Page 85 of Broken Shadows

The rest of the group walk forward onto the purple-leaf carpeted ground and into the entrance to the woods, while Lorcan pulls me to a halt, turning me to face him. Those eyes. My gods. Then his lips, so perfect that all I want to do is a spread a kiss over them.

He pushes a lock of hair from my eyes, his thumb dragging goosebumps over my cheek. “I am just as intrigued, if not more, about matters of your heart, Evie.”

“I—I know you care about me, but how much do you… you know, care?” Gods, I’m fucking rambling. What the hell is wrong with me?

His smile widens and my stomach flips. “Read the letter,” he says, as if sensing my question. The one I’ve wanted to ask since he came out of that mirror: Do you love me?

“I thought you said to wait until after the trials?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “You need to hear what I have to say now.”

I peer behind him to the group, who have disappeared into the fog beyond the trees. “It’s in Rosa’s bag. Can you just tell me?”

He smirks. “Can you tell me first?”

My eyes narrow. Fucker. “Fine. I’ll read the letter.”

“Let’s go find Rosa then,” he quips. “Wherever the Human Rainbow has gone.” His pastel-green eyes are swallowed by blackness as he peers into the trees. “Stay close.”

I nod and follow him past a rickety, wooden sign unfittingly labeled Wildflower Woods. Flowers punctuate everywhere an ‘O’ would be in the words, the carvings crisp and defined despite the overall wear of the wood itself. A dark greenish-blue ivy crawls up the post and around the edge of the sign, and I suspect it’s the only thing holding it upright.

Goosebumps prick my ankles as a dense, glowing fog creeps around my feet, swallowing the trees ahead in a ghostly wave.

“Rosa?” My voice echoes, the sound so lonely as it’s lost in the eerie silence.

A twig snaps up ahead, drawing my gaze to a large, dull cobweb caught between two branches. A shudder skittles through my bones. “That must be one big ass spider.”

Lorcan’s eyes narrow. “What spider?”

I point at the cobweb. “None, it’s just a web.”

Lorcan’s brows knit together, a pearl of sweat on his forehead as his focus turns to the underbrush. “Did you hear that?”

A panicked flutter sounds in the beats of his heart as he leans closer. “I swear, I heard a fucking snake. Probably Ezra.”

“Maybe,” I say with a shrug. “But I’m not really scared of snakes.” My eyes lift to the web hanging dully under the gray sky. “Spiders, on the other hand?”

Boots hammer against the ground ahead, multiple footsteps, crunching leaves and twigs like bones.

Aiden appears in the tree line, tendrils of fog shrouding him like spectral fingers. I back up a few paces when he looks at us and screams. The blacks of Aiden’s large pupils gloss with unseen horrors. Behind him, Rosa follows, thickets of brambles slashing at her arms as she looks right through me.

“What’s wrong?” I shout, and Lorcan's grip tightens around my palm.

“Ghosts!” Rosa screams and runs in the opposite direction.

Lorcan pins me to the spot before I can chase her. “She’s hallucinating,” he spits, then takes a step toward Aiden, who falls to his knees, kicks his legs out from behind him, and scrambles backward.

“No!” Aiden’s yell pierces my eardrums as he scuttles until his back presses up against a large trunk. The bark crumbles under Aiden’s touch, the wood of the tree bleeding crimson rivers. “C-c-clown.” Aiden points at Lorcan, tears streaming from his bloodshot eyes. “P-please, no.”

Lorcan’s panicked expression shifts easily into a psychotic smirk. Aiden jolts, his hand clutching his chest and crumpling the fabric of his purple shirt as Lorcan jumps close to him, hands extended with the creepiest smile I’ve ever seen. “Boo.”

“Ahh.” Aiden clamps his eyes shut, his fingers desperately skating over the bleeding tree trunk, as if it might save him.

Shaking my head, I grab Lorcan’s arm and pull him back to my side. “Stop terrorizing him… and enjoying it.”

Lorcan chuckles darkly. “I can only promise to stop.”

“Aiden, it’s okay. It’s Evie.”

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