Page 168 of Where Darkness Falls

Laisren quirks a brow, looking between the three of us. “The door was secured before we went to sleep,” Laisren says defensively. “I swear it. I checked it myself.”

“Could the lock have broken?” Riordan asks.

Maeva shakes her head. “All I can tell you is that it was wide open when I woke up to a cold breeze. I checked the latch, but it didn’t look like it’d been broken,” she replies. “Perhaps the wind knocked it open?”

“Perhaps that would be the case if it were an ordinary latch,” I growl. “However, enchanted locks can’t be opened except from within the hovel by one that isn’t sleeping.”

The elves were clever in their designs of their small outpost. They knew the dangers of the river in the evening and early morning, so they made sure to ward their hovels so that the songs beyond couldn’t call them out to their deaths… even in their sleep. They’d have to be of sound mind and fully awake for the door to unlatch.

“I swear on my life that I made sure it was locked, Emyr,” Laisren pleads.

“Then who unlatched the door?” I seethe.

“I don’t know, but I swear it wasn’t me. Maeva’s my friend. I’d never wish herharm,” he replies.

As I stare down my Second Commander, I know he’s speaking the truth, but something about all of this doesn’t make sense. The door wouldn’t have unlatched on its own, would it? No, someone had to have done it, but I genuinely don’t believe it could’ve been Laisren.

The only question iswho?

Virgil finally moves from where he’s been lying on the snowy bank, standing to his full height. His hand covers his eye that was gouged out by his father years before. “In happier news, I’m glad you’re alive, Little Star,” he beams.

Maeva’s lips quirk as she nods. “As am I,” she replies. “Now let’s get out of here before more grindylows show up.”

“Agreed! I just need to find my eye patch that fell off in the snow,” Virgil says, looking at the ground.

“I’ll help,” Maeva offers.

Virgil dismisses her with a wave of his hand. “I’m sure I’ll find it in a moment,” he replies. “Why don’t the rest of you go back to the hovel and warm up before we set off toward the Abyss. I’ll join you soon.”

Frowning, she nods and attempts to stand up, though her limbs are trembling. Using my shadows as leverage to help me rise, I extend my hand to her. She peers at it as if it were a poisonous serpent, ready to bite her. I offer a smile. “Let me help you, Rosey,” I say. Gazing warily at me, she curls her hand around mine, allowing me to hoist her up. Her footing is unsteady, and I instinctively wrap my arm around her waist. “I’ve got you,” I whisper, my tone like gravel.

Maeva’s cheeks are pink, as she steps out of my grasp. “Thank you, but I’m going to walk with Riordan,” she says. She quickly loops her hand around his bicep, and Riordan hesitantly bounces his gaze between us.

“It’s okay,” I mouth.

He nods, escorting Maeva toward the hill. Laisren and I aren’t far behind them as we slowly make the trek back to the hovels. As we near the top of the hillside, Virgil’s deep voice booms across the expanse. “I found it!”

Smiling, Maeva turns around to reply to him, but her mouth falls agape as her skin becomes ashen. “Virgil! Behind you,” she yells.

We spin around just in time to see a massive horse, made entirely from water and kelp, towering behind Virgil, who’s drifted too close to the edge of the water… Giving the kelpie the advantage.

No!

I run down the hillside as quickly as my legs will carry me. “Virgil, don’t move!” I yell.

Confused, Virgil places his eye patch over his eye, then slowly turns to look behind him.

“Don’t!” I yell.

But it’s too late.

The kelpie opens its massive jaws, latching around Virgil’s neck, disappearing with him beneath the surface.

“VIRGIL!” Maeva shouts. Her voice pierces the sky as she screams for her friend that risked his life to save hers. I look over the edge of the bank for any signs of him or the kelpie. Maeva rushes past me. Riordan and I quickly grab her arms, hauling her away from the edge. “Let me go!” she wails.

“You can’t go after him, or you’ll die too,” I say. “Kelpies are ruthless, and you barely survived the grindylows.”

Maeva violently jerks against us, screaming, “I can’t abandon him. Let me save him. Please, he’s like a brother to me. He protected me.”

---