"An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind."

-Mahatma Gandhi

The power that coursed through Adira's veins was the only thing that kept her together. The warmth of Ryder's kiss had gone cold on her lips, but the immunity he had transferred to her was still swimming through her, reaching her fingertips, her toes, until the magic was completely a part of her.

The world around her had gone silent.

Glancing around at her friends, she witnessed the anguish on their faces. Colson barreled forward, tears streaking his face as he screamed a scream that she couldn't hear. Taliyah wailed, Obsidian roared, Wren sobbed, but not a sound reached her ears.

It was as if she was cut off from the world, like she wasn't even there. She stood there, still and silent, detached from her body.

The second Ryder's neck snapped and she watched him fall to the ground, every part of her was paralyzed. She couldn't cry, she couldn't scream, she couldn't do anything except stand there like a useless doll.

Then suddenly, the world came back into focus and the most agonizing sound ripped through the air. Marina's cry rang above all the others-shrill, devastated, and completely broken.

Adira flicked her gaze around until she found the ice Wielder collapsed on the ground. The air grew colder with every breath, and she swore the sky got darker.

Looking at Marina closer, she saw the frost that reached up Marina's arms like gloves. Ice crackled on below her, spreading farther and farther across the ground.

"Marina!" Colson yelled, his breath fogging from the temperature that continued to drop. He tripped over himself, trying to reach for her and pull her back onto the kraenite.

But it was too late.

Marina whipped her head around, her eyes glowing the most piercing blue she'd ever seen. Without lifting her hand, a wall of ice formed, blocking Colson from reaching her.

Colson roared, his fists lighting ablaze as he pummeled them into the ice. His fire struck holes through the wall, but each time he lifted his fist away, the ice regenerated. It was too cold to be melted so easily.

Marina lifted herself from the ground, her blonde hair changing to a snow white as the frost crept further up her arms, up to her shoulders. Snow not only swirled around her, but also fell from the clouds in the sky.

Adira realized quickly that Ryder's death had snapped something in Marina. She didn't wield the ice. The ice was wielding her.

"You have taken the last thing from me," Marina said, her voice carrying on the bitter wind. Each step she took towards him ice shards shot up from the ground where her foot was placed.

Snow whipped around her, her hair billowing, the white flakes disappearing as if they were becoming one with her.

Grimm watched her with amazement in his eyes, laced with fear. He actually took a step backwards until ice was at his feet, freezing him in place.

A dagger of ice formed in the air next to Marina and zipped across the space, embedding itself in Grimm's thigh. He screamed in pain, his hands digging at the ice, trying to grip it hard enough to yank it out of his leg, but his hands just kept slipping over the slick surface.

"Soren!" he yelled, searching frantically for him. "Help me!"

Adira searched for him in the mass of white and found his head of ebony hair. He was just as still as her, his eyes locked on Marina and the ice shards that continued to shoot up as she walked.

Marina would kill him as soon as she killed Grimm. Adira knew it. But she had to save him. This wasn't him. It wasn't the boy she'd seen in her dreams, the one who had warned her about Grimm. Something happened to him when the shadow took him.

She would make him free again.

Still surging from power, she reached out with her mind, trying to find his, trying to make some sort of connection that might bring him back from the brink.

Soren lifted his foot to race to Grimm, but stopped as soon as Adira found his mind. He could feel her-she saw it in his eyes. It was as if the storm around them stopped, as if time itself had frozen, and all they could see were each other.

His mind was shrouded in shadow, covering every edge and corner in darkness. She swept a wisp away like a cobweb. She swept and swept, blowing as many shadows away as she could until something stopped her. A resounding boom shattered the air, the ground trembling so hard that the ice wall Marina had created crumbled.

A shriek followed, echoing over the boom. It was followed by another, and another.

Adira had no idea what it was, but she knew one thing-it wasn't human or Wielder. The sound shook her to her core, raising the hair on her arms, making her heart shiver.

"What the hell was that?" Obsidian asked from behind her.

"The Foulings," Wren said quietly. "They broke free. The collapse of the Pits must have done something."

"Impeccable timing," Taliyah said. "I don't know about you guys, but I don't plan to stay and introduce myself."

