“Holy shit,” Cal’s raspy voice broke through my brain fog.
A slender blonde figure approached Grey. I squinted, trying to get a better look.
No, it couldn’t be.
“Kenna?” Emory said, straightening beside me.
I watched in horror as she removed her hand from Grey’s chest cavity.
“Don’t you fucking touch him.” I banged on the window, trying to shatter it.
“Here, watch out.” Eli chucked a boulder at the glass. The rock hit the window and fell uselessly to the ground.
A smile tugged at Kenna’s lips but she didn’t look up as she wrapped her bloody hands around Grey’s neck. Her lips moved, but it was impossible to make out what she was saying.
Grey’s back arched off the altar, and rivulets of blood poured from the gashes on his chest.
“What the fuck is happening?” Cal hollered over the quickly approaching storm. The wind suddenly changed directions, whipping my hair into my face. Dark clouds that hadn’t been there a minute ago now filled the sky.
The spirits all cried at once into my mind. It took a second to decipher their jumbled, panicked thoughts.
“She’s trying to drop the veil,” I yelled over the roar of the wind.
“How do you know that?” Cal raised a brow in question.
“Because the spirits are literally screaming it into my head—” Every muscle in my body froze at the howls in the distance.
“Tell me that’s the wind.” Cal said, coming to stand beside us.
We were out of time. The hellhounds were advancing, already calling to each other. Howls sounded from all sides, closing in, surrounding the church and us.
I walked toward the door, steeling my nerves, and knocked. I was the shepherd of lost souls, and I would not be denied entry.
Knock. Knock. Knock.I banged again, beckoning the spirits to answer. “Memento mori,” I whispered the words,remember you must die, to the spirits on the other side. I lifted a palm tothe door and continued with, “mors non est finis,” reminding the spirits that death was not the end.
The door shook violently, rattling the hinges. A pounding came from the other side, and the door swung open as the spirits converged. Their presence hit me like a tidal wave. Several spirits fled into the woods, but not all of them. Desperate hands, fingers, and nails tore at me. Those who were ready passed to the afterlife. Those who were not turned and followed the others into the woods.
The howls echoed through the trees, spooking a murder of crows that circled overhead. The screams of the spirits drowned out everything as the hounds hunted, tearing their souls apart.
I offered a silent prayer to whatever god they believed in, praying they might find the peace I couldn’t give them after the brutal, unfair fate they were forced to meet.
“Kenna,” Emory pleaded with our best friend. “Please stop this.” A wall of fire kept her and Cal from getting any closer.
“She’s going to burn everything to the ground,” Cal hissed, “us included.”
Emory ignored Cal’s warning and stepped closer. Cal raised his hands, careful not to fuel the fire, he sent a gust of wind strong enough to knock the flames back.
A loud crack sounded. Through the flames, I saw the collar around Grey’s neck fall to the ground and shatter into pieces.
Grey’s lightning erupted, twisted upward through the skull he wore and smashed into the stained-glass window.
I shielded my face with my arms as colorful shards rained from above. I looked up just in time to see Kenna raise the knife over her head and plunge it directly into Grey’s chest.
CHAPTER 40
LYRA
Grey, Grey, Grey.His name was a mantra I chanted over and over.
