-Oliver-
I couldn't close my eyes. It was dark in Aurora's living room, where we had set up our beds. No one was asleep besides Jack. The house was filled with restless spirits, ready to fight or flight any second. Jaden and I shared a mattress under the windows. Tilly's bed was right next to ours, even though she had her own bedroom she could've used, while Arch had made his bed right next to the couch. Right next to Jack. Aurora was sitting in her chair in the corner with her mate, Alastair, right by her side.
Fenrir stood by the opening between the living room and the entrance hallway. I watched his back for a long, long time, wondering how long I could go without blinking. I couldn't close my eyes even for a second.
'The enemy is close...'
"Jesus fucking christ, Hades..." I hissed with a racing heart, alerting every single being in the room. "Sorry..."
"Hades?" Fenrir frowned and walked closer. "You can reach out to him?"
"He can reach out to me," I muttered.
"How? He shouldn't be able to... Unless his cage is open."
'Tell the Viking god he has nothing to worry about. My cage is still sealed. I can speak to you through my Echo,' Hades spoke to me, and I forwarded his message. 'My Echo is reacting to something. Something evil is close by. The dark side is attracted to it.'
"What am I supposed to do?" I asked, sitting up on the bed. "We can't find anything."
'The Shroud.'
"The Shroud?" I repeated.
"The Shroud?" Fenrir murmured with wide eyes. "That's... The Helm of Hades. That's his gift."
"And how does it work?" I asked.
"It protects you from unwanted eyes. That's why we can't see the enemies." Fenrir sighed. "How did they get their hands on it?"
'Someone has been in my home,' Hades spoke. 'That should be impossible.'
"It's been stolen from Hades' home," I told the others.
"His home..." Fenrir muttered, looking out the window. "So his gifts are out there. In the wrong hands."
"I don't like the sound of that," I whispered.
'Your barriers are strong. The wards can protect you from almost anything,' Hades continued.
"And what it can't keep out?" I asked, dreading to hear the answer.
'Gods. God-like spirits.'
"You mean Sons and Daughters," I guessed.
"What is he saying?" Fenrir asked hastily.
"The wards are working just fine," I muttered. "But they don't work against Sons and Daughters."
The silence was nearly suffocating.
"There is a champion with us," Fenrir spoke, but didn't sound surprised. "A corrupted one."
"The Greek believe one of them escaped the Shadow Realm," Arch said. "They broke my Vision just before they escaped."
Fenrir closed his eyes and turned his back on us. He didn't say a word in a long time.
'It's a very strong shadow, but still only a shadow,' Hades said. 'It can't use it's true power as one, not even while possessing someone.'
"It's a shadow. And I can kill shadows," I said.
"No!" Fenrir nearly gasped as he turned to me. "I mean..." he trailed off, glancing at Jack.
"What?"
He was silent for a moment. "That shadow... It's someone's champion."
"It's our enemy," I said quietly.
He said nothing. He looked away with a sad expression on his face. At first, I didn't know why he acted like that, but then it hit me.
"He was just as important to me as Hati and Sköll..."
Sons and Daughters... Their champions meant everything to them.
'They are important to us. More important than you can even imagine,' Hades said quietly. 'But it is also our duty to stop their suffering. No one else can do it. To corrupt something so powerful means the spirit was already badly broken. Their god failed to protect them, and now they are suffering for the rest of eternity with no way out.'
And that was what they were trying to do to Jack. They tried to corrupt him and turn him against us. They got so close, too... I now understood why this was so hard on Fenrir.
"Is there a way to help them without killing them?" I asked.
"Perhaps. If they want to be helped," Fenrir muttered. "But..."
'They are long gone,' Hades said in sadness. 'They are nothing but rage and pain.'
*****
After the sleepless night, it wasn't easy to start a new day. Absolutely nothing happened during the night, but the fear was still there, lingering in my every bone.
The enemy was close.
I sighed and snuggled deeper under the covers. Jaden tightened his hold on me and sighed as well. Everyone was wide awake, but no one was in a hurry to get out of bed. We weren't allowed to go to school, so there was no point in getting up.
It was Arch who was first to sit up on his bed almost an hour later. The first thing he did was to check up on Jack, who was still asleep. Then Arch turned to look at me.
"How is his spirit?" he asked in a raspy voice.
I sat up as well and focused on the wounds in Jack's soul. It wasn't looking good, but at least the cracks weren't spreading.
"No change," I informed the rest of them.
Arch nodded and looked away. I could feel his pain without looking at his spirits. It was written all over his face when he stared at Jack. Slowly, he lifted his hand and carefully placed it on Jack's shoulder.
"Why him...?" he whispered. "Why us?"
He didn't get a reply since Jack suddenly moved. We all stared at him while he was waking up, holding our breaths. Arch sat there immobile, with his hand still resting on Jack's shoulder.
And then the Son of Fenrir opened his eyes. And nearly jumped through the wall behind him.
"Fucking hell," he hissed at us, rubbing his chest as he sat up. "What are you staring at?"
"Nothing."
