The view of the ocean rippled.
Wait, how could that be? How could my view be rippled?
Kade took a step forward, and suddenly, the ocean disappeared altogether.
Instead, we stood before a thick, dark mist, spanning outward.
My breathing picked up. The mist, it was darkness personified. Like a poisoned-looking place, dreary and deadly. I stared forward, fear filling me to the point where I felt suffocated.
“What is that?” I whispered.
Kade looked back at me. “Part of the darkness.”
“You.” My voice cracked. As if killing my father hadn’t been enough. Betraying me hadn’t been enough. Now this? “You brought the darkness here?”
Storm turned around, brows furrowed at me, and Kade sighed. “No, I did not. Believe I’m a monster, or evil, or whatever all you want, but this”—He waved his hands behind him—“isn’t because of me.”
He grabbed my hand, then tugged me toward Storm, taking his hand as well.
“Let go of me,” I said. “No, I will not go in there with you. I don’t even know what it is.”
“Stop,” he said, his voice rising. He yanked me closer to him, pulling me to his side. He was stronger than me. I couldn’t fight him.
I didn’t scream, but clenched my eyes closed as Kade escorted Storm and I into the damn mist itself.
A tugging sensation pulled across my body, as though I were being squeezed into a space entirely too small.
And then, suddenly, a softpopsounded in my ears.
Kade let go of our hands and I scanned our surroundings, taking in the hazy-covered land. We stood in a trench, dug out from the Earth itself, a sense of decay encompassing us.
It was hard to see beyond a few feet in front of us. Squinting, I noted upturned trees, appearing like roots, growing into the sky.
“Where are we?” I demanded, my voice trembling. “What is this place?”
“Welcome to Mysthaven, Little Rebel,” Kade said, his face stoic. He didn’t seem happy to be here. In fact, suddenly he appeared much more like the man I met the first time at our initial meeting in the woods—masked and unemotional.
“There’s nowhere in Brookmere named Mysthaven,” I said.
He scanned the area around us before looking at me once more, cocking an eyebrow. “That’s because we're no longer in Brookmere.”
“Where are we?” I asked warily.
His gaze softened the longer he stared at me. He inhaled deeply, and the expression on his face seemed hopeful, but for what, I couldn’t yet be certain.
“You may know it better as the Forgotten Kingdom.”
