Page 43 of Blood of the Stars

“No, it’s—they wrote words.”

“Words?” Aeliana turned to face him, doing her button up once more. “What does it say?”

“‘Send Durriken.’” His face grew pale, his freckles standing out.

“What is—?” She cut off suddenly, remembering.

Cyrus answered the question anyway. “Something that rips out people’s eyes and eats them.”

“We need to go out there,” Aeliana said.

Cyrus gaped at her. “Did you not hear Iris?”

“Of course, but we need to know what they’re up against. What could come for us.” She grabbed a torch, and after a moment’s hesitation Cyrus took a sword.

“What?” he asked when she raised her eyebrows at the weapon. He strapped on the belt and slipped in the sword, gauging its weight against his hip.

“Do you even know how to use that?”

He shrugged. “It’s not the same as the sabers my brother trained me with, but I know how to parry and thrust.” His eyes seemed wide in the torchlight, and Aeliana suspected he wouldn’t actually be able to stab the sword into another person. She almost told him to leave it behind, worried the added weight would slow them down, but decided it might give him confidence.

Besides, they were just going to look.

They picked their way back through the cave’s tunnels, hesitant to get caught but nervous to be left too far behind. When they reached the vines concealing the cave’s entrance, Aeliana peeked through, blinking into the inky blackness of the night. The moon had already risen high.

“Do you see anything?” Cyrus whispered from behind her.

“Just the deserted beach.” Her gaze traced the path Sylmar had brought them down. “Wait, I think Iris is going back up into the forest. We won’t be able to see anything from here.” She stepped out of the cave, ignoring Cyrus’ protests.

She snuffed out the torch, then traced their steps back from the night before, guided by memory and the imprints of the others running before them.

“I think we should go back,” Cyrus said for the tenth time.

Aeliana shushed him, wary of how their voices might carry now that they’d reached the forest line. It was harder to find the trail, so she settled for making her own, using the moon as a reference point.

A rush of air mixed with thunder swept over them, rustling the leaves of every tree. The silence that followed was too complete, as if every creature from the tops of the trees to the snakes burrowing underground had paused in fearful recognition.

“Was that the same thing we felt before?” Cyrus whispered.

“I don’t know.” Aeliana’s words came out on such a shallow breath that she wasn’t sure if he heard them. When she counted to one hundred with nothing happening, she resumed her trek. At any moment, they would break through to the clearing they’d been in with Arvid and Vera. Hopefully, they could see something from that position. Once she knew exactly what the others faced, she would be willing to turn around and hide like Iris had asked.

But she couldn’t run until she knew what she was running from.

Sharp pain sliced across her chest, making her trip. Panic came on the heels of the pain, but it was panic for Lukai, not herself. Was he injured? Had she sensed his pain? The unknown drove her forward faster.

The break beyond the trees came so quick that Aeliana had to step back to keep herself from being visible in the clearing, stepping on Cyrus’ toes in the process. He leaned over her shoulder as they scanned where the bamboo forest’s edge met the field of grass. At first, it looked empty, but then lumps that were rocks became people, and nightlife sounds became hushed whispers. Sylmar crouched five paces away, his body shaking as he bent over Jasperus, the smaller man’s eyes squinting in pain.

“Hold it,” Sylmar hissed.

Their forms flickered once more, and they were rocks again. Cyrus’ sharp intake of breath near Aeliana’s ear made her jolt.

“Jasperus’ masking them with an illusion,” he said.

Aeliana scanned the clearing, making out four other rocks with suspiciously human-like shapes. Then her attention caught on Arvid and Vera, a dozen paces farther than Sylmar and Jasperus, their eyes trained on the skies and faces twisted in triumphant grins.

The golden arrow poked out of Arvid’s pocket, and Aeliana caught the glimmer of glass in Vera’s hands. From this distance, it was hard to tell for sure, but it seemed as if only half the vial remained. Had they used the other half to fight off the Recreants? She squinted until she could make out black swirls like smoke drifting from Arvid’s ears and nose.

She shrank back against Cyrus. Arvid had invited in a dark spirit.

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