There should only be darkness. Despite all I’ve told Thane and the others, this was the one thing I couldn’t resist—giving the human peace while she slept. My justification was that I couldn’t sleep myself while listening to her wailing. It was a small mercy, on my part, to take away her nightmares, but it was something I could do while still keeping my distance from her.
However, tonight her screams echo through my head, and it’s a keening desperate sound that tugs at something in the dark depths of my soul, touching a part of me I thought I’d long since buried. Somehow, she must have found her way into a nightmare despite the magic I’d used on her.Impossible.
When Thane returns to the academy building, I slip into her dreams, dressed in a long cloak with the hood down to hide my features. She stops screaming the moment I enter her mind, and I locate the human crouched against a bare, stone wall. Herknees are tucked up to her chest, and her long hair is draped across her face.
I’ve heard plenty of people crying. I’ve extracted their cries, relishing in the sound as I’ve inflicted pain to those whom I deemed deserved it. But this sound… It penetrates to my core like no blade could, digging and twisting like something is burying itself inside me, trying to carve into my being.
I fucking hate it.
I’m about to shut off whatever strange nightmare this is. To make it fade away to darkness, but her head snaps up, her gaze immediately finding me. Tears spill from her eyes as she stares at me, and I note the grime smeared on her face. Blood is coating her messy hair and soaked into her clothes. Her brows furrow, and though she’s looking at me, her eyes move like she’s struggling to focus.
“Please, just take me back,” she rasps, shaking her head as she blinks through her tears. “Please. He’ll come for me.”
I stand there silently, frozen as my chest aches with a pain I have no right to feel. A pain Ishouldn’tbe able to feel, because I shut off my emotions a long time ago.
She pulls her legs tighter to her chest like she’s trying to become as small as possible, and a rat scurries past her bare feet.
“This is a dream, Shade,” I tell her, clearing away the unexpected emotion that’s clogging my throat.
“No,” she says, shaking her head at me. “I’m not stupid. I remember. Please send me back.” She keeps muttering the same thing over and over, and I feel them then. The monsters in the shadows feeding on her fear. On her pain. I feel her spiraling, her mind spinning out of control as the nightmare seizes her.
I’m not sure if this is her subconscious dealing with the fact that she wishes to leave Shadowbone. I thought she’d become happier at the academy now that she has my brother, Thane, and Galen. No, this seems like something else.
The monsters in the darkness draw closer to her, and I know I can’t leave her like that. Power pulses from me, and darkness pulls down over us as I flush the dream from her mind. I feel her mind calm as it retreats, the nightmare banished as she falls into a deep, dreamless sleep. I use more power, ensuring the lingering remnants of the nightmare won’t bother her when she wakes. She won’t remember this.
Sliding from her dream, I walk amongst the trees of the academy forest, my heart pounding from what I’ve witnessed. I know I’ve simply seen a nightmare, but I can’t stop picturing her tortured eyes, and the comment she made repeats over and over in my mind:He’ll come for me.
Bonfang appears from the shadows, prowling beside me, sensing that I need him, though he’s not sure what has happened. We move between the trees, and I appreciate his silent company as I head for the one place where I know I can find some solitude.
Chapter Twenty-Two
~ Shade ~
For the next few nights, the guys don’t let me join them when they go out to hunt creatures for the games. They all agree it’s too risky considering how things went down the last couple of times, and I don’t argue. As fun as it was with Raith in the forest, there was a moment there with the foxrets when I really questioned whether I was going to get out of there alive. It’s also been nice staying with Kenzie for a change, even if Raith does get Kazer to guard me every night, with strict instructions for his animali to cloak himself if we get company, and an order to kill anyone who tries to harm me. My guys are such possessive sweethearts like that.
Kenzie and I have been using some of the time to search the forbidden rooms in the academy, looking for the missing students. We still haven’t found any trace of them, including any clues that may tell us where Leira went, Kenzie’s roommate who disappeared before I arrived at Shadowbone. Most of the rooms we’ve entered have been empty, but some have been filled withold broken furniture. Going by the layers of dust, the rooms haven’t been opened or lived in for some time.
Okay, so that’s not exactly true. Aside from the furniture we did find something else. Or more so, many other small, furry things. Rats. There are so many rats who have built their homes in the walls and created nests in the old mattresses. I wonder if the professors even know how infested this academy is. This building has a real problem. I’ve wanted to bring it up with my guys, but that would mean explaining what Kenzie and I have been doing, and considering they warned me not to explore the academy because they’re worried I’ll get lost, I figure I’ll keep my mouth shut for now. Thankfully, Kenzie has been good at ensuring we don’t lose our way, and Tarlaz and Elgen have been helpful, too. Truthfully, because Kazer has been my personal guard while they were away, I was sure Raith would find out about us exploring the academy, but if Raith does know, he hasn’t said anything to me.
It’s probably a good thing. Considering the way I found Satine in that cell not too long ago, a part of me still can’t help wondering if Knox has anything to do with the disappearing students. I realize deep down I’ve been avoiding asking the guys the question. Because what if they are responsible? What if Knox is an evil villain or something? It won’t change the fact that I’m fated to him. But Kenzie deserves the truth, so I’m going to have to ask eventually.
My guys always steal me from my dorm in the early hours of the morning, so Kenzie and I are careful not to stay out too long. Tonight, I sit by the window, my pencil gliding over the pages of my sketchbook as Kenzie rests on her bed, and Kazer relaxes by my feet, the huge lion close enough that his shaggy mane brushes against my toes.
Through the window, three pairs of red eyes watch from the academy forest, and though I can’t see them fully, I know it’sArizak, Rinoc, and Bonfang. It feels wrong to have Kazer here without them, but the creatures would have filled our entire dorm if they were all in here.
Turning from the window, I finish my sketch, shading around Raith’s dark eyes as his monster form stands tall on my page. The thought of him taking me in the forest has my heart racing, and I clear my throat, pushing the memories from my mind.
After the episode in the forest during the foxrets’ mating moon, there were plenty of questions from my guys when we returned from the academy, but none I could answer. We still have no idea why I can speak to some of the zenali shadow creatures, or how I was able to accommodate Raith. And then there’s my power… I’m gaining more control of my magic, but so far, I’m still not sure if I’ll be strong enough to survive the games. On the bright side, at least I’ve been able to sleep soundly without any weird nightmares. Some of my memories are trickling back to me during the day, but so far, they’re not filling the blanks too much, though I do get glimpses of who I used to be. Glimpses of worn boots, piles of library books, and a rubbish diet. I’m pretty sure before I was turned into a crow, there was a time when I was living on the streets. Or really, the library, I should say. Because I’d found a way to sneak in there and hide until dawn. It’s ironic, really, considering how I’d been locked in the library when all this started, but it explains why I’d been drawn there. Maybe my subconscious was remembering that for a while, it had quite literally been my home.
“Do you think we’ll make it?” Kenzie says softly, and I look up, surprised that she’s still awake. I thought she’d fallen asleep at least half an hour ago.
“Make it?”
She stares at the ceiling. “Yeah, through the games.”
Oh right.I place down my pencil. “Girl, if anyone can I’m sure you will.”
“Yeah, right,” she scoffs.
