Daegan lifts Raef’s hand, revealing a thin hole in his shirt. No blood, but something there is hurting him. Daegan doesn’t hesitate as he rips the hole open, revealing a nasty purple puncture mark on Raef’s chest. My stomach flips. The circle around it is bright and swollen.
“Fuck,” Daegan growls. “What the hell is it?”
“I don’t know,” I say helplessly.
“We need to get him out of here.”
I nod earnestly, placing my hands under his right shoulder to help Daegan lift him.
Then we freeze.
Again.
A screeching, wailing noise echoes through the forest.
I didn’t think it was possible, but this sound is even more haunting than the last.
Chills run up my spine and tiny bumps form on my arms. I glance at Daegan, who’s crouched next to me, our faces only a head-length apart. He’s so still, I can tell he’s holding his breath as he looks off into the trees, his full pink lips pressed tightly shut.
The noise doesn’t sound human, but it also doesn’t sound like any creature I’ve encountered before. Not that I’ve explored many lands outside our region. I’ve seen nothing of the world.
“What was that?” I whisper.
“Stay behind me,” Daegan demands.
We hold still as we wait to hear it again. My heavy breathing I’m trying so desperately to quiet seems like the only sound in these woods.
I sense motion from my left and I whip my head that way. My heart jumps. A dark form glides through the trees, then disappears.
Daegan shoots up so fast it startles me, standing protectively in front of me and Raef.
I take a deep breath, and another shrieking sound comes from the right. We both whip our heads in that direction, and another dark form glides behind some far-off trees. I stand next to him.
Daegan holds his hand up as his gaze flicks all over the place, motioning for me to remain still. Silent.
Another wailing shriek from a different direction. And then another. It has my head whipping around as more and more shadows dance around us. Playing with us.
The swirling figures and the wailing cries are like a nightmare that I desperately want to wake up from but can’t, and just when it seems there are so many we’re utterly doomed, a white light shines up ahead in the distance.
Daegan quickly pivots to face it. He stands in front of me again, with Raef beside us at our feet still struggling to breathe. It’s getting closer, I realize as I peek around Daegan’s large frame. I think—by the way it’s moving—that it’s a person. Or… something like a person. It’s hard to focus on it, because the dark, shadowy figures are still swirling around us from a distance. Daegan’s gaze is everywhere.
“I don’t think they’re going to hurt us,” I whisper. It’s just a feeling.
“Stay back,” Daegan orders.
The figure is close enough now to confirm that it is indeed a person of some sort. Its white glow is a stark contrast in this dark forest.
A beacon of light… come to save us?
“Who are you?” Daegan asks in a commanding voice, his sword raised toward the approaching, mysterious figure.
We’re met with silence at first. And then I realize, I was so entranced by this approaching figure that I didn’t notice the absence of the wailing, and the slowing of the movement around us. I can still see many figures circling us from afar, but they’re gliding slowly now, less threatening.
I’m still terrified.
“The one you seek, of course.” A wispy, echoing voice fills the air around us. And it sounds… male? Possibly. Chills creep up my neck.
“Maethrel?” I call out, surprising myself.
