Page 39 of Immortal Consequences (The Souls of Blackwood Academy #1)

August

Stupid, stupid, stupid. August cursed under his breath as he stumbled through the next door, separating himself from the crumbling forest and crossing into a new landscape—a single paved road flanked by a black, starry darkness.

It stretched endlessly on either side of the concrete road, as though the road were floating among the stars, suspended within the universe.

His instincts were telling him to run. To go back to Blackwood and leave Emilio and Olivier behind. But he had promised them that he wouldn’t. And though his promises usually meant nothing, he couldn’t afford to break this one.

August looked inward, scouring his internal map.

He could vaguely make out their coordinates, though everything was strangely hazy.

As though something, or perhaps someone, was purposefully obstructing his spacial magic.

Probably another one of Silas’s tricks—another roadblock meant to throw them off-kilter.

It didn’t matter. He could find them. He just needed to focus.

Determination propelled him forward. Every few minutes, he’d check to see if he could feel Emilio and Olivier’s position, but that insufferable haze was still draped over everyone’s location, making it nearly impossible to determine where they were in the Ether.

He was considering kissing his promise goodbye when he spotted someone else in the distance, a lone figure standing at the center of the road.

It was a girl. One of the transitioned students who had experienced the Forgetting.

Her skin was gray and translucent, feathering out at the edges.

Despite the fact that August was walking straight toward her, she made no indication that she saw him.

Her face was an emotionless mask, eyes empty and vacant.

He approached her slowly.

“Hey.” August waved his hand in front of her face and the girl blinked, slowly shifting her gaze toward him. “Have you seen two people walk by here recently? A tall boy with blond hair and a short one with a frumpy sweater and a nervous disposition?”

The girl’s face remained blank, her eyes glazed over. When she spoke, her voice was eerily monotonous.

“The Ether casts judgment upon the forsaken one. It demands to be fed. It seeks the sacrifices so that balance may be restored.”

“Right…” August cleared his throat. “So…that would be a no ?”

A second voice echoed behind him.

“Don’t bother. She’s one of the zombies. A total lost cause.”

August whirled around to find a boy standing behind him.

He had dark hair that fell to his shoulders and tired-looking eyes framed by round glasses.

Just like the other transitioned students, his form flickered in and out, his skin slightly translucent.

But unlike the girl August had just spoken to, this boy seemed completely normal despite his… condition.

“What is she on about?”

“Dunno.” The boy shrugged and stepped closer.

When he moved, his form glitched, like static on a screen.

“A lot of the transitioned students who have been roaming the Ether for too long start spewing the same nonsense. The Ether casts judgment upon the forsaken one. It demands to be fed. Blah, blah, blah. It’s rather annoying. ”

August eyed the boy skeptically.

“How long have you been here?”

“I lost count somewhere around the hundred-year mark…”

August’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “But you seem—”

“Normal? Not clinically insane?” He chuckled. “Most of us aren’t. But after a while, something starts to change…”

August shivered at the thought. It must be a terrifying experience—knowing that eventually, without warning, you’d start to lose yourself to the Ether. Your mind splintering. Your personality fading. Until you were nothing but a walking vessel for Blackwood, reaping lost souls for all eternity.

He cleared his throat.

“Well. I’m looking for—”

“I heard,” the boy interjected. “But I haven’t seen them. I haven’t seen anyone for a while, actually.”

There was a palpable sorrow in his voice that made August want to run in the opposite direction, to distance himself as much as possible.

“I should keep moving.” August began to walk down the road.

“Could you…” The boy called out to him, his voice wavering with desperation. “Could you stay for a while? Just…talk to me. Please.”

August came to a halt, an unwelcome memory slicing through his mind.

His mother lying on her bed, pallid and devoid of life.

August kneeling beside her, begging for her to come back, not to leave them like this.

But his mother was gone. He knew it as he held her cold hand in his own.

He knew it as his sister bellowed behind him, grabbing him by the shoulders, pulling with all her might.

“Please, Augustine.” Her words were strangled by her tears. “Just talk to me. Please.”

August shuddered as he pushed himself out of the memory and back into the present. He glanced over his shoulder and saw the boy staring back at him. At a distance, his form was almost completely translucent, his expression barely visible through the haze.

“I can’t,” August whispered, turning away.

He ignored the pain pounding at his chest, the darkness desperate to break free.

A part of him wanted to turn around, to offer the boy some semblance of peace, but he couldn’t.

So August continued forward, walking down the road in resolute silence.

And though he didn’t turn around, he could feel the boy’s presence fade, drifting aimlessly with the wind, as though he were nothing but smoke.