For another moment, we stand in silence…until I catch the slightest movement in my periphery, near the cemetery I passed earlier. Under the faint light of the waning moon, I can just makeout a hulking humanoid figure hunched over what I can only assume is one of the fresher graves.
A ghoul.
That particular kind of shadow fiend is common in the Nether. They feed on newly deceased, unanimated corpses. While they're fast and dangerous when angry, they rarely make it past the legacies guarding the Divide due to their unintelligent nature.
At first, I think it's odd to see one here in Halfton so far from the Divide. But then I remember kneeling on the stone floor, playing the part of the obedient, subservient weapon as Amadeus sat on his macabre throne, explaining his plan.
With each member of the Four Houses you dispose of, our foothold in the mortal realm will grow. For it is their life force holding us back, nothing more. I will track your progress according to how weak their precious Divide becomes. End them. That is your purpose, my daughter. And when you have ended each of those fools…
I shake my head to bring me back to here and now. Of course. Since Hearst's death, there must have been far more surges and far more escaped shadow fiends than ever. The Legacy Council and all other legacies must have their hands full with that—but obviously, this ghoul slipped away unharmed to feed on dead humans.
Kenzie sees where I'm looking and inhales sharply. "Oh, mygods. Is that what I think it is?"
"Yes. But don't worry. It will ignore the living."
The ghoul straightens to its full ten-foot height and starts sniffing the air, which makes Kenzie make a strangled sound.
"You sure about that? Because it seems like it's scenting us!" she hisses, backing away.
Not us. Just me. Since, strictly speaking, I'm not entirely part of the living anymore.
Glancing over my shoulder at her, I offer a tiny smile. "I'm going to lure it away from town so it doesn't linger in Halfton and hurt humans. Stay here."
Kenzie scowls. "Um, May, please don't take this the wrong way, but…you're an asscaster. My absolute favorite asscaster of all time, but still, that is a fuckingghoul,and there is no way I'm about to let you deal with that thing by yourself. I'm helping."
"You're weak right now," I point out quietly.
She puts her hands on her hips. "Excuse me, did I stutter? Just tell me how to help, my overzealous little monk savior."
My lips twitch. I've missed her. And even though I work best alone, it can't hurt to have her help ever so slightly.
"Fine. But follow my instructions exactly."
"Roger that."
Five minutes later, I approach the cemetery where the ghoul has returned to digging up a grave. Luck is on my side tonight, and the wind is blowing in the perfect direction, so when I'm standing at the fringes of the forest outside of Halfton's cemetery, the ghoul is downwind from me. I reach into a concealed pocket where my favorite adamantine dagger awaits me. Baelfire gave it back to me before I left the castle, but not before pleading with me to not use it in front of anyone who could trace it back to where I come from.
As soon as the wind blows and it catches my scent, the shadow fiend straightens, dropping whatever it had in its mouth. It turns to look directly at me, its tusks protruding from its hideous mouth. It takes one step in my direction, then another.
Then it bolts toward me.
Game on.
Turning, I take off into the forest as adrenaline pumps through me. Darting around trees and jumping over a small creek, I head toward Everbound. I'll have to kill this thing beforeI get anywhere near the school, or it might be sensed by the magic wards.
I'm fast over short distances, even faster than shifters on a good day. That was something Amadeus's chief necromancer, Dagon, had insisted on perfecting when they were altering the fabric of my being. I'm patterned after a monster that existed long ago—only it was slower and less efficient.
I'm the experimental new and improved version.
Just as we planned, I climb swiftly into a tree just as Kenzie darts out from another place in the woods, distracting the ghoul. Though ghouls don't usually pose a danger to the living because they don't see them as food, they get distracted easily.
As soon as the shadow fiend is turning toward her, I drop from the tree branches, straddling its shoulders just as I drive my adamantine dagger through its skull—twice, then three times. It roars and flings me off, and I slam into a tree with a grunt. That'll leave a bruise.
Kenzie dodges when the fiend launches toward her. Then the creature crumbles to the ground, twitching a few times while the power of the adamantine works its way through the creature's system. It finally goes slack, its veins bulging through purplish skin.
I feel the exhilarating rush of power cloud my veins as I brush myself off and walk over to yank my dagger out of its skull.
Good old Pierce.
