I turned to Vareck. “Don’t you dare.”
“Then you better start running,” he said, gaze locked on the horde moving in.
I cursed and grabbed his arm, yanking him with me as I sprinted after Damon.
My lungs ached. My legs screamed. My ankle pulsed painfully where I had been injured. The ground beneath our feet had shifted to something harder, rockier—no longer soft and squishy, but jagged stone veined with glowing cracks. Like Evorsus itself was angry that we’d escaped.
“I’m not made for this!” I huffed, each breath burning as it tore through my throat like sandpaper.
“I would have carried you!” Vareck shouted back, not even out of breath. Show-off. His wings flapped, stirring the air into chaotic eddies. A gust slapped my cheek, hot and dry like a furnace blast.
“Yeah? And then what?” I managed between gasps. “We get overrun because I’m basically dead weight? I’m not as small as my sister, in case you didn’t notice.”
“In case you haven’t noticed, I don’t care if you’re not small, and I carried you just fine at Farris’s place,” he said with an easy confidence. “Could always fly.”
“Away? And leave Sadie here? Are you out of your mind?”
He gave a strained grunt—almost a laugh—but didn’t argue. His hand hovered near my back as we ran, just enough to catch me if I stumbled. Not touching. Just close. I hated how much that made me want to lean in.
We tore through the woods, but the woods weren’t the same. At least they didn’t look the same.
Behind us, the sounds of pursuit followed; frantic chirps, rustling bushes, the occasional unholy shriek. Black eyes flickered between trees, closing in. The lanterns the creatures had carried earlier bobbled in the dark like the torches of a mob.
On the way to the village, branches had lifted out of my way. Roots shifted underfoot so I didn’t trip on them. The forest had been accommodating, but now it turned against me. It was like it wanted me to be caught.
“They’re not chasing us,” Vareck said suddenly, eyes scanning the canopy. “They’re corralling us.”
“Great,” I panted. “Now we’re cattle.”
“They won’t touch you,” he growled, barely ducking a low-hanging branch. “I vow it.”
My foot hit a rock, and I stumbled. Vareck caught me by the elbow, steadying me before I face-planted.
“Thanks,” I muttered, heart punching wildly against my ribs.
“You’re welcome,” he said, too softly.
We kept running ... until there was nowhere left to go.
The trees ended. The ground vanished. We skidded to a halt at the edge of a cliff, hearts hammering, breath ragged. Damon had put Sadie down as they assessed the edge.
Beneath us stretched a jagged canyon of endless dark, glowing faintly with unnatural light. The glow shifted as if aware of our presence. The wind screamed upward from the depths, and it carried voices. Not words. Just whispers.
No escape. No fallback. Just wind and eternity.
“We’re trapped,” Vareck said grimly.
“No, you smell that? It’s water,” I said, stomach twisting. It was subtle, but the unmistakable scent of fresh water was nearby. I swallowed thickly, then turned to him. “We jump.”
He blinked. The world paused as our breath caught. “Absolutely not.”
I swallowed hard. “They'll eat us. You said it yourself—they’re herding us. This cliff is the pen.”
Sadie glanced over her shoulder at the approaching mob.
Damon looked at Vareck. “We could each?—”
“Fuck this,” she said ... and jumped. Sadie vaulted off the cliff, arms spread like wings. The wind claimed her in seconds, chanting a dark lullaby that rattled my bones.
