Chapter 25
I wake to the sound of the horses whinnying outside.
My head is foggy from deep sleep and for a moment, I forget where I am.
The rain has stopped and moonlight streams through the holes in the ceiling, casting a spotlight on the wreckage surrounding us.
Across the room, the Tree God and the Moon Goddess are haloed in moonlight, as if the goddess herself is trying to tell me something about lovers in the forest.
Outside, Marigold whinnies again, her tone anxious.
Next to me, Hunter stirs. When he sees me getting to my feet, he scrambles up after me. His still-damp blanket falls to the ground near the smoldering fire embers.
“Sienna,” he whispers into the dark. “What are you doing?”
“The horses.” I look toward the door.
Tristan mumbles something in his sleep and pulls his blanket over his head.
Outside, something falls over with a crack. I run to the heavy doors and swing them open, expecting to see the King’s Guard surrounding us. Instead, there’s nothing. Just more moonlight bathing the long-dead city in an ethereal glow. I run over to Marigold and Hunter follows me to help calm Honor.
“Shh …” I grab her bridle. “Calm, now. It was probably just an animal. Nothing to fret over.”
I scan the village as I pet Marigold’s gray neck. Her heart beats wildly beneath my palm, but I don’t see anything out of the ordinary. The buildings are painted in shades of mist and shadow.
An icy breeze pushes a bundle of leaves down the empty road.
I shiver. My clothes are still damp and my fingertips are numb with cold.
When we go back, I’ll ask Hunter to get the fire going again.
If we can’t dry out, we’ll have bigger problems than the King’s Guard to deal with before long.
Hypothermia can kill a man as surely as any blade.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see something dark move inside a doorway. I still. Next to me, Marigold stomps her foot. She saw it too.
“Hunter,” I whisper.
He turns from whispering into Honor’s ear. “What is it?”
I point across the road, toward the half-dilapidated house with no door. “Someone’s there.”
He squints through the darkness. The only sound around us is the wind and the horses’ nervous breathing.
“Are you sure?”
I nod.
“Was it a man, a woman?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know. It’s too dark.”
Hunter moves one hand to the sword at his hip as he steps forward. “I’ll investigate.”
I put my hand on his arm. “No, not alone.”
He pauses, like he’d very much like to force me to stay back, but he knows me better than that. He gives me a curt nod.
The air is cold and still. The skin on the back of my neck prickles as we move cautiously toward the darkened doorway. I can’t shake the feeling that we’re being watched.
My heart beats wildly in my chest as I lean through the door, expecting to see the king’s copper knights waiting for us.
But there’s no one there.
The small room has only one exit, and we’re standing in it. There’s no way anyone could’ve snuck out in the time it took for us to cross the street. Hunter pushes past me, kicking cobwebbed furniture out of his way and turning over molded bedding. Mice scurry around his feet.
“I don’t understand,” I say. “I swear, I saw someone.”
Hunter looks toward the narrow window.
I shrug. “Maybe? It’s a pretty small window.”
“Let’s look outside.”
We walk down the street, listening for any sound that might indicate we’re not alone. All I hear is the clatter of dried leaves and our boots on the dirt road.
As we round a bend into what used to be the village square, my heart seizes in my chest.
Standing in the center of the square are three figures cloaked in shadow, their forms shifting and swirling like smoke in the moonlight.
“Please tell me you see them too,” I whisper to Hunter.
He answers by grabbing my hand and pulling me back around the corner. We stand up against a wall, frozen in fear.
“What do we do?” I whisper.
Hunter shakes his head. “I don’t know.”
A small pebble lands at our feet. We both squint into the darkness to look for the source. Across the street, someone crouches in a narrow alley.
Tristan.
He puts a finger over his mouth, telling us to be quiet, then, quick and silent as a wolf, he flees deeper into the alleyway.
“We should follow him,” I whisper.
Hunter shakes his head, then points toward the other direction and mouths, “The horses.”
But something in my gut tells me we need to trust the Wolf, that he knows things we don’t. I grab Hunter’s hand to move toward the alley, but he pulls me back, shaking his head frantically.
Before we can make a decision, the monsters round the corner and turn their hollow, black eyes toward us.
For a brief moment, we stare at each other, frozen.
Their slick, emaciated bodies are clothed in nothing but swirling shadows.
Their terrible over-large mouths gape open, exposing too many teeth.
A low, keening wail fills the air and vibrates in my bones.
“Run!” Hunter shouts. Our boots skid against the ground as we race down the alley.
The black, ghost-like creatures glide after us, their movements smooth and unnaturally fast. I glance back and see their skeletal fingers reaching out to grasp us. I force my legs to run faster.
We weave through the narrow alleys and abandoned streets. My heart pounds in my chest. Every corner we turn, every darkened doorway we pass, they are right behind us. Their number multiplies as more of them appear out of the dark corners of the village to join the chase.
We run around the corner and nearly slam into someone.
“Run!” I shout when I see it’s Tristan.
He skids to a stop, slipping to the ground. “You don’t have to ask me twice.”
Hunter helps him up and we sprint through the moonlit streets, trying to lose the terrifying black creatures behind us. Dread fills my chest. It’s so heavy, it can’t be natural.
“What are those things?” My voice has an edge of terror that I can’t mask.
“Wraiths,” Tristan says, panting. “Lost souls who died in terrible, unforgivable ways.”
“What do they want with us?”
His eyes are worried. “Revenge.”
We leap over a forgotten cart blocking the road.
“But we had nothing to do with their deaths!” Hunter yells this behind us, as if he thinks it might help persuade the specters to leave us alone.
“They don’t care.” Tristan grabs my hand fiercely. “Whatever happens, don’t stop, Red. Keep going.”
I nod. Fear makes tears prickle at the corners of my eyes.
Suddenly, Tristan stops running. He pushes me forward, then charges back toward the creatures at full speed.
“Tristan, no!” I reach out, but catch nothing but air.
Hunter grabs my shoulders. “You heard him, Sienna. We have to keep going!”
But I can’t. Something inside of me pulls, refusing to leave the Wolf. Several yards away, he digs his heels into the ground and thrusts his palms forward. Thick, black mist spews from his hands. The wraiths pause momentarily, as if considering him, but then charge right through his shadow power.
Tristan turns to look back at us. “Go!” he yells. “Go!”
Hunter pulls my arm. “The horses!”
The wraiths gain on Tristan, their long black tongues licking the air in insatiable hunger. I can’t let them take him. A panic rises in me, stronger than I can rationally explain. Tristan is sacrificing himself, so I can escape. I won’t let him.
I charge forward, wrenching my arm out of Hunter’s grasp. Just as the wraiths reach Tristan, he crouches to the ground, ready for the attack.
But it doesn’t come.
Instead, I throw every ounce of power I have outward.
There’s no controlling it, no channeling it through my palms like I do for healing.
An unexpected thrill swells through my veins as my light pulses from my skin in an explosion of power.
I don’t think, I just surge with energy, like a mighty wave.
A brilliant wall of light blows the wraiths back. They screech in alarm before they dissipate on the spot, turning to ash and leaving the scent of smoke in the air. My light fades along with them and we are once again thrown back into silent midnight.
In the quiet that follows, both Hunter and Tristan stare at me, wide-eyed.
“Sienna,” Hunter whispers. “What was that?”
My vision goes black before I hit the ground.