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Rufus drifted slowly across the meadow toward her, his form nearly whole as opposed to how she’d seen him earlier with his head bashed in. “Tarley. Tarley. Tarley.” It clicked her name. “You can’t escape. It’s time to satiate.”
“Enough,” a powerful voice echoed across the meadow, startling the darkling back into its monster form.
Horses screeched and yanked at their bridles. Birds alighted, taking flight from the trees. Every person in the meadow looked up at the sky. Meanwhile, the creature hunched in on itself in supplication and hissed out, “Master.”
A raven landed in between the darkling and Tarley. Then another. And another, until there were three birds hopping between them. One bounced toward the darkling. “You disobeyed me–” the raven spoke in that powerful voice.
“What the–” Mattias breathed behind her, holding onto the arm Jessamine wasn’t squeezing.
“You said I could have one–” the thing rasped.
“I said to find them. Nothing more.”
“But she invited me–”
“You deserve punishment.”
“I need to eat,” the thing whined.
“You were given leave to feed, but the Fareviews were to be unadulterated.”
The raven hopped closer. “I can give you relief, however. I feel your pain.”
The pitiful monster lifted its head, and its horrible red gaze hit Tarley’s. “Mine,” it sneered.
Tomas stepped forward, next to Tarley. She grasped her father’s hand.
One of the ravens turned its head at Tomas’s movement, tilting its head and watching with beady black eyes. The bird hopped forward, then took flight, landing a few steps away and looking up. “Ah, Tom,” the raven said in the same voice as the raven that had spoken to the darkling. “Bigger than the last time I saw you.”
“Who are you?”
“Where’s Azleah?” it asked.
Tomas retreated a step, and Tarley could see by her father’s shocked face that whatever this creature was saying was something familiar.
The raven hopped around, its wings spread, then it settled. “She knew I would find her eventually, hence the spell. The darkling helped me see.” The raven hopped. “She has what’s mine. I want it back.”
“Never,” Tomas said, plainly, shaking his head.
The raven blinked and made a humming sound. “I don’t think you understand the gravity of denying me. I see your children. My pet wants the one who’s lost her protective spell. I can just as easily allow the imprint to remain as I can break it. And the other one—he’s faint, but now that I know the spell, I can find them. And I will take them, just as Azleah stole from me. She will pay.”
“Who’s Azleah?” Tarley whispered to her father.
Tomas tensed, his hand tightening around hers. “Leave my children out of it–”
“Then give me what’s mine!” the voice coming from the ravens roared, only it reverberated across the meadow like the deep guttural bellow of a thousand bears all at once. The sound climbed up Tarley’s skin and sank its teeth into her skull. The three birds took flight and rushed across the space, attacking Tarley and her family, pecking, clawing, and yanking with their savage beaks and claws.
Then suddenly the barrage stopped.
The ravens sank back to the earth. “Darkling rise,” the voice ordered.
The darkling uncurled its form and floated high, it’s shadow long and thin, wispy and awful.
One of the ravens jumped, spreading its wings, and took flight.
“Open your well,” the voice ordered the darkling.
The creature lifted its head and tipped it back as the center of its greasy form spread apart. At its core was a darkness so wrong, Tarley couldn’t identify where it began and where it ended. She wanted to look away but didn’t. Blood seemed to coat it, but she couldn’t be sure, since she’d never seen anything like it.
