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The boulders were getting taller the closer I approached the northeastern edge of the island. It was a place I’d never seen before, far from campus, far from the southern edge where I’d spotted those houses from Ronan’s boat.
The path had grown so jagged, I didn’t know what lay around each bend. I was freaking and ran too recklessly, my eyes glued to the ground, scanning desperately for his trail. Before, I’d wanted to track him, bu
t now I just didn’t want to be alone. When I looked up, I spotted him. Too close.
“Oh crap. ” I skittered to a halt, dropping and rolling behind a low rock, my heart in my throat.
I peeked back around, but Ronan hadn’t seen me. Patches of scrubby grass grew in the shadow of the rocks, and it looked foreign amidst all the gray. Beyond, the ground seemed simply to end, a straight drop to the sea, which was a steely haze on the horizon. He’d slowed to a brisk walk, no longer running. And who wouldn’t, navigating along the edge of a cliff?
But then he disappeared over the ledge, and I gasped. I scuffled as close as I could, and I spotted him, picking his way down a hidden path, winding down the granite face.
My eyes were playing tricks on me. The skies of the Dimming lent an eerie sort of light, and I squinted to make sense of the ragged rocks, mud, and what tufts of greenery were tenacious enough to cling to the steep, windswept cliff face.
I couldn’t get any closer without being discovered, but I stared until the white and gray haze burnt into my vision. And then he simply vanished.
It was the only reason I saw the cave.
I scrambled to the edge on hands and knees. Scrubbing my hand over my eyes, I peered again. His trail had narrowed—by the cave mouth, it was no more than a ledge. The cave itself was no more than a black smudge on the rock face. Its height was hard to judge from this distance, and although it was obviously large enough to fit Ronan, he’d had to bend to enter.
He stayed in there forever.
The sky was unchanging, but the wind picked up, and my belly quickly leached its warmth into the cold, gritty ground. I rubbed my hands together, trying to chafe warmth into them.
I debated returning to campus, but curiosity won in the end, and I stayed. Besides, I was a little scared of whatever might be lying in wait out there—I didn’t want Ronan to discover me, but I didn’t want to stray too far from him, either. I focused only on the cave mouth, forcing my mind to go blank—if I treated this as a meditative exercise, maybe the cold wouldn’t be so numbing, my nerves so frayed, and my position so uncomfortable.
A lighter color emerged from the black. I thought my tired eyes might be playing tricks, so I blinked hard and squinted again. But it was Ronan, exiting the cave.
And he wasn’t alone. It wasn’t Amanda, either—I could tell by the height.
It was another man, hunched in the mouth of the cave. Wearing a long, hooded cloak, he looked like an apparition of death. A chill rippled my skin. That cloak whipped in the wind, the movement the only thing assuring me he wasn’t just a figment of my imagination. But then the figure vanished back into the rock face, leaving me wondering if I’d ever really seen him.
I needed to get up and go, to conceal myself so Ronan wouldn’t catch me. But I was frozen in place, deeply unsettled, and distracted.
It meant I didn’t hear the thing breathing behind me.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Months of grueling combat training kicked in, and the moment I heard rustling, I rolled. Something landed beside me with a thump, and I skittered sideways, spinning onto my knees to face it.
A Draug.
Panic hammered in my chest. I’d kept my distance from Ronan, but now all I wanted was for him to find me. I didn’t want to be alone.
I had been right. Something had been watching me. There were things hiding among the rocks—hungry things.
Like the Draug that’d attacked Emma and me, this creature had been human once, a man who hadn’t survived the vampiric process. It’d have the superhuman strength and speed of the undead but also the primal nature of a rabid animal.
But instead of emaciated, this Draug was swollen, like a drowned corpse. I could make out features amidst the greens and blacks of rotted skin. There were tufts of matted red hair beneath layers of filth. It was the red hair that made me cry out, my tone sharp and keening. This had been a person.
It prowled toward me on all fours, and I inched away. The smell of it filled my head. It stank even worse than the last one. Fouler than the foulest primordial dung heap, it stank. My stomach convulsed, and I covered my mouth, choking back a gag.
I backed away some more, until I heard the distant clack of pebbles as my foot met open air. “No,” I cried out, my voice sharp and manic. If I slipped from the ledge, my body would tumble and bounce, crashing onto the rocky seashore, one hundred feet below.
The creature stopped. Studied me with a tilted head. Sniffed the air.
“Shit shit shit,” I whispered, watching as the thing sized me up.
I was trembling violently from the initial adrenaline dump, and I imagined my heart slowing, my breath elongating. I crept sideways, away from the edge and the creature.