The rest of us turned our eyes away, but Arch moved closer to the couch.
"How are you?" he asked quietly.
"Better if your pack wasn't full of creeps," Jack mumbled. "Watching me sleep..."
I hid a smile by turning to look at Jaden, but it vanished the second I laid my eyes on my mate. He looked frozen on his spot, with a cold expression on his face, as he stared at something in the kitchen. I tried to see what he was looking at, but there was nothing out of the ordinary.
His spirits were quiet, but ready. Ready for what?
"Jaden...?" I whispered.
He stood up, and so did Tilly and Arch only half a second later, moving as one. They all just... stood there. Their spirits were silent. Eerily silent, like listening to something...
"Jaden?" Aurora stood up as well.
"Get dressed. We need to leave," Jaden suddenly commanded with a sharp voice, picking up his pants. Arch and Tilly mimicked his movements in a scarily precise manner.
"What's going on?" I asked, hurrying to put on my clothes with the rest of them.
"He's coming," Jaden only said. "Hurry up! We need to leave right now!"
"The shadow? How do you know that?" I asked, almost panicking since I couldn't feel a thing.
"I can feel it. I... I just know," Jaden told me.
"Alpha's instincts," Aurora muttered.
"Or Cerberus'... The Shroud belongs to Hades," Fenrir spoke quickly, leaving the house for a second. When he returned, he looked frustrated. "Something has been disturbed. I still can't tell what it is!"
"It's him," Jaden said. "He's coming here. He's getting close. Come on! We need to hurry!"
When Jack tried to get up, he suddenly let out a painful gasp and grabbed his chest. It seemed like he would've fallen if Arch hadn't caught him.
"Jack!"
"I'm... It's the..."
"It's the infestation," I said in fear. "It's waking up!"
"We need to get the fuck out of here!" Jaden growled, marched to Jack and grabbed him by his arm. "You have to fight it. We can't stay here!"
"I know! I'll ... It's..." Jack muttered, turning sweaty and pale in seconds.
"The shadow is trying to distract us," Jaden spoke. "Shit!"
"I can keep it under control," I said, hurried to Jack, and pressed my hand on his back.
A flash from my hand forced the shadows to retreat, but I feared it wouldn't take long before they tried to crawl back out.
"Can you stand?" Arch asked Jack, who took a shaky breath and nodded.
"They backed off..."
"Good, come," Arch said, and helped him up on his feet.
I turned around to see Aurora and Alastair grabbing their weapons, now fully armored and ready to fight.
"We need to get to the Hall," Aurora said, giving a worried glance at Jack. "Let's go!"
We all were ready to leave in a matter of seconds. As we hurried to the door and scrambled for our shoes, Fenrir left again to check the area. I told Cedric to go find Rayleigh, and then we hurried outside. But we didn't get far. We barely reached the bottom of the steps.
Jaden stopped with Tilly and Arch right by his side. Fenrir and Cedric stood in front of them.
And Ryder was there.
"Ryder, we need to–" Aurora spoke, but Jaden lifted his hand, silencing her.
"You need to... what?" Ryder spoke slowly.
"It's not Ryder," Jaden said quietly.
Ryder? It was Ryder who got possessed? But... I couldn't feel anything! I couldn't feel any shadows in him! Nothing out of the ordinary!
"Are you sure?" Fenrir asked calmly.
"Guys?" Ryder spoke slowly, stepping closer to us. "What's going on?"
"Who are you?" Jaden asked. "You're not Ryder. I can see you."
"I am Ryder. Jaden? What is going on?"
"Your lies won't help," Fenrir hissed at Ryder. "He is Cerberus. He knows his master's gifts."
Ryder watched us for a moment with a confused expression on his face, but then he dropped the act and started laughing.
"So, the puppy is growing," Ryder said in a mocking tone. "No matter."
"You will leave that body, and this place," Fenrir said angrily. "Corrupted Son!"
"Corrupted...?" Ryder repeated in amusement. "And who's fault is that?"
"I am sorry your god couldn't protect you," Fenrir said, stepping between us and him. "You can still choose differently. You can still be helped."
"That's so cute," Ryder said with an unnaturally evil smile, taking another step toward us. "But I don't need your help. I have a new master now, and he is so much stronger than any of you fading spirits ever were."
"Why don't you introduce us?" Fenrir asked. "We still don't even know his name."
Ryder laughed. "Oh, you'd love to know that. But that is not why I'm here."
"Then why are you here? What took you so long to confront us?" Fenrir asked.
"Oh, I was just spying around, getting to know you better," Ryder said, again stepping closer. "Don't worry, I can see I've overstayed my welcome, but I'm not leaving empty-handed."
Before anyone of us could do anything, the shadow suddenly left Ryder's body. Ryder fell to the ground and stayed there, looking almost dead. The shadow laughed loudly inside our heads as it flew above us.
'Thank you for your generous hospitality,' he spoke with a triumphant voice that sounded so evil and so inhumane my entire body shivered. 'I know our time together was short, but I promise, we will see each other once again.'
