He lowered me to the ground and looked back at the cottage with me one last time. He grabbed my hand and whispered, “As long as we have each other, we will always win.”
Just as we turned to walk away, a large crashing sound came from the direction of the cottage, and within seconds the entire structure had erupted into a giant ball of blue flames. Screaming followed.Then the tingling sensation of magic hit me.Magda?Silent tears started streaming down my face. I knew in that moment that there was no turning back for me, ever. Everything I had grown up with, everything that I had treasured of my grandmother’s—all of it was now gone.
“Your time is up, Aurelia!” Maxx shouted.
“We’re comin’ for you, darlin’!” Wyatt yelled.
Forrest’s body tensed at the sound of Wyatt’s voice. “I want to kill him. I want to rip him apart, limb from limb,” he snarled.
I grabbed Forrest’s arm.
He turned to me, face serious as death. “Aurelia, if I ever see him again, I am going to kill that man for everything he’s done here. This I promise you.”
I appreciated the sentiment, but now was not the time for this hypermasculine shit.
Now it was my turn to be the voice of reason. “We should go. Before he makes good on his threat and leads whatever is remaining of that group of idiots into the forest.”
Just as the words left my lips, numerous dark figures stepped out in front of the blaze, congregating at the boundary of the forest. Without another word, Forrest and I turned and ran full tilt deeper into the Nightwood. We had to reach the clearing, and fast.
A thickening mist rolled in waves over the undergrowth and roots, while the air was eerily still and silent. Nocturna and Astra took off ahead of us at a clipping pace, while Forrest and I trailed behind, doing our best to keep up. The deeper we ran into the Nightwood, the heavier the air felt. A sudden wind picked up, blowing the mist away. It was hard to tell without more light, but I could swear the wind had created a path with the fallen leaves. Coincidentally, it happened to be leading in the direction Nocturna and Astra had been running.
“Welcome, Daughter of the Night.”
I stopped for a moment and looked around.
Forrest stopped and turned to me. “Is everything all right?”
I looked at him, confused. “Uh, yeah. I thought I heard someone speak. Did you hear anything?”
Forrest shook his head. “No. I didn’t hear anything aside from the leaves blowing around everywhere.”
Great.If he couldn’t hear anything, then maybe I was losing my mind. It was the perfect time for it to happen.
We continued on our previous pace. A branch cracked to our left.
“Follow the path.”
I spun, my heart pounding. There was nothing but mist and shadows behind us.
“Keep moving,” Forrest whispered, his lips brushing my ear.
I jumped. Forrest’s hand flew to my mouth to stifle my scream. An ominous mist formed around us, sticking to our skin like a cold sweat.
“I think I’m losing it, Forrest. I keep hearing things.”
He gently tugged on my hand, urging me to keep going. “You’re not losing it. This forest is creepy as sin,” he said as a shiver went through his body.
Nocturna and Astra were suddenly at our sides, nudging us to continue. We dutifully obeyed them.
We had been running for quite a few minutes now, and we had to be getting closer to the clearing. I couldn’t remember exactly how long it had taken me to get there the last time I was in the Night-wood, but this felt like an eternity compared to that.
“Soon, Daughter of the Night.”
All right, no.Something was definitely talking to me. Just as I was about to completely break down, the clearing appeared before us. The familiar feeling of magic washed over me as we entered. I frantically looked around to discern the shape of this clearing.
“Forrest, does this look like a half moon to you?” I asked, panic filling me.
Forrest ran from one edge of the clearing to the other. “I mean, I think so. It ends in a point on both sides, and the middle looks a bit bigger. Without looking down at it, I can only guess.”
