“—all you, who live in a perpetual state of pretend,” Hunter sang, “all wearing gowns made of false flesh, gowns fashioned from the fabric of dreams—”
Now I couldn’t move. My feet were fastened in place and my face was locked in position. I had to stare at Hunter, had to listen, had to obey the incantation that poured from his lips, sweet as sugar, lovely as the silver moon. Even though, for the first time, I finally realized the danger that was coming.
“—all you Darklings, near and far, must reveal yourselves now!”
At that moment, Hunter’s incantation sparked upward, toward the heavens, brilliant as heat lightning. There, it carved the night sky into colors and it wrinkled the clouds, then it reached down to earth with hands of mist and fog. The dark magic searched the junkyard, looking for the familiar fragrance of folded reality.
It was looking for me.
Without even glancing down, I knew that my skin was cracking, peeling off and blowing in the wind like ashes. Bits of the mask I had been wearing spiraled about me, turned into a dust devil of bright color before sailing away. I could now see two others like me in the human crowd.
Thane and River.
Their countenance dissolved, like a pile of crumbling autumn leaves.
They were frozen in place too, just like me.
The last note faded from Hunter’s song and I was released; my wings unfurled wide and I was compelled to soar overhead. That was when I finally knew the true purpose of this ancient spell—in a moment, all of the Darklings near and far would be revealed. And then, like me, they would all be pulled here in a great hurricane of flapping black wings.
As if this were a black hole that none of us could escape.
Chapter 76
Fingers of Ice and Fog
Ash:
I tasted primitive magic in the air, an age-old incantation spoken with a strange accent—the voice of the unpracticed. Enchantments take a lifetime to learn and this one was out of control. It snaked down streets and pushed open doors. It was looking for me.
But I didn’t want to be found.
Not now. Not when Maddie was so near. I could feel her pulse, could smell her dreams. I laughed lightly. Humans were the ones with the true magic, though they didn’t realize it. Sometimes a heavy emptiness had rushed through my veins when I envied humans their ability to sleep and forget, how they could rebuild their lives in a single evening. Those were the times when I realized how truly alone I was in this world. But right now, for the first time in a century, I felt as if I had just met a friend who could bring dreams to life.
And in a moment, it was all going to be ripped away.
I reached out, took Maddie’s hand in mine, tried to hold back the heat that had blistered her skin earlier. Her lips parted as if she was going to speak but didn’t know what to say. I gently turned her hand over and kissed her palm. Her hands had been burned and were now stained with my red-black blood. Just like Iris Wimbledon—Joe’s grandmother, the woman who had nursed me back to health after my injury, after the curse. If it hadn’t been for her, I would have surely died from that wound. Because of it, her hands had been scorched, my blood on her palms. The old woman with silver-white hair and tormented dreams had become my first Legend Keeper.
But now, everything was changing.
I wished that I could cast a Veil and stop time, prevent the inevitable.
Instead, I released Maddie’s hand and braced myself.
Chapter 77
A Distant Song
Maddie:
Ash pressed his lips against my palm and a rush of heat flowed up my arm; it spread across my shoulders and then spilled down my back like a waterfall. His eyes met mine and time stood still. An instant turned into eternity, and I knew then, that despite his flaws, this creature was more noble than any man I had ever met.
Then the door burst open.
A distant song reached into the room, followed by ghostly fingers of ice and fog.
Ash’s human skin cracked, fissures clicked and snapped along his jaw and his forehead. A thin black crevice snipped down his neck, branched into a thousand crackling tributaries, veins that circled from his chest to his back and then around again.
Then they all burst.
An explosion of color—a mock tornado—surrounded him, almost hid him from view. Now I could see through to his true skin, and I knew for sure that this truly was the creature that I had met in the forest, so many years ago . . . dark gray flesh, broad black wings, teeth that sparkled and eyes of silver. And he was still more handsome than anyone I’d ever met. His true self had been revealed, and for the first time I could see what a beautiful creature he truly was.
“Ash.”
It was all I could say.
The smoky mist wrapped possessive tendrils around him, lifted him off the ground.
“No!” Joe rocked to his feet, as if he only now became aware of what was happening. “Don’t let them take you!” He lashed out at the supernatural cloud that roped about Ash’s chest, that bound his arms and wings to his sides.