Page 98 of The Blood Rites

I don’t have the strength to keep arguing. I could try to stop him, but I don’t know if I could bring myself to do it. I watch as he turns and walks away, heading for the far edge of the island.

I almost reach for him. Almost.

But my hand never leaves my side.

Marissa wipes tears from her eyes. She looks at me properly, and her voice drops to a whisper. “Are you scared?”

I find myself looking for Kael.

He isn’t here.

I want to tell her no, that I’m brave, that I have a plan. But I am terrified, and I don’t.

I nearly say yes, but the words won't come, so I just nod.

“Me too,” she says. “What do we do now?”

I drag a breath into my lungs and try to think.

Then the world begins to move.

A rumble rolls through the island, followed by the sound of rocks scraping together.

Movement draws my eye left. Rask is already moving. He and Orla are picking their way across a bridge that wasn’t there moments ago—narrow and trembling, formed from the stones that had been floating through the air. The rules are changing beneath our feet.

“We need to get ready,” I say. “We hold here. If we run after Callen, they’ll follow.”

Marissa’s face is ashen, but she brushes herself off and stands taller. “I’ll help you.”

I manage a smile for her.

Rask and Orla draw closer. Beyond the mist, rocks scrape together, the sound coming from more than one direction. Other bridges are forming. I can’t see them, but I know what it means. Running might not save us. It might only lead Rask and Orla to someone easier to kill.

A chill runs over my skin.

Somewhere on these islands, someone is about to die. I just don’t know who yet.

My Mana stirs. Beneath the wind, I hear it again.

What are you?

I don’t have an answer.

Not yet.

But what rises in me isn’t fear.

It's colder than that.

We wait. There is no other word for it.

The wind cuts into our skin, chilling us to the bone. The world seems to vibrate with Rask and Orla’s approach. Marissa keeps glancing at me, wide-eyed and waiting for me to know what to do. She looks ready to sprout wings and fly away from here.

“We should move to the next island,” she whispers, but I shake my head.

“If we run, they’ll chase us, and we’ll lead them right to Callen and the Waterborn girls,” I say. “We need to try to hold them off here.”

What I don’t say is that part of me is sure Kael will come.