When Ash left the room, she paused. The corridor was filled with men- werewolves, sirens, a few kelpies, vampires and even a few nixies. In dreary state, some half sleep, some unfocused dragged themselves into the corridor and dragged themselves out. Ash saw a nixie that was in her class, ignoring and walking right past.
Ash called, "excuse me," and bumped him with her shoulder as she passed but the nixie swayed wordlessly. In fact, not one person in the corridor looked sensible. Up ahead, she noted someone had a legs dangling in midair. Sven hadn't reached far with Karlene either.
What was going on?
The kelpies or the nixies had not reason to be out and about. Their classes were mostly during the day or in the evening. No night classes were for the children of water gods. Regardless, shouldering through the crowd she made her way out. Sven had managed to escape as well.
When Ash emerged into the reception area the truth stopped her in her tracks.
Fairies, about twenty of them were collecting everyone to line up, with their eyes wide open and utterly black, they commanded the creatures pouring into the reception area to line up in front of them. Before Ash could comprehend why, a few more emerged from the corridor that led to the cafeteria and guided a row of men and woman to head in.
Ash closed her eyes and opened her hands. She felt the dark energy in the well lit room and willed every bit of that dark energy to seep out of every individual within the building. The magnitude of what has been undertaken by the fairies was larger than she was expecting. The usual calm she found in focus of doing what she could felt too small in the face of being surrounded by her enemies. If the fairies discovered her, would they try to catch or hypnotize her? Ash ducked a little behind a tall guy in front of her and looked about.
Like her, surely there had to be other creatures who were unaffected by hypnosis. Like Vance.
When she took her place in the line again, the feeling of wanting to cover herself in darkness was getting stronger. She had to find cover, for herself and for these creatures. The room got darker slowly. Just like how she practiced, the darkness from outside poured in like smoke and from every creatures body in unseen way, making the color in the room more and more dull until they could barely see a few paces around them.
The fairies turned to each other and redistributed themselves. While a few of them redirected the students, the others moved through the crowd. It kicked her heart into urgency and the darkness descended upon them quickly.
Ash wondered if the night goddess had come around and whispered silently, "if goddess, you are around, I thank you for help and guidance, for your blessings and boons. Thank you for being here with me in the most difficult of my times."
As felt it then, sudden surprise before it calmed. Ash moved sideways, moved here and there, trying to look through the crowd. Did Vance come back inside? The darkness had thickened. Ash pulled it more quickly, urgently, from people around her. She needed Vance to be safe. Moreover, he could see in the darkness clearly, it would be fairies who would be at a disadvantage.
Ash heard a shrill call, "find her," just as the first of the light on the wall and the sharp light in the chandelier above them blinked out. The darkness was full now. Some of the people, including the nixie in front of her were beginning to shake their head. Ash herself could barely see a the back of his head. She couldn't make out the kelpie ahead of them or who was besides her anymore.
She simply felt through the darkness the sheer amount of creatures that had been hypnotized.
Suddenly she heard the fairy in command speak in her tongue again, "keep the target secure and take her underground. One fairy to one creature, do not let the defense fray."
Those who were shaking their heads looked about. Ash could feel their minds freeing slowly, landing in confusion, surrounded by darkness. And she felt him, Vance not far, surrounded by the same darkness.
He had just come in. Even though he could see clearly through it, he couldn't see her in the mass of people. Then she felt it. Someone moved in, moved through the door, surrounded by wolves and witches and vampire, each moving differently, very present in their superhuman nature, surrounding something, someone that was being dragged in the middle by the fairies. She felt Vance's horror and immediate need to do something. Yet, he stayed still.
Whatever it was, Ash was sure, would pass by her. A fairy was moving through the crowd, towards her too. If she wanted to see who the fairies were taking underground, she needed to get ahead of them. She moved back into the crowd, still working the only magic she knew. While she kept pulling at the darkness within the creatures surrounding her, there was something deeper about the darkness in vampires and werewolves who were guarding the fairies' prey.
