Frazer’s voice was a violent calm. A storm in a glass jar. “Touch her, and I obliterate you.”
It gnashed together its blackened teeth. “Not nice to make threats. I’ll kill you last. You can watch while your kindred’s soul is flayed and gutted from her body. I like wearing pretty girls. This one’s almost spent.” It waved expansively toward the faeling skin with a perverse pout.
Frazer stepped back, taking me with him. A cold, feral snicker slipped from the eerie’s shriveled lips. It jerked to the side, rushing at us, but Cai sent flames skyrocketing into its face. The eerie was blown back a few paces, hissing and screeching and cursing. But it didn’t leave; it wouldn’t run.
Cai made a half-retching, half-groaning noise that stopped my heart. Exhaustion was close at hand, and without his magic, we’d be defenseless.
A familiar sound compelled me to look skyward. Adrianna appeared from the shadow of the trees. Liora wasn’t with her.
Good. Somebody should live to see the morning.
“Spineless wretch. You’re nothing but bloated air,” Adrianna sang down to it, taunting it. “Why not pick a real challenge? A warrior fae with strength in her bones and power in her veins. Come on—let’s dance you and I.”
She soared through the canopy and disappeared. It made an ungodly howl and sped after her, taking the bait.
Cai instantly collapsed to his knees. Frazer went to grab the burning branch he still clutched. I swooped down in front of Cai, clutching his burning face in between my hands. A quick assessment: hair plastered to his face, body drenched in sweat, eyes rolling into the back of his head.
Slap him, Auntie cried.
“Forgive me,” I breathed, and hit him hard across the cheek.
He jerked, his eyes focusing.
“Stay awake—we need you.”
He slurred his words, but his gaze didn’t blur. “I’m ready.”
I doubted it. His whole damned body trembled under my touch.
Frazer moved to my side. “Serena, take the torch. I’ll carry Cai.”
No argument from me. I gingerly grasped the burning branch while Frazer heaved Cai into his arms.
Run, Serena, Auntie whispered, frantic.
My legs were moving before my mind caught on. “Come on! Adi can’t out-fly it forever.”
“Where are you going?” Frazer came after me.
My gut had driven me right. “No idea, but we can’t stay there.”
I plunged into the forest, holding the torch aloft, skipping over gnarled roots and jagged stones. And I started to think … Frazer wouldn’t need the light. He’d be better off without me—last longer. Maybe long enough to trap the rutting thing.
“Don’t even think about it,” he growled from behind me.
“You can find a populated area faster without me. You can see in the dark—”
“No.”
I felt his will steel itself. An unyielding force. He wouldn’t listen.
“Can you smell anything? Hear any people? Any settlements nearby?” I asked frantically.
There’s nothing. I knew he couldn’t stomach saying the words aloud.
Keep moving. Auntie’s mental voice carried a strangled, panicked sound.
A sob shook loose, choking me. The fear was so violent it seeped into every pore, consuming my body and mind.
I did not want to die. Not here. Not now.
A second, or maybe minutes passed by and we—I—didn’t slow. Even though Frazer heard and smelled nothing except the forest. Even though we were lost, running aimlessly.
Serena. Our bond went rigid. I hear it. The eerie’s circling back to us.
Terror and bile coated my tongue. I spun around, holding the torch aloft. Frazer came to a halt just in front of me.
“Put me down,” Cai ordered.
Frazer frowned but set him back on his feet.
“You two need to run on ahead,” Cai said doubling over, bracing his hands on his thighs. “I’ll hold it off. Just trap the bastard.”
A pleading note entered my voice. “Cai, come with us.”
He straightened and leveled me with a hard stare. “We’re out of options. Go. Tell Liora that it was my choice … And not to hate me too much.”
Frazer ground out, “It’ll kill you.”
“Better me than all of us.” Cai shrugged it off.
Brave, stupid man.
Frazer tilted his head. I knew the signs. “What d’you hear?”
“Adrianna’s shouting—” He broke off and gave Cai a look. It was pitying, and my belly clenched in dread.
Cai just nodded. “Go.”
Frazer grabbed my arm. I struggled, but it was too late. A whooshing sound splintered the air. Adrianna’s voice reached us. “Run!”
A breeze touched my back. Adrianna landed, and Frazer didn’t have time to drag me anywhere.
A whirlwind tossed Adrianna and Frazer aside like leaves. Cai pushed out his inked hand, but he was too late and too tired. He crumpled to the forest floor. I was left standing, frozen, with the torchlight extinguished. The dead faeling materialized in front of me. Invisible claws sliced into my arms. I dropped the branch and my will deserted me as my eyes met that decayed, stinking flesh. A cold sweat broke out, coating me.
Not real, not real, not real.
It leaned in and a breath snaked around the shell of my ear as it whispered, “Mm. I’ll be nice and warm wearing your meat.”
The surge of panic was so violent, it sparked me into action. My legs were still free. I kicked out, but hit nothing. The eerie had abandoned its shell. All that had survived—rotting skin and splintered bone—clattered to the floor.
My body exploded in agony. My knees would’ve buckled if not for the thing currently slithering inside. It clawed at my insides, gaining control, setting my skin on fire, and boiling my blood. Something hot and wet tickled my upper lip and earlobes. Blood, maybe.
I heard hissing in my ears: it was laughing at my agony.
An icy grip seized my lungs, squeezing, constricting. It would lock me away to suffocate inside my own body.
Auntie whispered, It’s time, child.
Time to die?
My eyes popped. White sparks obliterated my vision, leaving me blind to my pack. And there it was. Frazer’s screams tore a hole through my heart like nothing else could.
Serena. I’m keeping the eerie out of your mind, but I can’t stop it suffocating you. I have limited strength, but you can kill the eerie. There’s an ember, a spark in your necklace. It’s magic: your magic. I’ve been slowly gifting it back to you, granting you strength, but I can’t use it myself. To kill the eerie, you’ll need all of it.
My mind skipped over my initial shock and hunkered down, delving into primal, animal instinct. Survival was all that mattered.
What are you waiting for?
Sadness and fear emanated from Auntie. Gifting it back to you now—all at once … it’ll have consequences.
Do it.
My throat burned and burned and burned.
A roaring began in my ears, and pain moved like lightning, hitting every nerve. It consumed me. I prayed for death. That’s when I saw what was passing through me. A golden liquid fire flecked with silver stars pumped through my blood, cleansing it, driving out the oily second skin of the eerie. The iron grip on my lungs vanished. I sucked in mighty gasps: glorious, beautiful air. A metallic scent filled my nostrils, singeing them. Oblivion.
Air brushed against my cheeks.
Finally. A sigh of relief.
Auntie?
I opened my mouth to speak, but my tongue felt blistered and swollen. Like burning smoke and sand.
Take it easy, she whispered.
What is that?
A fog clouded my thoughts, but something about the constant breeze beating against my cheeks had bile rising from my stomach.
Is it the eerie?
Adrenaline spiked my heart so forcibly that despite bone-aching exhaustion, my eyelids fluttered open and my muscles seized, expecting a fight. As my vision adjusted to the light, it wasn’t the eerie that filtered in. Adrianna floated above me, eyes crinkled in a wide smile. We were flying.
“Thank the rivers,” she mumbled. “Cai told me you’d come back to us, but I wasn’t sure I believed him.”
Nothing she said sunk in. I wet my lips and forced out, “What’s going on? Where’s my bag … sword?”