Page 101 of Beyond the Winter Kingdom
The grinding echo still rolled through the cavern, rattling the air in my lungs. I turned just enough to see it. Where we’d entered was now nothing but seamless rock, the arch we’d passed under was gone as if it had never existed.
The cold deepened. The shadows seemed to inch closer.
Sadie’s voice was a rasp. “Yeah. I’m officially hating this.”
The hum swelled, drumming against the inside of my skull.
“The price is set; the toll must be paid ... or here in the dark your bones will be laid.”
My gaze fell again to the bowl. The silver surface wasn’t just rippling now. It was churning, thick swells rising and falling like the breath of something living beneath.
A faint, almost imperceptible steam lifted from it, catching the cold light and fracturing into pale shards in the air before vanishing. The scent coming off it was sharp, metallic, and wicked.
The hum rolled through the cavern again, deeper this time, vibrating in my ribs.
“Drink, and the Fold shall open. Refuse, and the dark will claim its token.”
I looked around again, searching for another way forward but I already knew there was none. Ley lines were fickle but their demands were clear. If death was the price, then we’d be entombed in this cavern for eternity.
The air pressed down heavier now, like the cavern itself was leaning closer.
Sadie rolled her shoulders, then stepped toward the pedestal. “Fine. I’ll go first.”
“Sadie—”
She whirled on me, speaking in a hushed whisper as though the ley line wasn’t listening to our every word. Feeling and knowing what we were deep inside. “It’s not like we have a lot of options. If we don’t drink, it kills us. If we do drink, it takes something.”
“Something we can’t replace,” I said, my voice rough. It wanted what I held most dear. I couldn’t give that.
The hum deepened once more, final and absolute.
“The toll must be taken before the gate will turn ... the choice is made, now drink, and learn.”
She cupped her hands and dipped them into the silver liquid, the ripples warping the surface like molten moonlight. No testing. No sniffing. Just one smooth motion—she tipped her head back and drank.
I tensed, waiting.
Nothing happened.
Sadie wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and gave a crooked grin. “I feel fine, but I really thought something crazy was going to happen.”
I didn’t return the smile. “You’re sure? Nothing is off?”
“I think so.” She rolled her shoulders like she expected something to hit her and came up empty. With a few hops, she tested her legs and her body. “Maybe it likes me.”
“Or maybe you just don’t know what it took yet,” I muttered.
She raised a brow, but I wasn’t focusing on her anymore. I was staring at the ley line.
It hummed again, deeper this time.
“The toll is taken, the way prepared ... one more debt, and you may be spared.”
“The price was paid,” I said quietly.
Sadie shrugged. “Then I got off easy.”
I didn’t say what I was thinking. It would do no good at the moment to tell Sadie nothing in the Fold was easy. And no one was left untouched.
