Page 127 of Saints & Sinners

Some stones are cursed.

Nadael’s warning flickered through my mind, and I shuddered. I thought about what we could do and our next move, but someone else had already beaten us there. A tall and broad-shouldered boy from one of the other teams. His hand hovered over the stone as if he were hesitant to touch it.

Marnie grabbed my arm. “Wait,” she whispered.

I nodded, watching closely.

The boy finally reached out, his fingers brushing the surface of the stone. The light changed instantly, shifting from gold to a sickly green.

He froze.

A second later, a bloodcurdling scream tore from his throat. He stumbled back, clutching his head, his body writhing as ifinvisible hands were pulling him apart from the inside.

I felt vomit rise in my throat, and I did everything not to spill whatever contents I had in my stomach all over the ground.

“It’s a cursed one,” Marnie whispered, her voice shaking.

The boy kept screaming before he ran as if something imaginary was chasing him and disappeared deep into the forest.

Marnie and I stayed frozen for a long moment, neither of us wanting to move or speak. Then, from somewhere to my left, Silas and Brandon appeared, both breathing hard. I couldn’t help but search for Hunter, wondering where he was. Whether he was okay or hurt or fending off one of those monsters alone.

Brandon was the first to spot the sigil stone and started towards it when Marnie pressed a hand to his chest, stopping him from going any further.

“It’s not one of the real stones. It’s a cursed one,” Marnie said, and Silas raised an eyebrow.

“And we’re still standing here because...?”

I ignored him, my eyes locked on the now glowing green stone. “There might be more stones nearby.”

“Then we should move,” Brandon said. “That thing from earlier could still be tracking us.”

I nodded before we stepped forward and headed into the forest, where the trees closed in on us again.

Chapter Fifty-Eight

“Does anyone else feel like we’ve been walking in circles?” Brandon muttered, glancing at the identical trees surrounding us.

“Told you,” Silas said. “This forest is messing with us on purpose.”

Brandon snorted. “Or maybe you’re just shit at directions.”

“Tucker, you’re getting on my last nerve, I swear—”

“Guys,” I interrupted, exhaling sharply. “Can we focus? You know, ongettingthe sigils?”

Marnie chuckled beside me. “I honestly don’t know how you survived living in the same dorm with them for so long.”

I didn’t knowhow,either. “I barely did,” I said dryly, earning a smirk from her.

Behind us, Silas was still grumbling, “I feel wildly unappreciated right now.”

“You’ll live,” I called over my shoulder, and the exchange between us brought me a flicker of warmth, easing the anxiety clawing at me since the competition began.

Except it was short-lived.

The deeper we went into the forest, the heavier the air felt. Shadows stretched for too long under the night sky, and thetrees only seemed to close in tighter with every step we took.

“You know,” Brandon said after a while, “we should really come up with a way to mark where we’ve been.”

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