Nash, Leif, and Wren went low as the approaching guard fired an arrow. They’d expect that from me and I needed to be able to shoot.

I jumped instead and notched two arrows, tucking my knees up high to give them the least amount of space to aim at me. With a snap, I released the arrows, and reached for more before the first two had hit their targets.

Metal tips pierced armor. The arrows drove into the first man’s heart and eye. I landed in a roll and peeled off another the moment I came up to one knee. Both hit their marks exactly. A straight shot through the heart of another guard who emerged from the woods.

Guards tore into the field on all sides of us, even from the cliffside.

There was no point in hiding my power from their radars when I needed to know how many we faced. I focused and listened for heartbeats so I could count the enemies. Our area was flooded with them. At least forty, most hiding in the woods ahead.

I glanced beside me where Nash turned in a circle with his swords drawn. He had to make it home to his daughter. And I couldn't let anything happen to Leif and Wren. It was time to reach deeper than before and draw out more of the power locked inside me. Nash would find out who I was. What I was. No longer could I hide from the truth. So be it.

Focusing on the flame of power within me, I drew the bowstring back and let my arrow soar, driving it with more than the force of my weapon but by the power the gods gave me.

It ripped through the man’s chest at an impossible distance.

Leif, Wren, and Nash all ran out in different directions, blades clashing with those of the Mountain Guard. I had to count on them to take out the ones behind me. The woods before me teemed with guards preparing to fight.

I felt the wind hit my cheek a second before the enemy arrow would’ve split my face. I caught it mid-air, one hand wrapped around the thin wood. The power of the shot ripped my shoulder back. I steadied myself, clasping the arrow against my heart.

Too close. Where had it come from?

I listened for the heartbeats. Reinforcements had come from a cliff beyond the thin stretch of woods. Snipers I couldn’t see. Closing my eyes, I listened, honing my senses, until I heard the patter of hearts. The whistle of breath. There they were. I ripped my bow up and returned their arrow. I didn’t need to listen to know I’d no longer hear the pattering or the whistling, only the rush of a dying breath.

Two lines of guards sprinted across the field for us, twenty in all. I couldn’t let them get closer.

This was the real reason the instructors didn't want me returning to the mountain. There was something different about this place. They couldn't suppress me or control me here. I had to remember that so I could break myself free. I had to have total faith that I could take the power I needed, a power that was mine and mine alone.

I focused on the burning within me, the flame inside, and breathed life into it. My eyes shot up to the men sprinting for us. I reached my hands out into claws, visualizing the power erupting from me.

One man’s neck snapped. Another down the line. Three more after that.

Snap. Snap. Snap.

Their bodies slammed into the ground in an awful rhythm.

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Snap.

Within seconds, I’d killed them all without even breaking a sweat. Wren took on one remaining on the right side of me, out in the field alone. Leif turned, his face serious, three bodies on the ground behind him.

The mountain fueled me. The cracks in the dam inside me widened, the walls beginning to crumble. There was still more untapped, but I hadn't felt this in years. The shock of it, the exhilaration, froze me for a moment.

Wren slayed the last man. And everyone went silent. Everyone, including Nash. I couldn't bring myself to turn and see the look on his face.

The grass rustled behind me.

Wheeling around, I met the wide eyes of a guard as he stumbled back a step, his mouth opened, ready to form the words. Demon.

It wasn’t like Nash to leave him alive for this long. Three of the guard's comrades lay on the ground, their blood staining Nash's sword that now hung in a limp grip. Yet this man was still alive. Alive and looking into my eyes just like the woman I'd killed yesterday.

Anger rippled down my spine. With a snap of my bow, I silenced the fear in my enemy’s eyes. Still, my own coursed through me, because I couldn’t deny to Nash what he had seen with his own eyes. Even if he'd suspected that I had power, witnessing it would change everything. Now he'd see the demon living inside me. I trained my eyes on the ground, unable to meet Nash's stare.

What if it changed things for Leif and Wren to see it too?

Wind ripped through the silent field, stealing away the last of the guards' breath and the screams they never had time to unleash.

Until finally Nash's cracking voice broke the quiet.

“Demon. That was the last word he tried to say."

I flinched at the name and squeezed my eyes shut, not ready to see what I'd done and what Nash would think of me.

Nash’s voice sounded small. “You’re a demon.”

Pain swept through me. I’d been a fool to hope Nash could be different. Why would he be? He would hate and fear me like so many others. He’d called himself an outcast as a boy but he had no idea what outcast meant.

"Shut your mouth!" Leif shouted at him from his place on the field, veins popping in his neck.

The blood caught my eye. The still bodies. The judgment within me screamed above Nash's so I had no choice but to look at the destruction I'd wrought. I raised my hand to silence Leif. I could no longer hide from Nash or from Leif and Wren. I could no longer hide from myself. I lifted my head and faced them, faced the judgment I’d tried so hard to escape.

"All this time you accused me of lying and hiding things. You could have told me. Maybe I could have trusted you then." Nash's voice was solemn, as if the Max he thought he knew had died right before his very eyes. "What’s your name?”

I tensed. “You know my name.”

“The name the people know you by. Your demon name.”

I bit my cheek.

"That's enough," Wren said, walking closer. "Her name is Max. That's all, just Max."

“I took you to my daughter. Who are you really?” Nash's voice blared. "I accepted your silence to my questions about all these mysteries before, but how can I do that now? You lied."

Pain pounded with my heart. “Eclipse. My name is Eclipse.”