Page 93 of Fate and Fury

“Katerina.” Her name drifted on the still air of the tunnel. “I tried to ride to the Magiya. To get the answers you needed. But the Darkness took me and Oriel both. It devoured us and spit us out and left us here. We’ve been waiting so long…finally you’ve come…”

Katerina froze, peering into the depths of the tunnel. “Nadia? Is that you?”

“I know what they’ve said of you.” Oriel’s voice floated toward her, from the same direction as Nadia’s. “Prove you are no Shadow-killer. You never meant for me to die, Katerina. This is no place for my soul. For Nadia’s. Bring us back to the Light.”

Katerina held up her palm, where the tiny light winked. But try as she might, she could see nothing in the gloom. She called her witchfire, and it came reluctantly, as if dragged forth from the depths. Drawing back her arm, she hurled the ball of flames down the tunnel. For an instant, she could have sworn Nadia and Oriel’s silhouettes flickered there. But then her fireball dissolved into blackness, and the figures vanished.

Could Nadia and Oriel really be trapped here? Or were these the voices of demons who walked the Shadow Path, hungry to bind their souls to Katerina’s?

“Nadia?” she called again, but no one answered. The shades of Nadia and Oriel had disappeared into the gloam, if they had ever been here at all.

An icy finger traced its way down Katerina’s spine. She walked faster, taking one fork, then another, guided by the stone in her pocket. But the faster she walked, the more voices filled her ears, an unearthly clamor that reverberated inside her skull.

I died because of you,Baba Volkova’s voice whispered, rising above the rest.We all died, because you could not stand against the Dark.

“No.” The word trembled in Katerina’s throat. “No…I would have saved you if I could…”

The voices rose until they filled the air.Drezna and Satvala fell because of you, because you weren’t strong enough. Because of you, we are dead, lost to the Light. You rose, and the Darkness followed. Save us. You owe us that. You owe us everything.

“It’s not my fault,” Katerina cried, turning in a circle, peering into the darkness. But no one was there. Just the voices, echoing from everywhere and nowhere at once. “I never meant to hurt any of you. Stop it. Stop!”

Flame burst from her, along with a gust of wind. It drove the voices back, like they were indeed a physical thing. The tunnelflared brightly, and the faces of the friends she had lost in Drezna and Satvala emerged from the gloom. Then her witchfire faded, extinguished as if doused by a giant hand. The ghostly figures that surrounded her sank back into the dark.

Girding herself, she began to walk again. In the distance gleamed the outline of a door.

Almost there,she told herself.Just a little more.

And then yet another whisper came from the shadows.

“Katerina.” It was her mother’s voice, gentle, shaping each syllable of her name.

Katerina sucked in a sharp breath. “Mama?”

“Don’t leave us here,” her mother begged. “We’re so lonely. Take us with you, so we may fight at your back.”

That is not your mother,Katerina told herself grimly.Any more than those voices belonged to Nadia or Oriel or Baba Volkova. That is a demon, and demons lie.

She stuffed her fingers in her ears, but it didn’t matter; now the voices emanated from inside her head. “My little Firebird,” her father crooned. “Even here, you shine so brightly. If you bear us with you down the Shadow Path, then we’ll fight by your side. Only invite us in, so we need not linger here in the Dark.”

“No,” Katerina said, shaking her head as if to shake the voices out of it. “You’re not real. Not here. You’ve passed on into the Light.”

“I died defending you.” There were tears in her mother’s voice now. “The demontookme, Katerina. Dragged my soul weeping and shrieking into the Dark. And here I stay, on the Shadow Path. All this time, I’ve been waiting for you. Now my prayers have been answered. My girl, you’ve come for me at last.”

As if summoned, the image of the last time she’d seen her mother alive sprang into Katerina’s mind, clarified in every detail. She saw a demon charging toward her small self, saw hermother throw herself between them. Witchfire exploded from her mother’s fingertips, a ball of flame barreling inexorably through the air. It found its target, but as it did, another demon lunged for Katerina’s mother.

She hadn’t relived this moment in years, had deliberately shoved it down into the deepest recesses of herself. Whenever it had come to her, usually in nightmares, the demon who attacked her mother had been a blur. She could have sworn she had never seen its face. But now she watched her memory unspool as the demon reared back and sank its teeth into the juncture between her mother’s neck and shoulder, each detail of the image crystal-clear. With a shock, Katerina recognized the diamond-sharp angle of the jaw, the lithe build and dark fall of hair.

Gadreel.

Her mother’s Shadow roared, breaking away from his own battle and charging toward Gadreel, but it was too late. Blood sprayed from Katerina’s mother’s torn throat. The fire at her fingertips flickered and went out.

“No,” small Katerina shrieked as she watched her mother fall. “Mama! Mama!”

“No,” Katerina whispered now, dropping to her knees before the door that led out of the tunnels. Tiny roots bit into her knees, digging in. She couldfeelthe hot blood splatter her cheeks as it had when she was a child, fighting to reach her fallen mother. The howl of Tima, her mother’s Shadow, reverberated in her bones once more as she fought to escape the Vila who held her fast. She tried to call her own magic, to vanquish the demon, but she was too small and her fear too great and nothing came.

“Katerina,” her mother whispered, the word rasping from her torn throat, just as it had that day. “Run…”

The Vila lifted small Katerina, still kicking and fighting, and fled. Over the woman’s shoulder, Katerina saw Tima fall beneath the onslaught of another Grigori’s blade. Gadreel stood there,head tipped back toward the darkened sky, her mother’s blood pouring from his mouth as he gave an inhuman howl of triumph.

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