Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 109477 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109477 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
But these past few years, it had always been Kieran and Lexi who’d been playing for keeps. Now it would be her, and she didn’t have a team to advise her. She’d be playing solo and seeing how she stacked up against the fae.
She startled awake. The room lay dark and still around her. A strange feeling skittered across her skin.
A look beside her and Tarian wasn’t there. He’d come back with food some time ago, when the sun still illuminated the shades he’d pulled, but left again to give her some privacy to wash up. He said he’d be back after he discussed some business with his Fallen. There was no telling how long ago that was.
She felt worlds better. Her headache was only a dull throb. She was still tired, needing more sleep and soon maybe more to eat, but she felt mostly normal.
She sat up, that strange feeling unsettling, like something wasn’t quite right. Then again, what was right? She was a captive in a strange land with an uncertain future. Still…
She squinted in the low light, the murky darkness hinting at unseen horrors. Magic curled and twisted all around her, thrushing in the quiet space. Or was that her imagination?
The floor was cold on her feet as she crossed the room and pulled back the shade. The soft glow of moonlight fell across her skin and the fabric slip Tarian had given her to wear. Darkness shifted around the trees and bushes not far away. It blanketed the grassy plain.
Nothing moved out there in the night. Unlike earlier, when she’d been washing, dressing, and eating, there weren’t any strange calls or odd-sounding birdsong. No creatures skittered through the brush. Currently there was nothing. An absence of sound, it felt like. Like everything in the area had taken off.
Like a big predator had moved in.
Shivers washed over her this time. Threads of unease started to tighten her chest. She knew it before the voice sounded in her head.
It’s here.
Damn right it was here. The darkrend. She could almost feel its unnaturalness as it moved through the fabric and magical folds of the wylds. As it shed wrongness within the lush, strange lands. It was a disease to this place, plucking at the natural order and creasing what should have been smooth.
You can feel the danger now, the voice said. Heed it.
She could, it seemed. So she did.
She dashed through the room and yanked open the door. The wood porch led down to small rocks, like gravel. She didn’t bother going back for her shoes. There might not be time. She ignored the pain as she ran over the rocks, quickly taking stock of the collection of shacks in a large circle, it looked like, with a central hub. If Tarian didn’t sleep in that hub, it was the meeting place.
Her heel came down on the point of a rock. She sucked in a pained breath but wouldn’t allow herself to lose speed. She wanted to knock against the side or shout for him, but there was no telling where the creature might be. The wall of the hub-shack ended, leaving room for a wide porch. She rolled under the banister and hopped up.
The roar drove fear directly into her heart. Branches cracked and tore. The compression of huge feet slamming down rattled the rocks. She sprinted across the porch and to the door right as it opened. Soft light spilled across her, and a wide-eyed Lennox stopped short. Terror was etched into every line on his body.
“Get to safety, you idiot!” she yelled at him, shoving him back into the room.
His body was ripped to the side, and Tarian took his place, grabbing her around the shoulders, turning in a hurry, and spinning her into the room. He let go and slammed the door shut as another roar shook the walls. Her body began to shake.
“Get below and set the ward!” Tarian yelled as he darted to the corner to douse the light.
She turned to Lennox, who was frozen solid. He’d never been this close to a darkrend before. The learning curve was rough.
A pretty woman sat in the corner, with the same style of hair as the others, her eyes wide in shock. Niall was next to her, appearing perplexed, and that was a very strange response to the current situation.
“Go, go, go!” she yelled, waving her arm.
Lennox unfroze first as a pulse rocked through the room. The creature was seeking them out. Either it hadn’t seen her a moment ago, or once she went out of sight, it had lost her location. She hoped the latter, because that would indicate it wasn’t a very smart beast.
Quiet, she thought as loudly as possible. They said she could broadcast, so she assumed it was the strength of the thought. Couldn’t hurt. Set the ward. We gotta set that ward.