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“I’ll have to break our communication off. I cannot walk when linked to my little one.”
“Unless you wish to join us here in Carleen, that is probably wise,” he said, with a half smile. He would have been a good-looking man in life, because that smile transformed his ghostly features. “I can see death’s claws gaining hold in your flesh.”
And I could feel it. “Thank you very much for your honesty and your help. I really appreciate it.”
He half bowed. “Perhaps, one day, you could return the favor.”
“It would be my pleasure.” I wasn’t sure there was anything I could do to help these ghosts, but I couldn’t see the harm in agreeing to the request, either.
“Then go. The little ones can follow our lead.”
“Cat,” I said as I closed my eyes. “It’s time to leave.”
Warmth spun through me, a sensation not unlike a featherlight kiss against skin, then her energy began to bleed from my body and condensed once more into my palm. The hands of death similarly began to retreat, but they left me shaking, weak, and colder than I’d ever felt in my life.
For several minutes I did nothing more than rub my arms with numb fingers in an attempt to get both blood and heat rushing back through my muscles. My toes ached as life flushed back into them, the sensation not unlike the pins and needles that flowed when I tried to walk after my foot had fallen to sleep.
I cursed again, then pushed upright. Carleen did a somewhat mad dance around me, and it took every ounce of concentration not to fall right back down again. It had been too long since I’d pushed myself like this; my strength—both physical and mental—was not what it should be.
I took another long, deep breath, and then said, “Okay, lead the way.”
My two ghosts leapt off to the right. Thankfully, we headed down the other side of the hill, away from the crater with the unsavory darkness, not toward it. This section of Carleen was even more ruined, though, and there was little here but drifting flurries of metal and concrete dust. Luminescent moss covered the few oddly shaped mounds of building rubble that did remain. Its stench stained the air and lent the shadows a sickly green glow.
The Carleen ghosts led us down the steep hill and into a flatter section. In the distance I could see the vine-entwined remnants of the curtain wall and, beyond it, more trees, these ones healthy, untouched by the magic of the rifts. Did that mean the rifts within Carleen were as restricted to this place as the ghosts? That seemed strange, but then, given how little anyone knew about the rifts and their movements, maybe it wasn’t. And there was little hope of getting the Others to tell us anything about the things. Beyond the fact none of them appeared to have any form of recognizable speech, all attempts to capture one of them alive had so far failed.
Bear’s energy tugged at my left hand. I followed his lead off the path, picking my way carefully through the moss and the dirt. Dust puffed up with every step, filling the air and making breathing difficult.
Dark energy began to crawl across my senses, and my steps slowed. Ahead was another crater, this one unrimmed by anything more than dust. The Carleen ghosts stopped, but I moved on until I was standing on the edge of the crater. It wasn’t as deep as the other one I’d seen, but the darkness was just as thick and unpleasant. I shivered. I really didn’t want to go into it—but if I wanted to find out what had happened to Penny and the other children, then I really had no choice.
I swallowed heavily, then glanced back at the waiting energy that was the Carleen ghosts. Their reluctance to come any closer stung the air. I couldn’t say I blamed them. “Thank you again for your assistance—and wish me luck.”
Amusement spun around me, but with it came the urge to be cautious. As if I needed that sort of warning.
I took another of those deep breaths that did little to curb the fear crawling inside my stomach, then resolutely stepped into the crater and made my way down into the heart of that creeping darkness.
Chapter 5
The shadows thickened, became a real and solid presence that pressed down upon me like a ton weight. Every step became an effort; all too soon my leg muscles were quivering and my breath was little more than short, sharp jabs for air. It was almost as if I were climbing the sides of a very steep mountain rather than sliding into a crater.
Fear swam around me, fear that was both mine and that of my two little ghosts. As slow as my progress was, they couldn’t keep up with me. This darkness, whatever it was, was pushing them back, refusing them entry. No matter how hard they tried, they were falling farther and farther behind.
I stopped and looked back, my breath little more than a wheeze as I sucked in the putrid air. The rim of the crater couldn’t have been all that far above me, but it was barely visible through the ink that surrounded us. My two little ghosts were caught in an area between the thicker shadows and the murky light of day—sparks of energy that glowed brightly against the gloom of this place.
“Cat, Bear¸ you’d better go home and wait for me there.”
Their sparks moved in agitation, and I smiled. “I know you want to help, but I don’t want to risk your safety, and we have no idea just what this stuff might do to you if you continue to press against it.” Especially given the Carleen ghosts’ reluctance to enter this place. Maybe there was a reason; maybe they’d tried—and died—in the process.
No matter what humans might believe, ghosts could die—the fact that energy vampires could feed on their energy and thereby destroy them was evidence enough of that. I had no idea whether the darkness that inhabited these craters—or anything else, for that matter—could kill them, but it simply wasn’t a chance I was willing to take. Carleen’s ghosts feared something here, and if not this darkness, then what?
Both Cat and Bear’s concern and reluctance spun through my mind. “It’s okay,” I said, keeping my voice as calm and even as I could—a hard task given the weight of this place and my own growing fear. “I’ll be okay. I’ll call you when I figure out what this place actually is or where it goes. Go home, and protect the little ones.” I paused, then, as intuition itched at the back of my mind, added, “Don’t let Penny into our home. I don’t care what you have to do, don’t let her—or anyone else—inside.”
Their energy briefly danced about—they were happy to have something to do, someone to protect—then they pulled themselves free of the shadows and disappeared from my sight.
It was the first time in ages I’d been without them, and it felt oddly lonely.
I resolutely turned and continued pushing my way into the crater. By the time I reached the base, I was covered in sweat and trembling from head to toe. I paused again, sucking in the air, hating the thick
foulness of it. Hating the taste of death that lay all around me.
