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It was twenty or so minutes later, when we’d both passed the point of exhaustion, that the ground softened.
The gleaming silver in the leaves grew less apparent, and a subtle green tinge painted the bark. I couldn’t help but twist my head and take in the jade hue, which was so unlike anything I’d seen outside that magical glen Jude and I had stumbled across.
But the world was changing, color slowly seeping into the chasm of white and dull blue. Jake plucked a leaf, holding it to his eye for inspection. He muttered a low curse.
It couldn’t be much farther.
I brought my hand out behind me. “Wait,” I murmured, shutting my eyes and giving over to my instincts. There was a…buzzing sound. Whatever it was, it beckoned, calling out into the gloom and seeking me like a tender memory.
Jake went stock-still. “What do you hear—”
The trees shook, so violently and forcefully that the fragile leaves attached to the branches flitted down to the forest floor. The ground rocked beneath my boots, and I braced myself, hands on either side of me for balance, my knife clutched securely.
Jake hissed as ivory roots erupted from the soil, rising into the misty air and slithering out to reach us. Grabbing hold of him, I spun us around, preparing to bolt in the opposite direction.
We weren’t afforded the chance.
More vines and roots and branches came to life, weaving through the brittle underbrush, some knitting together, creating an unyielding wall. Or a cage.
I shrank in on myself, my hands aching, ice numbing everything but innate fear. The forest fought to trap us, our growing cage making escape all but impossible as it rose into the air, the intricate braiding solid and impenetrable.
Hisses saturated the air, and Jake and I swiveled around, searching for their source.
Hazy silhouettes materialized from the other side of the gloom, behind the wooden cage. They floated, humanoid in appearance, though their faces were blank, featureless. Only pale, white-blue light emanated from them, from where their eyes should have been.
Jake lifted his dagger as if that would do much of anything. He pressed his back against mine, his sweat seeping into my shirt. We were well and truly screwed.
The floating creatures merely rested where they were, their too-long arms drifting at their sides, their soft blue gowns whipping at their bare feet in a supernatural breeze I didn’t feel.
Against my will, dark shadows coiled at my fingers like extensions of myself. I could feel the kiss of the air they touched, could scent the divinity around us.
This wasn’tonlythe Mist playing tricks.
“Kiara.” My name seemed to come from all directions. It was deep and familiar, and I knew instantly who spoke.
The man who had rescued me.
…
“Come out and show yourself,” I growled, my fear sinking, replaced by my shadows and the adrenaline they gifted.
A bone-chilling chuckle rattled the leaves, and then, “Always so impatient.”
Jake, likely too stunned to speak, merely snatched my free hand.
“I thought I was imagining it, you know,” I began with false calm. “But you were real. Your arms. Your voice. What I couldn’t understand ishow. How you were here.”
The spectral forms wavered in and out of focus, their blue and white lights sputtering. Another silhouette appeared, this one shrouded in black, though it did little to mask his sheer size. He stood not ten feet away, a cape billowing behind him.
Micah always did have a flair for the dramatic.
“I never tried to hide myself from you,” he said, stepping closer. The moon highlighted his weathered and wise face, the graying beard, the steel eyes brightened with sapphire blue. “You simply never asked the right questions.”
“Youknowhim?” Jake hissed. His body trembled.
“I thought I did,” I whispered back, not sure whether I wanted to fall to my knees or bolt for the cage and tear it to pieces. “That’s who rescued me.” Right after the masked leader had drunk from me, choking on my tainted blood like poison.
I thought I’d made it all up—or maybe I didn’t want to remember. My life already felt like a lie, and Micah had been a constant, however merciless he’d been growing up. Nevertheless, here he stood—orhovered.
