Page 87 of Broken Shadows

I hold myself still, going against every primal instinct in my body. How many times have I sought things that make me afraid? I used to long for terror and I won’t let damned spiders me my downfall.

A fog of silk creeps around my body, encompassing my every limb until I can’t see anything but web as spindly legs make quick work of me.

My heart sticks in my throat as my powers thrum, begging for me to at least attempt an escape, but I hold still instead and allow myself to be taken my these eight-legged horrors, keeping my eyes closed.

Either I’m incredibly fucking stupid, or this works.

After a minute, the sticky silk leaves only threads of phantom feeling on my skin. I blink. Once, then twice, and look around at the still woods.

No spiders. No webs. It was a trial and from the sounds of distant screams and yells, I’m the first to break out of it.

Gomez’s chirps reach me through the sporadic screams and oppressive silence. “Gomey,” I exclaim as he uses his wings to climb down the trunk, his little claws gripping the bark. Every few seconds, he pauses to look at me, and I notice the little purple leaves clinging to his shining, black fur.

He reaches the last branch, then swoops down and lands on my hand. I bring him to my face, nuzzling my lips and nose into my little puffball.

“Are you okay?” I whisper into his fur, and he lets out a contented squeak, playfully tugging at my hair. “Go on, jump on,” I say with a tap on my shoulder. He curls up against my neck, using my hair as a curtain as we walk through the woods. “Don’t worry,” I say when he chirps and squeaks. “We’re going to find Auntie Rosa now.”

A hiss pulls my attention to the underbrush. A snake. A real one, or at least a Hell snake. The creature’s brown and red body coils tightly, ready to strike should I come too close.

Gomez squeaks and I shush him. “Don’t act like prey around predators,” I whisper.

An icy breeze circles my body, carrying the pungent smell of decaying vegetation with the recent fragrance of rain.

A glimmer of green comes into my vision as Rosa runs through the woods without looking where she’s going, her face buried in her palms.

I race to her, calling her name. She uncovers her face then claws at imaginary figments on her skin. “It’s not real. Come on, you know how to see through imaginary bullshit better than anyone.” I grab her by the shoulders and shake her. “You’re a goddamned therapist and the strongest person I know. Pull it together.”

The tough love aches my heart, but it seems to dosomething. Her blinking slows, and the golden rivers in her irises shine a little more. “Ghosts.”

I shake my head. “It’s all a hallucination.”

She lets out a tense breath and pushes me back at arm’s length. “Do you see that tree?”

She points behind me, so I whip my head around and then nod.

“And that grass, there?”

I nod again.

“That snake?” I arrow my gaze toward the direction she’s pointing and watch as a brown tail slithers into the tall grass.

“Yes, I see it.”

She swallows thickly, her throat bobbing. “The ghost next to you.”

I look around me and shake my head. “There’s nothing there.”

She nods and closes her eyes briefly. When she opens them again, she pulls Gomez into her arms. “What a perfect little distraction,” she whispers to our bat while tickling him behind the ears. “None of this is real,” she tells Gomez as if it’s some big secret. “Were you afraid too? You flew off earlier.”

He squeaks sadly, and she snuggles him tighter.

“We need to find Lorcan,” I say. “I ran from him earlier because I thought he was a gigantic spider.”

Her eyes flash with concern. “Oh, Hell no. Maybe I should be thankful all I had was ghosts chasing me.”

“Spirits,” I correct, only because it’s important to know the difference between them when we’re literally surrounded by them here. But she waves a hand, ambling ahead and no longer listening.

Lor? I’m coming back,I whisper through our bond, but am met with a chilling silence.

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