She looked at him for a long moment before saying one word, a smile twisting her expression. “Death.”
A wall of wind hit, blowing Shea’s hair into her face and obscuring her vision for a moment. She was grateful, especially when a great presence, one that held the chill of the coldest winter on the longest day in the darkest night passed her. There were some things not meant to be seen by human eyes.
“Fallon, shut your eyes,” Shea ordered.
Screams filled the air, the kind that came from the soul as the body was ripped apart. Shea knew she would hear their death screams in her nightmares until the day she left this world. Screams filled with agony and fear, ripped from the gut, every person’s worst nightmare given voice. There was the sound of running before more screaming came. Shea kept her eyes tightly shut, even as the presence in the air strengthened.
The screams ended, the silence left behind scarier than anything that had gone before. Shea’s pulse thundered in her ears and the sound of her breathing overwhelmed her.
Very good, daughter of my enemy’s enemy.
“Are you going to kill me now?” Shea asked.
The presence hesitated, filling the air with—was that surprise?
Would you like us to?
Shea shifted and frowned. She hadn’t thought she had a choice in the matter.
Ah, we see. You thought a blood sacrifice would be necessary.
She had. Otherwise, why had they waited to act? If they had attacked sooner, Fiona wouldn’t have been injured.
The sacrifice has already been paid, and you and the other four hold no weapons and no ill intentions. Besides, that would have defeated the purpose of saving you now and before.
Before? Shea couldn’t help it. She opened her eyes, a bluish haze spread across the ground, thick in some places, sparse in others.
“You’re the one who left the jacket on the post,” Shea said in realization. She sensed rather than saw the beings nod of agreement. “Why did you help us?” Shea asked so she wouldn’t be tempted to argue with the presence. She sensed if she pushed, they might decide she and her friends were fair game as well.
Curiosity. Necessity. We have a vested interest in your continued well-being.
“What do you mean?”
The air swirling around her stilled, a sense of weight coming from it—as if it was sentient and the matter at hand required much contemplation.
Even as removed as we are, trapped here away from the sun and the world, we can feel it. Feel as the heart awakens bringing with it the old ones. Right now, they are testing this new world, but soon, soon they will rise and seek to finish what they once started. It will be a new order, one based on their warped vision of perfection.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
Did you think you could walk into the heart of where it all began and come out unchanged? No, my dear, you stared it in the face, listened to its voice. It’s not a question of if you’ve changed, but how much you’ve changed.
“I don’t understand.”
There was a great sigh, one sound coming from a thousand voices. No, I suppose you don’t. You will soon. Take your people and leave this place. You have until the sun hits the doors above the fault. After that, we consume all that has remained.
The wind brushing against Shea died down, leaving nothing but emptiness behind. The blue haze faded. Shea thought she saw the faintest outline of forms.
Fallon and her group were the only living beings that remained.
He crossed the space between them at a run, grabbing her in a hug that threatened to crush her.
“Fallon, we need to get out of here.”
“I know. I heard.”
Shea drew back. “How did you even find us?”
“I took that tunnel you had pointed out and found Clark and his friend wandering down there. We’ve been traveling together over the past few hours. Your chase through the city caught our attention. When we saw what was happening, we waited until the right moment.” He brushed a piece of hair behind her ear and cupped the back of her neck. “That was close.”
