up and he slammed into it as if it were a wall. The shock vibrated through Aiden’s body, and he fell back. The circle itself was a shield. Oh God, how was he going to get past it?
Shouts and the sounds of flying spells surrounded him. Aiden didn’t dare look. Tiago might be dying right now. Or Dylan. Aiden had to figure something out, or they were dying for nothing.
“Use his name!” Nuala shouted.
Yes. Morgan had tried to use Aiden’s name to get past his barrier spell, and it hadn’t worked because the dark fae didn’t know Aiden’s true name. But Aiden knew Morgan’s.
He took a breath to speak, and Morgan was suddenly there, inches away. Only the circle separated them. “Will you fight me then, little changeling?”
Aiden’s body tried to give out on him. Panic sucked the air out of his lungs, and little spots danced in front of his eyes. He thought of how Morgan’s ally had almost killed him sophomore year and how much more powerful Morgan himself was.
The circle protected Morgan from him, but it also protected Aiden from Morgan. If I destroy the circle, he’ll kill me.
Morgan’s dark, dark eyes danced with amusement. He was going to win. Morgan would open the pathways, and they were all going to die. Aiden was going to stand there helpless while he did it, just like he’d huddled behind a speaker at prom while extremists attacked his friends.
No! I have to stop him. I have to be brave. Fighting off his fear was like trying to swim through tar.
Aiden forced his hand up to touch the magical barrier. “Morfran ap Nos.” His voice was hardly more than a whisper.
Morgan took a step back, tracing a symbol in the air. The last symbol.
Crap, what had Morgan said? “Power… Let your power be disrupted.” At the same time, Aiden pushed with his magic.
With a bright flash, the circle disappeared.
Morgan grabbed him by the throat, lifting him off the ground. “Now I have you.” His cold fingers dug into Aiden’s neck, cutting off his breath. Aiden clawed at Morgan’s arm desperately, legs kicking.
A stream of fire hit Morgan. The dark fae cried out in pain and anger, dropping Aiden.
All Aiden could do for a few seconds was suck in precious air. Someone was shouting his name, but he couldn’t think beyond the shock and the primal need to breathe.
“Now!” Dylan screamed. The warm familiarity of his magic brushed through Aiden’s mind, and bright orange light flared.
The cold loneliness of Morgan’s power scraped through Aiden, and he looked up. Dylan was trying to hold the dark fae off, fire swirling around him. Things snapped into focus. Aiden stumbled to his feet, reaching for the dagger hidden at his side. He was deeply, desperately afraid, and the panic carried him forward.
Morgan turned.
Aiden plunged the dagger into his throat.
Blinding purple light hit Aiden, and he flew back.