Page 34 of Midnight Reign
“MistHallow is moving,” he mutters. “We have spooked it.”
“Oh, like when it did when I first arrived?”
“Yeah. It settled for a bit, but now it’s annoyed with us for uncovering its secrets.”
“So, that sounds like bad news,” I whisper. “Should we turn back?”
“Not on your life, princess,” he says in a normal tone that makes me jump and he laughs at my skittishness.
“Watch your step,” Zaiah warns as we navigate a particularly tricky stretch of uneven ground. His white eyes glow in the dim light, scanning the path ahead. “Some of these stones are loose.”
As soon as he says it, I feel a stone shift under my foot. There’s a click, ominous in its finality, and the floor beneath us gives way. We tumble down a slick, winding chute, my cry of shock, echoing off the walls. The world becomes a dizzying blur of darkness and fleeting touches of cold stone.
We land in a heap at the bottom, in a large, circular chamber lit by flickering torches. The impact knocks the breath from my lungs, and for a moment, all I can do is lie there, trying to reorient myself. As we untangle ourselves, groaning, I notice strange symbols carved into the walls, glowing faintly with an unearthly light. The atmosphere here is different, charged with an energy that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
“Everyone okay?” Corvus asks, helping me to my feet. His cool hand in mine is reassuring, an anchor in this strange, unfamiliar place.
We nod, brushing off dust. Zephyr consults the map again, his face steeped in shadows and seriousness. The parchment seems to resist his scrutiny, the lines blurring and shifting under his gaze.
“This chamber isn’t on the map,” he says slowly. “We are exploring the unexplored.” His glee at that is clear as he grins at us and plucks a fountain pen out of the air. He starts scrawling, looking around and taking in the surroundings as he sketches the chamber in the book, muttering things in a language so dark and complex that it makes me tremble under the power of it.
“Look,” Zaiah says, drawing my attention away from Zephyr, and pointing to a series of archways around the perimeter of the room. Each one leads to a different tunnel, disappearing into darkness. The archways are adorned with more of the glowing symbols, each set unique and pulsing with its own rhythm.
“Which way?” Ignatius asks, his flame extinguished with the fall, flickering back to life. The light seems to be swallowed by the darkness beyond the archways, unable to penetrate their depths.
Before anyone can answer, we hear a low rumble. The sound seems to come from everywhere at once, reverberating through the stone and into our bones. The symbols on the walls begin to glow brighter, pulsing with a haunting rhythm that matches the beating of my heart.
“Uh, guys?” I say, backing away from the nearest wall, my voice trembling slightly. “I think we might have woken something.”
The rumbling grows louder, drowning out all other sounds. Suddenly, spectral figures begin to emerge from the walls. They’re translucent, glowing with the same light as the symbols, their features indistinct but somehow menacing. They move with a fluid grace that’s beautiful but scary as all fuck.
“Guardians,” Zephyr breathes. “Ancient protectors of MistHallow’s secrets.”
“How old is this place?” I mutter, more to myself than anyone else.
“In its earliest form, thousands of years old,” Corvus replies anyway.
“So we have woken primordial beings?”
“Yep.”
“Well, that’s just fucking dandy.”
Corvus snorts and grips my hand tighter. “Don’t let go, no matter what, Addy, okay?”
His serious tone scares me more than the spectres. I squeeze his hand in response as words have failed me now.
The spectral figures advance on us, their movements synchronised and purposeful.
“What do we do?” I squeak, my voice higher than usual, betraying my fear.
“We fight,” Corvus says grimly, his fangs dropping as he shifts into a defensive stance. His eyes gleam with a predatory light, and I’m reminded once again of the power that lurks beneath his calm exterior. I tug on his hand to let go, but he glares at me. “Do not let go.”
“But—”
“No buts.”
The others ready themselves as my breathing quickens. “If you’re in there, could do with some help.”
