Page 29 of Deathless
It had to have been because the Dark Mother had touched me already, had access to my mind, just like with the nightmares.
Devin moved warily to the side, letting me have a view of the hill again. I watched just in time to see the woman holding the carrier swing her arm and throw it into the fire.
We all let out collective gasps and curses of shock. The chanting and swaying continued as if nothing had changed. But now, black smoke rose from the fire, a dense floating mass that looked like it held more weight, more substance than ordinary smoke.
It hovered above the fire, shifting and writhing in midair. The smoke, or whatever it was, kept its form. It never floated away, never dissipated into the atmosphere. It stayed in place, hovering a few feet above the licking flames like a malevolent spirit.
Suddenly all of the chanting stopped, creating an eerie silence that felt more like a vacuum of sound. I couldn’t hear thefire crackling anymore. Couldn’t hear my own breathing or my riders if they were saying anything.
Then the floating black mass started to move.
It floated toward me, its dark, ethereal form almost shimmering. It looked like a swarm of bees heading my way.
Every instinct told me to run, but I felt frozen in place. I might as well have been sitting in the middle of a road, watching the headlights of an eighteen-wheeler head straight toward me.
Something touched me, and that was when my self-preservation kicked in. I sprang to my feet and turned, running across the crest of the hill and heading down the other side.
Some president you are, turning tail and leaving your people vulnerable to that thing.
I jerked my head around at the thought and saw the black floating mass heading straight for me. It crossed from the bonfire hill to this one in no time at all. Through it, I could see my riders chasing after it at a much slower pace. Their mouths moved, shouting something. My name, probably.
Facing forward again, I kept racing down the hill. The dark mass from the fire wanted me, not them. Somehow, I’d known that from the moment I saw it rise up from the fire.
And it was gaining on me. I didn’t have to look behind me to know that. It started to not only surround me, but absorbintome. The sensation was like sandpaper on my skin, tiny pinpricks being pushed into my pores and hair follicles. Every time I dragged a breath in, it felt like I was inhaling sand.
Fuck, this is my dream, I realized in a panic.
I ran harder, even though I could barely see through my eyes feeling sandblasted with pain. I was choking now, my throat working to remove the foreign bodies forcing themselves into me and cutting off my air.
I must have fallen because I was rolling on the ground now, trying to cover my face, my mouth, my eyes. It hurt so fucking bad, and I felt like I was going to pass out from lack of air.
The last thing I saw was Astarte, the dove the only clear object in my blurry vision.
Remember what we told you,she said.
As soon asI woke up, I started coughing, my throat seizing up from the dryness. I rubbed violently at my eyes, desperate to get the sand out.
“Hey, hey. Take it easy.”
Someone pushed a thermos into my hands and I drank the water from it greedily, gulping it all down in a few swallows. Someone else’s palm made circles on my back, soothing me as I returned to rubbing at my eyes.
It took a few seconds to realize my eyes felt normal. Nothing but the usual grittiness from sleep. I blinked and looked around, meeting the worried faces of my crew illuminated by the morning sun.
“Uh. Hi, guys.” I scanned all the faces again, noting someone was missing. “Where’s Santos?”
“Right here, paloma,” said a husky voice near my ear. He was the one rubbing my back, sitting behind me with his legs on either side of me.
“You scared the shit out of us, Pres,” LJ grumbled.
“What happened?” I leaned back, letting my head rest on Santos’ shoulder. My throat was dry. My legs and feet ached a little, probably from running and climbing the hill. But otherwise I felt...fine. Normal.
“You took off running out of nowhere.” Val’s blue gaze bounced all over me like she was examining for injuries. “And then you just collapsed. Crumpled to the ground like someone cut your strings.”
“It was the smoke! Or the cloud, swarm thing. It was coming straight at me.”
“The what?” the Saint tilted his head. It was probably the first time I ever saw him look confused.
“They threw the carrier in the fire and this black smoke rose out of it. Only it wasn’t like smoke, it was...it seemed like it was alive.”
