But how did I tell them it was something I’d been told didn’t exist?
Something I’d laughed about, once, sitting too close to a fire with people who had never come this far north.
My stomach turned. “Captain Marson,” I said again, sharper this time. “If I’m right?—”
“What?” Marson snapped.
I hesitated. Because saying it out loud made it real. “Have you ever heard of the Frosttaken?” I asked.
Blank stares. Of course, that was how they’d look. It mirrored my reaction when I’d been around that campfire many moons ago.
Gralen scoffed. “A children’s tale.”
“Another one?” one of the soldiers asked, causing his sergeant to glare at him and not me.
“I thought so too,” I said quietly. “They say it doesn’t hunt like other things. It doesn’t tear, doesn’t chase.”
Another howl split the air behind us, closer now. I didn’t turn, but the reminder of whatdidchase was a timely one.
“They say it takes the heat out of a place,” I continued, my voice tight. “Drains it. Leaves nothing behind but cold stone and empty space.”
Captain Marson’s expression shifted, just slightly. “And the people?” he asked.
I swallowed hard, wishing I didn’t have to answer.
“They don’t scream,” I said. “Because there’s nothing left in them to scream with.”
Silence.
Even the men behind us had gone still.
“Shades,” someone muttered.
Gralen shook his head. “And you think that’s what’s in there?”
I looked at the open gate. Remembering the stillness beyond it, and the town that should have been alive.
“I think,” I said carefully, “whatever it is in there… hasn’t left.”
“And you want us to goin?” someone asked.
I nodded. “I don’t think we have a choice.”
The howl came again, closer now. I looked at the gate, then the trees behind us.
Itwasa choice.
I didn’t pretend it was a good one.
Chapter 11
The momentwe stepped through the gate, the air changed.
It didn’t become any colder. It justfeltdifferent. That would’ve made sense if it were a Frosttaken. The air was thinner, as if something had been taken out of it.
I felt it in my chest first. A shallow pull when I tried to breathe, the air not quite wanting to fill my lungs.
Behind me, boots crunched over the snow as the others followed. No one spoke. Even the soldiers seemed to feel it now. Which meant that I wasn’t imagining it.
