No!No sound leaves my lungs, but my heart clenches with such force I feel pain spear through my entire frame as tears blur my eyes. I shake my head in denial, praying that somehow I’m wrong. But I know in my heart that I’m not mistaken.
Noleen. Ruben’s mother is here, her eyes open, her lips parted, her skin mottled green.
How? How is Noleen here? The priestesses took her, said she was hours away from passing, that she would be buried, and yet here she is.
Galvanised by what I have seen, I leap up into the air and sweep low between the statue shapes, searching for more familiar faces.
And I find one.
Evelina. My old neighbour.
Fresh tears clog my throat. She doesn’t deserve this fate. No one does.
How is this possible? Why are they here?
Why?
The question ripsfrom my throat in something close to a scream and I bolt upright and realise, with heart-stopping relief, that I am no longer in my borrowed avian form.
I could not pull you back, Little Raven,Fen says, and I can feel the echoes of his panic that he could not reach me.
I’m okay.
I felt your fear, your horror.
I bury my hands in his fur, unable to even express to him what I saw. How can I when I barely understand it myself?
Kyor is beside me in a blink. ‘Rose? Are you okay?’
I shake my head once. Twice. Like that might knock the images loose. Make me unsee the horrors I saw.
‘Rottings,’ I manage. My voice sounds strange to my own ears. Too high and thin. ‘It was … a room. A huge underground cavern like the Sunken Temple. Full of them.’
Benny’s face hardens. ‘How many?’
‘Too many,’ I whisper. ‘They weren’t moving. They were standing like … like statues.’
Ruben steps closer, eyes sharp with dread. ‘What do you mean?’
My throat tightens. ‘They were there, but not … there. Not talking, not eating, notliving.Just columns of flesh. Waiting.’ I shudder.
‘Waiting for what?’ Caz asks.
‘I don’t know. But they came from Wrohelm,’ I tell her. ‘At least some of them did. My old neighbour was there, Evelina.’
Ruben gasps.
‘I thought the priestess had taken her,’ I continue. ‘Theydidtake her. But she was there. And she wasn’t alone. N—’ The single consonant flies from my tongue before I can stop it, and silence drops like a blade.
Ruben’s face drains of colour so fast it’s like watching a candle go out.
‘My mother? Noleen? You were going to say Noleen.’ He shakes his head as he shifts back away from me. ‘No, that’s not possible. She can’t be …’
‘I know,’ I say hoarsely. ‘I know it shouldn’t be. And I’m sorry – I’m so sorry – but it was her. I’m sure it was. I wouldn’t say if I wasn’t sure, Ruben.’
Kyor’s hand tightens around mine, grounding me, but even his touch can’t warm the cold that crawls under my skin.
‘Why?’ Ruben’s voice cracks. ‘Why would she be there? Why would she be one ofthem?’
