Page 102 of Darkness and Deceit
Kai doesn’t hesitate. “Hello, darkness,” he whispers, almost reverent, and the fucking thing parts for him. Just a ripple, as if the inky blackness recognizes something in him and allows it through.
Crazy fucking bastard.
Simon follows with a curse, and despite every instinct in me howling, I’m right behind.
Because Lilith is out there somewhere. Alone. We have to get to her.
But the corridor isn’t a corridor; it’s the idea of a corridor, blurred and shifting. One second I feel stone under my boots, the next it’s slippery and frictionless, the next it’s sticky and sucking at my feet like half-set glue.
The darkness is thicker upstairs. It clings to us, tugging at our limbs, slowing our stride. Twice, Simon nearly goes down, barely catching himself. The second time, a strand of the void wraps around his arm, and when he yanks free, there’s a slather of black residue left behind, glimmering like tar.
The wards should’ve held. Everyone keeps saying that.
But they weren’t just broken—they were rewritten. The sigils on the walls melt like wax, curling into runes I’ve never seen.
Whatever this thing is, it’s not just getting through the defenses.
It’s replacing them.
“Lilith!” I shout her name, but the sound dies as soon as it leaves my lips. Like the air smothered my yell. I try again, but it’s like I’m underwater. The sound doesn't go anywhere. It just dies.
All the while, my brain’s spiraling—where would she go, what would she do, is she fighting or?—
No.
I shut that thought down hard.
I can’t go there. Can’t picture her scared, alone, broken. If I do, that’s it—I’m done. I’ll fall to my knees and won’t get back up.
So I don’t think. I run.
I’m the first to see the flicker of violet, barely more than a blink of light. It’s so brief that I can’t be sure it’s not a trick of the eyes.
It flashes again. Then it’s gone.
I sprint harder. Doesn’t matter if the path beneath me feels like it’s shifting—stone, glass, glue. I don’t stop. I don’t look back. If Simon or Kai are keeping up, great. If they’re not, they’ll catch up. I have one goal, and it’s to get to her.
The light flashes, closer this time.
Adrenaline hits me like a gut punch. I don’t care if it’s a trap, don’t care if it’s a lie. Ineedit to be her.
I reach for it, fingers outstretched.
And then it vanishes.
The darkness pulls back without warning. No bang, no crash—just… gone. Like it was never here. The hallway snaps back into place, bright and too sharp, like someone flipped the lights on in a nightmare.
But it’s not over.
Because now, everything’stoonormal.
The floor is clean. No cracks. No scorch marks or blood. There’s no signs that anything ever came through here at all.
Except us.
The other students look shell shocked. A Prey near the stairwell is crying so hard she can’t breathe. Someone else is picking up books with shaking hands. No one’s saying a word.
And Lilith still isn’t here.