I turned into a shadow. I had no idea what else to do. With Cedric by my side, we tried to attack him, but he easily dodged us both.
And he laughed.
'You have a lot to learn, Harbinger. My master is eager to see how strong you'll become as you nurture the true evil growing in you.'
'That will never happen!' I replied angrily, trying to think of something, anything, to defeat this enemy with.
I could've killed him...
I could've killed him so easily...
The shadow laughed again. 'Ahh... I can hear your evil, little Harbinger. The dark side of the Echo is calling for you. Bring death upon your enemy like it wants. I dare you...'
'Don't do it, Oliver!' Cedric begged me as he appeared next to me. 'We'll find another way!'
'Killing me would be so easy...' the shadow taunted me.
I turned to a spirit in hopes of keeping myself and the Echo under control, and I immediately felt better. Less murderous.
'It will take a hold of you,' the shadow said. 'Soon...'
'Fuck off, you piece of shit!' Cedric screeched at him.
The shadow laughed slowly at his words, sounding even more sinister now. 'You always had a way with words, my little starling...'
Cedric froze. I could feel great pain in him, caused by that name.
'No...' he whispered.
'I will see you soon, my love,' the shadow said, and vanished.
Silence fell upon us. I stared at Cedric, who stared at the empty spot in the air where the shadow had vanished, and I remembered his words...
'He was a great man. A great warrior. I'm honored I got to spend so much time with him.'
"What was his name?"
'Cameron.'
Son of Ra. Cedric's... Our enemy.
I wanted to say something. I wanted to go to Cedric and let him know everything would be all right, but I wasn't given the time to do anything.
Jaden let out a painful yell and fell to his knees below us.
"Jaden!"
'Jaden!'
I hurried to him with Cedric by my side, dashing through the air as fast as we could as Jaden kept yelling, looking like he was trying to rip off his own skin. He was in pain, in such horrible agony it hurt my soul, and I understood that the shadow was in him! I could see him spreading his darkness throughout Jaden's spirit. It happened so easily... I landed next to him and tried to reach into his soul to rip the shadow off him, but I got blasted away.
'So much to learn,' the shadow laughed at my futile attempt to save my mate.
'Leave him alone!' I shouted, trying to attack him again, but he was so much stronger than me. I couldn't even go close to my mate, even with Cedric's help!
Everyone else tried to help too, but they all got blown back every time they tried to approach him. Even Fenrir seemed unable to help Jaden.
A god was weak against the shadow.
And suddenly, Jaden fell silent and calmly stood back up, brushing his hair back and straightening his jacket.
"A strong puppy," Jaden spoke. No, not Jaden. The shadow. "I only have a moment before I have to go, but man... I like this body. Alpha spirits are... feisty."
"You leave him alone!" Ryder suddenly yelled, groggily getting up on his feet. "I will fucking kill you for this!"
"You can try," Jaden said and looked up at the sky. "And here they come..."
Jaden turned to look at me. "I can't wait to see how far the corruption has spread the next time we meet, Harbinger. You'll be a fine addition in my master's army."
"I will never let that happen," I hissed at him, now in my human form.
Jaden smiled at me. "We'll see about that. And starling?"
'Do not call me that,' my guardian hissed.
Jaden's smile grew even wider. "You will be mine again."
'Never!'
Jaden's entire body jerked in pain again and he screamed. Only a second later, something appeared in front of me. A cloud of black mist. A man in full bronze, medieval armor appeared inside it, holding a big bow made of golden bones. He aimed and shot Jaden with a massive arrow that left a trail of blue dust behind. I was already yelling Jaden's name before the arrow hit him in the chest.
And the shadow got blown out of him. I ran to Jaden as fast as I could when he collapsed to the ground, holding his chest and throat. I slid to a stop next to him and hurried to find the arrow, but it was gone. There was no blood. There was no wound.
"Jaden?" I repeated his name, but he was coughing too hard to reply to me. "Jaden!"
He waved me off, and his cough started subsiding. He took a couple of deeper breaths, but he seemed to be regaining his composure, so I turned to look at the man in armor. I didn't even have to ask who he was when I saw a bronze locket hanging on his chest.
The peacekeeper.
I looked up at the sky, but didn't feel the shadow anywhere.
"He won't be back," the peacekeeper spoke with a young voice I recognized.
We all turned to look at him when his helmet disappeared into a black mist.
"Ben?!" Tilly coughed the name with wide eyes.
"At your service, milady," Ben bowed to her.
"Where's the shadow? What did you do to him?" I asked, helping Jaden to sit up.
"I sent him back to the shadow realm," Ben said. "It'll take time before they can get him back out."
"With that bow?" I frowned, but Jaden tapped my arm to get my attention.
He was bleeding from the mouth.
"Jaden!" I gasped and pulled him against my chest. "What's wrong?"
He opened his mouth, trying to speak, but no words came out.
"Jaden...?" I whispered.
Fenrir suddenly stood in front of us and kneeled down, placing his hand on Jaden's shoulder.
"The Howl is gone. He has lost his gift to heal," the god whispered in horror, turning to look at me. "And his voice."