"She is right," Obsidian said from Wren's side, helping her to her feet. "Can you zip us out of here, Tali?"

Adira wanted to protest, to demand that they plan something different, but the group converged on her, their hands touching her shoulders. She was there one second, gone the next. Taliyah stopped them in front of Colson for a breath while she put other hand on his shoulder, dragging him with them as they warped through the air.

They popped up on the very edge of a cliff outside of Acadia, the Arys Sea filling Adira's vision. She remembered wanting to see the waves again, but right then, it was the furthest from her desires.

"Take me back!" Colson suddenly screamed, turning to face Taliyah. "We have to go back and get Marina. She is going to get killed!"

"We have to get Soren, too," Adira said.

"Him? You can't be serious. He is with them, Adira." Colson looked at her like she was crazy.

"You don't understand. He is only there because Grimm has control over him. He tried to help me, help us."

"Stop trying to turn him into something that he's not. He is just as evil as the rest of them. You saw the way he held Marina."

"Because of Grimm. Why can't you see that?"

"There's nothing to see! Why are we even arguing about it? Ryder is dead. And we left his sister behind to be slaughtered. Did you not see the line of Wielders behind them, waiting for Grimm's command?" He ran his fingers through his hair, tugging at his scalp. "They're probably closing in on her now that we are gone. I told her I would never leave her again, and you made me."

"Adira is right," Taliyah said, breathless. "We can save both of them, but honestly, I'm too tired."

"I'll channel you," Adira said, placing her hand on her shoulder. "I'll bear the weight."

A croaking gasp rung out behind her, making Adira whip around to see Wren falling backwards into Obsidian's arms. The whites of her eyes showed as they rolled back in her head. Obsidian situated his arms so that her neck rested in the crook of his arm, supporting her weight as her body tremored. He traced his fingers down her cheek.

Then her eyes slowly rolled back down, her face growing even paler than it already was.

"They're here," she whispered.

A shriek ripped through the air again. They all looked back towards the direction of the Wall in the distance. Creatures with black wings came soaring over and through the hole they had created. They speckled across the sky.

Adira's stomach dropped, a dreadful cold running through her. There were so many of them.

"We have to go now!" Colson yelled, grabbing Adira's hand.

Still holding Taliyah's shoulder, she reached into her, latching onto her magic and made it her own for the moment. Then they were warping through the air, the world a blur around them.

Adira didn't know how to stop, so instead she cut the connection between her and Taliyah. They popped up right in front of Grimm, whose face contorted at the sight of them.

He snatched Adira immediately by the hair and pulled her to him, wrapping his arm around her neck as he turned her to face Marina who was at a standstill in front of them.

The world was a mass of snow and shadow.

The black creatures swarmed the skies, circling like vultures. They were waiting, but for what, Adira didn't know. Her breath fogged in front of her from the cold, snow stinging her cheeks.

"Marina!" Colson yelled through the wind, his voice muffled. "You don't have to do this!"

"Get out of my way!" she retorted, her voice screaming, drifting across the snowflakes. Her eyes were still glowing, her hair still white and billowing around her like it was alive.

"Killing him won't bring Ryder back."

"He deserves to die."

"Sure. But not today. Look at you. Look around you. Look at what is happening."

Marina looked up at the sky, at the creatures of shadow. She gazed at the Wielders in front of her, at Colson, then Taliyah, then finally at Adira who was still tucked in Grimm's grasp. But her face didn't change. She didn't realize she lost complete control, and Adira knew from the look in her eye that she would kill them all if it meant she could kill Grimm.

"I don't want to hurt you, Colson," Marina said, her fingers curling into fists. "But I will if you don't move."

"Marina, please," Colson begged, stepping forward cautiously. "Don't let this control you." He took one more step until he was directly in front of her. "I love you."

The snowflakes froze in mid-drift. The wind stopped howling.

Marina was the only thing to move aside from the circling Foulings. She lifted onto the tips of her toes, her frosted hands tracing over Colson's face.

"And I love you," she said. Her eyes dulled, fading back to their original blue. "But I will kill him, with or without your permission."

The frost on her fingertips spread onto his cheeks, crawling down his skin, coating his neck.

"Marina?" Colson asked, his voice trembling with the cold. "What are you doing?"

