“I know how breathing works,” I manage as snow begins to fall even thicker around us.
Felix is at the front of our group and pauses to turn around, calling, “Is he okay?”
“He’s fine,” Silas says quickly. I don’t think he’s aware that he steps slightly in front of me to keep Felix from seeing my spiraling hyperventilation. He's clearly still paranoid about our quintet being perceived as weak. “Mind your business and continue following the trail.”
Silas is still holding one of Maven’s sweatshirts that he used to performed some kind of necromantic tracking spell to lead us to her heart. That led to Felix transporting us here, to the colorless outskirts of the ever-spreading Nether border in West Virginia.
I’ve been here before. In fact, I think we’re close to one of my more shameful battle sites.
Felix mutters something under his breath about how vile it is to be around necromantic magic, but he waits for us. After a moment, I can finally breathe again as I shove down every thought and focus instead on the asshole we’re hunting.
Dagon.
According to Silas, he used to be Amadeus’s head necromancer who experimented on Maven, torturing her for years until she became a revenant. Before Crypt slipped into Limbo to scout ahead, he briefly mentioned that Dagon often appears in Maven’s nightmares.
He didn't give details, but he didn't need to. As much as we all want to bring her heart back, killing that twisted son of a bitch is also pretty fucking high on our priority list.
We continue trekking through this snowy terrain as Silas and Felix follow the magic Baelfire and I can’t see. Sometimes Silas talks to people who aren’t here, and Baelfire’s head is obviously in pain, but at long last we get to the top of a big hill—and there it is, down below.
The small town I froze solid, people and all.
Baelfire blinks down at the macabre, ice-coated display. “Holy fuck. That’s a lot of not-ice-sculptures.”
Some humans are frozen while trying to run away. Others are encapsulated in ice inside their cars, or rushing out their front doors, or any number of things. Houses and town roads gleam under a thick layer of ice that is slowly being covered in a fresh layer of snow.
Felix looks at me, still expressionless, but there’s no missing the accusation in his voice. “I heard about this. You seriously didn’t even have the decency to unfreeze these innocent people?”
I wish I could.
I didn’t mean to freeze anything. There was an unexpected surge of shadow fiends near this area months ago, and when I came with troops to defend it, things got ugly. I was injured badly and then hypnotized by a Nether siren whose song hooked deep into my brain, feeding off my emotions and compelling me to wreak havoc.
I don’t even remember using my abilities. I woke up later with Asher Douglas tending to my injuries and an entire town of innocent humans frozen in time. The siren song must have affected my abilities somehow, because no matter how I’ve tried to melt the nevermelt, it stays.
Maybe if I had control of my abilities, I could undo what I did here. But even then, I don’t know the survival rate for being trapped in nevermelt for months.
“Come on,” I mutter, turning in the direction we were headed before.
“No,” Felix snaps, though his expression remains inscrutable. “Those are innocent people. It’s wrong to leave them like that. Whatever you asked me to bring you out here for, you need to go down and undo?—”
Crypt materializes in front of us, blowingreveriumsmoke into the Nether caster’s face as we all startle. “Don’t bother with the lecture on morality. I found him,” he adds, addressing the rest of us.
Felix coughs, waving away the smoke. “Him? Him who?”
“Dagon,” Baelfire growls like he’s already envisioning ripping the necromancer’s head off.
For the first time, Felix’s face morphs into something besides composure as he rears back. “Excuse me? You could’ve mentioned we were coming out here on a damned suicide mission. I would never have left Kenzie’s side if I knewhe’swhat you’re out here for.”
“Kenzie Baird?” Baelfire asks, confused before he catches on. “Oh, shit. You must be the missing caster in her quintet. Congrats—I didn’t hear about that.”
“Of course, you didn’t. You’ve been too busy burning down the north as a winged monster,” Felix huffs, turning to glare at me next. “What is this about? Revenge? Because, as much as I’d love to see Dagon or any of the other necromancers from Amadeus’s court meet their end, you’re all hardly in the best condition to take him on. I’ve only seen Dagon in person one time, and that was when a bunch ofhumans from my compound were forced to watch him sacrifice someone who manifested magic and bring them back as a lich. And by the way, bringingsomeone back as a lich requires an incredible amount of power and magical fortitude?—”
“We get it,” Baelfire yawns. “He’s scary. Big whoop. No need to keep yapping.”
The Nether caster rolls his eyes. “You’re as bad as Maven. She once threatened to sew my mouth shut with my own shredded tongue if I didn't stop talking, and I’d barely even said ten words to her.”
Crypt sighs wistfully, looking out over the white winter landscape like he wishes he could be at Everbound right now. “That's our girl.”
“So damn violent,” Baelfire grins.
