The beast shot me an annoyed stare, and I held both hands up, my lips now pressed so tightly that they were starting to go numb. “You do you, Supreme Being,” I managed to get out.

He shook his head like I was a supreme idiot, all the while attempting to shake off the baby croc-o-saur. In the midst of that drama, we were joined by his friends, each of them able to float above the mass of water, except for Alistair, who was helped out by Inky.

“Aw, look, Shadow got himself a friend,” Lucien said, smiling at the carnivorous creature straight out of Jurassic Park.

“We should keep him,” Reece drawled, his lips twitching. “He’s cute.”

“Let’s call him ‘Chomp,’” Lucien added.

“I vote for ‘Champ’ because look at him go,” Len added. “Little fighter never gives up.”

Shadow, who was apparently done with all of our bullshit today, gave up trying to “gently” remove the attachment. He burst into flames, which did exactly as he hoped. With a squeak, the creature of the deep released its hold, dropping back into the water, and as an added bonus, all of us were dried in a blast of fiery hot air.

The moment of amusement had been welcome, but there was no more time to avoid the reality of the fucked-up situation we were facing. “What did Dannie do?” I asked, searching the skyline but finding nothing but water.

“The Depths have risen,” Angel said shortly, the gold of her molded armor barely visible in the unnatural twilight of the sky above us. “She’s using the creatures of the deep to hide and protect the Nexus and its power.”

The reality of this slammed into me like a bullet. “Are all of my land shadow creatures gone?” I managed to ask through my burning throat, laughter now far from my mind.

Shadow lifted his head, his eyes closing as he sent power into the world. “I feel a gathering of power to the east. Maybe close to the lava chasm in the Concordes. There’s a decent chance that Dannie has taken the creatures there since they’re her children. It would be a last resort to destroy them.”

“You’re her child,” I shot back at him, rage welling up faster than I could stem it. “I was all but a daughter to her. And she thrust us out of her world and away from each other without a second thought.”

She didn’t kill you, Galleli reminded me. And she could have without a second thought.

His common sense halted some of the molten rage powering through me. “Yes, you’re right,” I said, sucking in a deep breath. Galleli had given me a sliver of hope that my creatures might still be alive, which I held on tightly to. “Let’s go find her.”

Inky formed a huge transport blanket to take us to the Concordes. No one wanted to use their energy to get there themselves because even though we were all powered to the hilt—me less so than the others, but I was part of the team, so it averaged out—we knew we’d need every ounce of our strength to best Dannie.

As we started off, all I could think about was my creatures, wondering if they were okay. “We forgot the shadow creatures in the prison realms,” I said suddenly, remembering that we’d been planning on bringing them through as a power backup.

Shadow grasped my hand, calming my racing heart with that one simple action. “You can call them whenever you need. You bonded the lot of them to you in that school basement, and if you need them, they’ll be there.”

“Midnight too,” Angel added from where she was perched uncomfortably on the edge of Inky. She did not like to be carried, in any way, and I wouldn’t have been surprised to see her fly off soon. “I believe that when you really need your mist, the true strength of your bond will destroy the barriers between you.”

Her eyes held memories of our time apart, and how she’d been resistant to me at first.

“Hopefully, it won’t come to that,” I finally said. “Hopefully, Dannie will be reasonable.”

They all thought I was being naïve, and maybe I was, but that didn’t mean I was ready to give up yet. Dannie the Wanderer had been part of my life since the day I’d been created in the Nexus, and then for much of my time as a shifter. She had never let me down until she’d swallowed the stone, so that had to mean if we could get rid of the stone, the true Dannie might once again return to us. Come on, paranormal romance story arc. Don’t let me down now.

43

The water was never-ending. So vast and smooth, it was only as I caught sight of all of the bitey beasts in its depths that I found my stomach roiling with nerves. What if there was nothing left in the realm at all? Dannie might have sunk every land mass, taking with them all the inhabitants of the realm. How, even with power warping her mind, could she think this was a balanced world? It just made no sense.

I wasn’t the only worried one, the silence tense as all the powerful beings kept watch from the various sides of Inky. Thankfully, before I could overthink and freak out further, Shadow exhaled roughly, and with a wave of his hands opened a small portal in front of us. “We don’t have the time to spare,” he muttered, even though they’d all silently agreed not to waste any energy. Apparently, when it was a choice between time and energy, Shadow was making the hard calls.

The Concordes appeared below us and thank the gods it was not underwater. At least not the parts where we were, right above the lava chasm. Shadow had brought us to Trinity, the land of his birth, and the territory closest to the mists of the chasm.

Inky slowed as it dropped down toward the castle that had been Shadow’s childhood home. It appeared to be somewhat intact, but every building that had been around it was leveled into nothing more than ash. This was the destruction Shadow had wrought when he’d lost it. Even the great forests that had surrounded and protected his family home were no more.

He’d left most of the castle, but everything else around it was dust.

I watched my mate closely, but whatever he was feeling was well-hidden behind his stoic façade. He appeared to be a calm and watchful god, preparing himself for whatever his mother might throw at us. I wished I could compartmentalize on that level, but at least I knew I’d be able to pull him free of this when we were all done. When my Shadow could return and feel all the feelings.

Inky landed, but no phoenix goddess appeared. It was eerily silent as we stepped off the mist, all of us closing in ranks, waiting for someone or something to jump out at us.