Page 25 of Soul of Shadow #1

Charlie and Elias stood in the clearing for several seconds after the wood wife disappeared, staring at the spot where she had been.

Finally, Elias broke the silence.

“Damn nature spirits,” he mumbled. “Should’ve given her two coins instead of one.”

“What just happened?” Charlie asked. “What did she mean there’s an energy around me?”

“Beats me.” Elias ran a hand through his hair. “ Much worse than a draugar ? What could she possibly mean?”

“How would a draugar get through the Seal, anyway? I thought it was impenetrable.”

He sighed. “No magic is absolute. There are always loopholes.”

“Loopholes?” She rounded on Elias. “This isn’t some real estate contract we’re talking about, here. This is the safety of the human race.”

“I’m well aware of that,” he said. “But I need not remind you how little I care about the human race.”

“Right. Of course. Elias Everhart, mare of night. Beast who cares only for himself. And whatever pot of gold you hope to find at the end of this rainbow. ”

“I’m not looking for a pot of gold ,” he snapped. “My mission is far more—”

But he was cut off by a high-pitched squeal in the night.

Many high-pitched squeals, from the sound of it.

The v?tte squeaked and dove back into Charlie’s backpack.

“Crap,” said Elias, looking into the trees. “ Vittra . We were arguing too loudly.”

“What’s a—”

Before she could ask, he grabbed her arm and yanked her into the woods in the opposite direction of the squeals. They barreled through the trees, shoving aside branches and leaping over fallen logs.

“Elias,” said Charlie, glancing anxiously over her shoulder as the squeals grew louder and louder, closer and closer. “What the hell are we running from?”

“Vittra,” he said. “Sort of like goblins. Feral little beasts. Not fond of humans, especially when we trespass on their lands. If they catch you, they’ll probably eat you alive.”

“They’ll what ?”

“Just run .”

They tore through the woods as the moon began to rise overhead.

Behind them, they heard branches rustling and twigs snapping, the crunch and patter of hundreds of feet.

No matter how fast Charlie ran, their pursuers seemed to move faster.

They were moving west, in the direction of the beach.

She wanted to ask Elias why, but her lungs were on fire, her focus entirely on running.

A few minutes in and she felt, in a way she hadn’t felt in a long time, the absence of circus training in her life. How weak her body had become.

She pushed onward .

“ To your right! ” Elias hollered, and Charlie turned her head just in time to see a vittra burst out of a bush, claws pointed right at her face.

It didn’t look the way she expected. In her mind, goblins were squat green things with big noses and bigger bellies.

These creatures were far more terrifying.

They had mushroom-gray skin, bulging black eyes, and claws like tiny carving knives.

Tufts of dark hair protruded from their oblong heads.

Their teeth were bared and dripping with a gray-green, poisonous-looking liquid.

She had only a moment to take it in before she let out a scream and tried to veer out of reach.

Searing pain tore down her right calf where one of its claws ripped open her skin.

She staggered. To her right, the vittra attempted another swipe. This time, she was ready; she kicked it squarely in the stomach, sending it tumbling back into the wood. She let out a victorious whoop and spun around, tearing off after Elias.

The beach was in sight. Through the trees, she saw the lake’s black-blue waves brushing against the shoreline.

Underfoot, dirt and rocks gave way to sand and seagrass.

Charlie pushed herself as hard as she could.

Her lungs were on fire, her breath like razors in her chest. Elias was much faster; he cleared the trees a good thirty feet before she did.

She expected him to turn right or left. Instead, he whirled around and beckoned frantically.

“Come on!” he yelled. “We need to make it to the lake!”

The cut on her calf throbbed. She did her best to mask the pain, pushing herself even faster. Still, a slight limp must have snuck into her gait, because the moment she burst out of the trees, Elias grabbed her hand and said, “Just a little farther.”

Slobbers and snarls ripped through the air as Charlie and Elias took off toward the lake.

The vittra erupted from the fo rest, swarming out of the branches and onto the sand.

Charlie did her best not to look over her shoulder, arms and legs flying.

Twenty feet to go. Fifteen. The squeals and snarls behind them grew frenzied, desperate.

She swore she could hear their knifelike claws whizzing through the air.

She gripped Elias’s hand as if it were a lifeline, not caring that it was burning hot or that she was holding hands with an admitted murderer.

She felt only blind desperation—and something else, something heady and thrilling, like the feeling of sucking helium from a birthday balloon.

Ten feet to go.

Five.

A claw raked down her elbow. Grubby fingers slipped along her arm, trying for purchase.

Charlie let out a roar and drove her elbow backward, slamming it into the goblin’s face. Then, at last, her feet splashed into the lake. Hands still linked, Charlie and Elias dove headfirst into the water.

The minute their heads submerged, the goblins’ squawking and snarling shut off, silenced by the water.

Charlie kicked forward, keeping her eyes shut against the water.

As her legs fluttered, she let the fingers of the hand not holding Elias’s graze the sandy bottom, keeping track of how deep they were going.

Once the water felt sufficiently deep, she pulled him to the surface.

They emerged from the water together, gasping in a breath of air, then spun around.

On the shore, halted before the water line, were the goblins.

They squealed and shook their fists. There were more of them than Charlie had realized—at least thirty, maybe more.

If they had gotten their hands on her, they could have easily overtaken her, swarming her like a pack of rabid dogs.

She didn’t imagine she would have made it out alive.

Her reaction should have been terror. She should have fallen to her knees in the water and wept, should have cursed Elias’s name for ever dragging her into this nightmare parallel world.

Instead, as the vittra howled in frustration, she and Elias looked at each other and, still clasping hands tightly, started to laugh.