Page 26 of Vervain

“Emily…” The pillowcase slips from my fingertips, and I take a step towards the door as shadows wrap tenderly around my wrists. I shake them away and race from the room, stumbling in panic. Emily could be alive.

Jaxton took me away too fast, and all this time, she could have been underneath a pile of fucking corpses, wounded and needing help.

I take the stairs two at a time down to the ground floor, my stomach lurching as I step on bloody organs and skid across the tiles. On my hands and knees, thick reddish-brown liquid between my fingers, I look ahead at the pile of dead bodies near the doors.

Serun appears at the top of the stairs and makes his way down gradually, but the fear that he will try to stop me has me pushing up from the muck and making my way over to where I last saw Emily.

Reyes is standing near the doors, holding a bag. His wife is nearby, and they watch without coming closer.

I search the bodies, scanning for faces. Most of them are unrecognisable, cut open by long, brutal claws.

“Emily,” I say breathlessly, stepping into the mess hall. Lifeless bodies are scattered across the tiles and out into the courtyard. In the thick mass of bodies, I spot warm brown hair.

My heart stills.

“Don’t let go, Saya…”

My ears bend back, and my heart sputters at Emily’s desperate plea spilling into my mind. Every breath sharpens like a shard of glass carving against bone.

I wanted her to be alive. Needed her to be alive. Because right now, I’m walking Kepler alone.

When I reach her, movements mechanical, I fall to my knees. My hands press into my thighs, holding myself together, to keep from breaking completely. I need something to bury. She can’t stay here in this misery.

Trembling fingers reach out to touch the back of her head, as slips of vegodian magik flow like a river across my knuckles. The memory of the mourning ceremony returns, the feeling of wanting the dead to be at peace, to melt into the earth to help it flourish.

I grab her shoulder and roll her over. My brows furrow. This isn’t Emily.

I don’t know who the fuck this is.

Hope swells, but I remind myself that I saw her lifeless eyes looking at me. Her skull…

“Kamai.” Serun’s hand rests on my shoulder, and his rippling shadows across my skin are more comforting than I want them to be. “What do you want done?”

“If we can’t bury them, we should burn this place.” I stand and scan the corpses, unable to settle on a single face. “Their souls cannot rest if they are trapped here.”

“Did you want to find your friend’s body? An echo could have⁠—”

“No,” I blurt. “No. Seeing Manni and Dan was enough.”

Serun’s claws skim down over the gooseflesh on my arm and to my hand, but before he can slip those fingers into the bloody gaps of mine, I turn back towards the private room. I’m not ready to accept this much affection from him.

“Did you find human food?” Serun asks Reyes, clearing the tension.

His brother raises the bag and says, “We got what sounded appealing and didn’t smell of rot. Did you find something with Saya’s brother’s scent?”

Serun tosses the pillowcase at his brother, and Reyes snatches it before it hits the ground. He takes a whiff and jerks back in revulsion.

“Enough?” Serun’s shadows quiver in expectation.

“Yes,” Reyes chokes out, his eyes watering—or at least that’s what it looks like. I’m not sure if nightwalkers can shed tears. It would mean they have at least some living organs in there if they can. “More than enough.”

Serun’s eyes crinkle, and he breathes a hint of a laugh.

We head back to the private room. I’m silent. Memories of my friends burn inside my mind, sure to forever haunt my sleep.

When we enter the room, Serun steps onto the bed and pulls out the glowing white orb. It pulses with warm magik that tingles my fingertips. “Good luck on your hunt, brother. Keep us apprised and try not to get on your wife’s nerves. I’d rather not lose a sibling because of your ignorance.”

Avianna glares at Reyes as he scratches the side of his head and smiles ruefully.