Page 39 of Visions of Darkness

Pax reached out and grabbed his forearm. “Please, tell me.”

Ellis’s throat trembled as he swallowed; then he lifted his chin in frankness. “I heard of it happening once.”

Pax shifted, angling down so he could read what was written in Ellis’s expression. His elder’s dread was so thick Pax could taste it. “Who?”

“A girl. Long ago.”

“What happened to her?”

Agony spiraled through the murky gray of Ellis’s eyes. “I have read a vague mention of it inThe Book of Continuance. An obscure statement that there are some of us who are given a greater gift. But I’ve never seen it in my lifetime. I have only heard of it once, passed down from my elder—and from his warnings, I understand that they hunted her. Hunted her until they ended her.”

A blade of torment pierced through Pax’s chest.

No.

He wouldn’t allow it.

He would die before he let anything happen to Aria.

Seeing Pax’s intentions, Ellis grasped Pax by the wrist. “Pax, you cannot—”

He was cut off when frantic shouts suddenly pelted through the air. “Pax! Pax!”

Pax spun around as Timothy burst through the edge of the dense foliage. Bending over, he rested his hands on his knees and tried to catch his breath, haggard and panting through his exertion.

Dani flashed in behind him. Tears streamed down her face.

“What is happening?” Pax yelled across their sanctuary.

“It’s Aria,” Timothy wheezed. “A Ghorl. I saw.”

Alarm battered through his insides, and Pax flew across the meadow until he was standing in front of them.

“What did you say?”

“A Ghorl.”

Pax only knew of Ghorls in Ellis’s teachings. The most powerful of Kruen. Those that were so aged and mature they were nearly indestructible. He’d never come upon one himself. Had even believed them mythical.

Timothy sucked for air and grabbed on to Pax’s shoulder as he stood upright. Grimness cut into his expression. “It was speaking wickedness into a man. A man who was near Aria. The Ghorl only planted the first thoughts, but they will grow. He will harm her, Pax. Snuff out her life. I tried to bind it. I fought so hard. I promise. But it was too strong. It broke apart and I lost it.”

No.

Dani whimpered. “I’m so sorry, Pax. We tried.”

“Where?” Pax was already running toward the boundary. To the hazy ripple in the air that would lead to depravity.

They raced to catch up.

He didn’t hesitate. He jumped through the threshold.

Searing cold sliced through his being.

Holding his breath, he fell for what seemed like forever, the wails of the evil stinging his ears and sickening his stomach.

Then he collided with the darkness, landing in a crouch on the frozen ground. Light throbbed and crashed as three of his Laven family flashed in beside him.

Shadows sluiced along the ground, twisted and gnarled, seeking out the minds of their prey.

---