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Ren’s words were mostly spittle. “I answered… I answered the question.”

“It was a clever answer,” Della admitted. “Pretending to simply be an observant girl. The whole bit about being students. That’s a nice front. But it doesn’t matter how nice your shoes are when you walk through a cow pasture. They’re still going to smell like dung. When three ‘students’ appear at our door without gear or food or anything, I’m going to harbor suspicions.”

She nodded to Host again.

“Pain is a road to the truth. Who sent you?”

An odd numbness was spreading through Ren’s entire body. She wasn’t sure if it was the pain or the fear, or if death itself was coming for her. She felt as if she’d slipped out of her physical body and were watching the scene as an observer. When the Ren on the table didn’t answer their question, Host set down the smaller blade. She watched, utterly helpless, as he picked up a massive butcher’s sword. It looked crude, effective. She stared as her own blood ran over the table’s edge, coloring the dusty floor, and then the entire room went colorless.…

* * *

“… good seats or you’ll catch elbows from the Mackie brothers.”

Inside, the kitchen was the clear centerpiece of their home. It sprawled around a great wooden table that appeared to be two farmhouse doors fashioned and bolted into one longer piece. Finely crafted chairs ran down both sides, and Ren guessed they were handmade. Hooks had been hammered straight into the walls. Any number of cast-iron implements hung like war prizes. Ren thought the room looked oddly familiar. She tried to remember if there was a restaurant down by the wharf that had similar decorations. It was a strange sort of echo.

Della set out a plate of melted goat cheese on the table. Ren could barely keep the drool from running down her chin. “Start in,” their host…

… host… host… Host grinned down at her, blade in hand. Everything was lightless.…

…their host turned to prepare another dish.

“The Mackies will eat it all if you don’t grab a few bites now.”

Ren felt that strange flicker of repetition in her mind. What was happening to her? Some image had knifed briefly through her senses. It had her grinding her teeth. Was Clyde nearby? She tried to focus on what Della was saying as Holt took his seat. There was an old-flower scent hidden beneath the smoked cheeses and meats. It reminded Ren of the stores her mother used to frequent when she was a child. Something that, in larger doses, would make her feel a little nauseous.

She was reaching for some bread when movement caught her eye. Cora leaned over and whispered in Theo’s ear. Ren frowned, thinking it was a fairly rude and obvious gesture to perform right at the table. Theo blanched at whatever she was saying. That had Ren curious. Holt as well. He was eyeing the two of them and started to ask a question when Cora bolted to her feet.

Aim, whisper, magic.

A punch of force hit the chandelier overhead.

Ren could only watch as it came crashing down.

37

Cora and Theo ran, stumbling toward the entrance.

Ren was a step slower, but her senses had been unnerved since they arrived. It was easy to be drawn in by Cora’s instincts, even if she didn’t know what had forced their sudden flight. Muted shouts chased them down the front porch steps. She saw that Cora had already snatched their satchel.

“Hey! What’s happening?…”

Ren’s question was swallowed by the odd pull of time. She saw an outhouse directly ahead. Memories came to her in flickering, colorless glimpses. The stars in the sky above. The little girl—Ren somehow knew that her name was Talia—framed by moonlight. A slender man watching her from the very same porch they’d just run down. An entire roomful of people that she’d never met, staring at her as Cora and Theo slept on their handkerchiefs, frighteningly motionless.

Her senses snapped back to the present as they sprinted around the corner of the building. There were figures in her periphery. She glanced over and saw a small circle of them near one of the cabins, deep in discussion until they finally heard Della’s shouts. They were the same people Ren had just seen in that flickering memory. A bolt of magic seared overhead, barely missing.

Cora aimed for the eastern fence. All three of them were sprinting as fast as they could, Ren just a step behind. The field hands were in pursuit. She heard a sharp whistle. In the far corner of the pasture, the hound shot to his feet. He sprinted at an angle to cut off their escape. Whatever friendship had been born in that first meeting was lost now. He let out a menacing growl as he closed in on them.

“Over the fence!”

Cora started pulling herself over. Theo jumped before turning to help Ren. Another spell bent back the fence post on their left. A second later and they were over, vaulting recklessly down an overgrown embankment. Luckily, it ran right into some kind of service path. Cora looked both ways before darting downhill. A sharp pain was digging into Ren’s side. She didn’t know how long they could outrun their pursuers. Especially on a property they didn’t know nearly as well.

The path curled downhill for about three hundred paces. Ren saw hatches built diagonally into the sides of the stone shelf on their left. Far too advanced for a simple farm. It confirmed a truth that had been festering in her mind since they arrived. She knew exactly what kind of place this was. “I’m pretty sure we’re… this is a…”

A figure appeared at the bottom of the path. Ren’s breathing was ragged as they all pulled up short. It wasn’t one of the field hands. Not Holt or Della. The waiting figure was one all of them knew on sight. A dark whisper filled the air, tugging at the edges of Ren’s mind. He was too far away for the magic to fully drag them under.

“It’s Clyde.”

Voices trailed them. The field hands would arrive at any moment. On their right, the drop was about seventy vertical paces. They could try to jump. Let the upper branches of trees break their fall? As they hesitated, the distant revenant raised both hands. A wave of shadows came roiling up the hillside toward them. This was new magic. Something else entirely. Cora seized Ren by the scarf.