There came a shuffle and a ring of metal as the twins scrambled to their feet, swords out.
Shit.She’d let a child provoke her into a perceptible-enough anger that Neri had sensed it. Ysira swore again under her breath, weighed her options, and emerged from behind the column. As she descended the stairs, she unwound her scarf, exposing her face. She held up both hands to show she meant no harm.
“Why are you following us?” Neri demanded.
She took in his slight build, his short dark hair, and his deep-set, curious black eyes that regarded her with suspicion. He looked nothing at all like Ged.
It took her too long to remember how to speak, plans of knocking the boy unconscious slipping pathetically out of her grasp.
“I’m here to help,” she improvised.
Casandra pointed her sword at Ysira. “Not another step.” She sounded like she’d learned to threaten people from Ged.
“This place is dangerous,” Ysira said. Not a lie. The monsters of the canyon preferred to stay hidden during the eclipse, but these three were making far too much noise.
“Doesn’t concern you,” said Damir.
He looked like a sixteen-year-old version of Ged, broad and poised as if he owned the world. His twin sister, who bore a stronger resemblance to their late mother, Lilaya, was tall and willowy like a dancer. Both were Knight Candidates near the end of their training, but they were sheltered. Ysira doubted many of their classmates ever dared land a proper hit on them. If this came to a fight, she’d have to be smart about it, but she stood a chance.
“I’m a scavenger,” Ysira said. “I know this place better than anyone.
I can help you find whatever you’re looking for.”
Damir advanced on her, the tip of his blade an inch from her chest. “How about youfuck offand I let you live.”
“Maybe she can help,” said Casandra uncertainly.
“We know where we’re going.” Damir gripped his sword tighter, shifting into a more active stance. “You have three seconds to walk away before I gut you.”
Ysira clenched her jaw. He couldn’t possibly be that stupid. “Neri—” she started, and the boy stiffened at his name.
A bloodcurdling howl echoed through the ruins.
The four of them looked up to the mezzanine, where Ysira had hidden mere minutes before. A creature loomed there, peering down through flat yellow eyes. It resembled a man but crawled on four legs. Nothing but ropy muscle on bone, a tattered loincloth, and matted hair the same red-black color as Ysira’s. It howled again, the sound reverberating off the stone. In the distance, more voices joined the awful chorus. The hunting cry of the Osuun.
Damir and Casandra whirled, weapons raised. But Ysira knew better. Osuun hunted in packs, and if they tried to stay and fight, they’d be overwhelmed by numbers. These creatures alsonever,not in the decade Ysira had been making trips to the canyon, came out during the eclipse. Something was very wrong.
She didn’t care what the twins did—maybe they’d prove a useful distraction—but to Neri she said, “Run.”
And he did—the wrong way, down the trail of glass toward the tenebrous depths.
8
OMENS
YSIRA
Ysira sprinted down the incline after Neri. They had a head start, but the Osuun knew the canyon better than she did. She was not sure whether she would survive being eaten alive and was in no mood to find out.
Shale slipped beneath her boots. She struggled to keep an even footing on the treacherous path. Neri raced ahead, awfully quick for a boy with a cleft foot. A terrible stench rose from the depths, so strong, Ysira almost gagged. She slid between two skeletons mounted on ancient plinths, ribcages split open in some twisted idea of a decorative display. She ran beneath an archway of bones strung with bloody entrails still dripping wet. Everything about this place presented a clear message:Turn back now.But the path of glass remained, so Neri took it all as an invitation.
As the path grew slick with gore, he finally slowed and stumbled.
Ysira closed the distance and caught him by the armpit. “Let go!” he shouted.
“Quiet,” she hissed. “Don’t make me stuff a rag in your mouth.”
He flinched at her tone. She didn’t have time to feel guilty. She steered him sideways, down a series of sawtooth passages through the ghastly ruins. She kept an unyielding grip on his arm, looking over her shoulder to ensure they hadn’t been followed.
