Page 96 of Wraithwound

“Is it a different kind of wraith then?” Cross asked.

“I don’t know what they are, but Laney might,” she said.

They strode down the corridors searching for Leonid but instead found Dauen on his way back to his lab. He informed them they’d heard the disturbance above and sent everyone to their rooms. Leonid, Taya, and Riley had descended into the cells below to ensure everyone was all right and to make sure the disturbance hadn’t originated from one of the infected.

Lena and Cross made their way down to the cells to find the iron door open and the three of them standing in the center of the hall, discussing something intently. At the sight of them, the trio fell silent.

“There is a winged creature scouting this area. Lena believes it’s an Aurynn,” Cross said. “Do you know what it might be looking for?”

“An Aurynn?” Riley asked, confusion cinching her brows. “You mean the same creature that scratched Laney?”

“Yes, I was hoping to ask her about it,” Lena added.

“You can’t,” Taya said, a hard edge to her voice.

“Why?” Lena demanded.

“See for yourself,” Taya said, gesturing towards the cell.

Lena walked over to see a terrifying creature standing at the bars of Laney’s cell. She felt simultaneously pulled toward it and repelled by it. By Laney.

Her skin had turned grey with black veins now fully visible under most of the exposed skin. Her eyes were milky white, and her face was frozen in a sneer. She held her hands close to her torso, long black nails protruding from her fingertips.

Lena approached the cell, unable to reconcile that the creature standing before her was her friend. How had she turned so quickly? Lena didn’t have a chance to ask before Laney’s arm shot out of the cell, wrapped around her throat, and squeezed.

On instinct, she reached up to grab Laney’s arm and the world exploded in a cloud of glittering black.

Chapter

Fifty-Three

When Lena opened her eyes, she was no longer standing in front of Laney or in the vast cavern that held the containment cells. Instead, she stood in a white room, a column of light shining down on her. The injury on her shoulder and chest didn’t feel the same here. There was no pull of the skin as she whirled around, trying to figure out where she might be. The long black fingernails that had replaced her own were absent. Her hands looked normal, the black scarring gone. She reached up tentatively and ran her fingers through her hair, pulling some of it forward. The strands were healthy, silky soft, and a rich, deep brown. That confirmed her suspicions. She was not a wraith here, wherever here was.

Lena made to step from the column of light when a tug in her gut told her to stay within it.

“Come out,” Lena said, sounding a lot braver than she felt.

Two small, white lights appeared in the darkness in front of her, and when they narrowed, she knew what they were. Eyes.

As the darkness began to lighten, a woman materialized in front of her. She was beautiful, with a long, thin face that was almost delicate looking despite the absence of irises or pupils in her wholly white eyes. She wore intricate leather armor that covered every inch of her apart from a golden chest plate that started at her neck and ended in a “V” at the center of her chest. The shoulder pieces made her look taller, curving up menacingly at the ends, but it was the metal circlet that told Lena all she needed to know. The engraved metal came to a point between her brows with two long, thin spikes jutting out like horns reaching ominously into the air above her.

No, not a woman. This creature might have appeared in the body of one, but Lena knew deep down it was not human.

“Who are you?” Lena asked, her heart beating wildly in her chest. The creature gave her a too wide smile. A predator, amused with her prey. And Lena realized her mistake because the question she should have asked instead was: “What are you?”

“Hello, Alina. We meet at last,” the creature said.

Horror struck as Lena realized where she was and exactly what stood in front of her because she could count on one hand the number of people who knew her name. Her full name. The only explanation was that this creature was one that lived inside her. One privy to her inner most thoughts, her consciousness. The world seemed to narrow all around her, the white room condensing to the creature that stood before her.

“Who are you?” Lena asked again.

“My name is Runa,” the wraith said.

“Where is Henry?” Lena asked, her voice betraying the fear she felt.

“I believe he finally burned out,” Runa said as she began to pace around the column of light.

No, that couldn’t be true.