Something felt wrong about the black smoke. And in the next instant, Shannon knew she was right.
The barrier she'd just set up did nothing to the black smoke, which effortlessly slipped through and completely ignored the barrier.
Shannon's pupils constricted. She hadn't felt her barrier being broken, and that meant the black smoke could pass through it freely as if it never existed at all.
The black smoke was different.
Just as Shannon thought so, Benjamin grasped her left hand. Golden light surged from his body and repelled the black smoke.
He pulled her closer, and she found herself within the safety of his golden light.
But Skylar wasn't as lucky. In the blink of an eye, he was swallowed by the black smoke and vanished.
"Skylar!" Shannon's heart clenched when she couldn't hear his response. Could the black smoke devour people?
Just as the thought flashed through her mind, the black smoke slipped through the barrier she'd just set around Sylvia and reached the latter.
As the black smoke neared Sylvia, part of it surged toward the basement where Hector and the others were hiding.
Shannon's heart sank. Without hesitation, she grabbed three splotches of golden light from Benjamin and threw them at the barrier.
The golden light spread across the barrier and formed a protective layer against the black smoke.
The black smoke finally stopped, but Shannon felt no relief. She could see the golden light dimming as the black smoke ate away at it. At this rate, the barrier wouldn't hold for long.
The Jensens were in the barrier; they were the family she'd found after so much effort. Skylar and Sylvia were gone, and she couldn't let her family be taken too.
Her gaze shifted to Benjamin, and a flicker of hesitation flashed through her eyes.
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