Page 96 of A Kingdom of Shadows

I still, my head whipping in the direction of the sound.

"Stay with us," it says, and I turn again.

Darius is up ahead, unaware of this. I shake my head, eager to get out as I move my arms. I hardly make it halfway when I hear the voice once more. It's so feminine, so sweet yet cold at the same time... like a temptation.

Galgr's

"Crello is in danger."

I shut my eyes and cover my ears while holding onto the stone as if that is to stop the Galgr.

"Death, reign, resurrection."

Stop, stop, stop.

"The phoenix is—"

Stop!

My eyes pop wide open, and the first thing I see is a dull, grey, deathly face with hollow eye sockets and gills on its cheeks, centimeters away from me. Long hair flows across a gangly naked body before its mouth opens, and rows of sharp teeth greet me as it shrieks an ear-splitting cry. My screams come out gurgled, bubbling in the lake. I jerk back, but skeletal fingers grab my ankle, and another Galgr appears from the right.

Even as memories begin to flood my head, I strive to envision fresh air.

Then a specific moment cuts over my field of view.

Me smiling at a boy.

Marbles of Solaris and Crello...

"Do you believe in them?"

"I believe that—" the boy pauses, staring at the marble. "I believe that they once existed, yes."

I beam up at him, squinting past the rays of the sun. "Well, would you like to play a game with my marbles?"

He grins and nods as I take his hand and run with him along the streets. Laughter echoes from our lips as sellers yell at us to stop playing around. We ignore them by stealing a few apples and a rose which he then gives to me. I tell the boy that I have three brothers whom I adore with all my heart. He mentions he has one and that his brother is always furious at him for the stupidest of reasons.

I'm laughing, throwing the marble and knocking it on the ground.

I have a friend.

A boy, my brother Idris wouldn't like me being with, but a friend nonetheless.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to lose it," the boy says, grimacing apologetically as the marble disappears amid the herd of people.

I don't want to tell him how upset I am that the marble is lost. I fear I'll lose him as a friend if I get mad. It wasn't his fault. "Don't be sorry." I reach into the pocket of my pinafore and take out a golden coin I'd grabbed from my father's pouch. "You can have this instead."

He frowns. "A coin?"

"Not just any coin." I wiggle my brows. "A gold coin. You could get yourself anything you like with that, such as jewels or strawberry pie!"

He narrows his eyes, pocketing the coin and smiling as he brushes dark strands out of his face. "You're strange."

I wave the rose he gave me around. "I get that a lot."

"It's a good thing." He smiles, dimples appear, and confidence radiates from him in waves. "I like strange."

I smile in return, content at the idea of having a new friend liking me for me, even though I still don't know his name.

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