Flashback ( PDFDrive )

orb around himself—and this time the light held strong when the
shadows landed.
“Interesting,” Gethen said, adjusting his ugly hat. “Weren’t you just
calling us cowards for shielding ourselves?”
“You lower yours, I’ll drop mine,” Wylie offered, forming a green
orb with each of his hands. “We’ll settle this right here.”
“And you’ll lose,” Gethen warned. “Your little tricks will never be
strong enough—no matter how hard you’ve been practicing. Look at
the state of your friend, if you don’t believe me.”
Wylie’s eyes shifted to Sophie’s hand, and fear, fury, and pity
flickered across his face.
“Same goes for you, boy,” Gethen added, his voice projected toward
wherever Dex was currently hiding. “Technology will never beat
natural ability.”
Wylie’s jaw clenched. “If you’re so sure about that, prove it.”
Umber sighed. “If you insist.”
She whispered something Sophie couldn’t understand, and her
shadowy claws expanded, the darkness pouring out of her fingers and
twisting into a short, thin strand that looked blacker than anything
else Umber had formed.
Sophie realized it was an arrow the same moment Wylie dropped to
his stomach to dodge—and it was a good thing he did, because his
shield unraveled the second the darkness hit.
“That’s the problem with light,” Umber said as Wylie struggled to
shield himself inside a purple orb. “It will always be weaker than
shadows. No matter what you try.”
“It’s one of the great flaws of our world,” Gethen agreed. “We built
everything around the lesser force because we were fooled by the