“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.”
“Our number one goal is to bring the dragons to the ground,” said Jared. “Then Sam can afford to drop the shield and direct her energy elsewhere. But you’ve been trained to fight without us. You’ve been trained not to rely on us as back-up or as leaders. There’ll be a hell of a lot of vampires inside that dome—pretty much the entire legion. The dragons will see that fast enough, and they’ll try to flee. We need to keep them contained, which is why Sam’s shield is vital. I’ll cover her while she keeps it in place. The rest of you will surround us.”
“You won’t be able to pair up in the same way that you usually do,” Sam told us. “Some of you have gifts that will make the dragons drop to the ground. The rest of you will be relied on to kill all those that fall. Salem, David, Max, Denny, Harvey, and Cassie will tackle those in the air. Everyone else here will need to concentrate on the fallen. That won’t be an easy task, considering the sods can kill you just by breathing in your general direction. You all need to be at your sharpest, fastest, and canniest.”
“Which is why your training sessions will focus on making sure that you will be,” added Jared. “So let’s begin.”
No one’s attitude toward me or Imani softened but, to the credit of both squads, they were totally professional throughout the session. But the moment it was over, the guys went back to scowling at me. Also, the girls went back to ignoring Imani—except for Ava, who shot her a small smile. I had the feeling that she wasn’t upset with Imani, but she was worried that Imani had put herself in a situation where I could hurt her.
Just as Imani and I were about to exit the arena, Sam called us over. She waited until the rest of the squads had left before she spoke. “You two all right?”
Imani shrugged. “Been better. Also been worse.”
“Let’s have a little chat. No need to go on the defence,” she quickly assured me when I stiffened. “I’m not about to pass judgement or give you crap.”
I raised a brow. “Even though it’s caused tension in the ranks?”
It was Jared who responded. “I don’t think their reaction would have been so bad if they weren’t worrying so much about the dragon shifter situation. There’s also our blogger, who’s still posting articles and remaining out of reach. Everyone’s feeling helpless.”
Sam nodded. “Hearing about you two was just the cherry on the icing of the messed up cake.”