We kept moving in the direction we’d been going, but the mist was everywhere, disorienting and thickening by the minute.
“It’s following us.” Bella’s voice pitched. “It has to be.”
“What’s that?” Bryce pointed at nothing. “There, again.”
“I don’t see anything,” Bella said.
“Doesn’t mean there’s nothing there.” Poppy drew her sword, and the others followed suit.
The muscles in my thighs bunched, ready to propel me into action at a moment's notice, as I scanned the mist, gaze snagging on a tall, elongated shadow before it melted into the fog. “I see something.”
“Me too!” Bella called out.
“No!” Bryce cried. “No, get out. Get out of my head!” He fell to his knees, clutching his head. “They’re in here. I can hear them.”
Ice filled my veins. “An Echo?” We hadn’t been trained to shield against echoes. Jay had warned that the Carvers might pit us against one to test our mental acuity, but I hadn’t expected it to happen.
Bryce screamed, an awful, shrill sound that morphed into a roar as he burst from his skin in all his beastly glory—five feet of fur and claws, red eyes burning with hunger.
Several shapes coalesced around him—echoes imitating his form. Fuck, there was more than one?
“Run!” he roared.
We didn’t need telling twice.
CHAPTER 35
Echoes: The most terrifying of creatures. Origin unknown. Classification undetermined. Can take any form.
THE COMPENDIUM OF HORRORS
Bryce was feeding the echoes with his Thrope power, and five beasts were on our tail, including Bryce, who seemed to be under their control.
One echo, I could understand, but they’d sent four. It was overkill, considering our lack of training. Surely this wasn’t right. Maybe someone had made a mistake in releasing too many?
“Why is Bryce helping them?” Bella huffed. “They should be attacking him. Breaking his mind.”
Another piece that didn’t fit.
“I don’t know!” Poppy yelled back. “But I don’t think we can outrun them. We’ll have to fight.”
“How the hex do we kill one?” Bella said.
My mind flashed back to the night I’d been attacked by echoes. Sterling had saved me. “Chop off their heads. That’s what Sterling did when they attacked me.”
“Good to know,” Poppy said. “You keep going. Get to the forest.”
“I can’t fucking see the forest.”
“You will once we engage them. The mist moves with them. It’ll be a distraction.”
Bella and Poppy slowed, turning to face the threat, their blades glinting dully, then flaring bright as they channeled the Weave through the conduit stones in the hilts. I kept running, arms pumping, hoping to break cover.
Snarls and growls rose behind me, and then one of the girls screamed in agony.
Keep moving, Anamaya. You can’t help. You can’t channel.
Another scream followed, sharper and filled with desperation
