Page 32 of Cursed Shadows

“Eilish?” he asks.

“She’s on the bank,” I respond, reaching down to help him to his feet.

“I can walk,” he barks.

“I’m sure you can, but as soon as you walk back into that current, the souls will try to wrestle you down again. If I help you, they won’t.”

He nods and allows me to wrap my arm around his shoulders as we walk up the embankment, and the river separates around us. We trudge up the dirt and as soon as we free ourselves, the river closes.

***

EILISH

I don’t know where I am or what’s happened.

I’m standing on the bank of a river, looking out at the tumultuous current. Somehow, and I don’t understand how, the river is circular and feeds into itself. The water is crystalline and ice blue, and I find my feet suddenly sweltering.

I glance down. The bottoms of my feet feel like they’re on fire and the burning is spreading, traveling to the tops of my feet, my ankles, and up my legs.

Beneath me, large crevices slice the ground into geometric designs. Below the broken earth, it glows red—as if the earth is full of lava that’s cracking the ground above it. The heat billows out of the crevices and I hop from one foot to the other to keep them from scorching.

“Resurrect,”a woman’s voice calls out.

I glance in the direction of the voice and see two women. One is sprawled out on the ground, unresponsive. The other woman hovers above her, bent over.

“Resurrect,”the woman says again, staring down at the sleeping woman with deep intensity. Her raven hair extends down her back, disappearing behind her waist. Her skin, devoid of color has the texture of porcelain. She appears cold. She’s dressed in nothing other than shadows and they movearound her so quickly, I realize the shadows are delineating her appearance. They shape her, give definition to her long torso and longer legs. She’s thin, but well-proportioned with generous breasts.

“Who are you?”I ask.

She looks up at me with eyes that glow red from an oval face with high cheekbones. Her nose is long and upturned; her face is gaunt but beautiful. Age doesn’t define her—she could be twenty or she could be seventy.

Her expression falls when she sees me. Then, she takes a deep breath and nods.“If now is the time you reveal yourself, so be it.”She faces the prostrate woman before her.“RESURRECT!”

***

DRAGAN

I run to Eilish and kneel down beside her. I press my fingers to her neck to check for her pulse, but I don’t find one. She feels cold and her skin is whiter than usual, with a gray cast to her lips. I lean over her, hoping to hear evidence of her breathing. There’s nothing.

“Eilish,” I say. A few seconds pass, and I look up at Baron. “She’s not responding.”

A deep, intense worry claims me, and I suddenly feel ill.

Baron looks at her with an expression I can’t characterize. Maybe it’s casual disappointment or maybe it’s deep loss. “Perhaps I was too late,” he says in a small voice.

“Eilish,” I repeat, shaking her. She’s limp and lifeless in my hands.

“If the river has stolen her soul—” Baron starts, but I interrupt him.

“Why didn’t you warn me that could happen?” I’ve crossed this river many times and I’ve never experienced this before.

“I didn’t know it could,” he explains as he continues to stare at Eilish. “I’ve never seen anything like it.” He faces me then. “Cambion and Flumph, both creatures of the light, passed without incident.”

“Why didn’t she?” I face him with narrowed eyes. “And why was it that the river parted for you when it wouldn’t for me?”

“Because I’m death,” he answers with a shrug, as though I should have figured that much out for myself. His response doesn’t make sense to me, but there are more important things I need to worry about.

I face Eilish again and damn my bad luck. “Cambion is the only one who can heal her and he’s on the other side.”

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