Instantly, I stiffen on Argo’s back, and my head whips around. Argo turns his head too, his movements jerky.
“Who’s there?” I call.
My own voice sounds trapped, like I’m inside a tiny closet. The whispers though, they sound like they’re being spoken through a canyon. Echoing and stretching. I can’t tell what they’re saying.
“Is someone there?” I shout, looking around wildly as I lean in, as if the disembodied voices will clear up.
But it’s only wordless ramblings.
“What?”
The whispers suddenly stop. No tapering off, no fading. They just cut out.
Eerie silence follows that makes my stomach churn with nausea because I get hit with a sudden sense that I shouldn’t be here.
Fear drenches me like I’ve stepped beneath a rushing waterfall.
What the fuck was I thinking?
Argo lets out a panicked screech like he feels it too, and then he abruptly turns and starts flying as fast as he can, back the way we came.
Only…isthis the way we came?
Gripping his feathers, I swing my head in every direction. I’m all turned around, confused, and there’s no sight of reference, because the fog is so thick I can barely even see Argo.
Worry spreads through me, making me feel lightheaded. Argo’s wings flap frantically, head jerking side to side as he goes faster. But dread sticks to my quickening breaths, because we should’ve reached the land by now.
This isn’t right.
I pull on Argo’s feathers, and he circles, flying up and then down, left and right, screeching in alarm.
We’re stuck. We’re fucking stuck in this fog. I shouldn’t have forced us in here. I shouldn’t have—
Argo abruptly turns andbolts. I wasn’t expecting it, so I jerk back and start to slip off. My heart lurches right up into my throat as I start to fall back.
My hands fling out at the last second to grip his feathers, keeping me seated. I shove my weight forward and lean in against the rushing air. Wind tears at my face, the fingers of the fog feeling like they’re reaching out, trying to grip hold of me and drag me back…
But suddenly, we burst through the wall.
I have a split second of relief when I realize we’re out of the fog before we hit the ground in a skid, and I go flying off Argo’s back. I tumble through the air and land in a heap of snow, my heart nearly knocked right out of me.
My pulse pounds as I shove myself up, chest rising and falling with rapid breaths as I stare at the wall of fog ahead.
I hear Lu and Osrik shouting my name, and I immediately put my hands around my mouth and call back. “Here! I’m over here!”
A few seconds later, I see the others flying toward me. I wave my arms so they spot me, and they land right at my side.
Osrik jumps down from his bird, stomps over, and then punches me right in the chest. I have armor on, but the hit still knocks me back.
“You fucking idiot!” he snarls at me.
“I’m sorry!” I say, holding up my hands. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“Youweren’tthinking,” Lu seethes as she comes over. “You’re lucky you made it out of that! We already lost Judd and Slade and Auren. You think we wanna lose you too?”
Shame slips down my back, making my shoulders slump. “No. I’m sorry,” I say again before sighing. “I just…I wanted to make sure.”
Her sharp eyes meet mine. “And?”
