Page 118 of Faerie Hunted

“Agreed,” Livvy muttered.

“You’re not meant to find it,” Laina asserted. She focused on the ruins without blinking an eye and her face was a mask.

Mike’s voice remained firm but the tension was evident. “At least we weren’t followed.”

Foreboding settled over me and my own hair lifted in a cool breeze despite the heat of the day and the sunlight dappled through the limbs overhead.

“How did you know how to get here?” I asked Onyx. “It’s not like you had a roadmap.”

“When a person is banished to the Abyss,” he explained slowly, “they come back—ifthey come back—with a kind of connection that never goes away. The Abyss changes you. On a molecular level.”

He stared unblinking at the ruins, his face curiously blank.

“I’m not sure I like the sound of that,” I murmured.

“Good. You’re not supposed to like the sound of it.” Onyx continued to stare unblinking at the ruins. “The Abyss is a special place. It’s not meant to be left behind. It’s meant to be traveled, survived. Carried with you if you’re lucky enough to find a way out like I was. Not all of the banished escape.”

I wanted to know more. Before I had a chance to open my mouth, Onyx strode toward the ruins faster than he’d moved since our escape from the castle. His burst of energy surprised me and I found myself hustling forward to try and keep pace with him.

Livvy remained a step behind, quiet when I expected her to start back with thewe need to hurrystuff.

Noren gave a single whine of protest before he followed me, sticking close to my heels.

The ruins were messing with my brain.

They didn’t grow in stature the closer we got. Rather it was like one of those funhouse mirrors or long hallways in a dream where you got closer with every step and yet you never quite made it to your destination.

I gnashed on my cheek, biting down and using the little bit of pain like a tether to the real world. Because this wasn’t real.

At once, the ground beneath my Converses changed from soft moss and pine needles to stone. The transition rocked me and I stopped dead, my arms windmilling to keep my balance when the forest disappeared and the temple stood in front of us.

One moment not there, then boom. We were on the doorstep.

“What the hell?”

My voice, rather than echoing out into the forest, landed flat and I realized then that there were no animal sounds here. The birdsong had died somewhere along the way. A pall fell over the land and deadened it to any ambient noise.

Onyx pressed a finger to his lips, his eyes wide and desperate. “You have to watch out. Things aren’t what they seem here. Don’t speak too loudly and don’t yell. You’ll draw out unwanted visitors. Follow my lead.”

He tilted sickeningly to the side but caught himself before he lost his balance.

At least I wasn’t the only one having trouble finding their center. Bronwen had her head bent between her knees and Laina boasted a distinctly greenish cast to her cheeks. Her hands shifted to her shoulders as though she resisted the urge to draw her whips.

I stumbled and my skin scraped the lichen-covered stone. I expected warmth but found nothing. The stones were icy to the touch despite the sunlight.

“Unwanted visitors?” My voice still sounded too loud and it rippled back to me like disturbed water.

My gut churned and I pressed my hands to it.

“Where do we go from here, Onyx?” Laina finally asked.

“We go inside,” Onyx said matter-of-factly.

Livvy slid her hands into the pockets of her pants and stared at the entrance. To my right, a gap in the stone provided a way inside the ruins. A kind of strange Stonehenge, although the rocks barely fit together and yet somehow it was impossible to see between them.

Onyx was right. This was a bad place.

My stomach shifted and gurgled and I pressed my hands tighter to my abdomen. My insides roiled hard enough for me to feel it.

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