Page 63 of Curse of Darkness
I can almost feel Thiago’s arms around me as he helps me forge an arrow of pure flame. Together, we nock it to the bow, and as I draw the string back, the memory of him whispers against my cheek. “Hold the flame, Vi.”
Hold the flame.
The second it leaves the bow is the moment I need to concentrate. My gifts with fae magic are small. The further the arrow flies, the harder it is to hold the heat together. It’s a constant battle with the wind threatening to snuff the flame.
“Where did it go?” Finn demands, setting his back into the oars. We surge forward, forcing me to recalibrate my aim as I scan the skies.
There.Right there.
I loose the arrow.
It vanishes with a hiss into the mist, and then a scream echoes through the air.
Something dark tumbles from the sky and slams into the lake surface barely twenty feet away.
There is no splash. Somehow, that’s eerier than anything else I’ve seen today.
“One down,” Finn says grimly. “It will be a lead scout.”
Storm clouds rumble in the sky. Within the darkness, lightning lances, highlighting dozens of dark shapes. They stretch as far as the eye can see.
“There are… hundreds of them.” My bow lowers involuntarily. We’ll never escape them. Not like this. My pulse kicks. I’ve failed. I managed to get so close to my dream and yet—
“Just got to make it to the Hallow,” Finn says grimly, his thighs and shoulders surging as he forces us through the water. “Keep them off our backs, Vi.”
I’ve spent enough time training with him to know what he’s asking of me.Focus.One sluagh hunter at a time.
A shadow plunges toward us, wings stretched out wide. I catch a glimpse of a pale face and black, merciless eyes, and then I put another fire arrow right between those eyes. It hits the lake, plunging beneath the oily waters.
Again and again, until the reek of burning feathers fills my nostrils.
They’re divebombing in waves. I can barely keep up, my fingers burned and blistering.
And then the bottom of the boat scrapes over the sandy lakebed, making me stagger.
“Hold on, Vi!”
Leaping out of the boat, Finn hauls it ashore. Scrambling over the bench, I grab his hand and launch myself toward the edge of the lake, but Finn glances up at the last moment and—
Hands snatch at my shoulders, and a vicious laugh echoes in my ears.
“Vi!”
I scream as my feet are lifted off the ground. The bow vanishes as my concentration breaks. Finn catches my ankle, his jaw grim as he hauls on me with all his strength. Talons dig into my shoulders, pain slicing through me. But it’s the rotting reek of damp flesh that makes me gag.
“Knife, Vi!” he yells.
Snatching my knife from my hip, I slash at the unseen hands gripping me. A scream vibrates through the air, and then I’m falling, falling….
I land on Finn, both of us smashing to the ground.
Above us, a shadowy figure rushes past, deprived of its prey.
But as I look up, I see hundreds of them circling us, mouths agape in vicious, cackling smiles.
Hundreds.
I’ve barely killed a handful.
