Haley glanced at her watch. “It’s only half past eight. Less than an hour.”
“We’d better head back.”
Overhead, the treetops swayed and creaked, dumping another load of snow on the forest floor. And then… silence. Stillness.
Not the good kind.
A chill crawled across my skin. The dogs closed ranks, flanking me and Haley. Then, they began to bark, but there was no one around—not that I could see.
“Something’s not right.” I closed my eyes and reached out for a connection with the earth. But for the first time since I’d gotten back in touch with my witchcraft, I felt nothing. It wasn’t just that I couldn’t sense the earth’s magic or draw up the energy. It was like there was no energy there at all. Something was actively blocking it.
“We need to go,” I said urgently. “Now.”
But it was too late. We’d been spotted. Not by a person or shifter or fae magician.
By something else entirely.
Twenty-Five
GRAY
“What’s happening?” Haley’s eyes widened. “It feels—”
A gust of arctic wind stole the rest of her words, and she gasped for breath, her lips turning snow white right before my eyes.
Holy. Shit.
“Haley! Move your ass!” I grabbed her hand and bolted, dragging her behind me. I had no idea what was happening, but I felt the frigid air close on our heels as if it were an actual monster chasing us through the woods. Without breaking my stride, I glanced over my shoulder to make sure the hounds were following, and the sight behind me threatened to steal my breath, too.
It was as if the woods had been hit with a tsunami, but instead of sweeping over the landscape with water, this one was invisible, and it turned everything it touched to ice. Glittery, silver-white crystals solidified behind us, freezing the air in a narrow path that wound through the trees, heading right for us.
It was no more than fifty feet away.
“Move!” I shouted, tugging her forward. “Faster!”
This was no ordinary storm. Not even the freakiest weather event could explain it. All I knew was that if we didn’t beat this thing to the house, we were going to be encased in ice.
We were going to die.
“Haley, faster!”
With a burst of new energy, she pushed forward, linking her arm in mine as we hauled ass toward the backyard. My lungs burned, my lips cracking and bleeding from the cold, my fingers and toes already going numb, but the harder we pushed, the further away the yard was starting to feel.
“We won’t make it!” Haley shouted. “There’s too much—” The wind howled between us, carrying away the rest of her words.
She was right. That thing was coming too fast, we were already bordering on exhaustion, and the backyard would be another trudge through hip-high snow. We had one last recourse, a realization we both seemed to reach at the same moment.
Magic.
“We need to connect blood!” She shouted. “Bite your hand!”
Still running, we each bit into the soft webbing between our thumb and index finger, drawing blood. Without speaking, we clasped hands again, pressing our wounds together. I felt the touch of her blood immediately; my magic sparked to life in response.
“Channel my power!” she shouted. “Now!”
Holding onto her hand for dear life, I stopped and turned toward the invisible enemy, raising my other palm and calling on the last of my reserves, drawing on whatever power I could from my sister. I felt her own magic move through me, much liked Darius’s power had when we’d fought the memory eaters in the Shadowrealm.
An electric bolt of bright blue magic shot from my outstretched palm and slammed into the icy torpedo heading our way. It exploded in a shower of sparks, and for a moment, everything stilled. It stopped, mid-air, and I bent over at the waist, trying to catch my breath.
