Page 76 of When the Wicked Sing (The Leruna Sea #1)

“ Do you hear it? ” The whispers echoed through the thick mist, a chilling breeze carrying them like secrets.

Spiders skittered across the damp ground, their tiny legs tapping against the cracked stones. The old trees on the island loomed, ancient sentinels, their gnarled branches reaching out like skeletal fingers.

“Tell me,” she said, her voice a tremulous whisper swallowed by the fog. Her breath merged with the mist that shrouded the silent village.

“ Don’t you hear it? ” they asked again, voices mingling with the rustle of leaves.

“Hear what? Tell me,” she ordered softly, a shiver running down her spine.

“ She’s coming, ” a hot breath whispered harshly into her ear, the words searing her consciousness. She gasped, her vision blurring as she pushed herself free from the spirit realm. The sensation was like being pulled through a veil of icy water, making her breaths shallow and rapid .

The wind blew the fog back into the quiet village, wrapping the cottages in an eerie embrace while clearing the view ahead of her.

A smile spread across her lips as she stood in the cobblestone square.

Anticipation flickered in her single eye, the other eternally shrouded in darkness as she watched lightning brighten the horizon.

She sighed. “Finally.”