Page 5 of Vicious Little Vows
I wanted to tell him to stop, but dizziness overcame me. An all too familiar dizziness. “Uh oh.” Just as I felt myself being transported, Gabriel grabbed my arm, coming along for the ride.
THREE
We were dumped unceremoniously a moment later into an open field surrounded by woods. I pinched my brow as I sat up, squinting against the sunlight. “Please tell me we’re still in the Bogs.” Maybe if I held extra still, I wouldn’t lose the rainbow donut I’d eaten for breakfast.
Already on his feet, Gabriel extended one hand down to me. “We’re still in the Bogs.” He glanced around as he helped me up, keeping hold of my hand. “Though I am not sure where, exactly.”
“Not comforting.” I took back my hand to brush dried grass and dirt from my jeans. There was no sign of the vines. I peered off through the trees, but could see nothing beyond them. “Why do you think they brought us here?”
Gabriel gripped my shoulder, tension radiating through his touch. I instantly stiffened, wondering what he had noticed. He guided me to turn around, then pointed with his free hand. Off in the distance, a portion of the trees didn’t look quite right. They looked blackened, or maybe just gray.
I lifted a hand to shield my eyes from the sun, trying to get a better view. “Did they burn?” I looked at Gabriel, my nerves kicking up when I realized how worried he was.
“They still have their needles. Something else happened to them. Wait here.” He started walking toward the distant trees.
“Oh like hell.” I hurried after him, glancing around the rest of the meadow for anything else out of place. But all was serene. A light breeze shifted the yellow grass, and birds sang in the rest of the trees. There was just that one dark patch.
Gabriel slowed as he neared it, extending his arm to keep me back. But I was close enough now to see it. Just before the tree line, the grass and soil were a strange dark gray. It formed a solid swath, encompassing the dead trees, which were the same strange gray.
“You’re right, they all have their needles. They weren’t burned.” I gripped Gabriel’s arm in front of me, tempted to push past it for a closer look.
“We don’t know what caused this. We shouldn’t get too close.”
It was a wise sentiment, but— “The vines brought us here for a reason. I think they wanted us to see this. Let’s just move a little closer.”
Gabriel sighed. “At least let me go first.”
I thought about it. “Okay, but you don’t touch it either.”
He lowered his arm and started walking, stopping as he reached the edge of the gray. When nothing happened, I moved to stand beside him, looking down at the line formed between the gray grass and the healthy yellow meadow.
“It’s spreading,” Gabriel said, his voice tight.
I watched the line, and sure enough, the gray was slowly consuming the yellow, like spilled ink spreading across a surface. Blade by blade, the lifeless hue crept along. Realizing how close it was to the toes of my boots, I stepped back, holding a hand over my racing heart. “What is it?”
Gabriel stepped back beside me, his eyes on that ever-creeping line of gray. “I don’t know, but there’s nothing living in those trees.”
I realized he was right. No birds sang anywhere near us. They had even fled the nearest healthy trees. Gabriel took my hand, pulling me further back. “We need to tell Mistral.”
“Good idea.” I nodded a little too rapidly, panic constricting my throat. “Now how do you suggest we do that?”
He pulled me further back, toward the center of the meadow where we wouldn’t be in danger of touching whatever the hells that grayness was. Once we were out of immediate danger, he gripped both my arms. “We could try walking—we’d reach the Citadel eventually, but it could easily take hours. Over the years, the Bogs has consumed much of the vacant land beyond the city.”
I looked into his earnest dark eyes and realized what he was saying. With my nerves kicking up even further, I nodded. “I can try.”
He was still gripping my arms, but I’d need a little more contact to use his energy to help us travel. At least we didn’t have to go all that far, nor did we need to cross any boundaries. We just had to make it back to the pool.
And yet, when I moved closer, there was hesitation from him—a hint of remaining awkwardness from our earlier conversation. I supposed there was no better time to talk about it than the present, since he might avoid being alone with me after this.
“About Sebastian—”
“You don’t need to say anything,” he cut me off.
Bending my elbows to grip his arms in return, I shook my head. “I do. You’re clearly upset about it.” He didn’t even have to say anything. One or two times I had sensed emotions from some of the guys. Now I could sense his stormy emotionslike the distant rumbling of thunder, though externally, he was concealing it admirably.
Looking into my eyes, he seemed to realize there was no hiding it. Not from me. “It’s just because it’shim. If it were Crispin, it would be easier to deal with.”
“I know you don’t get along—”
