She hadn’t made it far into the forest. Elator was standing on the edge, his hands on his hips. And though his face was shadowed, she knew he must have a look of disdain in his face. As she neared, the lights dangling from the treetops gave enough illumination for her to see the worry creasing his features.
“What happened?” he asked as she approached.
She had no explanation. “I thought I sensed something. I—”
His brows drew together in question and concern. He would never understand what she sensed or that she heard a voice in her head threatening to find her. It was a woman’s voice. That much she knew. But whose?
“It’s nothing.” She plastered on a bright smile. “Let’s go back to the party.”
Then she hooked her arm around his. They started back into the village. The cursory glances and the stares from the others did not escape her notice. As they reached their table, Ardan stared at her while his sister giggled, clearly amused at her disheveled appearance. Yirrie’s expression told her everything the woman thought about her in that moment—disappointed with an underlying hint of anger. Snow hoped she would not see the torn skirt until much later.
They rounded the end of the table, heading back to their seats, when that buzzing sound increased. Snow jerked her arm out of Elator’s and spun around, looking for that sound. But no one else seemed to hear it. She sucked in a sharp breath, her chest heaving and the vines along her torso shuddering. Somehow, they had managed to remain intact during her race through the forest.
“Snow?” Elator asked.
“Don’t you hear it?” she asked, turning to meet his gaze.
“Hear what?” He shook his head.
Yirrie, who had clearly had enough of her nonsense, joined them. “Snow, whatever you’re playing at must stop.”
“I’m not playing at anything.”
The sound was so loud now, she clapped her hands over her ears and stumbled backward away from them both. She had garnered the attention of Tasnia at the head of the table. The woman slowly rose to her feet, a strange expression on her face. She pinned Snow with her fierce gaze.
I am coming for you.
That voice again. She shook her head, continuing to step backward away from the table.
“I shouldn’t be here,” she whispered, though it was difficult for her to hear herself over the buzzing.
Yirrie’s face had gone pale. Elator pressed his lips together in a thin line. The girls continued to laugh at her. Ardan remained seated staring at her with pity. That was the thing that bothered her the most—that he pitied her.
Suddenly, the world around her fell away. Everyone around her was frozen in time like a statue. All that remained was the horrible buzzing sound.
She saw it then. The black mist seeped through the trees and spilled into their cozy festival. It came from all directions, blotting out the light, the buzzing now louder than ever.
The black mist formed into a silhouette which was nothing more than an opaque shadowy outline. Snow dropped her hands to her sides, her heart in her throat, as she scurried around the end of the table.
A misty hand reached for her.
Chapter 5
Longwispytendrilswrappedaround her throat, squeezing the breath out of her. She gasped as she clawed at the spectral fingers. Again, she heard that voice in her head.
I am coming for you.
Her eyes started to water. She tried to suck in a breath but it was useless. Whatever held her was not letting go until it crushed the life out of her.
Light glinted off a blade as it slashed downward through the black mist. A hissing sound and then it released and retreated back into the shadows, disappearing. The buzzing stopped. Snow crumpled to the ground in heap. She sucked in long breaths, forcing air back into her lungs. A pair of shiny black boots stood next to her. She tilted her head back and looked up to see Ardan standing next to her, his sharp gaze on the trees around them.
“Snow!”
It was Yirrie who crouched next to her. “Are you all right? What happened?”
She tried to answer but it was Ardan who spoke.
“There was a black mist.”
