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How did I not feel it?
My heavy exhale mists into a white cloud as I near it, the drop in temperature making my skin pebble.
Odd…A second ago, I was on the verge of sweating and with the hell flame high in the sky, the air shouldn’t hold the icy chill it does now. It’s not until I’m feet away that I experience what Griffin did, a whisper of magic that curls around my senses like smoke, filled withemotion. So strong, it nearly takes my breath away. It’s raw menacing pain, followed by the urgent need to laugh and cry andfleeas if I’m being hunted by a creature that could devore me.
I peer down into the brush, nestled around the base of a large tree. There, the mesmerizing glow shines bright. So bright, I can’t make out what is creating that light. Gently, I reach for it, but it lurches before I can make contact, shooting deeper into the dark woods.
I straighten, blinking in the direction it took off. The sound of a child’s laughter clinging to the breeze rustling the treetops, the pitch of it sends a chill down my spine.
It’s a spirit… a soul, lost in the forest.
The branches above me creak and groan against the wind whipping through the valley, and as intrigued as I am, I’m not sure I have the heart to go after it. I should… It’s lost. This forest is known for trapping souls within it. When living things die, they must find their peace, accept their death. Then, a pull guides them to the River Styx so they can flow into the Soul Well to be reborn. However, the magic that comes from these trees interferes with thatpulland causes souls to wander in circles for all eternity.
Some go mad, become poltergeists, and shred their souls apart, piece by piece. Others, slowly forget themselves, and simply wither away into pure energy. Which seems to be what’s happening to this one.
It no longer has a shape, a body, or a face.
If I could catch it, I might be able to guide it out of the forest, but the closer I get, the more it seems to elude me. The glimmering ball of bright blue and silver darts away before my fingers graze its ethereal light. I push through the thick undergrowth; the branches scratching at my bare skin. It leads me deeper into the heart of the forest, where the hell flame struggles to pierce the dense canopy above.
Then the humming hits my ears… The same child’s voice as before, but this time, I recognize it. It’s a song I’ve heard countless times. I’ve listened to that same tone-deaf voicehumming in the kitchens of the keep for years, prior to being banished to the Realm of Monsters—before someone destroyed the place I called home.
It can’t be…A wave of catastrophic horror strangles my voice, clutching me so fiercely, I’m rendered speechless. My blood becomes ice, crystallizing my veins, and the word fades away.I can still see the forest before me, but not really.
The day I was freed from that wretched prison world, I’d tried to see Grim. Except, he never came. I thought he was angry at me for leaving this place unprotected, abandoning it without warning, even if it wasn’t my fault.
I have seen none of those I grew up with since being freed. Not the servants, not Grim’s second, none of them. But that was hundreds of years ago… I’d just assumed their mortal lives had ended naturally. But hearing that voice,that song…I don’t know when I started to pace, just that I’m doing it now. Spiraling, I bury my fingers into my dark hair, pulling at the root as I close my eyes.
No… No, no, no, no… they couldn’t have. I wasn’t even there. Why would someone hurt them when my mother had already locked me in the Realm of Monsters?
There were no bodies in the keep when I arrived. Though, Valeria might’ve buried them somewhere when she made the ruins her home. Still, despite the place being destroyed, there was no evidence that the people—that my friends and those I’d once called family—were killed in the keep.
My heart pounds, my breaths so shallow the world spins. The emotions… The magic derived from them builds beneath my skin, burning through vein after vein. In seconds, I feel as though my blood has become liquid fire. My eyes belong to my demon half, the threads of life—of existence—stringing through the air, connecting every tree within this forest together, like one entity.
Minutes pass before I can snuff the demonic side of me out. My claws disappear from my fingertips and finally, I can take a simple breath.
I have to know.There’s no way around that. The possibilities will eat me alive if I don’t get the answers to all the questions raging through my mind. As much as the truth might hurt,I need this.
Collecting myself and steeling my gaze, I turn in place, searching for that light. It’s nowhere to be found. Deep within the woods, the only glowing colors come from the mushrooms and bioluminescent foliage that carpets the forest floor. But if I’m right, I know where the spirit darted off to.
I make way for the cavern just inside the wall that circles Grim’s Keep. It was his favorite place. The forest seems to disappear around me as my mind swirls with memories. I’d just been given lordship over Grim’s Keep, barely twenty-five years old and green and magicless still. It was before the spellbinding my mother placed on me broke, before I’d taken dozens of innocent lives. Before I became a monster.
The chef’s son used to poke at the piano keys on the second floor, and thanks to the open spiral staircase, his unseasoned songs would float right up to the third story and into my room. It was always the same song, the same tune he tried and failed to play. It’s the same one being hummed within this forest now.
Reaching the cave, I bend to peer inside. It’s barely tall enough for me to crawl into on my hands and knees if I wished. However, for a little boy, this place was a hidden fort—a hide out to escape shoes that seemed too big and heavy to fill. At least, it was to me. It was my sanctuary and as I got older, I passed it down to him.
Inside, that glowing light shines, painting the rough stone in shades of blue and silver. Tears sting my eyes at the confirmation of my greatest fear… That more innocent blood ison my hands. I haven’t worked through the guilt from the stains I already knew were there.
“Hello.” It’s the only greeting I can think of, let alone force out over the swelling lump in my throat. All I can hope is it won’t scare him away. “You might not remember me, my face has changed a lot since I knew you, but I remember your song.”
The floating orb doesn’t flee and I take that as an invitation to continue, plopping down onto the mossy ground, crossing my legs. For a moment, I simply hum the verses, proving that I know the rest of it and not just the chorus the boy was humming. As if approving of my song, the orb grows into a silhouette of a child and sits at the mouth of the cavern in front of me, mirroring my position.
“I heard you poke the tune of that song on the piano for months, every day before your father served dinner. You were just a boy and I remember thinking that I couldn’t listen to those choppy notes any longer. My mate, Jade, convinced me to teach you to play piano and night after night, just before dinner, you’d sit on my lap. Your little hands would sit on top of mine, and I'd play it for you until you picked up on the chords and learned to play it yourself.”
Locking my jaw, I quickly wipe at my eyes, brushing away the tears, threatening to roll down my cheeks. The boy hums that melody, but this time, his rounded arms morph until little hands shape the ends of them and his fingers move as if he’s pretending to play the chords, an invisible piano between us.
“It was almost a year of playing with you every night that I finally learned why you loved that song so much.” I mirror him, breaking to hum the tune as our fingers dance in the air. “You’d lost your mom before your father became the keep’s chef. You never told me, but I figured you enjoyed this song for the same reason I planted those trees in the courtyard, because you wanted to be closer to someone you loved and lost.”
I don’t stop the tears as they slide down my cheeks, dripping off my chin and jaw.
