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I try opening ato Beranabus, then Bill-E, but enjoy no luck It&039;s too difficult on this world The lights are few and scattered I need ic of the demon universe

We cross to a realm we know is safe, where we&039;ve based ourselves in the past Grubbs brings his pack of olves along ("For fun," he grins bleakly) but we leave the soldiers behind I choose a place where time operates like it does on Earth That e should be back to face the next assault Assu assuhts to pinpoint the position of our eneh I no its identity But I find Lord Loss and Juni Swan easily enough They&039;re on a world I&039;ve never been to, surrounded by thousands no,thethe others, but what&039;s the point? We have to do this Bec, Dervish, and Grubbs for personal reasons,about Death which will give us the power to defeat it If all goes well, on&039;t have to face the deoes poorly

Best not to dwell on that

I turncalin to pulse, but there aren&039;t ether Norhts flock to me when I summon them but these patches resist I have to focus harder than I&039;ve ever had to, and even then they only drift towardsether as if they were pieces of a crudely carved jigsaw puzzle I&039; iround with their fists, eager for action

I push the distractions frohts Nor on aNot now This will take everything I have I&039; the barriers of life itself

Eventually, after hours of fierce concentration, when I&039; to think it&039;s impossible, a sed panel of brown light, and it flickers alares But I don&039;t care It shouldn&039;t by rights be open at all, so I&039;m more proud of it than anyI&039;ve ever created

"Cohts back in place before they can buckle "This will only hold for a few seconds"

"Where does it-" Grubbs starts to ask

"No tio now or not at all"

"Then let&039;s go," Grubbs grunts and dives blindly through the

The olves rush after him When the last of the sixteen has vanished, a nervous Meera crosses, followed by Bec Kirilli steps forward but hesitates

"I really don&039;t want to do this," he hs and pushes the startled stagethestart to disintegrate

Dervish ducks past ht, I throw h Whatever happens next, whatever dire mess ind up in, there&039;s no quick way out We&039;re in this to the end, whether we like it or not

I findThe shadohip atwind But there&039;s no wind here, just the ever-circling shades of the dead

I was expecting cries and moans of torment, but it&039;s silent That surprises me At the least I should be able to hear the howls of the olves But when I open my mouth to call for the others-I can&039;t see any of them-I realize why it&039;s so quiet Sounds don&039;t carry Though I shout at the top ofthe dark wisps which threaten to bowl me over and sweep me away There&039;s no floor, just banks of shadows all around I&039; stuck in a pool ofhappens There&039;sbetween the shadowy souls and binding theic and I&039; solid strikesaway frodown on me Impossible to tell if it&039;s friend or foe I back up, desperately scouring the space around rasps s me to a halt A face thrusts up next to mine It&039;s a fearsome, demonic face, and my first instinct is to lash out But as a veil of shadohisks away from over the creature&039;s eyes, I realize it&039;s Grubbs

He says so I shake my head and mouth back the words, "I can&039;t hear"

Grubbs narrows his eyes Nothing happens for a few seconds Then I hear his voice inside my head "-me now? Can you hearsilently, thinking the words instead of voicing theic?" he asks

"No"

He tuts, then grins "I couldn&039;t either Nobody could But Bec adapted swiftly and showed the rest of us Co, half-swirouped together, Bec at the center, the rest huddled round her, lit dienerated They all look scared, especially Kirilli Even the olves are subdued, whining silently and glancing around uneasily

Once I&039;roup, Bec speaks "We haven&039;t much time Death isn&039;t aware of us yet but it will discover us soon You have to find Beranabus and Bill-E as quickly as possible"

I realize she&039;s talking to me "How can I find theht us here What more can I do?"

"You&039;re the eyes of the Kah-Gash," she snaps "You see more than any of us To me there&039;s no difference in the shadows They all look the same But I&039;m sure you can seethe way she&039;s heaping the pressure ontodoors within eways Suddenly I find ic of Death I fill with power and breathe out easily, s at the buzz of it

"How did you do that?" I ask, relaxed and cool

"I used , I cast ht Now that I&039;ve tapped into the ic, the shadows have taken on a new consistency There are thousands of individual shards and shapes whirling around us, no two alike I can&039;t believe I didn&039;t see the They&039;re all a grey-black color, but there are rey and black than I would have dreaht is, "So this is what souls look like" But that&039;s not right This is only what they look like here Death has taken these unfortunates and molded them into what it wanted thehts, focusing on individuals, trying to co happens for a while Then, all of a sudden, I&039;m struck by a burst of voices, screa, I shut out the noises After a brief pause, I openout the worst of the background noise

"Who are you?" I ask a nearby shadow as it floats past

"Free ain, but it only repeats its plea Others that I focus on are the sa for freedom

I turn to tell the others but I don&039;t need to Bec has been in touch with me the whole time and has broadcast the short snippets to the rest They look distraught The suffering of these souls is awful In life, no et, at least you have the release of death to look forward to, the belief that nocan be as bad as this

But these people have shuffled off their mortal coils, only to find the on to set them free Every soul here knows it wasn&039;tescaped the confines of natural life, they&039;ve found theht in an unnatural web and it&039;s driven theet out of here!" Kirilli shrieks "We can&039;t help theiven in to madness," Bec insists "Find him, Kernel He won&039;t have surrendered Not Bran"

I don&039;t have her faith in the ancient ic of Death, I send a radar-like cry out in all directions, calling for Beranabus, trying to locate his position Once I&039;ve sent the signal, I wait for it to echo back If he&039;s still conscious, he&039;ll respond But if he&039;s like the others if he&039;s lost his senses and forgotten his na shadoith no idea of self

"Bill-E," Grubbs snarls as ait "Look for Bill-E too"

"I will," I tell hiiveBecause an answering burst of energy has echoed back to me from a point far away

"Was that Bran?" Bec hisses

"I think so," I say hesitantly "But it was very weak I guess there&039;s only one way to find out" I look around tothrough the sluggish swirls of shadows, repeating the signal, zoning in on the area where the soul of Beranabus see back

We reach the place where the response ca different at first It looks like any other part of this wretched no man&039;s land The souls cluster and swirl around us I call Beranabus&039;s name but there&039;s no reply I study the river of souls but it&039;s ied to in life Maybe the reply was a fluke, or I only heard-

"That was always your probles into consideration"

"Bran!" Bec cries, head whipping froloom for her childhood friend

"I&039;m here," Beranabus says, and I trace the voice to a shadow circling overhead, no more remarkable than any other

"Where is he?" Bec shouts "I can&039;t see him"

"Relax, Little One," Beranabus hushes her "Kernel&039;s the only one who can see me You&039;ll have to be content with my voice Not that it&039;s a bad voice I&039;ve roared down de This is the ht I&039;d be in direct contact with ain But before I can tell him how sorry I aician

"Is Bill-E here?" he cries

"Aye," Beranabus rumbles