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The humidity held the heat of the day and sweat collected between my breasts and under the straps of my bra. Cicadas screamed, drowning out other sounds, which would cover any noise we might make but also prevented us from hearing anything approach. Hopefully, we didn’t have to worry about anything sneaking up on us.
Geraint fell back while Robby and Nic took the lead. I tucked myself between the three men and tried to emulate their quiet movements. With Nic’s shadows concealing us, we didn’t have to worry much about being seen, but it didn’t feel right to simply go striding across the grassy lawn as if we owned the place.
Robby led us around to the back of the building and up to a door with a security pad. He put his hand over it, did something, and the door clicked open.
“Well, that’s handy,” I whispered.
He nodded and slipped inside. We followed. The hallway lights were turned down to a nighttime level, but it felt bright after the moonlight that had lit our way, even with Nic’s shadows swirling around us.
Instead of taking the elevator, Robby led us to a stairwell. He worked his magic on the keypads and up we went to the fourth floor. We paused at the door.
Nic held up his hand and slipped into the shadows before we could ask him what was up. He returned a moment later and gestured for us to proceed.
I clutched the bag more tightly against my chest. Though it might have been my imagination, it felt like the energy emanating from the gem thrummed more intensely the closer we got to the Nightmare prince.
We hurried down the hallway, expecting resistance. There had to be someone here doing night checks, didn’t there? Or maybe they had a security system that did it for them?
When we made it to Dio’s room without trouble, I took a relieved breath. Robby got the door open, and we slipped inside. We stood in the dark, the small nightlight not enough to reveal the room. I wrinkled my nose, not remembering it smelling musky.
Once the door shut behind us, Geraint flipped on the light.
I yelped and jumped behind my knight.
Robby swore, and Nic swirled into shadow while Geraint stepped fully in front of me.
Hundreds of snakes slithered across the floor and up the visible chairs.
“Are they real?” I clutched at my knight’s back.
“Real enough,” Geraint said as one hissed and struck at him. He backed me into the wall. The snake didn’t reach Geraint, but it was close.
Dream energy crackled in the air. Then Robby’s legs were sheathed in white armor, like a knight’s. He kicked his way through the snakes, sending them flying farther into the room and leaving me and Geraint huddled by the door.
“They were summoned from Nightmare,” Nic said, partially solidifying. “Use your shadows to syphon their energy away. Hurry! We have to help Dio.”
Trying to get over my revulsion—I didn’t hate snakes. I did hate being surrounded by them—I called on my shadow powers. Now that I was more deeply connected to the Dream energy, I could feel what Nic was talking about. I sent out a tendril of shadow to the nearest snake and stabbed it into the creature.
It writhed, trying to fight me. I latched on, taking its energy much like I did when I shared energy with Nic, but there was no return flow in this instance. The snake vanished in a puff of smoke, and I went after another one.
Nic had tendrils in dozens of the snakes, but there were so many.
The bag twitched and jerked out of my hand.
“Hey!” I snatched at it, but I was too late. It hit the ground and rolled into the pile of snakes.
I attacked them with renewed vigor, trying for more than one at a time. I had to get that bag back.
It writhed and my imagination ran wild with the vision of snakes slithering inside the bag, latching onto the gem, and sucking Dio’s essence away before we could return it to him.
Tears blurred my vision.
I screamed when the bag burst apart, my heart breaking into shreds as the pieces of the bag vanished into the writhing mass of serpents. Geraint caught my arm as I dove forward, heedless of the danger. He jerked me back as one of the creatures struck, saving me from a nasty bite. I had no idea if nightmare snakes were venomous or not, but I didn’t want to find out.
Something burst out of the mass of snakes. Geraint pulled me behind him, shielding me from the creatures as they were flung through the air. A few hit my knight, and he batted them away. What fresh horror is this?
A piercing yowl raised the hair on the back of my neck. The sheer rage behind that sound chilled me. I risked a look. An inky black shape spun and twisted, diving at the snakes and tearing them to pieces. Puffs of black smoke obscured a lot of the details, but it looked like some sort of dragon was going to town on the nightmare creatures, tearing them apart.
“What the hell?”
