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It was as if her hand collided with a hot wire. Shock ricocheted through her limb. She recoiled as did whoever she hit. She took a step back and found all her panic right back in its place—the rate of her pulse was enough for her to pass out if she moved too quickly. She attempted to slow her breathing, sparing one glance at her hand, then turned to the man across from her.

He was hunched over, gripping his wrist, examining the limb as he heaved out pained breaths. His green eyes shot up toward her through loose strands of dark hair, and upon meeting her gaze, the concerned expression on his bronze features swept to something dark—irate.

“Lily! Run!” Luka’s panic yanked her out of her daze, but she only followed after he darted into the woods.

She ran after him. Where the figure once stood, there was no one. The sun returned, though it was barely a sliver on the horizon.

Illusions. The last thing it could do was conjure illusions.

Losing sight of Luka immediately, she followed the sound of rustling underbrush, praying she’d find him so she wouldn’t have to call out. She dodged between trees, coming to rest against a trunk after it felt like she’d been running for a while. Unaware she was shaking, she reached for her chest, and her body crumbled to the forest floor.

That was the fucking Serpent! But the last person to have it was…

A petrifying shiver ran up her spine. Oh gods… She warily cocked her head around the trunk.

Draven Hazevale.

The wind rustled the tops of the trees. Shadows shivering on the forest floor brought her to her feet.

I have to find Luka.

Lily slunk through the forest, coming up on a small clearing. A few trees scattered through the break in the thick of the woods. She crept out into the open, calling for the boy in whispers.

“Lily!”

She flinched, spinning around to see Luka stumbling out from behind the tree line. He fell into her arms, breathing erratically, but no tears soaked into her shirt. She gripped him tight for comfort before pushing him back to look him over.

“Shh,” she hushed. “Are you okay?”

“That was the”—Lily pressed a hand to his mouth, and he took a solid inhale through his nose before she released him—“Serpent!” His voice was a whisper now. “Where did it come from? I didn’t feel it at all.”

Lily gritted her teeth. Luka knew it too. But it couldn’t be… him. There was no way Brialis would let her brother out after all this time.

So who was this man? Why was he here?

Lily lifted her hand. A faint, nearly transparent trace clung to her fingers. An older aura—something she typically saw on bones or graves beneath grass.

“Lily,” Luka murmured. “What do we do now?”

Her eyes drifted from her hand to the forest floor, the shadows, then to Luka, whose own worry told her exactly what he was thinking. “We can’t stay. It’ll only—”

“I don’t wanna leave,” he whined.

“Luka.” She ushered him next to a tree at a crouch. “It’s not safe for Acadia.”

“Then we’ll go somewhere else. I can’t go back, Lily. Please.”

“I know, I know. I…” Her voice was stern and frustrated until his eyes turned glassy. She averted her gaze, staring down. She had nothing to say, nothing to offer. There was nowhere else to go.

“Lily.”

Luka’s voice was urgent. He tapped her shoulder incessantly. She lifted her head to his stare locked behind her, mouth agape. The air around them became thick with a humidity that should’ve been gone at this time of day.

The shadows were all unnaturally still.

She grabbed Luka by the collar, dragging them both to their feet, but he was as solid as a boulder. The darkness on the forest floor pooled together, bending and spreading without restraint. Lily gasped, stumbling into Luka who was frozen with a fear even she could see.

Where is he?