“There is nothing but trees out here,” I responded, gesturing around me.
She wrapped her arms around her body and eyed me suspiciously. At first, I had assumed she followed me out of loyalty. Now, I wondered if she was only here to confirm whatever superstition had taken root in her mind. Riven’s gaze caught on something past my shoulder. For a heartbeat, his pupils dilated, before he swallowed and looked away.
I stepped forward and slid down the icy bank, vanishing into the mist. I landed hard, the impact knocking the air from my lungs.
The lantern lay next to me. I righted it, eyes adjusting to my surroundings.
“Lyra?” Dreya called, her voice panicked. I couldn’t see her face above me through the unnatural mist.
“I’m okay!” I called back.
Something caught my eye in the tangle of roots in the snow, as if the tree itself had wrapped around the weapon. An axe. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from it, the ache in my chest now pulsing. I needed that axe.
Silver and black metal twined together, etched in runes that seemed to squirm when I tried to read them. Power coiled off the weapon in invisible currents, prickling against my skin.
Dreya skidded down next to me, muttering a curse under her breath and flicking snow off heruniform.
“It feels even worse down here,” Dreya grumbled as she stood beside me, looking down at the axe.
She bent down, her hand wrapping around its hilt. She tugged. The roots seemed to tighten around it. She grunted, tugging harder. Riven jumped down next to us, landing on his feet with a grace I longed to one day possess.
“It is like it’s fused into the roots.” She stood, panting from her attempts. I stepped towards the axe. Riven seemed to take a step at the same time, stumbling into me. His thumb grazed my palm, and a sharp sting bloomed. I gasped and yanked my hand back, fresh blood welling along a thin slice of skin.
“Ouch, how did you?—”
Riven’s mouth parted, but he didn’t apologize. He only watched me, grey eyes unreadable.
“Whoops,” he murmured, his tone too smooth. “You’re bleeding.”
I clamped my other hand around the cut, trying to stop the steady flow of blood as I bent in front of the weapon.
How could his nails cut into my skin so deeply?
The axe seemed to pulse in answer to my proximity. Drawn as if on a tether, I reached for it. The moment my bleeding hand closed around the shaft, the world lurched.
Voices erupted, ancient and layered. A thousand overlapping murmurs poured into me like floodwater. The sigils flared white-hot, and warmth spilled through my veins, licking across my skin. My vision darkened.
A man held me in his arms in a field, thousands of dead bodies spread across the ground, fires burning in the distance. My face against his chest. I couldn’t see his face, but dread oozed through me. He held me with a tenderness that didn’t match the dagger in his hand.
“I am so sorry,” his deep voice rumbled against me. Painerupted in my chest. White hot agony. My hands shot to the source, wrapping around the dagger that he had plunged into my heart.
My eyes shot open, the dark trees looming above me and the ghost watched me from between them. My hearing slowly came back into focus. Someone was shouting my name. She levelled those unsettling familiar eyes on me, a smile stretching unnaturally against taut lips before she plummeted towards me. I tried to move. My hands slipped against the snow. The noncorporeal woman dove into my chest. A strange coldness spread across my limbs, turning into a vibrating warmth that pulsed through my veins. As if the thing inside me grew.
When I looked down, the axe was no longer cradled by tangled roots. It thrummed in my palm, alive and free. The ache in my chest dissipated almost instantly. I inhaled, gasping for breath as though I had drowned all over again.
“Lyra?” Riven hovered above me, his warm hand resting against my cheek. “Shh, you’re alright.”
“There is someone coming.” Dreya crouched in the snow next to us, looking up into the mist and muttering under her breath.
“The scream came from over here!” a male yelled from somewhere above us. HadIscreamed? Their steps grew closer.
Dreya looked between us with wide eyes. And then she disappeared. One moment Dreya was sitting there, the next, she was gone.
“Holy shit,” she whispered from thin air. She flickered back into existence, a wide grin on her face.
She clasped a hand on each of our shoulders; a light tingling sensation spread over me. I looked down and saw nothing but snow.
“Well, that’s pretty fucking cool,” Riven said.
