Before I could react, the world dimmed. Shadows surged around us like a living tide. In the next heartbeat, my vision went black.
Then, just as suddenly, the darkness peeled away. I blinked and found myself high above the ruins, North beside me, both of us held aloft by Edgar's shadows.
"What just happened?" I asked, my voice sharper than I intended.
The whistling still rang in my ears, shrill and cutting through the chaos. I turned my head in time to see a figure plummet, smashing into the ground with a force that split the earth.
BOOM!
The impact thundered out in every direction, another brutal shockwave ripping across the capital. Buildings bent and broke, the streets tore apart, and the screams of people below blended with the roar of collapsing stone.
But this time Edgar was there. His shadows flared, bending the wave of destruction around us, like water parting before a rock. For once, the blast didn't reach us.
As the dust settled, I saw her. Hazel.
