Page 213 of Of Nine So Bold

But nothing about those things spoke of life to me. I didn’t even need to ask Niko. This wasn’t nature.

This was death, and it had come for Aneira—and through Aneira, the world.

The stairs came to an end in a small wooden doorway with rot climbing over its frame.

My lips peeled back in a displeased growl. Why did humans have to build things sosmall?

Shuddering, I shifted back to my Erenlian form. My skin prickled at the chill hanging on the air, and gods knew I was still too large for this place. But at least this form stood less of a chance of brushing up against that fungus.

“Are we okay?” Niko asked behind me.

“Yes. Just—” I gestured to the door and then decided it wasn’t worth trying to explain. “Doesn’t matter. Come on.”

Pausing to sniff the air, I waited until my senses confirmed there was no one on the opposite side of the door and then pushed it aside, taking care not to touch the rot. We were at ground level from the feel of it. The princess was somewhere to my right. Based on her speed, she was definitely running from something, and it made me want to race to her side this instant.

But the castle corridors made the tunnel seem tame.

“What the…” Niko said behind me.

The rot was here as well, but tree branches were as well. They stabbed out from the gaps between the stones of the castle walls like they’d grown from within the building itself. Blackened leaves encrusted with pestilent growths hung from them, many on the verge of falling and others already on the ground. Where they’d dropped, more rot spread, like the growths on the leaves had exploded to release spores.

I didn’t take my eyes from the branches and rot. “Can your magic?—”

Niko was already making anoh-hell-nosound. “This… whatever it is… It’sangry. Raging with hate. If I try to touch it with my magic…”

“Bad.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Then stay behind me.”

Ax in hand, I set off. The halls were wider than those in the tunnel, but with the branches sticking out everywhere, it still made for careful going.

Footsteps came from up ahead, shivering through the stones of the floor. The scent of my friends reach my nose.

Dex and Byron raced around the corner, skidding to a stop at the sight of us. “Oh, thank the gods,” Byron said. “This place is?—”

He cut off as a blur of smoke swept around the corner, transforming swiftly into Casimir. “Strange, yes?” the vampire finished.

Byron gave a brief nod.

I frowned, scanning the corridor. “This way.” I strode past them. My mate was moving fast, but she was still up ahead, and I needed her back with us.

Immediately.

“Any sign of anybody else?” Niko asked as he and the others followed.

“Witch magic is on the air to the west of us,” Casimir confirmed. “It is different than what fills this place. Hopefully that means our allies fared better with the gateways than we did.”

I scowled. Even if they had, the witches wouldn’t do a lot of good out there, and we had no way to tell them we were in here.

Dex seemed to come to the same conclusion. “Okay, once we find the princess, we need to get a signal to?—”

A roar shook the walls.

“Shit.” Dex took off running, but before he made it half a dozen steps, two green-skinned creatures with tusks came barreling around the corner.

They looked like they were running for their lives.

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