Page 110 of Beneath the Starlight and Storms

Hook gives me a look full of regret. “Our captive. The first Hunter we captured from the market. He must have been the decoy. A way to test out our defenses and weaknesses.”

With his mind busy with our intruders, I tear open his shirt as quickly as I can.

Hook hisses through his teeth in pain before leaning his head back against the tree and closing his eyes.

“I should have seen it… Should’ve known when we couldn’t get any information out of them. And what I could get was planted, a ploy to manipulate us into falling into their plan. Setting it up so they could slip in the rest before attacking.”

I pause. “The rest?”

Hook opens his eyes and looks at me, a worried look on his face. “I sense dozens, if not more. But they’re moving too quickly for me to get a proper read on them. I—” He narrows his eyes, frowning.

“Hook?”

He glances in the direction we came, his eyes widening slightly when he looks to the ground. I follow his direction and spot them. Shadows. Long, slithering, dark shadows that slowly move along the forest floor, destroying everything they touch. The trees turn black, the leaves and branches rot off before quickly turning to dust.

I turn to Hook, ready to help him up so we can get moving when I spot his eyes glowing and a storm swirling inside them.

Energy quickly swirls around us before shooting out and disappearing. Hook is panting by the time the energy dissipates around us. But the shadows stop in their path as if frozen in time.

Hook squeezes my hand and I look up at him. He’s pale. Too pale.

“It will buy you some time.” Hook slumps further against the tree, out of breath. “There’s a small boat hidden—”

Seeing where he’s going with this, I stop him with a hard look. “No.”

I ignore the glare he gives me to see what I can do about his wound. He tries to push my hand away but it’s trembling so much, he can barely lift it.

“Take the boat and get away from here,” he demands.

I clench my teeth at the stubborn fool. “I’m not leaving you.”

Hook’s hand trembles once more as he slowly reaches for my cheek, his eyes pleading with me to listen to him. “Tink… please… I beg you—”

“Stop trying to get rid of me and start thinking of a way webothcan get out of here. Because the only way I’m leaving here iswithyou.” I glare at him.

He releases a harsh sigh, dropping his hand as if he’s too weak to hold it up any longer. He narrows his eyes on me, but I catch the spark of light in them.

“Still as stubborn as ever.”

“I just found you, Hook. I’m not willing to give you up.” I frown, not wanting to think about anything other than us both getting out of this safely.

His eyes soften. “Tink—”

“If I break the pointed tip from your back, I should be able to pull it through from the front. It’ll hurt like hell though.” I check the wound again before glancing up at Hook. I watch his face grow paler and his breaths grow shallower. There’s worry in his eyes along with something else I’m not used to seeing.

Fear.

“Hook?” I push, needing to do this now before it gets any worse.

He swallows, giving me a small smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. “Do it.”

With one last look at Hook, I help him sit forward and move around him. I rip off long pieces of cloth from the end of my dress and place a couple of them on my knees.

Before he changes his mind, I grab hold of the tip of the arrow and quickly snap it off. Hook grits his teeth as sweat starts to trickle down his face. I quickly move around to face him.

“On the count of three…” I tell him. He nods, growing paler.

“One…” I grasp the end of the arrow, getting a good grip. “Two…” I yank it out as hard as I can and drop it to the ground. Picking up the cloth, I put pressure on the wound.

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