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"Hurry up outside," Jackson grabbed the boys and ran to the exit, and I followed him, pulling Mary by the arm.

Children cried. Mary's hand shook, but she was keeping up with the pace.

Plaster was falling from the ceiling, metal supports were rattling indicating that they would soon bend or break from the pressure, and everyone inside would be buried under the debris. The ground was shaking so hard that I barely stood. I picked up Mary in my arms and rushed to catch up with Jackson, who I've lost out of my sight. Suddenly, part of the floor collapsed, and I lost the prop, but my ability did not let me fall. After flying a couple of inches into the pit, I used the Force and climbed backward like by the stairs. Mary was so scared that she buried her face in my shoulder, and did not see anything. She trembled with her whole body and screamed with every loud sound, clinging to me harder and harder.

Huge cracks on my way did not stop me, but sparks from torn wires were a much bigger problem. I saw the stairs ahead, but there was an abyss of thirty feet high and sixty feet long on the way. A leap would not help to cover this distance. Having looked around, I made sure no one was watching. I kicked off the floor and began to glide through the air, as if on the wet floor and reached the goal in a matter of seconds. It took us a couple of minutes to get outside.

Jackson was breaking through the rescuers line not far from the entrance. Having lost me out of his sight, he wanted to return to the collapsing building, but noticing me; he let out a sigh of relief and began to cry from happiness. We rushed to hug but suddenly everything froze. My chest was pierced by the infernal pain, again and again, bringing me to a frenzy. The souls of those who died under the mall wreckage appeared in front of me. They were confused, scared, and I could not say a word, because of the pain preceding their death.

All these people would not be able to get answers, but it was the least of their troubles. In the blink of an eye, black souls that had escaped from the river began to appear from cracks in the ground. There were so many of them that the sky turned black. Soaring up, they went down, snatched the souls of newly dead, and flew again laughing loudly.

"No!" I screamed, but they could not care less about me.

I could only throw fireballs, which appeared without much effort on my part. The fireballs could not harm the souls because they were incorporeal, and therefore my weapon flew through them.

I tried to grab souls by their hands to prevent snatching, but it did not work and I caught only air.

Once there were no souls left, black souls rushed onto me with wild cries. I set the protection of dark smoke but it did not stop them at all. My legs seemed to be rooted to the spot. I froze in anticipation of the collision.

At the last second, Eugene appeared from the portal, waving his sword from side to side.

"What should I do?" I shouted.

"Nothing! There's nothing you can do!"

Eugene repulsed the attacks of souls. They seemed to be afraid of the light of his sword. I was worried about those, who could attract the attention of these creatures. People stood still and were easy targets. Eugene alone could not save everyone from so many black souls. They transformed into their new shapes, which was a terrible but fascinating scene.

After a few moments, they stopped attacking and began to return to the crevice from which they emerged.

"Why did they leave?" I wondered.

"They took what they came for. In a few minutes, they'd take the new shape and become vulnerable, so they had to leave."

"Why do they need the souls of the dead?"

"They'll infect them. Only black souls can transform into demons, Nefarious and Murky Shadows. They're raising an army. The more souls they get, the bigger the army will have."

"I don't understand a single thing. I have so many questions…" my head was buzzing. The mall was not just shaking from the earthquake, but it was a planned attack with a specific purpose. These incorporeal creatures must be led by someone, or be highly intelligent to choose the biggest and most crowded mall in Boston.

"Listen, now is not the time. Let's talk tonight. Everything will be back to normal in a moment, and I need to get out of here. You can ask all your questions tonight, and now you should take care of all these people. We can't let anyone else die."

He disappeared into the portal and everything came to life. In the terrible hum and chaos, I heard a strange sound, I failed to determine. Jackson was talking nervously, and to stop him, I covered his mouth with my hand, and listened out again.

The sound was coming somewhere from under the debris. Someone was crying for help. Not being aware of my action, I rushed to the source of the sound.

"Darsy, where are you going?" Jackson shouted.

"Stay with children! I'll be back soon."

"No, Darsy!" but I already was not listening.

Driven by a strange feeling, I ducked under the fallen beam. There was little room inside, but I managed to crawl. Water was flowing from somewhere and rubble was crunching under my feet. Perhaps, one of the mall fountains was still functioning, creating a small waterfall. And this would be another problem – bare wires and water was not the best combination.

The sound was amplifying, and now I clearly understood that was the child cry. The dust was eating my eyes out, but I crawled to the sound until a small hand grabbed me.

"Help me!" the eight- or nine-year-old girl cried.

"I'm here for this. Please, don't move so nothing falls on you. What's your name?"

"Amanda," the girl groaned. She was scared and covered in blood, but I had no idea if it was hers.

"My name is Darsy! Tell me, Amanda, are you hurt?"

"No," it could be lie. People often did not feel pain in the state of shock.

"Amanda, are you stuck?"

"My leg is stuck!"

"Okay. Let me see. Just don't move. Deal?"

The girl nodded vigorously. Trying to get to the child's clamped leg, I asked some question to distract her.

"Who were you with?"

"With my Mom. We wanted to buy me new shoes."

I felt sorry for the girl because her mother was probably under the debris of the second floor. Although I did not rule out the possibility that the woman was simply thrown aside and managed to get out. Thus, now the woman was outside frightened to death and suffering of the grief for the missing daughter, or soon the child would learn that she became an orphan.

The leg was pressed by one of the sculptures placed around the perimeter of spacious halls. I tried to move it with my hands but failed, and the slightest movement made the girl scream in pain.

"Amanda, I can get you out, but you have to cover your eyes with your hands to protect them from dust. And do not open your eyes no matter what you hear. Okay?"

"Okay.

She obediently closed her eyes. I concentrated, lifted the statue and a part of the wall easily with the help of the matter, as if the piles of stones weighed nothing. I grabbed the girl with my other hand and lowered the debris, which fell to the ground and formed a cloud of dust.