A hand with four long fingers had slipped out of thebranches that had trapped the wraiths in—a single hand, and the darkened tips of those fingers were leaking shadows. Black like ink, like silk ribbons, and they were extending toward the other Hands, slow at first, then all at once.
We all saw it when they latched onto the Life Clocks gathered on the floor.
We all saw it when Erith choked on thin air, and her eyes turned in their sockets and she began to shake.
“Move them now!” said someone, either March or I, and we were both running toward the other side, but Mimi and Seth had gotten there first.
They kicked the Life Clocks away, farther from those shadows that looked so wrong, so damn disgusting—until the connection broke.
Then the ribbon latched onto Seth’s foot.
I didn’t think. There was no time. I was running like there was no ground underneath my feet, and then I jumped and I slammed onto Seth with all my strength, taking him down.
The look on his face, though, a split-second before I crashed onto him would remain with me for the rest of my life. The way his eyes turned in their sockets, became all white. The way his mouth opened wide and he choked—that sound.The way the color of his skin changed to gray—just like that of the wraiths.
Then we were rolling and rolling on the floor, and I held on tight with all my strength, not really sure what was even happening. I was pure instinct. I had no control over my body—it operated on its own.
“Let go, Velvet. Let go.”
March’s voice slipped into the center of my mind long before I realized I’d stopped rolling, or that I was still holding onto a body with all my might.
I let go—safe enough to do. My body remained at March’scommand more than my own, it seemed, even in moments I wasn’t sure I was entirely conscious.
Hands on my arms, and I was pulled up as if I weighed nothing. Hands on my face, and March’s beautiful eyes pulled me out of whatever trance I’d been in. Red and brown and a whole universe in between, I focused on him until I was aware of my surroundings again.
The other Hands. The timewraiths. Thelet’s go-let’s go-let’s get out of here!
“Can you run?” March asked, his voice thick, hoarse.
The best I could do was nod.
Cold enveloped me when he let go of my face and stepped back. I only allowed myself a moment to look around, to see that the Life Clocks were no longer on the floor, and the other Hands were moving, Russ and Anika helping Erith, Mimi and Cook helping Seth—both of whom were slightly limping as they went.
Meanwhile, the timewraiths were trapped between the branches and the trunk, and they were trying to free their hands—another branch had trapped the hand of the one who’d latched onto Erith and Seth, it seemed.
They were there, all four of them. We were free to go.
“Come on!” March called.
I turned my back to them and ran.
40
Our relief was short-lived.
“Watch out!”Russ screamed two minutes later, and he pointed to the left, to where a shadow was basicallypeelingitself from a large branch,becominga timewraith right there while we watched.
More. Of course there were more.
We continued to run, and Seth and Erith were already feeling much better. They had no trouble keeping up with the rest of us as we ran ahead, without any clear direction.
“Behind us!” Anika shouted, and we all turned our heads to find another wraith was already gaining speed as it ran for us.
My heart pounded. My legs screamed in protest. I exchanged a look with March—we were the last of the group—and we both forced our bodies to move faster.
“There’s nowhere to go! There’s nowhere—argh!”
Mimi.
