Page 36 of Witch Untold
Lauris and Sloane flanked me.
“You ready?” Sloane asked.
I nodded. “Let’s go get our people back.”
We stepped through the portal and the world fractured.
Ice bit at my face and filled my lungs as we stepped into a world that was an expanse of sparkling white under a miasma of shimmering turquoise and purple.
“The Aurora Borealis,” Sloane said softly. “It’s beautiful.”
It was like standing under a kaleidoscope on a landscape of ice and snow, forbidding yet majestic in its aloofness.
“There’s the town.” Sloane pointed to a skyline of twinkling lights. “Come on.”
We began to trudge toward civilization, leaving the portal behind.
Sloane was right. The sisters had pinpointed a spot far enough from the town to ensure the portal wouldn’t be found, but close enough for us to make it on foot.
Sloane huffed. “I estimate it’ll take thirty minutes to get there.”
My boots sank into the snow, which was deeper than it looked. “It looks closer.”
“This landscape can be deceptive.”
We trudged in silence for long minutes, the only sound the puff of my breath and the thud of my pulse in my ears until an eerie wail cut through the night, making my hackles rise.
Lauris stepped away from us. “I see something. There’s someone headed this way.”
I spotted the figure a moment later. It was moving fast and heading toward us.
Lauris took another step forward, and then another. “Wait. Is that—”
Purple hair streamed out from a furry hood. “Bramble? It’s Bramble!”
The eerie wail took form, hitting me with icy precision. “Run! Run, dammit.” Bramble waved her arms at us, then veered toward the town.
“Come on!” Lauris urged.
We broke into a run, as best we could in the snow. Bramble was here. She was okay, or maybe not, because she was running from something. Damn she was fast, light on her feet, as if the snow wasn’t even a factor. Had to be a pixie trait.
We converged a few minutes later with the town looming in front of us. I caught the flash of too-wide eyes and a pale elfin face, but even though we slowed down, Bramble didn’t.
“Bramble.” Lauris cut across Sloane and me, lifted her off her feet, and crushed her against his chest. “You crazy fucking bitch.”
She smacked at him. “Put me down, you lug. There’s no time for hugs, especially from you.”
He obliged, but I didn’t miss his hurt look.
Bramble looked over her shoulder, back at the winter wasteland. “They’re coming. We need to keep moving.” She broke into a jog and we joined her. Her urgency was infectious. “I don’t know what they are. Some new breed of monster, but there are so many and they’re headed this way. They can’t be far behind me.”
Monsters? “Not the Sons of Adam?”
“Feck those bastards. The Sons of Adam are vamps, these things are….I don’t even know what they are. Ugly as fuck and old. I felt that much.”
I wasn’t about to question her sanity. Monsters were real, and some might even class us in that group, but witches, shifters, gargoyles, and pixies were nothing compared to some of the shit that lurked in the dark.
We were the good guys.
