“You are going to be okay,” she said calmly. It was the same thing Calla had said to me before she’d bound my magic, saying goodbye for the very last time.
“Don’t,” I tried again, reaching for her hands. “Not yet.”
“I have to,” she said. “And so do you.”
“But I want to stay with you.”
“You can’t,” she said softly. And then she was gone, her final words floating on the lake breeze. “Don’t lose your way, Gray.”
* * *
It felt like I’d been walking for hours, yet I still couldn’t find the path that would lead me out. Somehow, I must’ve ended up on another path, one I didn’t recognize, choked with sharp, treacherous vines that cut my bare feet as I wandered through the dark.
I hoped they weren’t poisonous,
Unlike the soft, cool earth I was used to on my usual path, the ground here was rocky and uneven; it was a wonder anything could grow in it at all. Somehow, the trees were even larger here, with huge black trucks wider than cars and branches that blotted out the night sky. The longer I walked, the darker the woods became.
Mist crept in among the tree trunks, slithering around my ankles. But instead of the cool touch I’d been expecting, this mist burned my skin, seeping into the cuts in my feet and setting my nerves on fire.
I glanced around for a boulder or log, anything I could climb on top of to escape this deadly vapor, but there was nothing but tangled vines and giant, sinister trees in all directions. I tried to walk faster, hoping I’d find another path, but that only made it worse; the mist seemed to be chasing me, thickening around my ankles, slowly working it’s way up to my calves, my knees, my thighs. Panic buzzed through my limbs, but there was nowhere to run, no escape.
I thought of the man in the Six of Swords, trapped in his burning city.
Taking a deep breath, I forced the panic back down, reaching instead for my magic. It swirled inside me, warming my skin, but no matter how hard I tried to call it forth, it wouldn’t come.
The mist kept climbing, wrapping around my hips, my waist, my chest, squeezing me as if it were a giant python. I coughed and gasped, but I couldn’t get enough air. Mist filled my lungs, burning my throat, making me gag.
The realization sank in my gut like a stone.
Whatever devilry had invaded my realm, there would be no escaping it.
I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t even gasp.
I dropped to my knees, and then fell forward, my face smashing into the rocky soil. The mist swept over me fully, enshrouding me in a blanket of white so thick and impenetrable, it was as though I’d never even existed at all.
I was just…gone.
Twenty-Nine
EMILIO
Why am I on the floor?
I looked around my bedroom, trying to get my bearings. It was dark outside, which meant I’d slept the day away. My mouth tasted like I’d eaten a full ashtray, and a hacking cough burned my lungs.
I was also naked, and my clothes were in tatters on the floor around me, which could only mean one thing.
At some point in the middle of the night, I’d shifted.
An injury was the only explanation. I healed faster in wolf form; unconscious shifting was my body’s self-defense mechanism.
So what the hell had set it off?
Gingerly, I got to my feet, checking myself over for any signs of injury, but other than the cough and that horrid taste in my mouth, everything seemed fine.
The fire at Gray’s place must’ve done a number on my system—more than I’d realized last night.
Desperate for some coffee, I threw on a T-shirt and sweats and headed out into the main area of the house, surprised no one else was around. They were all late risers, but by sundown I’d usually findsomeonesniffing around for food.
