Turning her eyes from him, she jerked as she saw a figure not ten paces from her that had been entirely turned to stone, the woman's face frozen in terror.
Whether she had been a Creator pawn, or one of the Fae come to protect the human world, there was no way of knowing; but she was stone. Immediately Etani's mind went to the Gorgon, and she felt a moment of panic, unsure of what to do.
If faced with a Gorgon, one should cover their eyes and try to flee. But she couldn't do that.
Glancing back to Alez, he was still approaching her at a slow pace, and she threw a glance around her to take in the battlefield.
Most of the Creator pawns were dead, and the number of stone figures was minimal, but the terrified and agonised screaming and wailing was all around her, coming from people who were kneeling beside crumbled masses of stone.
She didn't know what to make of it and she decided to retreat; she needed information.
Throwing herself backwards, she scanned the field for any of the faces she knew and found Epharis heading in her direction. His face paler than ever.
Running for him, he encased her in his arms and his lips were at her ear.
"They have started to disappear people. They are all turning to stone, Etani!" He was shaking, and she jerked back from him, staring up in horror as she realised what had happened. The stone piles were dead people who had crumpled. He said something else, but her mind simply refused, completely and utterly, to comprehend what he had said as she stared up at him, his eyes over her head at something even as he shook her and shouted again and again to try to get her attention.
Finally, it sank in, and her stomach dropped out.
"I saw Uzo and Daemon! They're on the field somewhere!"
Without a word, she threw him off her and turned, her voice coming out as a terrified scream: "Daemon!"
She had never screamed like that, never made a sound like that before, and it drew eyes to her, but she didn't care. She was searching for the demon and for Uzo.
A cry came up from behind her and she spun, watching as Epharis headed in the direction with two other faceless people for Alez as he prowled forward towards her, but then her eyes found his and she lunged for him.
Her body crashed into his and her lips found his in a fierce kiss, clinging to him as her fear and panic leached away only a fraction, and he clung to her just as desperately.
Breaking away from him, she searched around him, but found him to be alone. "Where's Uzo?" she demanded, unreasonably angry that he would dare be alone. "People are being vanished. Why are you here?"
Someone only a matter of paces from them froze mid step and his eyes dropped, a sudden terror coming over his face as his feet stuck to the ground, turning a grey that matched the stone of the others.
"Let go!" she snapped. Daemon's hands flung off her as though he had been stung. Running for the man, his eyes met hers and his terror was paramount as her hands found his face and her lips found his.
She ripped him free of his body with little care for how it hurt him, and she tucked him away in her mind, the body slumping to the ground.
Why she had done so was beyond her. She needed to save them all. None of them needed to die because of this.
Turning back to Daemon, his eyes were wide at the sight of four against Alez.
"Why is Alez here?" he demanded, but she ignored the question.
"Where is Uzo?" she snarled, and he looked back at her, then he shook his head.
"I lost track of him," he said, looking suddenly terrified as pure rage filled her.
Turning, she scanned the field for the stupid man, and she gripped the front of the demon's shirt, dragging him closer to her. "If you don't find him in the next five minutes, I'm going to skin you alive and make you eat it." Her voice was quiet, and she was deadly serious. She would kill him again and again if anything happened to her uncle.
He nodded and was gone from her side in an instant, calling out for the man.
Sobek seemed to materialise at her side, his mask up, face pale and scared. "Etani, we are out of time!" he gasped, coated from head to toe in blood.
"Get everyone out," she ordered, and he stared down at her, shocked. "That's an order. Retreat!"
He shook his head as she glared at him, furious, before she turned on the field.
"Retreat!" she screamed, and a surprisingly large number of heads lifted in her direction, though there was no way many of them could hear her from that distance.
Without a word, her Winter fighters obeyed, vanishing with a flicker, leaving the field scattered with Gods and Summer members.
"Go, Sobek, get everyone you can out," she demanded. His eyes were hard on hers as she looked at him. "There is no shame in retreat. We will reassess." That last was a lie, but he accepted her words and gave a whistle.
Those who heard slid sideways from the human world and she made a snap decision.
She flew to those who were still being changed, ignoring their terror and the screams of those at their sides, taking them all and demanding that those left behind escape but few did, sobbing over the limp corpse of their loved one.
She could do no more for them, and she spun in search of more when a voice called her name.
Her head snapped around and she saw him, Uzo standing still several hundred yards away, frozen in place.