Page 177 of Skalterra By Nightmare
“Skal,” he hissed.
“But it doesn’t glow!” I didn’t mean for the words to sound so hysterical.
“Because Keldori is full of Skal. It’s the same reason you can’t see the stars during the day. Everything else is too damn bright.” He crushed the chicken in his hand, and porcelain dust rained down onto the low carpet. “Shame. Guess I’ll have to go buy another one. I’ve been meaning to go back ever since I foundthisin the town just north of there.”
He slipped his hand inside his filing cabinet, and my breath hitched when he withdrew one of Riley’s posters.
Ferrin grinned at the look on my face.
“Keel Watch Harbor has an issue with disappearances it seems. I’d ask if you’d believe that this kid is the cousin of the orphan boy, but looking at your face, I think you might already know.”
I shook my head.
“You’re wrong,” I whispered. He had to be. And if Keel Watch Harbor did have a connection to Skalterra and the Rift, it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that Ferrin would hurt Gams if he knew she was my grandmother.
“Tell you what, Miss Warrender. I’ll let you into Von Leer if you tell me everything you know about Keel Watch Harbor, the orphan boy, and those funny, little chickens.”
I lunged for my bag again, but he held it out of reach.
“You are going to stay away from my home,” I growled, taking up a stance in front of his office door.
“You’re going to fight a Nightmare?” He grinned. “I’ve been studying your tricks this last month, and I have to admit, I’m excited for the opportunity to try them out for myself.”
His arm lengthened into a mantis-like spear, and I ripped the door open and ducked out just as I heard the thunk of Ferrin embedding his pointed arm in the wood.
The waiting room had filled with more students, and they stared at me as I sprinted for the exit and careened into the hall. The woman at the desk shouted something after me, but I couldn’t make it out over the thundering of blood in my ears and the haggard breaths that worked their way out of my chest like sobs.
I ditched my blazer on the top step of the College Hall entrance. Even in the shade of the building, the July sun was hot, but I would not let it slow me down.
I was racing against Ferrin. He would hurt Gams and Liam and Orla and Fana.
I would not let him. Icouldnot let him.
And I didn’t know how Gams’s chickens had become full of Skal, but I knew she couldn’t have been who put it there.
As for Liam and his missing family, that was a coincidence. A bunch of random details were leading Ferrin in the wrong direction, and Keel Watch Harbor would pay the price for it.
My legs were painfully slow compared to those of my Nightmare form, but I forced them to sprint across campus. My pencil skirt ripped with the force of my strides. I needed to get to Liam. I needed to warn everyone.
My phone was in my bag with Ferrin, but Liam had a cellphone too. We could call Gams. We could tell her that Ferrin was coming. He was too powerful to physically stop, but if everyone got out in time—
I looked back over my shoulder. Ferrin was walking across the grounds after me, as if on a leisurely stroll. Up ahead, the forest whispered in the wind.
It was the most direct route to the train station.
My stomach clenched, and I watched my feet as I ran, unable to bear the view of the trees looming overhead. My shallow breath had nothing to do with the physical effort of running.
I forced my eyes upwards to find one of the trailheads I’d seen when we’d first come to campus. A breathless sob worked its way out of my chest as I sprinted past the wooden sign that marked the trail, and let the trees swallow me.
“Liam!” I cried. He wouldn’t be able to hear me from here, but I couldn’t help calling out. The trees towered overhead. The low vegetation made it difficult to see any farther than the trail allowed. Panic roiled in my chest.
But it should be a straight shot. A train whistled in the distance, hastening me forwards.
Something heavy collided with my side, and I hit the dirt rolling. I landed splayed out and flat on my back as Ferrin stood over me rubbing the wrist of the hand he’d hit me with.
“You can’t outrun me, Wren,” he tutted. “And quite frankly, it’s embarrassing that you even tried.”
“I won’t let you hurt them.” I spat dirt out of my mouth.
