Piper looked out the window, wishing she was out there with her father and Harper. She could see them, see the monsters and those evil men surrounding them. The pressure from that strange dark being was pushing against her mind but it wasn’t as bad.

  She wanted to scream. She was trapped inside and her dad and sister were fighting for their lives. Her dad had stood there alone, against so many enemies. There was no way he could have survived and all she could do was watch.

  Then Harper appeared and it got even worse. Piper knew her dad. He would be telling Harper to run and hide, probably come and get her and the two would run. Dad would stay behind and hold off the monsters, try to end the threat to them and the Clan. He would die but he’d do it willingly if it meant they would be safe.

  Her hands pounded against the glass.

  “DAD!!,” she shouted.

  “Turn away Piper,” Cerie said, hovering a little higher, also looking out the window.

  The pounding against the door had stopped. Whoever had been out there had decided it wasn’t worth trying to break down the door. The screaming and sounds of pain and fighting hadn’t stopped. Piper had finally stopped crying, but only because she had no more tears to fall. Her head leaned against the glass, feeling the chill, watching the rest of her family fight.

  They made a good effort. Piper thought for sure her dad would defeat the older man, she thought it was that loud one, Roger. But then a monster got in the way. Harper got surrounded, saved by her father. They started running for the gate but got blocked.

  Piper pounded on the glass, wanting to break it, wanting to do anything she could to help.

  The monsters were all humanoids. That made it worse. There were even humans in the mix. How could they be helping whatever that thing was?

  “DAD!! HARPER!!,” she screamed.

  “Piper, look,” Cerie said, pointing into the school yard.

  At first Piper couldn’t see anything through the mass of fighting people. It was horrible. People she knew were fighting friends, neighbors. These were all people that had survived the coming of the Connected System. They should have been working together.

  Then she saw them. People running, pushing their way through the fighting. Not stopping to hurt or help. Brian, the largest man in the Clan, was barreling his way toward the gate in the wall. She could see Elora jumping over fighting people, using some to push herself higher. More people were running, heading for her father. Brian disappeared into the wall, the monsters on the other side of the gate flying as the large man impacted them. He charged through, giant hammer bashing them aside. Others followed. She saw the annoying twins. At that moment, Piper thought they were anything but annoying. Some jumped off the wall, landing in the monsters. Davis was there, Elora. Drew and the newcomer, Jake.

  All had come to help her father and sister.

  “GO!!,” Piper cheered, jumping up and down.

  She stopped, watching the fighting. Shouldn’t she be done there with them all? The people on the other side of the wall were the strongest the Clan had to offer. They could handle the mass of humanoid monsters and the evil men. But Piper still wanted to be out there. She was one of the strongest. Next to her dad and sister, fighting to defend the Clan, that was where she belonged.

  The shadowy thing, what Piper knew to be the source of all the trouble, it seemed to grow bigger. She could see the waves of energy that poured out of it, distorting the air.

  “AAAHH!,” she screamed as that energy slammed into her mind.

  The pain was so much worse than before.

  “Piper!,” Cerie cried out, hovering in front of Piper’s face, unable to do anything.

  Piper raised one hand, shooing Cerie’s glow away. The hand leaned against the wall, the other clutching her head, as she fought to push away the pain. She could feel a Voice whispering, talking to her, thoughts and feelings snaking their way into her mind.

  Piper didn’t like how it was making her feel. Angry. She wanted to attack anyone she could. Piper had gotten mad before but never anything like what she was feeling now. She could hear the buzzing of Cerie’s wings and that sound, something that normally she found soothing, was making her even madder. It was annoying, always there.

  “NO!!” Piper yelled.

  She didn’t like feeling so angry, so much hate. It wasn’t her. It wasn’t the way she wanted to live.

  “I don’t like you!,” she shouted, directing it at the voice that whispered in her mind. “Go away!”

  And it did.

  Piper leaned against the way, breathing heavily, her body shaking.

  “Piper?” Cerie asked.

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  “I’m okay,” Piper got out. “That was horrible.”

  “What was it?”

  “That thing out there,” she said, gesturing to the window. “It’s been sending out some kind of mental suggestion. It’s causing everyone to fight and it just made things worse.”

  “A mental attack?” Cerie asked, her tone changing to one of horror.

