him. Cats of all colors and patterns—many not found in nature—stalked around them. They were not entirely real, but neither could they be disregarded.
It took him three tries to see Lynx, who looked pale and colorless against the visions. Lynx backed away from the other cats, bristling.
The elemental stood above them like a vengeful angel.
“We didn’t come here to hurt you or any of your … people,” Jay said as he pushed himself slowly back to his feet. “We came here to try to ask you not to hurt my people. They never harmed you or any of your—”
“They did not help us, either,” the elemental replied, its voice heavy like thunder. Jay feared that its words alone might have the power to destroy him. Listening to it speak made his bones ache.
“Who do you think destroyed Midnight centuries ago?” Jay argued. Where were Xeke and Rikai? Nearby, he hoped.…
“What good did that little revolution do, when the worst creatures all survived? When, after your kin declared victory, my child continued to live in suffering?”
You’re reasoning with it the wrong way, Brina thought.
“Spirit of the Shantel,” Brina said, her voice gentle and respectful, “you wear the form of one who used to belong to me.”
The elemental snarled, recoiling. “The sakkri of the Shantel belongs to no one!”
Brina tilted her head, as if confused. “I know of no sakkri. I know only of a creature named Pet. Has she not introduced herself to you as such?”
Was the elemental getting bigger? Or was Jay shrinking?
“Brina,” he whispered, trying to warn.
“You tried to name her and tried to own her,” the elemental said, “but the shell you possessed was meaningless.”
“The same shell you possess now?” Brina asked, tilting her head as if confused. “Is the sakkri even in there with you? Did you protect her at all, or did you just claim her for your own use? After all, you could not have been too fond of her, considering you were the one who gave her away. Is all this anger just a mask for your own regrets?”
Brina’s distraction had given Jay a chance to recall their original plan: get inside Shantel land, and therefore inside the elemental’s defenses, so Leona could fight back. If the Shantel elemental is here, where’s Leona?
“You think this is all of me?” the elemental replied to his thought. “This shell you see is a fragment of my power, nothing more than I need to speak with you. The battle continues, beyond the ken of mere mortals.”
“Shantel!” Xeke called, striding forward. “This is a foolish battle.”
The elemental turned to him, and the felines moved closer, snarling, until the rumble of the earth threw Jay and Brina to the ground. Only as he fell did Jay realize that Xeke’s form was shimmering, as overwhelming to behold as the possessed sakkri herself.
One of Xeke’s progenitors has a bond to an earth elemental called Leshan, Rikai had said. I was able to partially block Xeke’s connection to Leona and tighten his bond to Leshan.
By bringing Xeke into this place, they had allowed more than just a vampire to breach the Shantel’s defenses.
“Leshan,” Shantel demanded. “Why have you ridden your bond into my territory?”
“Shantel,” Xeke replied, his voice deeper now, his form changing to the golden and green of summer trees. “This bond’s body is fading. I can preserve him for a time, but not the way Leona could. He will die. In that way, you have killed many of my bonds. Did you expect me not to respond?”
“I have meddled with no one not tainted by the fire,” Shantel replied. The cats near her raised their hackles.
“We have had a truce with Leona for millennia,” Xeke—or Leshan now—said. “You know this!”
“Truce?” The day became darker as the forest canopy inexplicably thickened, covering the Shantel courtyard. “That truce ended when my sakkri was destroyed by those bound to Leona—and you, Leshan, among others. Jeshickah’s trainers fed many of you, didn’t they? Fed you in the flesh and blood of my people!”
Out of the forests came serpents with bodies of sand and jaguars whose heavy footfalls left behind smoldering ash. From the canopy came birds made of vibrating light, brilliant against the darkening night sky, their wings making a crystalline ringing sound as they struck the air. Looking at them made Jay’s eyes water and his body ache. When he finally forced himself to turn away, he saw that Rikai too had changed in the last few minutes. Jay wasn’t certain what power