The trees began to close around him as he quickly crawled through. A feral howl ripped through the darkness from the shifters, and Benny’s panic crested like a tsunami crashing into him. He jumped up and ran, feeling his chest rise and fall with each unsteady breath. He didn’t know which way to go, but he pushed himself forward.
The sharp hiss in the air met him before the impact did. Hecollapsed to his knees and stared down, seeing an arrow protruding through his chest.
Howls and roars began to close around him as he looked up and saw dozens of Lycanthropes surrounding him with snarling faces. Seda’s replica walked up to him and placed her hand on his shoulder. He looked up and was met with a smile that looked exactly like his sisters’.
Tears began to roll down his cheeks as he stared into her violet eyes. He felt no physical pain, but the same ache in his heart from earlier returned with a vengeance and began gnawing upon his soul, eating him from within.
He could feel the darkness slowly encroaching on his vision.
He had nowhere to go and no one to rescue him. Ojore was gone, Sephyr was gone, and his sister’s face loomed over him with a cruel amusementthat tormented his soul.
This wasn’t her. He wouldn’t allow this false image to tarnish the love and memory he had of her.
His mind wandered to the memories of his mother’s smile, at the way she would cradle him in her arms. He reflected on his father’s defiance against injustice, which sparked the Rising. Yepa was wrong about humans. They had endured the most and still survived. Images of Aurora flashed through his mind, of the small Unipaca who happily munches on apples and stamps her foot in irritation.
She needed to flee before they got to her.
He felt his body fall backwards onto the ground as he stared up into Seda’s eyes, seeing the trees sway behind her. Slowly, he started to see himself as if he were floating above, staring down at his body lying in the cold dirt.
He thought about Roya and how he loved her, how he never got to say those words aloud, and how much he wanted one more chance to hold her tightly in his arms. He thought about how he could break down her walls and see the beautiful smile she always kept so hidden, and how strong she always managed to be.
She was okay. She wasn’t gone from this world. He could feel it now; he could sense her magic out there somewhere, burning bright with that beautiful vengeance he loved so much.
He heard a caw in the distance. Vira maybe?
“I love you,” he pushed the words out for the first time, feeling the softness of his voice echo into nothingness as he stared down at his body, his lips unmoving.
His vision blurred, replaced by an overpowering brightness that surrounded him, as if the sun had finally risen.
He didn’t feel like he was here or there, like time didn’t matter anymore. A saturation of loving warmth bloomed from within, flowing outward as he took in his surroundings. The feeling of serenity draped itself around him, and the realization dawned on him that everything was going to be okay.
He was safe.
He was returning to a home long forgotten.
A soothing voice called to him, “Come to me, my child.”
Chapter 42
Luelle
The piercing sirens blared as Luelle and Ferona ran through the halls, exiting the throne room doors and meeting Praxis on a patio outside that overlooked the kingdom.
“There are two of them in the distance,” Praxis said to them as he pointed toward the distant mountainside. Luelle looked out and saw the dark shadows of two Jotnar standing far off, watching Umbrea. Their massive, disgusting forms, lit by moonlight. They weren’t moving forward, as if they were waiting for others to arrive and biding their time. The green orbs evaded them, as if a thick barrier covered them and prevented them from touching.
“What do you want to do?” Praxis asked, honoring her given position.
Ael wasn’t here to give the orders, and a fierce determination grew within her to prove to Ael that she could do this.
“I want us to kill those fuckers,” she replied, staring up into hiseyes. He only nodded approvingly in response, a nervous smile curling on his lips.
She looked over at Ferona, who was looking ghostly pale.
“Are you o—” she began to ask, but Ferona fell into a chair beside her, eyes closed and rolling to the back of her head. She rushed to her side.
“What’s happening?” Praxis asked as his eyes widened.
“I don’t know!” Luelle shouted as she ran her hand over Ferona’s forehead, seeing the nail polish still under her eye. She looked back up at Praxis. Could it be a message from someone? Usually, the Corvids didn’t pass out like that when they whispered to each other.
