Page 4

In one swift movement, Kole heaves our friend onto his broad shoulder and runs. I follow behind, sending explosions to slow down whatever the fuck it is that’s chasing us.

We’re still running on the dirt track that leads into town when I realize the noise has stopped. My feet and my heartbeat are thundering so loudly that I barely notice its absence at first. At the same time, Kole and I slow down. He lowers Tanner to his feet.

“They’re gone,” he says, panting heavily.

I lean onto my knees and suck in a deep breath. My lungs are tight, my skin still itching.

“I can still feel it.” Tanner’s voice is barely a whisper. The color has drained from his face. Even his hair, usually a dusky blond, looks darker. He meets Kole’s eyes. Something flashes between them as Tanner repeats, “I can still feel it, Kole.”

Kole glances at me. “We need to get back to the cabin.”

“Can you walk?” I ask Tanner.

He doesn’t answer. He’s shaking his head, muttering something under his breath.

“Tanner, can you walk?” I repeat.

Still silent, he nods and starts to move but he’s painfully slow.

Eventually, we reach the outskirts of town—the road that merges with Main Street and runs right past the bar. We should skirt around and avoid coming into contact with anyone, but with Tanner the way he is it’ll take even longer.

As if he’s reading my thoughts, Kole tells me to wait with Tanner. “I’ll find transport. Wait here.”

He jogs off down the road and disappears around the corner. I turn to Tanner and gesture for him to sit down. Silently, he lowers himself to the ground and brings his knees up to his chest. Wrapping his arms around his legs, he shakes his head.

“What happened back there?” I ask, crouching beside him.

Tanner blinks at me. He swallows hard and rubs the back of his neck. “Whatever came out of her mouth,” he says quietly. “It was evil.” He meets my eyes. His are soft at the corners, swimming with emotion. “Pure evil. I’ve never felt anything like it.” Tanner taps his head with his index finger. “It was in here. I felt it growing inside me. I can still feel it.”

A shudder trips down my spine. None of what just happened makes any sense. Nico was stabbed in the guts. Sam fell into a giant hole. Eve coughed up a swam of evil black flies, and Ragnor rose his corpse bride from the dead.

Talk about a mind-fuck.

But while I’m reeling from it, trying to figure out what it means and what the hell we’re supposed to do next, Tanner feels it. He feels all of it. Fear, grief, maleficence… evil.

“What about at the fountain? Were you going to do what I think you were going to do?” I ask. I’ve never heard the gritty details of what Tanner did for the League when they held him prisoner, but I know it was dark, and—back at The Hollow—I sensed something in him I’ve never felt before. A darkness I thought only lived in myself.

“Yes,” Tanner says. “I was.”

“Why didn’t you?”

There’s a long pause, then Tanner says, “I wanted to. My head wouldn’t let me.”

I put my hand on his shoulder. “Probably a good thing, Tan.”

He grimaces a little and looks down at his hands. Then, looking up at me, he says, “The voice. You heard it?”

I nod solemnly. “You think it was…?”

“It was him.” Tanner is scratching his arm now, digging his fingernails into his flesh. I grab his hand to stop him, and he meets my eyes. In barely a whisper, he says, “It was The Shadow King.”

I suck in a deep breath. Before I can reply, the sound of a large diesel engine makes us both look up. An old white truck rounds the corner, coughing out fumes and littering the air with its noise.

“Get in,” Kole rumbles through the rolled-down window on the passenger side.

“Who’s is this?” I ask, climbing inside and watching Tanner slide in next to me.

“Found it outside The Cross,” Kole says. “Keys were on the dash.”