Excerpt of Keeper of the Way by Shirin Dubbin

NiaMora looked into those aberrant, calico eyes and saw…a weakness that evolved into panic then loathing. He reached out, struggling through the invisible force field that suddenly enveloped her. Clearly the effort pained him but he did not relent. Nii watched from the windows of her eyes, unable to move. Wynn’s fingers inched closer. Straining, he caught the edge of her sunglasses and wrenched them off her face.

The momentarily stupefied Twixies sprang into action as if a spell had been broken. They tumbled through the air, grabbing at the sunglasses with their feet, grasping them between nimble toes.

Nii wanted to cover her eyes. To run. But she remained locked in place, needing to feed on the energy Zan Wynn possessed. Needing more and more of his power, she sought to swallow it whole.

No, please. Not that. She looked down. Wynn crouched there, pretending to battle the Twixies to recover her sunglasses.

Look up, she begged herself. No, don’t look up! Close your ey—

Too late.

***

The din of pixies shrieking in indignation drew Severin’s attention. He turned without seeming to move at all. NiaMora was his first thought. His second was to keep her safe. He assessed the situation while in motion.

Zan Wynn fought to stave off dive-bomber attacks from the little yellow fairy, while the pink one floated away from him with Nii’s sunglasses clutched in her feet. The stream of expletives the twin pixies launched at the elf turned the air blue. No, it wasn’t the pixies, it was NiaMora herself. She stood as if frozen, her eyes unblinking. A blue-black and amethyst miasma wafted from her body, connecting to Wynn in misty tendrils. Her expression had stuck somewhere between ecstatic and horrified.

Without further thought, Severin caught Wynn on the side of the head with an outward sweeping arm. His huge palm knocked the slight elf head over heels, sending him sprawling to the amber floors. The qilin didn’t notice. He sought NiaMora’s gaze, needing to lock minds to assure himself she was well. Mind to mind was the fastest, surest way. He didn’t get that far...