Page 53 of Shadow Fall: Part Two

I glanced at my hands, thinking of the way magic had overflowed them in Cronus’s prison, thinking of the man who sensed my magic and answered its call. Apollo. The jerk that was my father. I didn’t want to think about that, about how I’d inherited his magic. The sunlight that warmed my insides was because of him.

I jerked my head up when a tanned hand grabbed my arm, narrowing a glare on Walden as he dragged me back to the horse. Dave looked to be mid-panic-attack which was very relatable, throwing his dark head back and forth.

“Get on,” Walden ordered, somehow even surlier than he’d been earlier, a deep furrow cutting his brow.

“What did you do?” I asked, craning my neck to see the mini-landslide he’d caused.

“Not enough to stop them, only slow them down.”

When I hesitated too long, he grabbed my waist and lifted me onto Dave’s back, seizing the reins and swinging himself up behind me.

“Tell me you have an amazing plan for getting through the next lot of spirits,” I breathed.

“We’re going to ride through them,” Walden replied grimly, “and keep riding until we reach the portal.”

I whipped my head around to stare at his Henry Cavillish face. “Are you out of your goddamn mind?”

His expression was set with determination, his eyes flinty. God, he was serious.

“If this gets me killed, I’m coming back to haunt your ass so hard,” I hissed and whipped back to face forward as he kicked his heels into Dave’s side and the hellstallion shot forward with a scream of complaint.

“I know,” I said, patting the horse’s neck. “I think he’s insane too.”

Strangely, Dave stopped screaming, panting instead as he raced through the narrow mountain pass.

“You’re good with animals,” Walden said. “You might have mentioned that earlier.”

My scowl deepened. I wasn’t magically good with them like he insinuated; animals just liked me. Where pets of my foster families hissed or snarled at other new kids, they were timid and friendly with me.

“This isn’t going to work!” I cried as we veered around a bend in the pass, and the source of the silver-blue glow came into sight—not just three spirits. Twenty of them, thirty even. “They’ll kill us.”

“You threatened me and brought us here,” Walden replied evenly. “This is the consequence of your actions.”

I winced, feeling a twinge of regret. But it was his decision to ride straight into the horde of ghosts. If he got himself—and me—killed, that wasn’t my fault.

I dove a shaky hand into my bag, closed my fingers around a blocky metal shape, and drew out a music box. It was inlaid with enamel in the shape of a rose, which just made me miss Haley and Kai and all the others more. Pretty, but I didn’t care what it looked like; I drew my arm back and threw the box at the ghosts, shielding my eyes when it exploded with phosphorous turquoise light.

“What was that?” Walden demanded, his voice a booming noise in my ears as light erupted, travelling over me like cold water and silk.

“Not a clue,” I answered, squinting through the light and flinching back when a spectral hand reached through it. “Shit!” I hissed when the handsy ghost reached through my knee and into Dave’s neck. Cold burned the places the ghost touched.

“Faster!” Walden urged Dave, like he spoke any language other than horse. “Tell the horse to go faster!”

How was that going to make any difference? I flinched away from another grasping spirit, this time on my left, and bent close to Dave’s back, whispering, “You have to run faster. Please.”

I caught my breath when Dave soared beneath us, flying into the bright light and the horde of ghosts like he was made of the wind itself. I pushed down the unease that swelled in my chest. Did I have some kind of magic, to talk to animals and have them understand?

“Good!” Walden shouted. “Keep going!”

A sword sliced the air in the corner of my eye, like the guard thought a sword would do any good against spirits. Guess we were both stupid because I reached into my bag and grasped the wine glass, hurling it in front of us as Dave sprinted. The glass shattered against the side of the mountain to our left, and I yelled in surprise when the rock crumpled, melting to a frothy substance like the wine glass was acid. Walden didn’t ask what the hell I was doing this time, and I didn’t volunteer any answers.

The passage twisted ahead in an abrupt turn. I sank my fingers into Dave’s mane, holding on for dear life as he took the turn at extreme speed. Spectral hands grabbed for us as we fled, brushing my calves, my boots, my arms, so cold they were like ice. I shuddered, pressing myself closer to Dave’s back, and in the next moment I was flying, the horse’s scream filled the air, and Walden was yelling in surprise.

I hit the ground hard on my hip, a bark of pain ripped from me. I was so dazed that I lay there for long moments, my head spinning. What happened…?

“Get up!” Walden urged tightly, fabric scuffing the ground as he knelt beside me, reaching for my shoulder. “Come on, kid, get up.”

“Don’t call me kid,” I snapped, unable to hide a flinch when I thought about Emlyn. Was he dead? Had Cronus killed him? Or was that empty, haunting look in his eyes again, because Cronus had murdered his mate?

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