Page 113 of Of Nine So Bold

I couldn’t take my eyes away from the darkness. Whatever lived in that space was invisible, but I still swore it was watching us.

“So, uh,” Clay continued. “How long do we wait? If he doesn’t make it, I mean?”

Norbert scoffed. “Worried, runt?”

“Please. That’s big talk from a guy whose foot is trapped in a rock.”

The giant snarled at Clay, jerking his leg in an attempt to break it free.

“If the boy has any intelligence at all,” the duke said, “he will return shortly. We have only to wait a few more?—”

The darkness rippled. The man stumbled back into the cavern. “It worked,” he gasped. “It’s… Gods, it’s beautiful.”

Like he’d unleashed the floodgates, the other giants rushed forward, clamoring to leave.

“One at a time! One at a time!” Ignatius called. “Please! We must be careful not to?—”

Duke Ensid and his henchmen strode through without a backward glance.

The darkness rippled so hard as it swallowed them that it seemed like ink about to splash over the cavern walls. A quiver ran through the stones beneath my feet, and my gut twisted like a rope was tugging on my insides.

And my magic.

I stumbled while giants cried out and retreated from the gateway.

“That damned fool!” Ignatius cried.

A growling sound came from the darkness. The sense thatsomethingwas watching us grew stronger.

“Um…” Clay pushed me behind him as he backed away. “You’re sure those demon things aren’t related to the Voidborn, right?”

I doubled over, the pull on my insides growing stronger. The growl felt like it was all around me. Like the darkness was reaching out invisibly to surround us all.

“Please,” I whispered, not even sure what kind of creature I was begging, only that certain death was in that power.

There was a reason these creatures were called gatewaydemons.

“Please.” My head shook. “Please don’t…”

The darkness paused. I barely dared to move.

“Mirror, mirror,”a deep and angry voice growled. “Broken now it lies…”A hungry, cruel chuckle carried from the darkness. “Doomed are the Nine who shatter the skies.”

My lips parted with breathless shock. “What?”

“Well…”I swore something in the darkness grinned.“Maybe.”

Confusion made me falter. Maybe? What did that?—

“Cross, little doomed one. She’s coming.”

The tugging sensation vanished like a rope had snapped. I lurched backward.

Clay caught me. “Are you okay? No, stupid question. But you were talking to yourself and?—”

I looked up at him, baffled. Talking to myself? “Didn’t you hear that?”

Wary glances passed between the others. Clay’s head shook. “Hear what?”

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