I blinked hard, trying to clear my head.
“She’s coming with me,” Garrat said.His voice was rough now.Harsh.Like nails on a chalkboard.
“No,” Owen said.
But I stepped forward anyway.
My foot landed at the edge of the bubbling goo, my shoe sinking into it with a wet, sickening sound.
“Piper,” Owen said again—tighter, more urgent.
“That’s right,” Garrat murmured.“You want to come with me.”
The pull was too strong.My throat tightened.My skin prickled.I couldn’t resist.
He held out his hand.I reached for it.
Owen slapped my hand down—hard enough to sting—then shoved me backward behind him.
I came back to my senses, realizing what I’d almost done.
“You’ll have to go through me,” Owen said.
His voice had changed—darker, dangerous, like something old had stepped forward.
I blinked, still gripping the flashlight in one hand and the potion vial in the other.“Owen?”
“Then I’ll go through you,” Garrat said.
He lifted one hand.Not a grand gesture.Barely an effort.
A force slammed into Owen.
He flew backward like he’d been yanked by an invisible rope.The Sun Disk spun from his hand, skittering across the ground.
Owen hit with a terrible thud—and for a heartbeat, he didn’t move.
“Owen!”I lurched toward him, panic punching through the compulsion.
“He can’t help you, pretty,” Garrat said, stepping closer.“Only I can.”
My feet locked.
My thoughts went fuzzy at the edges, like cotton stuffed into my skull.
“If you come with me,” he said, voice low and poisonous, “I can take you places you’ve only dreamed of.I can show you wonders.I can teach you magic.”
Warm fog spread through me—sweet and false.
I turned toward him, swaying like a flower toward the sun.Garrat stood in the middle of the bubbling ooze as if it couldn’t touch him, hands loose at his sides, patient.
Then he extended his hand again.
“Come, Piper.There’s someone you need to meet.”
Thunder cracked.
So loud the ground vibrated.
