“I was watched my entire life,” he said. “I know the sensation.”
I frowned. “Fear can make one imagine—”
Then I felt it, a distinct, overwhelming emotion as Ren had described before. But it wasn’t sadness or loneliness. It was the sting of anger, fierce enough to leave my cheek tingling as if I’d been slapped. An anger that was no longer human.
All at once, I sensed an evil creeping over me with millions of tiny, fine legs. Its presence was powerful and aged, having been festering for months. My heartba-dump ba-dump ba-dumped in my chest, my throat, my ears. The darkness sank into my pores, curdling my blood.
But I swallowed the terror and focused on my breaths, on the solid, familiar staff in my hand and the warm light swaying before me.If you protect yourself, Baba had taught me,death cannot harm you.
“It’s time for you to go ahead,” I murmured to Ren. Honestly, I should’ve sent him earlier. But his conversation and my own apprehension of being alone had stalled me. And now we were fast approaching the woman’s grave.
At first, I thought Ren would protest; I wouldn’t haveblamed him. But he clenched his jaw and nodded. Without another word, he marched forward, quickly consumed by the shadows.
I followed slowly, ears trailing the crunch of Ren’s boots against the forest floor. He was making enough noise to draw not only spirits but predators if the temperature had been warmer. I couldn’t help feeling a little impressed by his courage.
Focus, Siying.
My attention turned to keeping up with Ren while maintaining a careful distance. We had only one chance to distract and defeat the spirit. One terribly treacherous chance.
A scream sliced through the darkness.
CHAPTER 5
The sound was furious and high-pitched, sharp enough to hurt my eardrums. I almost missed the echo of Ren’s frightened cry.
I quickened my footsteps, my lantern swinging wildly from my hand and splattering light over gray trunks and startled mice. I’d had a plan, and I’d assured Ren I could handle it. But despite it all, in that moment, all I could think about was reaching him—and the spirit—before it was too late.
“Your Highness,” I gasped, breaking through a thicket of closely knit trees. “Ren—”
A hand grabbed me by the elbow, and I swung my head around to see Ren pressed up against a tree, the whites of his eyes gleaming in the lantern light. He tried to tug me closer, to hide me from whatever had terrified him, but he wasn’t fast enough. My gaze slipped past him and landed on the large oak across the clearing.
A shape dangled from a lower bough. It appeared to be a woman, pale and hazy as the moon against a black sky. Sheswung from a crude rope wrapped mercilessly around her throat, neck bent at a hard angle. Mud streaked her faded dress, her face blurred beneath a curtain of long, inky hair.
It was eerie how quiet she was, only the branch creaking against her weight.
I blinked, and the woman flickered out of view.
“Perhaps we should leave,” Ren whispered. The fear in his voice was thick. “It doesn’t feel right, this spirit.”
“No.” I clenched the staff to stop my own shaking hand. “We came for her qi, and I won’t leave without it.”
Ignoring his warnings, I crept toward the oak, scanning the darkness for the woman. Suddenly, a cold breath brushed the back of my neck. I spun around—coming face-to-face with the evil spirit.
My heart clenched as a wave of anger smacked into me.
The woman’s eyes were hate-filled voids, the edges cracked, black bleeding down her cheeks. The braided imprint of a rope collared her neck, her head bowed unnaturally toward her shoulder. Dark liquid dripped from her gaping mouth—blood or mud, I couldn’t tell.
Before I could figure it out, a pressure wrapped around my throat, crushing my windpipe. The lantern slipped from my grip.
No, I can’t die here.
Those words branded my brain as I clawed at my throat, only to feel nothing but my own bare skin. Whatever held me was worse than a branch—I couldn’t touch it. My back slammed into the rough bark of a tree before being dragged upward, away from the ground and the spirit’s grotesque glare. I grabbed at the trunk for something to hold on to. Woodlacerated my exposed flesh, blood burning down my fingers and palms. Stars blinked across my vision. I wheezed, sucking in every precious gasp of air. But it wasn’t enough.
I can’t die.
I can’t die.
Tears stung the corners of my eyes, blurring the skeletal branches around me.
