Obsidian (Lux 1)

Without warning, a figure crashed into us and sent me spiraling to the ground in a messy heap. With intense effort, I peeled my eyes open and saw him crouched like an animal in front of me.

Daemon growled in fury as he rose, standing over me like an avenging angel, swathed in light.

Chapter 29

Baruck’s mad laughter echoed and bounced around my skull. “You’ve come to die with her? Perfect. That makes this so much easier, because I think I might have broken her.”

Daemon shadowed Baruck’s wild movements, fading out and taking on his true form—the form he could be killed in.

“She tasted good, too. Different somehow,” he taunted. “Not like a Luxen, but still worth it in the end.”

Launching himself at Baruck, Daemon threw him several feet away with one powerful blast of light from an outstretched arm. “I’m going to kill you.”

Baruck rolled on to his back, nearly choking with laughter. “You think you can take me, Luxen? I have devoured those stronger than you.”

Daemon’s howl of anger drowned out whatever else Baruck might have said, and he sent another blast of light at him. I felt the ground beneath me tremble as I managed to raise myself up onto my elbows. Each movement, no matter how small, sent sharp stings all through me. I could feel my heartbeat, the struggle behind it. Streaks of lights danced within the darkness of the Arum. They exchanged blows without even touching one another.

Bright, orangey balls of fire formed on the tips of Daemon’s hands. They shot out past Baruck, fizzling out before they slammed into trees. The world turned amber and gold. Heat blew back at me. Embers crackled in the air, fading before hitting the ground.

Each strike sent the ground into motion, knocking me back down, face-first into the damp, itchy grass with a grunt. Pushing myself up, I saw a streak of light moving over the field, much like a falling star but shooting across the ground at a dizzying speed.

The light shot between Daemon and Baruck, fizzing out as it reached me. Warm hands gripped my shoulders and lifted me. “Katy, talk to me,” Dee begged. “Please talk to me!”

Nothing happened when I tried to talk. No words came out.

“Oh my God.” Dee was crying, her tears falling from her beautiful face and landing on my nearly silent chest. She pulled me into her thin arms as she screamed for her twin.

Daemon turned from the battle at the same time Baruck did. With one look, a bolt of darkness shot straight for us, knocking Dee back. She screamed out in pain and rolled to her knees. She looked up, her eyes glowing an intense white.

She rose to a crouch, her human form fading into crackling light.

Daemon struck back harder, and the ground rumbled. Baruck dodged Daemon’s attack and went after Dee. Screaming in fury, she rushed Baruck.

He caught her again. For a second, darkness swallowed her, and then she crumbled to the ground in a twitching heap. Daemon charged Baruck, tackling him to the ground in a rage that was so potent it fueled everything around him. From the branches that shook, to the dead leaves falling like macabre rain, to the ground beneath me. The air crackled with power.

I felt it in my bones. Groaning, I staggered to my feet and sucked in a breath. I wasn’t going out this way. My friends weren’t going out like this.

Dee was on her feet, flickering in and out. Blood trickled from her nose. She shook her head and stumbled forward.

I saw what was going to happen next through a very narrow lens. Things seemed to slow down. I rushed forward as Daemon glanced over his shoulder at his sister. Baruck pulled his arm back, preparing another stream of matter. The image of the tree snapping in half along the road flashed before me.

Rushing forward, I crashed into the light that was Dee the moment Baruck released the blast of energy. Darkness surrounded me, and I heard a scream—a piercing scream that wasn’t mine. And then I was flying—really flying. The sky was rolling, stars and darkness, over and over. The entire world shimmered.

I hit the ground hard, already knowing it was too late.

A body crashed next to mine. A limp, slender arm fell against mine. Dee. I hadn’t been quick enough. The arm warmed against mine, becoming less…solid. Her light cast upon me. Sorrow cut through me like a thousand double-edged razor blades. She wasn’t moving, but I could see her chest moving, slow and shallow.

Distracted, Daemon turned and made a fatal mistake. You’ll get him killed, Ash had said. Baruck reared his arm back and his blast caught Daemon in his back. He went up, spiraling through the air, flickering in and out of human form. He landed only a foot from us.

Baruck laughed and shifted into his shadowy form. Three for one ssspecial.

Tears burned my eyes as my cheek nestled against the damp grass. Daemon tried to sit up, but he collapsed onto his back, his face contorting in pain.

It’sss over. All of you will die. Baruck advanced.

Daemon turned his head toward me. Our eyes locked. There was so much regret in that one look. His face faded out, blurred and unrecognizable. He couldn’t hold his human form. Seconds later, and he was in his true form. The shape of a man encased in the most beautifully intense light.

One arm extended out toward me, forming fingers. Heart breaking, I reached out and my fingers disappeared in his light. Warmth encircled my fingers, the slightest pressure of Daemon’s hand wrapping around mine. He squeezed, as if to reassure me, and a sob caught in my throat.

Daemon’s light flickered but continued climbing up my arm, wrapping me in his intense heat. Like the day of the first Arum attack, in the wake of his warmth, my body began knitting itself back together.

Daemon was using the last of his strength to save me.