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Maia stumbled, knocked off balance, but Ark was beside her then, his arms a steady fortress. What the hell was happening? Why had Az covered her?
"Jaro? Kheir?" she asked, craning her neck.
"They're fine," Ark assured her. "Look forward. The circle."
Maia jolted, and realised why Azrail had thrown himself in front of her, self sacrificing as he was. She wasn't the only thing glowing on the island; a faint red light surrounded the stones of the circle, reminding her of the crimson mist in the mirror world. It wasn't a bright light, but it was enough for her to see the slab of stone in the heart of the circle, stained dark by sacrifice.
"A portal," she breathed, her words swallowed by the thick wrongness of the island. All the hairs on her arms stood on end and she pressed closer to Ark, scanning the long grasses around them until she found Kheir, Jaro, and Bryon. "To where?"
"From where," Azrail corrected, the straight line of his back tense and his hands raised as he called magic from the earth. But this island was dark and corrupt; what kind of earth would respond? "Everyone back up now,slowly."
Maia's heart hammered, her soul screaming that she was going the wrong way, making the wrong move, as Ark guided her backwards. Neither of them took their eyes off the ruby-lit stones that were too close for comfort. They were each broken like she’d seen in her vision, a crack down the centre of each one, but they still stood, still spewed whatever leaked through them onto the island.
Was this what had changed beastkind to monsters? Would Maia and her mates become like them, too?
The frantic urgency beating against her paused at the threat to her mates, and she took full advantage, wrenching Ark back and reaching forward to snag Azrail's jacket, pulling him with them.
Her feet slid in the muddy grass, but she dug in her toes and stayed upright, her hands shaking as wrongness pulsed heavily three times—and then the whole damn island rocked with a quake.
Far, far deeper than any of the ripples before it. A hundred times more powerful, magical.
"Something came through," she breathed, her glow sputtering out as she and her mates retreated. She was so damn afraid she could barely get breath in her lungs.
The red light around the saints' circle now cast enough ruddy illumination for her to see her mates, the short stretch of grass between them and the stones, and the dark, misshapen forms crawling out of the stones.
"Oh saints," she breathed, choking on the curse. Her hands shook harder.
"What is that?" Azrail demanded, loud enough that Maia stumbled and they all froze.
Maia knew what he was talking about. All the other figures walked on all fours, backs hunched and skin gleaming leathery with scales. But something humanoid dragged itself out of the central stone, the one so many beastkind had been killed on, and Maia's heart skipped.
Her ruthless urgency returned with enough fervour to make her whimper in pain. She took a step without meaning to, only pausing because Ark hauled her back and Kheir, Jaro, and Bryon closed in around her, terrified but unable to look away.
The monsters hadn't spotted them yet, but it was only a matter of time. They needed to run far from here and never look back, exactly as Isak told them to do, but every burning instinct in Maia's aching body told her to runtowardsthe towering circle.
Her mates had to physically pull her back when she lurched forward, a broken sound tearing up her throat. The wrongness she'd been sensing since they stepped foot on the island swelled until she couldn't breathe, couldn't think around it. She fought, breathlessly fighting the cruel hands that held her back, kept her from the stones and that figure sliding off the dark slab to his feet.
Maia couldn't have said how, but she knew he saw them. Knew it was ahe, and knew his eyes were fixed on her and her mates despite the distance and the dimness.
"Is that...?" Azrail breathed.
Maia nodded, and renewed her struggling, unable to say why she was so desperate, so mindless.
"That's not Vawn anymore," Bryon said harshly.
"I have to get to him," Maia hissed, her fangs throbbing and voice throaty.
They all surged for her, catching her before she could tear free and race to the circle, to certain death. It made no sense, but there was no fighting the visceral urgency hammering on her chest, knotting her stomach until she was almost sick.
"Maia, no," Kheir murmured, his voice thick and dragging as he clutched her shoulder. "There's nothing we can do for him."
A kiss pressed to her hair, and even as she fought for freedom, she knew it was Jaro, knew the way he always lingered, as if he was reluctant to draw away.
"We tried," Azrail said, his voice muffled and hazy as he tightened his grip on her arms and they moved backwards as one many-limbed creature.
Maybe they were the monster now, Maia thought, delirious with need. She couldn't leave the island, couldn't retreat, couldn't,couldn't—
"The kid's gone," Bryon said, in some semblance of comfort. "We need to get the hell out of here, or we will be, too."
