“What’s the matter?” she whispered.
That was a fantastic question and one I couldn’t answer as I stared at the trees only five feet away from us. I stretched my hand out, but it only made it a foot before it smacked up against an invisible barrier.
“What the fuck?” I muttered as I released Aisling’s hand to press both my palms against what should be wide open space.
Corson swore when he stepped forward and his fingers brushed up against the same, unseen wall. His talons burst from the back of his hand, and when he pulled back his fist to plunge them into the barrier, they came to a stop against the wall.
I pulled Aisling closer to me as Lix and Bale moved further away in opposite directions; they kept their hands out as they followed the curve of the barrier. I pulled back my hand to slam it against the invisible wall, but lowered it. If Corson’s talons couldn’t slice through it, my hand wouldn’t do any good. Bale and Lix were a good hundred feet away from us and still feeling along the barrier.
We were trapped here.
“The beast won’t let you leave once you enter,” a tiny voice said from behind us.
My hands fisted as I spun toward the voice. I was prepared to kill anyone and everyone I encountered until I saw the boy. He was about three or four years old and held a blanket against his cheek while sucking his thumb. His disheveled brown hair hung into the corners of his blue eyes.
“What did you say?” Wren asked as Bale and Lix stalked back to us.
The boy scanned all of us before he pulled his thumb from his mouth and pointed at Lix. “What is he?”
“I’m a skellein,” Lix answered. “What did you say about a beast?”
“The beast doesn’t let us go free,” the boy whispered.
He glanced anxiously toward the mountain; over the top of the houses, the entrance to the cave was visible. Pushed back from each side of the entrance were piles of boulders and a good fifty feet separated the shadowed interior from the carts. I’d never seen a mining cave before, but the stones outside the entrance seemed out of place. I assumed those would have been cleared away, but what did I know?
When the boy turned back to us, his eyes were wide over his blanket. “The beasteatsus.”
I edged closer to Aisling; I’d destroy this whole town before I let anything happen to her. Aisling stepped out from behind me and walked over and knelt in front of the boy. I kept my eyes on the town as I followed her over to the boy.
“Where are your parents?” she asked.
The boy’s eyes filled with tears, and he stuck his thumb back in his mouth. Aisling rested a hand against his cheek as another woman ran around the corner of the building and skidded to a halt when she spotted the boy.
“Oliver,” she breathed and ran for the boy at the same time Wren blurted, “Nadine!”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Hawk
The name Nadine tickled something at the back of my memory, but I couldn’t quite place it. With her brown hair, slender build, and gently lined face, she didn’t look familiar, but Wren knew her. Nadine’s head turned toward Wren, and she stopped her heedless rush toward the boy, and her mouth fell open. Her hazel eyes filled with tears, and a radiant smile lit her face.
With tears streaming down her face, Wren rushed forward and embraced the woman. I looked to Corson for an answer, but he was smiling at them while Bale and Lix remained focused on the mountain.
“Wren,” Nadine breathed as she stepped back to wipe the tears from her eyes. Then her elation vanished. “Oh, Wren, you shouldn’t be here!”
“It’s already too late.”
Nadine’s lower lip quivered, and she rested her hand on Oliver’s shoulder when he tottered over to stand beside her.
“Where’s Randy?” Wren asked.
Suddenly the memory of where I heard Nadine’s name clicked into place. After the gateway opened, demons murdered Wren’s parents. Randy found and raised her, and he later married a woman named Nadine. Before we started working with Wren, Randy and Nadine had split off to travel deeper into the Wilds in the hopes of mapping out more land and finding somewhere safer for everyone to live.
“He’s okay, and he’s here. Right now, he’s helping me look for this little troublemaker,” Nadine said and lifted Oliver’s hand.
“Oh, thank God,” Wren said and wiped the tears from her eyes.
Nadine gripped Wren’s wrist and squeezed it. “Whyare you here?”
