Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 65042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
But there was no time for that now.
I pushed through, the magic resisting me for the briefest moment before accepting my passage. Maybe because I carried part of my little witch with me now—her scent…her warmth…her need.
But even so, pieces of me began to… slip.
My left hand went translucent. My shoulder blurred at the edges.
I gritted my teeth. Hurry. I have to hurry!
The forest loomed ahead and trees crowded close. My breath fogged in the air. The night deepened and thickened.
Then everything around me changed. The shadows ahead weren’t just darkness—they were wrong.
I knew at once what had happened—my little witch had crossed through another magical boundary. But not one of protection like the bubble that surrounded Hidden Hollow—one of malice.
It was old magic I was feeling—hungry magic.
I plunged into it anyway. I didn’t care where I had to go to get to her.
Branches clawed at me, slipping through my insubstantial fur as though they weren’t sure I was real. But I was still real enough—still solid enough—to keep going.
Danni’s panic screamed through the connection between us—her horror, her helplessness.
I’m coming, I thought at her silently, wishing rather than hoping she might hear me. Just hold on, little witch—I’ll be there soon!
I hoped.
The dark deepened into a void. And then, finally, the forest broke open. All at once, I saw her.
She was standing in a clearing, facing something no living soul should ever have to face.
A corpse stood before her, its body draped in a broken noose, its skin gray and sagging. But that was just its disguise.
I saw its true form—a Soul-Sucker.
A being born of the deepest pit, filled with malice and anger…and most of all, hunger. It lived by sucking out the souls of mortals to feed its own empty depths. And this one clearly had its sights set on Danni.
It was a heaving, shifting thing made entirely of shadows with no form unless it wore one that was stolen, as it did now. But behind the human skin, I saw its wings—huge and bat-like—spreading across the night. Its eyes burned red.
And it was hungry—ravenous, in fact.
The corpse it wore like an ill-fitting suit leaned toward Danni, the dead mouth open, inhaling.
Sucking.
I knew what it was doing—it was trying to draw her soul out of her body. If it succeeded, it would devour her essence. Rip her apart from the inside-out and turn her into nothing.
And I… I wouldn’t survive the loss of her.
Not just because she was my anchor…not just because she made me real.
But because she was my everything—she always had been.
I didn’t stop to think—didn’t hesitate, even though I knew touching the Soul-Sucker would destroy me. It fed on souls and I was nearly all soul.
But I was also something else—I was hers.
And I would not let her die.
“Get away from her!” I snarled, my voice echoing like a storm through the clearing.
Then I ran straight at the creature.
And leapt.
36
DANNI
“Shadow!”
The word ripped out of me as my monster collided with the corpse-thing. The impact made a sound like a thunderclap—an unholy crack of bone and air—and both figures went tumbling across the clearing.
But the creature didn’t stay down.
Even as Shadow landed a heavy blow to its torso, the thing began to split. A jagged line tore through its gray, decayed skin, and a wet, tearing sound filled the clearing. It was like watching something shed—like a nightmare butterfly clawing its way out of a rotten cocoon.
The human skin peeled back in long, sticky strips, and what came out made my stomach twist with sudden nausea.
It wasn’t a man—it wasn’t even close.
It was huge—twice Shadow’s size. Its body was a solid, heaving shadow and its bat-like wings unfurled with a leathery whisper that made me want to cover my ears. Its eyes glowed red, bright and bottomless, and I could feel its hunger when it looked at me—a hollow, gnawing emptiness that wanted to swallow everything.
“Stay away from her!” Shadow bellowed, striking again. His massive fist caught the creature in what should have been its jaw, and for a moment, it reeled backward.
Then it screamed—a sound so high and sharp it felt like claws raking the inside of my skull.
Shadow stumbled. I saw his body flicker at the edges. For a heartbeat, I could see through him—through his chest and arms—like he was made of smoke and memory.
“Shadow!” I screamed. “Get away—run!”
He didn’t even look at me at first. He was fighting, his body half-shadow now, half-solid. His strikes still landed, but they passed through the monster’s form like punches into mist.
Finally, he turned his head toward me, his golden eyes glowing faintly in the dark.
“I can’t hold it off forever, Danni!” His voice was rough, desperate. “Run back to the bubble—get to safety!”
I shook my head so hard my vision blurred.
“No—I won’t leave you!”
“You have to!” His form flickered again, his shoulders starting to dissolve into the smoky edges of nothing. “Get to safety—now!”