Page 33 of Witchbane

My world did that flip-flop again and I almost hurled down Liam’s back. He ran in moves worthy of any top paid footballer, over logs, boulders, around trees, weaving through a forest now rippling with portals. The sounds of monsters all around like my worst nightmares. Were any of them safe?

The shadow jumped to the portals, and each time it shattered as though the darkness couldn’t go through it. Butthatmonster didn’t slow, nor did it stop attacking the portals and our only means of escape.

“Pick one!” I screamed at Liam. “Before they are all gone.”

Already ahead of me, he raced toward one, then zipped around it at the last second as the shadows overtook it. We were losing, I realized. The shadow was playing with us. Herding us. The path of that darkness was narrowing to ensnare us.

Liam’s grip on me changed, his hands going around my waist like he planned to chuck me through a portal.

Not without him. I reached down and gripped his jacket, not willing to let go. “No,” I growled at him. “Not a fucking chance.”

“Seb,” Liam gasped, realizing I wasn’t going to let him sacrifice himself to throw me into Underhill alone.

“You promised we’d go together,” I cried, conflicted about exposing him to monsters, but not willing to leave him here to die either. He was mine, dammit. The only thing that was really mine. “The forest god said without you I become a demon.”

But none of the portals were close enough and each one popping felt like a dagger in that ice wall holding back my kitsune. A trickle of warmth began to break through the layers and I flung my hand up while the darkness formed a circle around us, eating up the distance and closing us in. But there was a new portal, right in front of us.

Liam didn’t stop. And I prayed we wouldn’t be leaping into the mouth of some ancient fae monster. He jumped through the portal. The marching ants of power rolling across my skin intensified until I couldn’t help but squirm at the intensity. His grip tightened while I struggled to breathe, and that quickly, it ended.

The shadow touched the edge of the last portal like it planned to come after us, gray cast etching across the surface like it was glass over a doorway, reaching out an icy grip. But the portal shattered, a burst of broken ice, shards tearing away another barrier inside me. The shadow vanished, left behind in the mortal world.

I gasped for breath as Liam fell in a half run, ready to keep moving.

A breeze swirled around us, cool but not frozen like the woods, and I felt the door behind us close like a fist to my gut, taking with it that last bit of energy. I struggled to try to stay awake. Liam would need me to guide him. He’d never been to Underhill before. And sure, I’d told him about all the invisible monsters hiding through camouflage, but it wasn’t the same as being able to sense them.

“Liam,” I whispered. He was on his knees and I was half sprawled on top of him. His breathing was labored and I worried his lungs would burst. The world around us had shifted. Looking more like a wide-open plain, with short bursts of bush-like trees and an odd orange sky overhead. Sunset? I couldn’t recall if Underhill had sunsets. I got the vague impression of clouds, very low hanging and gray, or maybe smoke?

My heart stuttered, like it too had run a race. The melting ice of the kitsune’s shattered barrier let a glowing trickle of heat and warmth free. While intense, it wasn’t an unpleasant feeling. The gentle dissipation of the cold made me sleepy. Exhaustion began to overcome everything. I closed my eyes and tried to reopen them even as I could barely feel my hands still gripping Liam’s jacket.

There was no chance of staying awake in that moment. All I could do was cling to the feeling of Liam’s arms around me, and pray he was there when I woke.

Chapter 9

Iawoke feeling groggy and very heavy; limbs, head, all my muscles, too weak to do much. It was actually a somewhat comforting feeling. The overuse of power. I’d felt it before when I’d escaped Hugo and a handful of other supernatural crazies. While it was annoying, I knew it would pass.

Warmth surrounded me, not only from Liam, as I recognized his touch and scent, but a nearby fire, which blazed and spit out the comforting familiarity of woodsmoke and magic. It rolled around us like a warm and fuzzy blanket, soothing, strong, and a little restricting.

Wrapped up in Liam’s arms, it took a few minutes for my brain to sort through the memories. Were we in Underhill?

I sucked in air as I examined the room without moving much, trying to clear my head. We were in some sort of little cabin, with wood slat walls and very little else. The blazing fire in the fireplace actually tickled with magic. Enough to make my kitsune notice, yet confining. Like it pulsed with a warning todo no harm.

Was it a ward like Nicky’s little cabin had? I didn’t see any symbols to indicate wards, but suspected the magic in Underhill wasn’t bound by human rules. The hut didn’t look like Nicky’s at all on the inside. His had been homey, filled with books and blankets, and the few comforts he could hoard. This was a lot smaller, and somewhat overgrown with ivy clinging to the walls, like it hadn’t been used in a very long time. Had this fire been going the entire time, fueling the ward? Or had our presence activated it?

Liam stirred behind me, leaning over to kiss me on the cheek and hug me tight. “How are you feeling?”

“Exhausted and very heavy,” I grumbled. A lot of the ice was gone, the cage around the kitsune thin, which worried me. It didn’t seem to be fighting as hard to get free. “That was a lot of portals.” Did that mean I’d created a cage for the kitsune myself? By not creating portals? I needed someone to ask all this shit.

“You were amazing,” he said.

“Me? I’m not the one who outran the darkness. How is that even possible? What even was that? It was eating the forest!” I thought about the forest god and how he’d been chased away. That couldn’t mean good things. At least he’d escaped. I hoped the pack was okay, safe and far from whatever the fuck that had been. When I touched the bond, I could feel the tie to Liam, though rather than the long, thick cord I’d been used to, it felt soft, spongy, and weak.

“Liam?” I asked more than a little alarmed. The link to the pack had vanished, did that mean Liam was without them too?

“I’m okay,” he promised. He painted the side of my face with kisses, holding me tight. “You passed out hard when we crossed.”

“Sorry, I used too much magic,” I whispered. “I’m glad you’re here. Was afraid you’d get pulled away.” I could feel the weight of the kitsune, an intensity of power. It stretched and moved inside of me like a living alien in my gut realizing it had more space than before. I winced and held still, waiting for the ripple of strength to stop clawing up my soul. It hurt in ways I didn’t think was possible. I gagged. Was I going to throw up? Was it possible to upchuck magic?

Liam reached out to take one of my wrists and lifted my hand, weaving his fingers with mine. He ran a comforting hand down my spine. “I’ve got you. Okay?”