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“What the fuck is that noise?” Raven groggily asks, snuggling further back against me, and I press a kiss against her exposed shoulder.
“I don’t know, but it’s driving me insane,” I admit, and she hums in agreement. “Go back to sleep, I’m sure it’ll stop.”
As if hearing my certainty, my bedroom door swings open, ricocheting off the wall and I blink at Eldon standing in the open space. “Someone’s at the door,” he grunts as I wince at the bright light coming from behind him and wipe at my tired eyes.
“Of course there is,” I grumble, still quite set on digging deeper under the duvet, but Raven is already slipping out of my hold and shuffling across the floor.
Fuck.
I guess I’m going too.
Dramatically tossing the sheets off, I don’t bother to throw on a t-shirt and just march into the lounge in only my black boxer shorts. Brax is leaning against his doorframe while Creed hovers by the door, ready to open it. Eldon stands by the sofa, Raven steps up beside him, and I slow to a stop next to her just as Creed opens the door.
The tension in the room is thick. I almost expect to see a haunting creek and for sinister music to start playing, but when the door is opened fully, it’s Leila we find on the other side in her black cloak with a gold mask hanging in her right hand.
“What the fuck?” Brax grunts. “It’s the middle of the night.”
Seemingly not one to waver under his intense stare, Leila rolls her eyes and sighs. “I know, and I’m sorry about that, but well, we’re about to go and I had a gut feeling that even though Sebastian was given the order to round you up, he wouldn’t.” She looks around at each of us and sighs again. “And by the looks on your faces and disappointment at the time, I’m going to assume I’m correct.”
“Wait, what is it you’re here to tell us?” I ask, wiping a hand down my face, the sleep that was still clinging to my limbs slowly disappearing as I become more alert with every breath.
“About the outing,” she offers before snapping her fingers. A scattering of five golden masks appear in front of her with a neatly stacked pile of cloaks beside them.
“When?” Raven asks, frowning down at the unwanted outfits on the floor.
“Now. Let’s go.”
* * *
Black joggers.Black sweater. Black combat boots. And a weird as fuck black cloak topped off with a garishly gold mask. I feel ridiculous, nevermind how bad it might look on top of that.
“Is this really necessary?” Eldon grumbles from beneath his mask as we silently trudge through the academy grounds in the darkness.
“I don’t personally think so,” Leila admits, staying one step ahead of us as she leads the way. “But I also understand that if we want to remain anonymous, then it’s what we have to do.” She shrugs, not bothering to turn around, and as annoying as it is, that makes sense to me too.
“Where is it we’re going, exactly?” Raven asks as we find ourselves at the top of the stone steps that lead down under the main academy building. The same ones it felt like we escaped from the last time we were in the presence of the Guild. It’s weird that the cause seems to be for good, but there’s a strange undertone that I can’t put my finger on. Which inconveniently means that we’ll only find out more by inserting ourselves further into the Guild.
“We’re heading to the outpost,” Leila explains as she leads us down the steps. When we reach the bottom, I clear my throat.
“Which outpost? You know there’s more than one, right?”
I can envision her rolling her eyes behind the mask, but to my surprise, she does manage to answer me calmly. “Theoutpost, at Shadowmoor. Where everything went to shit last time.”
An open gateway awaits us as we step into the now-familiar room with the golden table. Uncertainty wars inside of me for a moment, but when Leila steps through without a backward glance, I find myself doing the same before Raven can consider going next.
If there’s danger lurking, you better believe I’ll face it first for her.
My surroundings shift in the blink of an eye and the gloomy landscape of Shadowmoor drapes over me once again. There are dozens of people in black and gold, confirming that the Guild is here, but I focus on the crumbled buildings in the distance. It’s like I can still feel the smoke in my lungs, the fear in my veins, and the overwhelming sense of helplessness, just as I did at that moment.
A hand on my back pulls me from my thoughts, and when I turn around, I know it’s Raven. “You okay?” she asks, and I shake my head. I’m supposed to be asking her that.
“Always with you by my side, Dove. Are you okay?”
“I will be when you stop with that sweet talk,” she whispers, making me grin beneath my mask. Eventually, she’ll learn that there’s plenty more sweet talking where that came from because I mean every fucking word of it.
“Nightmares, gather around.”
“Come on, quick,” Leila mutters, waving us to follow her to where the large group has already formed.
