“We’ve wasted too much time.” I spin with my pulse in my skull and take off again, faster this time. The jungle closes in once more as I push forward, refusing to let myself slow down or give in to the creeping sense of dread curling around my chest.
“Talia!” Taron’s voice fades behind me, no longer bothering with my alias.
The jungle thins until I break into a large moonlit clearing. It’s striking, stretching endlessly in all directions. A graveyard.
The ground is littered with headstones, barely visible beneath thick blankets of ivy and weeds. Ancient tombs lie half-swallowed by the earth, their inscriptions worn smooth. I choke on the smell of damp stone and decaying vegetation. The smell of death.
At the far edge of the graveyard, our finish line looms. The Temple of Stars juts from the earth, a titan in the shape of a pyramid. Weathered by the elements and rising high into the sky, it casts a shadow so dense it seems to blot out the three moons. Around it, the jungle presses close. As if lying in wait. A predator ready to swallow it whole.
I find the temple’s entrance near the ground. It’s asmooth slab of stone pulsing faintly near the centre. I’m too far away to discern much detail, but there’s a slot there, perhaps in the shape of a completed crystal star.
A slow burn rises beneath my ribs. It’s right there, our finish line. Everything we’ve been fighting for, within sprinting distance. And we’re empty-handed. Don’t even have half a crystal star to our name.
There’s movement to my left.
Kara and Savannah burst through the trees. Their faces are flushed, sweat gleaming on their foreheads. They look as battered and worn as I feel. Their clothes are torn, their movements sluggish. They scan the graveyard in a heartbeat, quickly assessing the situation.
Another flicker to the right catches my attention. This time, a clash of elements explodes from the treeline.
Cyrus and Gideon emerge first, followed by Gigi and Gunther. Their group is a storm of light and fire, travelling across the crumbling headstones.
Beams of light erupt from Cyrus’s hands, crackling like lightning, while Gigi retaliates with red-hot bursts that streak across the sky. Gideon stomps his foot, and the earth quivers in response. Cracks form in the dirt, wounds rupturing open, and water bursts forth to drench the twins. Their flames are snuffed out, blanketing the air in plumes of smoke and steam.
“What’s going on?” Taron bursts through the trees beside me.
“I’d tell you if I could see…” I wave at the smoke infront of my face. It streaks across the graveyard, marring my view of the temple. The sound of stone cracking underfoot makes me spin. I can’t see Kara and Savannah any more.
“Is there anything you can do about this?” I ask.
Taron focuses on the thick haze, and I can feel the shift. A pulse ripples outward from him, invisible yet powerful. The smoke stirs, writhing. He makes a gathering motion with his hands, then thrusts them outward. A gust sweeps through the graveyard, and the smoke drifts away into the night.
“How’s that?” he asks, rather smug. Then his expression shifts. “Hey, they’re heading for the temple!”
Savannah and Kara. They’re bolting across the graveyard, leaping over crumbling headstones and winding between the tombs.
Taron sets off after them, and I’m right behind him. It feels like wading through a bog. The overgrown ground is squelchy, the mud grabbing at my heels like the hands of the undead. Somewhere behind me, Cyrus calls out in frustration. He’s spotted us.
I push harder until my legs are numb from running. So numb that I barely notice when the earth shudders beneath us, a low growl rising from the soil.
At first, I think it’s Gideon, summoning another burst of water. But the ground cracks like bones snapping, and I’m weightless, flung into the air.
My teeth clatter as I land face first in the mud, narrowly missing a headstone to my left. A sharp pain shoots through my side, but there’s no time to assess the damage.
I blink in the dark, searching for Savannah. Kara. Taron. I spot his lilac hair first. He’s still on his feet, two crumbling headstones hovering beside him. He propels them forward with his arms outstretched, aimed at the two girls scrambling to their feet in the mud.
They’re slipping and kicking back dirt. Kara clings to her right arm. She must’ve hurt it when she fell. Savannah sees the incoming headstones first. Her eyes are wide as she throws herself at Kara, and they roll out of the way just in time.
Another low growl rises from the earth. It brings with it a chill that settles over my shoulders like a cloak. I hold my breath as I rise to my feet, and freeze.
Something dark is unfurling behind the temple, thick and coiling like an ink spill spreading across the starry sky. It moves slowly at first, creeping across the salt-licked stones.
“What the hell is that?” Taron’s voice cuts through the chaos.
I follow his gaze. “You can see it?” I ask, and my voice is thin. It feels as though the words themselves are being swallowed by the dark.
He doesn’t need to answer. His grim expression says it all.
Whatever this monstrosity is, anyone can see it, not just an Emo. Which means it’s something far worse than anything I’ve encountered before.
