But… It’s black.
My stomach lurches, and I blink hard, certain I’m imagining it or that the light out here is somehow playing tricks on me. But blood continues oozing black from my palm, and no matter how I turn my hand or how many times I blink, it stays the same.
That same low, monotone horn sound rolls across the water again, and my head snaps toward the ocean. The welwig is back, and it’s closer now. Not only that, but its outline has sharpened like it’s something solid—real.
I try to say something, to warn my mates, but the words never make it out. A blinding pain splits through my skull instead, so sudden and powerful it steals the air from my lungs.
The vision drags me under.
Blinding light swirls in front of my eyes, vibrant shifting into a kaleidoscope of magical energy. The colors shift, converge, and wings of lightning fill my vision. They’re impossibly vast, unfurling against a sky torn open with storm and raw magic, and they reach for me with powerful tendrils of energy, seeking to mend me and tear me apart in the same breath.
There’s Blood, and Death, and Something tearing itself apart just to be born again in an explosion of raw, ancient energy. And at the center of it all, a face flickers into focus.
It’s ethereal, terrifying, and almost too beautiful to look at, with eyes of the deepest, most impossible shade of red I’ve ever seen. The mouth opens, and a scream tears free that rattles straight to the marrow of my bones, freezing me to the spot and filling my head with searing, fiery pain.
Wake up!it screams.Wake up!
My vision shatters, the colors explode, and everything goes black. I’m floating, weightless, swallowed whole by the dark, happy to drift into nothing. That is, until I catch sight of a single dot of blue light glowing in the distance. Desperately, I reach for it, but the harder I chase it, the farther it seems to drift.
Then I hear Rhune’s voice, low and steady, cutting through the dark like a lifeline.
“Willow! Willow!”
I follow the voice without hesitation, letting it lead me toward that pulsing blue light, allowing it to bring me back from the brink. When I finally open my eyes, I’m greeted with the pale light of the silver sun and Rhune’s handsome face hovering above mine. I’m lying flat on the ground, my head cradled in his lap, his wings curled around me like a shield.
For some reason, I can’t remember what just occurred orwhyI’m here. It’s all just… blank. “What… what happened?” I ask, my voice unusually hoarse.
“You had an attack,” Rhune whispers, his voice pitched with worry. “As soon as you saw your blood, you passed out and started convulsing again. Only this time, your eyes were wide open, and you were saying…things.” His grip tightens on my shoulders. “Do you really not remember anything?”
I shake my head slowly. My body feels heavy, and there’s a horrible itchiness between my shoulderblades that’s making it hard to focus. Not to mention the fact that my head feels like it’s about to explode.
I glance down at my palms and freeze.
My skin is luminous. Glowing faintly from somewhere underneath the surface, like there’s silver light pooling just beneath my skin with nowhere left to go but out.
What the fuck…
Before I can even try to make sense of it, a sharp pain lances through my skull, so powerful it doubles me over into a dry heave. It’s worse than anything I’ve ever felt before, and for one horrible moment, it makes me want to beg for death.
Then, all at once, it stops. I’m left breathless, hollowed out, and strangely, terrifyingly complete.
That’s when the voice speaks.
It doesn’t belong to Rhune. It doesn’t belong to Nyx, or Dravik, or anyone I know. It doesn’t even belong to me.
Hey girl.
I scream, stumbling back while my mates stare at me like I’ve lost my mind. I slap my hands over my ears, gaping at them. “Didn’t you hear that?”
“Hear what?” Rhune demands. “What is wrong?”
This convo is just between us, Willow. No boys allowed.
“Who the fuck are you?” I demand, looking around for the source of the voice, refusing to believe I’ve gone crazy and it’s all in my head. “Show yourself!”
The voice sighs, tinged with something that sounds suspiciously like irritation.Stop whipping your head around like an owl. You look ridiculous.
My mates crowd around me, alarm written plainly across every one of their handsome faces. “Willow, what’s wrong?”
