Page 45 of Starkeeper of the Fractured Crown

“Okay,” I breathed out in relief and stood. “Go. Don’t look back.”

She nodded once more and spun around, sprinting off through thealley.

She reminded me of me when I was younger.

Only when I saw her disappear did I turn back to the crowd, my ankle throbbing now. There were people on the ground, bleeding from their pores, the witches wandering as if they had no reason to hurry. Their magic flew and people ran, and the screaming was Therian’s new anthem.

I didn’t let it get to me, not now. Not as I scanned the crowd, straining my eyes, forcing myself to look at the scene before me as I searched every face for Mark.

And then there was Cole, slaying down witches with that glinting sword, using moves I didn’t think were humanly possible to avoid being hit by their magic.

He slammed his blade into the neck of a witch so deep, her head almost came off. Blood spread across her robe, staining the white like ink spilled on paper.

I swallowed and forced myself to turn away. “Ma—”

Something cold slammed into me, knocking me to the ground, my hands sliding against the rocky cobblestone, the pain slicing up my arm.

I shivered, the chill so deep, it sank into my bones. A blast of gray magic flooded the world above me.

My eyes widened as I pressed myself into the cobblestone and looked up just as the magic hit a man climbing over bodies, trying to escape.

The magic wrapped around him, seeping into his eyes, his ears, cutting off his screams as it slithered down his throat. His body went so rigid, his knuckles turned white. Seconds passed like hours before his body went completely limp and crumbled to the ground.

Fear slammed through me unlike anything I had feltbefore as his eyes found mine. Wide and unseeing, staring straight into my soul.

His eyes were red, blood dripping from them, from his nose, from his mouth. His sweat turning red, his expression frozen in a paralyzing scream.

I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. All I could see was his lifeless eyes.

“Talons,” Cole said, skidding to a stop beside me.

I couldn’t look away. I couldn’t break eye contact. I felt nothing coming from him. His eyes were so… empty. There wasnothing. This man, this stranger, who had once had a life, a family, he was void of everything that had made himhim.

“Talons,” Cole barked, grabbing my upper arm and jerking me up painfully. “Are you okay? Were you hit?”

“Um…” but words failed me. Everything was failing me.

Cole looked me over as I looked around, realizing what was left of the meeting in the town square.

Bodies. Dozens of bodies lying scattered across the square. All human except for a handful of witches that Cole had killed, the rest were gone.

Why?

There were still people scrambling away. Why let them live?

What was the point of it all?

Bile crept up my throat. I couldn’t breathe. Why couldn’t I breathe? “Mark,” I choked out, hands shaking. “Mark, we have to save Mark. Please,” I begged, finally meeting his eyes. “Please.”

His eyes softened and he nodded, pushinghis hair back, his hood long since fallen. “Okay, we’ll start—”

A chilling wind wrapped around us, black smoke rising from nothing, whirling, and pulling at my cloak.

“Shit,” Cole muttered, and he grabbed my hand. “Hold your breath.”

My eyes widened. “What?”

We were sucked through a tear in space and time. Folded, twisted, bent, spinning into nothingness until I felt solid ground under my feet again.

---