Page 99 of Visions of Darkness

Ellis felt the resonance, Pax was sure, the way apprehension filled his features.

The two stared at each other, though Pax stepped back when Dani cautiously approached the three of them. Her love for Aria was patent, her hands shaking when she reached out and pulled Aria into her arms. “Oh God, Aria, I’ve been so worried about you.”

Aria fell into her and allowed her to hold her up. “I’m okay. I’m okay.”

It sounded as if Aria was trying to convince herself.

“I need to speak with you.” Ellis’s voice was low and dire, and Pax glanced to Aria, not wanting to leave her side but also knowing this was inevitable.

He knew the choice he’d made would be met with condemnation.

Pax followed Ellis across the meadow until they stood beneath a massive, winding tree, its entwined, low-slung branches covered in moss and white flowers. Its canopy stretched over them like a sentry.

“You’ve gone to her.” Ellis said it the moment he turned around, the words craggy and grave.

Pax looked back to where Aria was surrounded by Dani, Josephine, and a handful of other Laven whom Aria had grown close to.

His jaw clenched. “Yes.”

Ellis emitted a sound of reproach, though it was pained and woven with alarm. “You’ve broken our greatest rule. The one I warned you of time and again.”

Pax’s attention snapped back to his guide. His teacher. A man he held in the highest regard. It was a regard he couldn’t heed. “And I’d break it a million times over if it gave her even one more day.”

“You put her in danger. Put yourself in danger.”

An incredulous laugh ripped from Pax. “I put her in danger? She would have died in that facility if I hadn’t gotten her out. The one Timothy had seen had already gotten to her. He was in her room when I arrived.”

Ellis’s pale face blanched. Stark white. Still, he said, “Your purpose is here. To fight here ... in Faydor. You’ve lost sight of your meaning. Of who you are supposed to be.”

Pax angled his head in his elder’s direction, his words jagged. “My purpose is to protect her.” He’d known it his entire life; he’d just finally figured out what that really meant. “Saving herismy meaning.”

“Have you forgotten the lessons of Valeen and Kreed?”

“And what exactly do you expect me to do? Turn my back on her? Leave her alone on the street? Take her back to her parents, who don’t understand her? The ones who put her in harm’s way to begin with? I won’t.” The promise grated from Pax’s tongue.

“Pax . . . you must—”

Their argument was cut off by Timothy, who was suddenly at their side. He roughed a hand through his shaggy brown hair, caution and care in his expression.

“Forgive me for interrupting,” he told Ellis, though his eyes were on Pax. “Dani and I ... We have been searching.”

Rage and hope stirred inside him.

“What have you found?” Pax demanded.

“We found the Ghorl. It is fast, and it is strong and terrifying. More powerful than anything I’ve ever witnessed. But I saw it, Pax. It has one single thought. One single goal. And that goal is Aria.”

Pax had already assumed that, but the confirmation pierced him like an arrow.

He swore, and Timothy’s nod was grim. “We couldn’t even get close enough to it to try to bind it. I’m sorry.”

“It must be stopped here.” Wisdom was carved into Ellis’s edict. “If it’s only this one ... then perhaps we can stop this.”

He didn’t say it, but Pax knew what he’d implied.

Stop the hunt for Aria.

Only you have the strength to destroy this evil.What Aria had told him about what she’d thought Valeen had conveyed to her spun through his mind. If it were true? If Valeen had actually shown herself to Aria? Then Aria might be the only one who could do it.

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