Page 15 of Darkness and Deceit (Obsidian Academy #2)

Twelve

LILITH

Something’s wrong.

I don’t know how I know it—not exactly—but the feeling’s there, pulsing beneath the surface of my skin. Curling tight in the space behind my ribs. Insistent. Like a warning.

And it’s not the forest or the shadows.

It’s me .

We’ve been walking in silence for minutes, maybe longer. Augustus’ glow lights the path ahead, casting soft gold against the bark and the bones of the woods. But the forest is quiet—too quiet. Like it’s holding its breath for what’s to come.

I try not to panic. Or think about the fact that I’m walking through a cursed forest beside a stranger who glows like a saint and talks like he’s got a dagger for a tongue and no idea how not to use it.

And I definitely try not to think about how this whole thing feels like a test I was never meant to pass.

I walk with my hands fisted in my pockets and pretend not to flinch every time his golden radiance flares out, pressing at the night like it could burn away my own darkness if I got too close.

Augustus is silent ahead of me, but the pulse of his aura grows stronger the deeper we go.

He never looks back to check if I’m still following, but he must know.

More than once his head tilts just a little, as though he’s hearing something I can’t.

He walks like someone born for this. Like every step is measured out against some inner map that guarantees he’ll never fall or falter.

The bastard seems immune to doubt, while every muscle in me wants to bolt for the edge of the woods and pretend like none of this is happening.

Gods, what I wouldn’t give to be back in my bedroom with Nat, painting our nails and gossiping about nothing.

I force myself onward. One step, then another, and then?—

Something shifts.

It’s subtle at first; a change in pressure, like walking into a room where two people have just been screaming at each other and stopped when you entered. The trees grow closer together; their needles hang heavier and darker overhead. The air thickens with the scent of sap and damp decay.

The moment my boot hits the curve of a half-buried root, I feel a pull like something reached through the earth and grabbed me—an invisible undertow.

My breath catches in my throat and I freeze.

“Lilith?” Augustus’ voice is low, but alert. “What is it?”

He stops ahead—turns back with a flicker of alarm furrowing his brow—but doesn’t come closer yet. Of course he doesn’t.

I shake my head, trying to speak. I don’t know. I don’t know .

It feels like trying to breathe underwater.

And then a blast of something hits, like a magical pressure wave slamming into my chest. I drop to one knee, gasping. My hand hits the moss-covered dirt, and I dig my fingers in to ground myself, but it doesn’t help.

My vision fractures and like a storm behind my eyes I see chains, and fire, and screaming. Flashes of shattered metal and a scream that isn’t mine.

Heat curls up my spine like fire made of memory.

You opened the door.

That voice. It’s the same as before.

All you have to do now... is step through.

Every cell in my body trembles with panic. Every instinct screams: RUN.

“Lilith!” Augustus’ voice snaps through the haze.

I feel a hand hover near my shoulder—but it doesn’t land. He won’t touch me. Not even now. Of course he won’t. He’s a Keeper. He doesn’t break rules. Not for anyone. Not even me.

Even as I fall apart, he keeps his distance. His glow intensifies like he thinks if he shines hard enough it can burn away whatever is happening to me.

I can’t answer him. I can’t even move. It’s like I’ve been caught in a current, a riptide of something ancient and alive and furious. My Shadows surge, clawing up from the base of my spine and pouring through my limbs like liquid instinct.

They aren’t waiting for permission.

They know we’re under threat.

I feel them blast out. But there’s nothing to fight. Nothing to stop. Only that voice.

Step through.

The command reverberates through my body like someone striking a gong. My mouth opens and I’m sure a scream tears its way out—but I don’t hear it. The sound vanishes into the pressure, into the pull.

Everything collapses inward.

The trees vanish.

The light dies.

The forest disappears.

All that’s left is the heat.

And then?—

Black.

Somewhere far away, I think I hear my name.

And maybe—just maybe—I hear fear in his voice.