I want to see the ocean.
The memory of my mother and sister shifts, and now I’m looking at an ocean under the stars, surrounded by a haunting darkness that frightens me as much as it fascinates me. The heat and pressure of fingers against my waist and rib cage…and the face that I hate to dream of at night, eyes aglow in red. Enchanting. Ensnaring.
My eyes fly open. The drizzle has turned into a downpour, and I’m breathing hard in the rain-soaked forest. Heart is pointing forward, and I feel a ripple of spirit energy as the talisman takes effect, my desire determining the direction of the blade.
I just don’t know which desire it’s pointing to.
I shake my head to clear the heat beneath my skin. No, there isnothingacross the realms that will unseat my desire for my family’s safety.
I hold Heart firmly and take off, following the point of its blade.
The parasol trees and cathayas around me have turned to shadows, branches twisting into claws that tear at me as I run in the heavy rain. It will be impossible for anyone to see their bracelet in these conditions.
Over the sound of the deluge, I hear a distant scream.
How many of us will die here? And what happens to those who don’t find their bracelets before time’s up?
It’s a while before I realize that something’s wrong.
I pause in front of a parasol tree, its branches extendinglike gnarled fingers. Three ghostly gashes gleam on its trunk: claw marks.
Claw marks I could have sworn I saw just minutes ago.
A sense of unease tightens my stomach. The ancient forest is unyielding, any movement or sound masked by the roar of rain. Twice now, I swear I’ve seen eyes glinting out at me from the dark, but each time, they vanish before I can take a closer look. More than that is the bone-deep sense of being watched. Of something closing in.
It is a feeling I’m used to, and I know that usually, my instincts are not wrong.
I angle Heart in front of me and continue walking.
It’s when I see that tree with the same marks for the third time that I know I’ve walked into a trap of some ancient magic or talisman.
I spin, Shadow in my other hand as I scan my surroundings. The air in front of me ripples, and between the rain and the darkness, the forest shifts: in the space of a blink, the parasol trees cluster around me tightly to form a cage, each now bearing the three pale claw marks. Overhead, the skies are no longer visible. I’m trapped; I don’t know how much time I’ve lost walking in circles; and worse, I don’t know how to get out of it.
A scream sounds from nearby, eerily inhuman, and the hairs on my arms rise. I scan the area, but there’s nothing. Only rain, and trees, now all bearing the same three claw marks…and now dripping thick red blood.
When I hear the scream again, this time directly behind me, I know I’m being hunted.
I whip around, blades in hands. In the darkness, I see nothing, no one; just the silhouettes of trees.
Gooseflesh breaks out along my body. I wipe my face again. “I will not be prey,” I whisper.
As soon as my lips form the words, I feel heat against the skin of my collarbone. My pendant! When I pull it out, it’s pulsing gently, warm with magic and aglow in the golden strokes that make up two characters.
“There you are,” I whisper, realizing my guardian in the jade must have heard my panic when I’d spoken aloud. The familiar handwriting is a touch of comfort.
Yet when I read the message, I do not feel the steadiness of safety that usually comes to me when my guardian sends word.
I feel a cold twist of fear.
Nightmares,it reads.
As a flash of lightning erupts in the skies, I catch a glimpse of a massive, hulking shape between a tangle of trees a dozen paces from me.
With the second flash, it stands directly before me.
This time, I scream.
15
