Are you having fun, my sweet catalyst?
Wren staggered to a halt.
Around her, everything seemed to vanish. She was aware of the swaying bodies, of August standing in front of her, but the cavern had grown muffled, as though she were miles and miles away from her own body. August was saying something, lips moving, but she couldn’t hear him over the sharp ringing in her ears.
“No…” Wren choked out, shaking her head. “Not here. Notnow.”
You didn’t think I’d let you slip away from me so easily, didyou?
Wren gasped, stumbling backward. Around her, the crowd continued to dance, twirling in time with the music. August was the only one who had stopped. He watched Wren, hands outstretched, calling out to her.
“What is it?” she heard August ask, brows furrowed in concern. “What’s wrong?”
I admit, it was a clever plan. But you couldn’t possibly have thought that I wouldn’t know? That I wouldn’t hear those whispered thoughts of yours? That I wouldn’t taste the hope rising inside you?
Something was tearing at her ribs. Crawling through her bones. That voice. That terrible, twisted voice wasinsideher. Wren’s legs gave out beneath her and she hit the floor hard, collapsing onto her knees. Finally, the others around her seemed to take notice. A few paused their dancing, glancing over with curious eyes. August was pushing through the growing crowd, trying to get to her, calling out her name. Quinn and Arthur stared from their position near the edge of the crowd, brows pinched. They began to move toward her, but Wren knew, with sudden clarity, that it wouldn’t make a difference.
“Get out,” Wren pleaded, digging her fingers into her hair, tugging at her skull. “I’m not the one you want. I can’t be.”
You cannot run from your fate, Wren Loughty. I have seen it. I know who you are.
Wren’s vision fractured. Darkness pooled over her eyes. She no longer saw the festivities, no longer saw August tearing through the crowd, screaming her name. She was losing her grip on reality, slipping away.
“Please,” Wren begged one last time, a whispered plea to anybody who was listening.
But nobody was listening.
Not anymore.
When the darkness came for Wren, she didn’t bother putting up a fight.
33
MASIKA
She’s gone.
The words rang out in Masika’s mind as the chaos broke out around them.Analisa is gone.It seemed inconceivable, despite what she had just witnessed with her own two eyes. One step forward, one seemingly inconsequential blip in her timeline andboom—Analisa, as they had come to know her, was no more.
Masika spared one final glance at the place where Analisa had been standing moments ago before turning her attention to Olivier and Emilio. Desperation clawed at her chest. She needed to keep them safe. They couldn’t meet the same fate, theycouldn’t—
“We need to move!”
Catherine’s razor-sharp voice sliced through Masika’s panic. She blinked, head whirling, taking in the sight of the others. Catherine and Dina unsheathed their weapons, corporeal magic glistening from their finely sharpened blades. Olivier was still kneeling next to the place Analisa had been only moments before, face torn with disbelief, mouth agape. Emilio was attempting to gather him onto his feet, whispering desperate words of encouragement.
Masika had taken three steps toward Olivier and Emilio, prepared to grab them both by their wrists and drag them the hell out of the clearing, when a fusillade of arrows descended upon themfrom all directions. Masika ducked, scrambling away from them, barely dodging an arrow that had been aimed directly at her chest.
“Run!” screamed Dina, gesturing them forward with a frantic wave of her hand. “We need to get out of this clearing—now!”
There was no logical plan. No order. The group simply sprinted into the dense greenery of the forest as they made their way out of the clearing and back into the cover of the trees. Around them, the forest seemed to spring to life, the sound of quickening footsteps echoing in the distance, the unmistakablewhooshof arrows flying over them, crashing into nearby trees with a terrifying crack.
They were being chased. By who? Masika had no clue. But it was clear that whatever magic these arrows were infused with harbored the ability not merely to injure them, but to destroy them. Almost like the arrows held the power to rip through the core of their souls with nothing but a single wound. As if on cue, another arrow flew past Masika’s side, causing her to veer right, fumbling away from the group.
They’re trying to separate us.
But even as the thought seared through her mind, Masika kept moving forward, putting distance between her and the rest of the group. Maybe if the attackers followed her, she could offer the others a moment to escape.
She could at least savethem.
