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Shit.
I rubbed at my eyes, but the color only grew more vivid, more inviting, the veins pulsating rhythmically. My hands started to shake, and that itching worsened.
My fingers were pure ice, the cold painful. I flexed them, trying to regain the sensation I was losing. It didn’t work.
Tearing myself from the ever-changing tree, I tightened my hold on Jude’s hand, the bruising force causing his lids to cautiously flutter open. Now wasn’t the time to be gentle.
“Kiara?” he whispered, the crease between his brows deepening.
“Yes! Now please look at me.” I was outright pleading with him now.
“I-I can’t,” he began, his grip crushing my bones. “If I open my eyes, I’ll see it too.”
“See what?” I beseeched. “There is nothing here!”
Jude rapidly shook his head, his eyes squeezed tighter than before. “This is what happened last time. They all started to see things. Beasts. People. Things that weren’t there. And then…” He trailed off, scrunching his face as though in physical pain. “They killed each other. And then themselves. And I”—he choked on his words—“I finished the rest.”
Black smoke swirled around the edges of my sight. I wasn’t afraid of Jude because of what he’d done. I was pissed he carried that guilt. If what he’d said was true, then whatever was coming for us planned to use our minds against us.
That damned coppery taste coated my tongue, overwhelming in its intensity. It was getting worse with each passing second. I heard the other boys start to talk, all motioning and pointing frantically.
“Jude.” I leaned over and shook him. “When you and your men encountered this before, did you taste something? Metal or blood, perhaps?”
Refusing to open his eyes, Jude considered my query, or I hoped he did.
After too many pounding heartbeats, he finally answered me, his voice low and haunted. “I-I remember a strange aroma, a scent. One that smelled of copper, but not in my mouth. I thought it was just the Mist, another odd effect. And then anarchy ensued and…” He broke off, lost in a nightmarish past.
I’d never seen him lose himself like this.
“It’s all right,” I soothed, rubbing his hand. While my vision remained unfocused and my hands burned from ice, I didn’t have the overwhelming urge to do anything not within my control.
“Jude,” I tried again, this time softening my voice. I could be the strong one today, for the both of us. “Is it better if you close your eyes?” He nodded, the movement so subtle I wasn’t sure if I caught it. “All right, then I need you to keep doing that. From what you said, the scent, that aroma you smelled in the air, eventually went away. Maybe we just have to wait it out.” For all I knew it would linger here forever, or the hallucinations weren’t a side effect of the foul breeze at all. But it was the only hope I had.
“I need to get the others to—”
“There!” Nic’s cry rattled my ears, his voice sharp and unrecognizable. Gone was the sarcastic and playful boy I was only beginning to get to know. To befriend. “It’s right there, don’t you see it! As large as four wolves put together!”
There was no wolf, only the scent of metal and bone trees.
“Keep your eyes closed, Jude,” I bellowed, right before whisking Starlight back down the line of stoic recruits, back over to Nic.
“It’s there! Can’t you see?” he cried, beating his hand against his chest in frustration. “We need to kill it before it kills us! Why are we just sitting here?”
“Nic, you need to calm down, please! Close your eyes!” I shouted, leaning over my anxious mare and reaching for one of Nic’s flailing hands. He resisted me.
I cursed my blurred sight as I missed and Nic flung out a fist—one that landed with surprising force against my rib cage. With a yelp, I was tossed from my saddle, landing on my backside with a bruising thud. I scrambled to my trembling limbs before the pale blue fog could envelop me.
“I see it too!” Jake screeched, his voice like nails on glass.
My feet planted in the soft earth, and I gazed in horror as every face sprang to life, panic contorting their features as they shouted for action against an invisible enemy. Their movements were jerky and clumsy like they were being controlled by some grand puppeteer.
Jake had jumped from his steed first, his polished sword raised high in the air as if going into battle. “What are we waiting for? Go!” he urged, motioning forward with the tip of the lethal blade. “Now!”
More boots landed upon the dirt, everyone besides Jude dismounting their steeds and setting off for that blasted tree.
“Wait!” I shrieked, waving my hands. “You need to close your eyes! There’s nothing there!”
They didn’t listen.
