Page 37 of The Bones of the Cursed

“You hid this from me?” She sounds hurt, and he almost looks sad. Maybe this human means more to him than just a convenient lay.

“You had been through a lot. I was planning on telling you.”

“When?” she snaps.

As much as I love their arguing, we have shit to do and I really don’t want to spend unnecessary time in this Gods-forsaken cave. I’m just about to interrupt their little face-off when a ripple in the water behind them catches my attention.

I can’t get a word out before a group of ghouls pours from the damn black pond like spiders. Everyone pulls their weapons.

Kailu fights off the two in front of him, the Elves and the other human also holding their own. That leaves me and the firecracker. We fight side by side, and the entire time I can’t help but notice how in sync we are to each other.

It’s quite alarming.

I slash out, black blood spurting from the ghoul’s neck. Alanis has one pinned to the floor, stabbing its jugular. The thing chokes and gurgles, the black sludge oozing onto the cold floor.

One knocks my sword from my hand, and Alanis throws me her dagger and dances just out of the oncoming ghoul’s reach—sending the thing directly into my blade. Alanis grabs my sword before backing towards me. We now stand back-to-back as we face the oncoming ambush.

The ghouls continue backing us toward the wall so we have no escape. The movement has her bumping into me, causing an immediate jolt to course through my body.

What. The. Hell.

The ghouls aren’t just attacking. They’re herding us into a corner.

The ghoul lunges and its sharp claws slice through her arm.

A sharp pain in my own arm makes my steps falter. I look down to see blood blooming. The same spot where she was cut. The skin split, even though it was never touched.

Footsteps pound down the slope, more soldiers storming in. The rest of their group, I presume.

No matter how many ghouls we kill, more just keep coming. There has to be some type of portal in this damned cave for them to be pouring through like this. I’m just about to order a retreat when all the ghouls pause as one.

It’s the strangest thing I’ve ever seen.

They stop so abruptly that everyone is caught off-guard, swings coming up short, steps faltering. Then they turn and slip back into the pond and through the portal. We stand staring into the glassy black water, deathly still, like the Hell God’s creatures didn’t just rise from its depths.

I look down at my arm and notice the skin unharmed, almost like I imagined the entire thing. I turn to look at the firecracker and feel a sense of dread sink into my gut. Her face is pale, abnormally so, and her arm still drips blood in time with each rapid beat of her heart. Her glassy eyes meet mine.

I’m moving before my brain even processes what is happening, almost as if my body is pulled to her.

She starts to collapse, but I manage to catch her in my arms before she hits the hard ground. Kailu curses somewhere behind me and comes running towards us.

“Give her to me,” he rasps.

I brush the hair out of her face. Her eyes flutter open, such a light blue that they’re almost white. Her breath is raspy, and she winces as if each inhale causes her pain.

My jaw clenches and my body revolts at the thought of letting her go. I pull her tighter against me, earning a glare from Kailu. I bare my teeth, curling my lips back over my teeth. My mind tells me he isn’t a threat, but my body disagrees.

For once he stays silent, not fighting me. It’s been a while since I’ve seen my friend. Safe to say we didn’t part on the best of terms.

“We need to keep her still,” I snap, panic starting to slither up my spine. Her eyes are heavy, heartbeat slowing.

“What’s wrong with her?” Kailu’s voice breaks with an emotion I can’t decipher.

I look to her arm, noticing the cut. The edges of it turn black.

Shit.

“Poison.”

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