Her fingers dug into his skin, pressing the frost even farther.

"Marina, stop!" Adira yelled, wrestling against Grimm who held her even tighter. "You'll kill him! Stop it!"

Colson's body shook violently, shivering from the ice she was putting inside of him. Why wasn't he fighting against her? Adira had to stop it somehow. She had to do something.

Reaching out once more, she found Colson's mind, his spirit of fire and latched onto it. This time she didn't make his power her own. Instead, she stayed right there inside of him, gathering the heat and fire, building it up until she made it burst. Colson went aflame, singeing Marina's hands, making her tumble backwards.

Grimm took the distraction to his advantage, inching backwards with Adira while she struggled.

No.

She heard the word clear as day in her head, as if someone had said it in her ear. The voice was familiar.

Soren was suddenly in front of them, gripping the ice dagger in Grimm's leg and yanking it out. Grimm sighed in relief.

"Thank you," he said. "I knew you would come help me. You're a good son."

"I've never been your son," Soren growled. He reached around Grimm and plunged the ice dagger into his back.

Grimm let go, causing Adira to fall to the ground, but Soren was there, helping her up.

"You traitor!" Grimm roared, trying to reach behind him, but it was no use. "I should have... never... taken you in. Let you... starve." He fell to the his knees, his arms falling limp at his sides.

"I would rather starve and die than be under your control and live," Soren replied, placing his foot on Grimm's chest and kicking him down.

"Colson!" Adira yelled, eying the growing shadows in the sky. "We have to go! Now!"

He turned, the fire fading as a tear fell down his face, sizzling against the heat. Joining the group, he placed his hand on Adira's shoulder, giving it a squeeze.

"Marina," Adira called. "Come with us. Please. We can get out of here, and find someplace we can hide."

"I'm done hiding," she said, before turning to run in the opposite direction, away from them, towards Ryder's body.

Adira breathed gazing at Ryder once last time, her heart tugging. She grabbed Soren's hand, then Taliyah's.

Before they could blink away, two black shadows hurtled into them, knocking them backwards. Adira reached for her friends, but the blast was so strong that they were scattered.

The black smoke swirled around them, zig-zagging in different directions as if they were indecisive. One of the plumes darted to her, right in front of her face. Adira brought up her shield to protect herself from whatever the shadow planned to do.

The shadow whisked away and went right for Taliyah. It rushed into her mouth, down her throat as she gagged, the other shadow entering Grimm's. As it continued to funnel in, Adira rose to her feet, collecting Soren and Colson quickly.

The tail of the shadows disappeared, fully submersed in Taliyah and Grimm's bodies. Both of them stood from the ground, turning to face the three of them. Their eyes were black as night. Had the shadows somehow possessed them?

"The power in this one is extraordinary," Grimm said. But it wasn't Grimm. His voice was deeper, much darker, with a rasp to it. He reached behind him, ripping out the ice dagger, and threw it to the ground, shattering it to pieces.

"I wanted a Channel too," Taliyah pouted, crossing her arms. Her voice was sultry, nothing like Taliyah's sweet tone. "But the girl has a shield. The teleporter will do for now."

"What have you done to our friend?" Adira asked as she stepped backwards. Colson and Soren stood at her side.

"Who? Me?" the shadow inside of Taliyah asked. "I'm using her body, of course. I wish her hair were a little longer, but she does have some great hips."

"It looks great on you," said the shadow inside of Grimm. He reached towards Taliyah, grabbing at her backside. She giggled and pressed into him.

"Who are you?" Colson asked.

"I am the Father," the male shadow said. "This is the Mother. We are Shadows of Stars. We are the darkness. And we have come to bring destruction."

"We have to get out of here," Soren whispered in Adira's ear. "We don't stand a chance against them."

The group edged away, towards the cliff where Obsidian and Wren were waiting for them.

"Go ahead and run little children," the Mother sang. "We won't stop you this time. But we will come for you."

They didn't need to be told twice. The group turned and ran without glancing behind them once, as the shadows cackled.

Adira would end them. She would avenge Ryder, and help Colson bring Marina back. She would save the world if that's what the Stars wanted her to do.

But first, she needed an army.

Playlist ~ At Wit's End by Hans Zimmer