Bridget tried to catch Cade’s gaze, but he wouldn’t meet her eyes. So staying with her and Nylah obviously wasn’t part of the plan. Dread spiked through her chest at the thought of having to transverse the tunnel out of the palace without him. Especially if fire was involved. There was no guarantee they could control it if it started to spread.
Luckily, Finn voiced her thoughts. “So he has a plan? If we use as much fire as you did last time, you’re going to burn the palace down.”
“An idea of one, apparently,” Cade said, leading them down the stairs. “I haven’t decided if it’s a good one or not.”
Bridget stared at the back of his head and willed him to connect to her mind. She could tell he felt her gaze by the tense set of his shoulders. Before she gave in and poked him, his presence pinched her temple.
If you stare any harder, I’m going to catch on fire before we even find the Wraith.
That’s not funny. What is Stellan asking you to do?
Cade’s gaze flickered to his sister beside him.Use Cassia.
With a quick pop, he was gone. Bridget watched Cassia twist her hands. They’d barely learned anything about her Druid abilities.Shebarely knew anything. Except for the terrifying warning that her powers, if overused, could annihilate everything around her. What did Stellan expect her to do? And what would the price be?
Blinding light flashed throughout the hallway, temporarily blinding Bridget and illuminating the west courtyard to their right. Moments later, thunder rumbled, shaking the palace walls and rattling her bones. The wind howled fiercely, shattering a pane in the glass doors that framed the golden-red and green tree she remembered from the first day of thetournament. Thick, humid air drifted in, heavy with the scent of rain, as lightning struck again, illuminating the trembling timber outside.
Finn tensed, his gaze darting along the corridor. “A storm isn’t going to help us track anything.”
“Are we almost there?” Nylah asked, her voice trembling.
With a tilt of his head, Cade urged them forward. “It’s around the next corner.”
Tightening her grip on the sword, Bridget sped up her steps. Another roll of thunder made her jump. “I haven’t heard the Wraith since we made it downstairs.”
“Maybe it left,” Archer said.
Cassia rolled her eyes. “Unlikely.”
At the end of the hallway, Cade stopped in front of a gray metal door with no handles. “We still need to figure out how it made it to the palace in the first place,” he said, waving his hand over the hinges. “I can still feel the protection spell around Astraeus.”
“So can we.”
Stellan’s deep voice echoed from behind them. Bridget whirled around to meet his steady gaze. Beside him, Marin took a deep breath and shoved her trembling hands behind her back. Narrowing her eyes, Bridget opened her mouth to ask if she was okay, but Cade’s voice cut her off.
“Once I show Bridget the right way through the tunnels, you need to explain exactly how you plan to use Cass against this Wraith,” he said, kicking open the now unlocked safe room door with his heel.
Cassia paled. “Me? Absolutely not. I can’t. Not if it means I could hurt—”
At the end of the hall, the girl from Bridget’s dreams appeared between lightning strikes. With a taunting smile, she wiggled her fingers.
Bridget flung herself backward, colliding with Stellan’s chest. His hands closed around her shoulders, steadying her as her whole body shook.She squeezed her eyes shut. Thunder rolled overhead, low and menacing. When she opened them, the girl would be gone. She had to be.
“Are you okay?” Stellan asked.
Bridget’s hands trembled as she forced her eyes open. The space where the girl had stood was empty now—utterly, impossibly empty. She couldn’t bring herself to meet Cade and Nylah’s worried gazes. Her voice broke as she whispered, “I saw her. She was right there.”
Cade’s throat bobbed as he swallowed hard, eyes fixed on Bridget. “There’s no one there,” he said gently, his voice laced with worry.
Cassia’s gaze swept the hallway, sharp and tense. “What the hell is she talking about?” she hissed, her fingers twitching at her side.
Archer grabbed her arm. “Bridget, now is not the time for your little—”
“Watch out!”
Nylah’s scream tore through the hall.
A blur of shadow surged from the ceiling. Skeletal limbs and smoke trailed as the Wraith dove straight for Bridget. Stellan yanked her back just in time, his arm slamming across her chest as the creature’s claws scraped the air inches from her face.
