Fearlings - Incorporeal

“No!” cried Katherine. “We must stay together. Look! Something’s coming!” She pointed to tiny lights that were beginning to dot the forest around them. Fireflies! In numbers too vast to calculate, they swarmed forth and attacked the shadows like luminous darts released from an invisible bow. Moments later the birds, the reindeer, and nearly every creature in the forest joined them! Then the trees began to swing their branches; the vines lashed out like whips. But how can a shadow be fought?

he shadows splintered apart. But since they were shadows, they instantly came together again, taking new forms. They snapped and crushed the vines and hurled the forest defenders as if they were leaves in the wind. Undaunted, the forest army fought desperately on, rising repeatedly to protect the children. Still, the shadows slipped past them and began to envelop the children in a blanket of darkness. The older children immediately draped themselves over the younger ones in a last effort to protect them. And where is the bear? Surely the bear will help us, they thought as the inky blackness flooded over them.

Nicholas Saint North and the Battle of the Nightmare King Chapter 4