Page 85 of Venomous Lies
But then, in the pit of my power, I felt something else.
Something foreign.
Strong.
Oddly… familiar.
It felt like a welcome home.
Before I could latch onto it, however, something else eclipsed it.
Pain, loneliness, and pure, unfiltered rage writhed in this being.
A keening call drove me forward with a need to find them.
The first magick I had sensed wasn’t in the same direction, not even close, but there was nothing that could have turned me from the path I had started down.
“Isla? Did you sense?—?”
‘I can’t tell what she’s sensing, incubus,’Cassius said, his words almost blurring into the background as I picked up speed, running through the dark.‘But I have a feeling you need to be on high alert. Protect her.’
“With my life.”
‘I’ll hold you to that,’Cas said firmly before fading into the background.
The keen kept getting louder.
My feet dodged unseen obstacles with ease, but thecloser we got to the fighting, the more I stumbled, hesitating when I heard familiar voices.
Ambrose yelling while Falke roared, soon followed by clashing. A howl of wolves that turned into snarls and whimpers.
I had no idea where I was or what was happening, but I couldn’t have stopped if I wanted to. It was a compulsion. Something stronger than mere need was driving me onward to what I had sensed.
“Isla?! Did you hear the others? I think they need—” A strong wind ripped Echo’s words out of his mouth and my hand from his.
I flailed around, desperate for the warmth of his touch in the dark, but instead found nothing.
The wind’s howl somehow became a sinister laugh as the black around me started to lighten. Gradually, the world became a light gray then continued growing brighter until I realized I was in some kind of room.
I blinked quickly, my eyes trying to adjust to the sudden light piercing my pupils.Who would have thought that staying blind might have been more useful?
“Miss Hallowes, so nice of you to join us today. You have something we need.”
President Thatcher?
What was going on? Looking around, I was able to take in my surroundings—an office.
President Thatcher sat behind a light-wooden desk. Small, neat stacks of papers sat to one side, while the other was decorated with books, again precisely stacked. In front of the necromancer were a few papers and pens.
Along the walls were bookshelves filled with more books, though it looked like none of them had everbeen touched. Each spine was in pristine condition, and nothing was out of place.
His long, beaked nose was the first thing I focused on, then the beady, brown eyes that were staring at me.
The sinister smile that curled his lips made me shudder as he gestured at a chair opposite of him.
“Please sit.”
I didn’t move any closer to the seat he offered me. “I don’t understand?—”
