Page 41 of Devour the Dark

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

ROC

Yes,take them, the witch says. Claim them and use them and then devour them and we will all be together for an eternity.

I rush out a door on the starboard side of the ship.

All of the lanterns are off, the ship plunged in darkness save for its running lights and the distant flickering of starlight.

There is ocean stretching to the horizon on either side.

Endless darkness.

I collapse into a deck chair, head in my hands.

I suck in several deep breaths as white light blinks behind my closed lids.

I let my guard down and I could sense the witch seizing on my vulnerabilities.

She is always there, devouring me from the inside. She knows everything I want, everything I desire, and everything that terrifies me and she will use it against me.

I can feel her pressing against my insides, trying to force the monster out.

Devour them, she says again.

Devour them whole.

My stomach churns as the ship crests a wave.

Fucking hell.

I shouldn’t have brought them. I shouldn’t have brought them to Darkland where everything I’ve ever loved has died or gone.

Because now the witch knows that Wendy and the Captain…

I grit my teeth and lean back.

The witch knows how I feel…

Fuck.

I stand up, grab the deck chair by its back rail, and heave it into the ocean.

It hits the water with a splash and quickly sinks below the surface.

“Feel better?”

I look up to see Asha hiding in the shadows. I didn’t even hear her come up.

Shows just how fucked I am.

“Minimally,” I admit.

“Here.” She emerges from the darkness and offers me a clay mug with a dark liquid inside.

“What is it?”

“It’s a tea blend. My mother used to make it for me to calm my nerves.”

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