  Piper looked up at the fairy, seeing her eyes glowing.

  “What?”

  “We are all in trouble,” Cerie said. “I think it’s a creature called the Hive. It mentally controls people, turning them into slaves. Like the Wendigo, they are a plague on the Connection, hunted down and killed when one appears.”

  “Oh no….”

  “Yes. This is bad.”

  Piper returned to the window, looking out at the fighting. She could see that the ones outside the wall; her dad, harper and the others; had stood against that last mental attack. But inside the wall, in the yard, none of those people had. Even the ones that had been defending, trying to subdue the attackers. Everyone of them was attacking, going crazy, mad, tearing into each other. But some of them were heading for the wall and the opening. They carried swords, bats, hands and eyes glowing with Abilities.

  She couldn’t count them all but it was a lot.

  “No..” she said, feeling the tears coming again.

  Fighting against the other humans, the ones that were with that strange creature, it would be hard for her dad and Harper, but they wouldn’t want to fight against their own clan members. That would crush her dad.

  Piper pulled her sketchbook out of the bag, flipping through the pages. She wasn’t down there, but there was something she could do.

  ***

  Clan Brady surged forward. There weren’t a lot of them, but they were strong. The numbers started to not matter. The only ones that were able to stand against the attack of the Bannermen and Clan Elite were the three traitors. Brian fought against Roger, large hammer slamming into the older man’s shield. Roger barely held his own, crumbling under the onslaught. Drew exchanged blows with Josh, sword against baton, with Drew having the growing advantage.

  Only Theodore was managing to hold his own, his mental abilities keeping Jake and Davis at bay. The others were spread out, dealing with the humanoid mind slaves. Onyx cut a Gnoll in half, Loch kicking the body out of the way so he could charge at a redcap.

  He pushed his way through the monsters, heading for the Presence.

  Which grew. Loch could feel some of the mental energy it was emitting being sucked back into it, empowering it. The Presence loomed over them, face still hidden in the hood. The thing screamed.

  Everyone, even its own slaves, clutched at their heads. They screamed as waves of mental energy, somehow visible as waves in the air, washed over them all. Loch could hear it as it passed over the Clan in the walls. More and more voices added to the screams as the wave advanced, covering the entire Clanhold.

  Loch looked around, trying to figure out what to do, who to help, or what monster to kill. Everyone was clutching their heads in pain. All except Theodore.

  “Isn’t it beautiful?” he asked, laughing.

  All sanity was gone from his eyes. There had been some left, but after that last wave of mental attacks, it was all gone.

  EVERYONE IS MINE

  The Voice spoke in Loch’s mind. Barely heard as his Mental Resistance kept it out.

  ALL WILL SERVE ME. ALL WILL KILL YOU

  The wave faded. Loch’s people regained their minds, again attacking the monsters and traitors. Roger and Josh lost all control. They screamed and thrashed, eyes wild, no longer having any semblance of control. Theodore laughed and laughed.

  “Dad,” Harper shouted.

  She was pointing at the open gate through the wall. Loch could see people streaming out, pushing and clawing at each other to be first. All had eyes filled with madness, no control or reason. Mindless, like zombies. The first came through the wall, reaching for one of the twins, who raised his spear to defend but stopped, seeing people he knew. He shifted his grip, holding the spear horizontally in front of him, keeping people at bay.

  More and more streamed out.

  Loch saw Darren and Kristin, as mindless as the others. A blast of fire shot down from the wall, Kim Hudson on top. She waved her hand, another stream of fire. She wasn’t aiming it, just shooting it. The flames struck some of the monsters. A lucky shot but Loch knew it wouldn’t last. Soon those flames would strike the Clan.

  THERE IS NO CHOICE. JOIN THE HIVE OR DIE

  Loch wanted to scream. They couldn’t fight a horde of their own people. They couldn’t kill their friends. And he knew, that was the only way to stop them. The people were so far gone. Only death would stop them.

  Or giving up.

  Loch would do neither.

  The Presence had to die. That was the only thing he could do. He started to turn, ready to push his way through. No matter what, he had to get to the Presence. But he stopped, seeing a splash of black appearing on the broken pavement, spreading out in a long line.

  Piper.

  He glanced up at the window, not seeing his daughter, but knowing she was there and she was helping.