(Butch)

Abashed, everyone did as they were told. I led Imani to the front and centre of the group—it was a message that we wouldn’t be pushed out. If the scowls directed at me were anything to go by, the message was received and it wasn’t much liked.

Slowly pacing in front of us, Sam began, “Most of you have been in battle before; you know what to expect, you know how bad it can get, you know the best attack and defence formations, and you know who to partner with if splitting up is necessary.” She halted. “But all of that is going to mean jack shit in the upcoming war.

“We won’t be up against our own kind. We’ll be up against creatures bigger and stronger than us. Worse, they can bloody fly—I don’t need to tell you that’s gonna be a big problem. It means they can fight from above, dodge our gifts with minimal effort, and it would be difficult to stop them from passing us.”

“The latter will be the biggest problem,” said Jared, feet wide apart. “In a battle against charging vampires, we could hold them off. But these creatures could just fly right over our heads.”

Sam resumed pacing. “Jared and I did a lot of thinking, and we’ve come up with some ideas that might help. You know I can extend my energy shield outwards to protect others. But what if I used it to contain the dragons in one place? It would mean we were inside the shield with them, so we wouldn’t be protected from them. But it would also mean they were trapped with us and unable to go any further. It would mean that any damage they did would be unable to spread.”

“Can you do that?” Imani asked.

Sam bit the inside of her cheek. “I don’t know. I’m hoping that if Reuben boosts my gift, it will be enough for me to expand my shield that far outwards. I’d have to practice a lot.”

“You’re a hybrid with a shitload of power,” said Reuben. His gift allowed him to strengthen or weaken the gifts of others. “Boosting that power should do it.”

“But could you control all that power?” Max asked Sam.

“I’ll learn, because there’s no other acceptable result.”

Harvey raised his hand, like a kid in a classroom. “Um, I hate to be a kill-joy, but...well, I’m guessing they’ll be flying pretty fast. Could you cover them with the shield fast enough to keep them all contained?”

“Probably not.” Sam looked at me. “That’s where you come in. You can form a protective wall. You use that as a shield and often stretch it around you. But what if we enlarged that wall? What if we made it so tall and wide that anything that flew at it crashed?”

It could be possible, but... “I’ve never done anything like that before.”

“That doesn’t mean you can’t,” said Jared.

“I can form walls of energy,” began Sam, “but the energy I feed from is a crazy mixture of kinetic energy, solar energy, and my own preternatural energy—that makes it vibrant and visible. The dragons would see it.”

But my shield didn’t glimmer because it was generated by my own individual energy, not a combination of varying energies. That meant the unsuspecting dragons would fly right into it.

“If they’re flying fast, they’ll crash hard,” Jared pointed out. “Even if they don’t fall to the ground, they’ll be unbalanced and confused long enough for Sam to extend her shield over us all.”

“We can try it now.” Sam gestured for me to move forward.

Reluctantly leaving Imani’s side, I advanced a few steps.

Nodding in satisfaction, Sam said, “Bring up your shield.”

It was easy enough to do, since it was something I’d done a thousand times. Raising my hands, I let the preternatural energy that filled me flow out of my palms and form a shield that I could feel but not see.

“Instead of pulling it around you, stretch it outwards.”

As I extended my arms, I pushed out more preternatural energy to widen the shield.

“Now try making it higher.”

I raised my arms and made the shield increase in height.

Sam smiled. “That’s really good. Reuben, do your thing.”

With a brief touch to my shoulder, Reuben’s ability caused mine to grow in strength.

“Right, this time I want you to extend the shield so far that it forms a wall between you and everyone else.” Sam urged Jared to move with her to stand with the group, leaving me alone. “Think about pushing it outwards.”

I didn’t move my arms at all, just kept them above my head as I let more and more energy slowly trickle out of my palms until it stretched the shield, making it higher and wider. I felt it bump something—I was hoping it had collided with the walls and the roof.

“Now we need to test just how high it is.” Sam pivoted on her heel. “Denny, jump.”

The animal mimic could jump as fast and high as a copepod. He swallowed. “What if it worked and Butch’s shield stretched that high?”

“It’ll hurt,” Sam said simply. “Maybe not as much as your attitude hurt Imani and Butch, but it’ll be close.”

Oh, she was totally ruthless.

She waved an impatient hand at Denny. “Well, go on.”

Looking like he’d rather do anything other than that, Denny bent his knees and leapt—it was a seriously impressive move. And it made him crash hard into the shield. He landed with a grunt.

Imani looked down at him, her expression aloof. “Hmm, it worked.”

“My shield will need to be a lot higher and wider than that to stop a flying drove of dragons,” I pointed out.

“It will,” Sam agreed. “We’ll have to do some training in the rainforest where you’ll have more space. It’s not going to be something that happens instantly. It’ll take work, just like my attempts to expand a dome-like shield will take a lot of practice.”

Max spoke, “If it doesn’t work?”

Sam’s face hardened with resolve. “It has to work.”

“Quick question,” Ava interjected. “If you’re expending a lot of your energy into keeping the shield in place, does that mean you can’t use your gift in other ways?”

Sam sighed. “It does. But if I concentrate hard enough, I can form energy balls while I’m inside my shield. It’s hard and it takes a lot of concentration, but it can be done. The trouble is, low level energy balls won’t do much against a drove of dragons.”