Ash found the stairs, stumbled on one and found her balance, as she hurried down. The light was sufficient for her to see a little. But the darkness wasn't far off. Whatever was coming off of the people around her was too much in intensity and quantity to be contained in one room. It was a darkness spreading through the building. For once, she was grateful. She could feel a few people had found their wits and were shaking others around them even as fairies found them and tried to hypnotize them again. Someone snarled and she felt a jump- both in her heart and the wolf who bit or swallowed a fairy entirely. She felt it in that wolf's mind, a silver of darkness that refused to come free.
She felt it in them all. Then, Vance moved. He was distinct in her field of darkness, a spark of light that moved freely. A spark of hot white light, scorching the little area he occupied in the field of her darkness. He moved behind the dragged person. Vance would need a distraction to rescue whoever was being held hostage. Ash hoped it wasn't someone from the chancellor's mansion.
She was close to the council room and saw a few flickering lights as the fairies struggled to hold little orbs with the help of their makeshift wands in their holders. Ash let the darkness thicken, pulling in down, letting it engulf the entire building as she had been taught. She felt them all, Sven on the top floor with Karlene leaning against them to the vampire on her room at the end of the corridor, free of any hypnosis. So there were people who were under the fairies. The people one floor above were already fighting the fairies, each employing their own method to save themselves from the hypnosis. Ash never relented. Never letting her constant pull relax.
Once again, as darkness thickened in the council room, she quickly made her way around the circle marked with wooden sticks and found the huge table by the wall. With a slight push that barely moved the table an inch, she slid as close to the small gap as she could. If she had a little help, she could hide behind it.
Suddenly, Vance rushed and paused. The person being dragged tumbled off the stairs since none of them could see. The body hit the stairs at an awkward angle before the fairies raised it again, this time with magic. Ash felt the wind within the darkness, a futile attempt to disperse her darkness. She thanked the goddess silently, endearingly and hoped it would help Vance when the time came.
She waited with bated breath as the procession moved quicker now. When they reached the council room, she felt Vance moving around the giant circle from the outside. He was coming through the side door. Did he have a plan?
Ash hoped so. She slid deeper behind the table, the edge cutting into her shoulder as she wedged her back and head into it harder and tugged her ankles back. Vance paused at the side door. Ash wanted him to free those she could feel now, throughout the building to help. But they would have to do. The fairies had already thrown their hostage in the middle of the circle.
Ash had no physical magic to move the hostage herself but she had the cover of darkness and she engulfed the lights as she had engulfed the brightness of Vance, moving into the room with great caution. Slowly, he came towards the circle, crouched down by the circle, swiped his hand on the floor, Ash hoped to wipe a part of the circle and moved in.
Ash's heart halted. Now Vance and the hostage was both inside. The fairies had been targeting Vance from the very beginning and yet could never quiet get him. This though, if any of them knew, would be terrible.
Or could it be that the hostage was bait? Hadn't the fairies come in with the hostage at the perfect time, right behind Vance? They knew he could see even if they could not. What if... the hostage was not a hostage but bait?
The reality came crashed down on her fast and hard. She needed to stop whatever was going to happen. If they needed the hostage or not, they wanted Vance, that she knew. That was clear to everyone who was helping Bree. The entire fairy business had made them put it to the side.
Ash moved out of her spot. She knew what she needed to do. She had trained for this. Finally, her worries and wait and preparation came to fruition. Calm washed over her. Vance paused. She felt every muscle in his boy still except his neck, as he looked over. She wondered what expression he made and felt the ever occasional feeling of a small but strong liking she felt in such moments.
The fairies raised their voices, all at once. The darkness around them glowed blue and purple and white, electric as if lightning through dark clouds. Ash jumped into the circle, pulling her knife free and cutting through her hand.
Vance ran. Her blood fell and she felt it. A hand around her waist and presence in the room.
It received her blood. Her before anyone else's and Ash felt the power surge up into her body. Vance was thrown off and away as her mind set ablaze.