Flashback ( PDFDrive )

. . . bounced harmlessly off the shield.
Ruy cracked up as Dex met the same frustrating result with a
handful of copper spheres. “Anyone else?”
“Yes!” Tam said, shoving his palms forward and launching a bolt of
whirling shadows at the force field. The darkness sank into the white
light and fanned out like fissures—and a second bolt made the black
lines spread, like cracks in glass.
“So you’re the Shade I’ve heard so much about,” the other cloaked
figure said, flicking her wrist and drawing all of Tam’s shadows over
to her—and oh, how the monster loved the sound of Umber’s voice.
It brought Sophie to her knees, the world spinning, fading,
slipping . . .
“Easy, Foster,” Keefe said, dropping to the ground beside her,
peeling off one of her gloves and tangling her fingers with his. Soft
blue breezes flitted through her mind, and he whispered, “Breathe,” as
he pulled off her other glove to give her double the energy. “Just
breathe.”
“Looks like our last visit left an even bigger impression on the
moonlark than I’d hoped,” Gethen noted. “Well done, Umber.”
Sophie set her jaw, wanting to snap back with something clever and
fierce.
But she didn’t feel clever or fierce.
She felt like a clueless, weak fool who’d missed the Neverseen’s
plan yet again. And now she couldn’t even stand strong as she faced
them.
“You’ve got this,” Keefe told her, sending more breezes into her
mind as he helped her back to her feet.