“Kai?” I called out for him, not taking my eyes off the woman before me. “How are those lungs of yours?”
“Aching. You should’ve left me dead,” Kai replied, voice full of gravel. “This existence hurts more than the previous one.”
His familiar purred in response, clearly pleased his new companion hadn’t just suffocated to death.
“Don’t say things like that,” Romy quipped. “How many times have I told you to keep your inhaler on you? Huh?”
“Romy.” Kai’s voice noticeably softened when he spoke to her. “I didn’t exactly have the time to prepare an overnight bag before we were swept into the trials.”
“Fair enough,” Romy replied, brushing a tender thumb over Kai’s dirt-streaked face.
I walked towards them, passing the hesitant Verena who watched on from the sidelines. “I think it’s time to get off the floor before I start thinking you have a kink for being on your back, Kai.”
“Hector, for heaven’s sake,” Romy said.
I shrugged, dodging her fiery gaze. “Oops, my bad! I forgot that being on your back doesn’t actually classify under what a kink is.”
“That’s not what I was referring to, and you know it.”
“Does he ever… shut up?” Kai asked as Romy helped him to his feet.
“Apparently not,” Romy said, eyes narrowing in my direction. “I’d say you should ignore his sarcasm but that only makes it worse.”
“What can I say, I have loose lips.” I took Kai’s free hand, mindful not to step on his familiar who weaved between his legs like this was all some game. “As much as I would love to enjoy every moment of this reunion, it’s really past the time we need to figure a way out of this trial.”
No one refused me. Romy’s mouth twitched as if she was going to say something, but then promptly fell back into silence.
“I’ll take the resounding quiet as agreement,” I said, looking out across the endless expanse of gravestones. I knew we’d moved from one place to the other, but everything still looked exactly the same. It was, all in all, a big head-fuck.
Not to mention the sheer number of secrets that our group of four was tiptoeing around.
“What do you suggest?” Verena spoke up. “Unfortunately, myself and Romy haven’t had much luck before you found us.”
Kai looked her way as if noticing her for the first time. “Verena. You look much better.”
Again, Verena shot her glare towards Romy before replying. “I feel it.”
There would come a time that I’d ask Romy what had happened in the hours she’d been alone with Father Tomin’s personal witch, but now wasn’t it. Even if I wanted to dive into the details now, I couldn’t. Because out the corner of my eye, I noticed a flash of bright light. We all turned towards it in tandem.
There, far in the distance, was a speck of glowing red light. My mind decided what it was. “Fire,” I said.
“A clue perhaps?” Romy said, narrowing her attention on the spark. “It’s either linked to the trial, or someone has conjured it with…”
Old magic. “Arwyn’s the only witch out there.”
I thought I was shaking at the concept of Arwyn using old magic, going against one of Bahmet’s rules. But the trembling was not my body, but the ground beneath my feet. I looked down to see the soil jitter and dance around my feet, disturbed by… something.
“Shit-balls,” Kai groaned, “they found us again.”
“They?” Romy snapped. “What do you mean they?”
I didn’t have it in me to answer her.
Instead, I ran. Not away from the hoard of shadows that swept across the graveyard towards the spark of fire, but towards it. A beacon had just been lit, and I was going to follow it.
** *
Blood thundered through my veins,and my lungs ached with each inhale of dead, cold air. All I could think about was Arwyn. Call it intuition, but I knew that when I reached the fire, I would find him. I couldn’t explain how I knew, I just did. And that was enough to keep me going.
