Page 56

In The Darkness

“Bene!” I sprint toward the Gorecutter’s side, one of my knives unsheathed. When I get to him, I drive my weapon into the fleshy spot on the beefy, rounded toes of its forefoot, where the thing’s toenail meets flesh.

In a reaction that’s pure instinct, the Devourer kicks out. I see its foot coming like I’m moving slower than time. I feel when it connects and hear a rib crack with a lightning bolt of pain. All the air leaves my body in a painful whoosh and grunt, and then I’m in the air and everything speeds up again. I fly high enough that I flounder when I reach the pinnacle, and have time to brace on the way down, the rock floor of the cavern coming up at me fast.

Only I don’t hit.

I stop midair, a net of shadow catching me like a spiderweb catches a fly. I look at my hands, but no purple light is coming from them.

“Meren!” Hakan yells.

I look up in time to see one of those tails coming for me again. The tip of it is forked three ways, like a spindly hand on the end. I try to move but I’m stuck hanging in the net of shadows. I tug again. Nothing.

Just as I flinch from the tail, the shadows that caught me let me go. Luckily, I’m not high off the ground at this point, so when I drop, while I don’t land on my feet like a trained fighter would, I don’t hurt anything badly, though my rib protests loudly.

Movement above me catches my eye, and I scramble back as the tail changes direction, coming for me again.

Only Reven suddenly appears in front of it, hovering in the air. Just long enough that the tip of the tail stops and turns on him sharply, like a snake turning its head to face a new threat. It’s almost like those appendages have their own eyes and minds to determine what to target. The tail darts his way, and he disappears, only to reappear not far away. The tail goes for him again, only to pull up when he blinks out again. Then he’s back.

And I realize what he’s doing.

He’s making himself a target, luring that tail away from me.

I think the Revoker must realize it at the same time because the human upper half of his body, still hovering above the frothing ice-chunk-filled waters, turns his head, zeroing in on where Reven and the tail are playing a game of cat and mouse.

The Devourer smiles.

From the other side of the cavern, Hakan shouts, “Don’t touch the water!”

A fraction of a breath later, lightning cracks through the air, striking the lake. Even through the blinding brilliance of flashing death, I swear I see the Revoker’s skeleton light up under its scaly skin before its torso falls back into the water with a splash. Its long tails drop to the ground, dead weight. Then, as it sinks into the lake, it drags the rest of its body across the rock to disappear into the depths.

That’s one at least temporarily down.

But we’re still dealing with the Gorecutter. What we need is to take the heart and get out of here. Now. But how? Vos’s injury is serious. That ice will only buy him so much time. Tziah’s out cold.

“We need to get out of here!” Pella shouts.

Reven shadows to Tziah’s side and they both disappear. The Gorecutter roars its frustration. In another blink, Reven appears beside Vos. Only the Gorecutter is ready this time. It turns on them, and Reven has to block its strike with shadow. I can see that he can’t do both as the Devourer brings its sword-like horn down on him over and over.

But Pella was right about needing to get out of here.

I change the light glowing from my palm, switching powers, and feel for the sand Bene left behind so far away. Then gasp, because now that I’m searching, I feel more sand much, much closer.

“Keep it busy!” I yell.

“The hells you say!” Pella yells back. But like the warrior she is, she still runs right at it.

I immediately start dragging sand up off the bottom of the lake, which is actually the ocean floor, just like I thought. Like when I sank Tropikis, the sand here is loose and easy to sift, and I yank it up to me as fast as I dare, trying not to explode the water.

Closing my eyes, I picture the temple portal in Enora, the one I used more often than any other my entire life. Getting back to Aryd with the heart and all of us still alive is all we need to worry about right now. Placing my hand against the now-cooled glass—thank goodness for Tyndran air—I force my power into it.

Which is when I hear it.

The strangest sound, like dripping and sucking at the same time. I open my eyes, and through the weeping, slightly bubbly glass I can see the outline of a man on the ground, lying there with his head lifted, watching me.

For the briefest moment I think it might be Vos, that he’s crawled all the way over here, but the Gorecutter is still trying to pulverize him and Reven.

I lean around the side of the portal and stare into the furious blazing eyes of the Revoker—yellow-green and slitted like a snake. He’s hauled himself out of the water, leaving a trail of blood in his wake or maybe water. Hard to tell with the red rock and blue heart light. With his head lifted, I can just make out an open wound across his chest, charred around the edges.

The instant our gazes connect, he crawls at me with remarkable speed given that he only has his arms and no legs and has to be in pain. He drags the back half of his body, which for a little way, at least isn’t yet split—thick as a tree trunk and covered in scales a deep green with hidden flashes of yellow, matching his eyes.

I gasp as I hop back behind the glass, my hand still on it. I picture the first place that comes to mind. Forget Enora. We need to be in the palace as fast as possible.

A sensation of cold freezes through my blood. Familiar. Sending horror through me. I’ve felt this before when—

The glass changes to opaque and then clear in an instant, like it was already expecting me to want to go to the crypt in my palace where my secret portal still stands.

Only I don’t step through.

A man is already in the room on the other side, his back to me as he digs around in one of the alcoves on the wall.

I don’t have to ask who.

“How—” The word pops out of my mouth before I can stop it.

He swings around and straightens at the sight of me.

Eidolon.

Abruptly, the Shadows wrest all control from me, not tearing me apart this time, but holding me completely immobile, all except my pounding heart.

Eidolon’s smile grows slowly, filled with a smug sort of triumph.

That is what evil looks like.