Page 148 of Harnessed in Gold

It’s almost dark, and the wind has picked up. We creep along single-file, dry leaves tumbling across our feet and bare branches crackling as they sway. I cast glances in every direction, searching for the shimmer of red eyes or the flash of moonlight on steel. Anxiety builds, and I wonder if it’s mine, Leo’s, or someone else’s. How close is Brier’s team? I strain to listen for the telltale clangs, grunts, and smacks of a fight, but all I hear is the racing river and the wind.

Out of nowhere, a coldness grips me, as though someone threw open a freezer door. A moment later, it’s gone. I peer to the right, the moonlight on the river catching my eye. We’re close to the water. Close enough that cold breezes can ripple off it and?—

I stop short, seized by a violent shiver. It feels like ice water pouring down the back of my neck. In front of me, through the fog of my oddly frozen breath, I watch Leo do the same. He stiffens for amoment, then spins to face me, his eyes large and alarmed. “Did you feel that?”

I gulp and nod. “Is it the river?” Please, please, please be the river.

“No.”

Cold slides like fingers across my skin. “What is it?”

He grabs my hand and takes off walking, pulling me onward as he sloppily coaxes the foliage aside, but I can still feel the chill. It nips at my neck, then drops back, nips then drops, nips then drops. It’s deliberately tormenting me, trying to paralyze me with fear. I’ve read enough horror stories and watched enoughSupernaturalto know what’s chasing us.

I pant, “It’s the ghosts, isn’t it?” Browne’s conjured spirits.

A silvery glow curls like a mist above Leo, sending me back in a terrified lurch. He freezes, hand reaching toward me. Convulsions twist his body as the glow consumes him, pouring over him like melting wax.

I shove a fist in my mouth to stifle my scream.

His eyes are like caverns, and his bones seem to float under his transparent skin. He laughs, revealing broken teeth twice the size of his eyes. In a hollow voice that’s not his own, he howls, “Leave this place.”

Icy, glowing hands clutch my neck. Leo’s hands. My head snaps back and forth as he shakes me. Then he shoves me to the ground. “Leave!”

I scramble back on trembling arms, sliding through mud and dead leaves. “Leo!”

The silvery mist shoots up into the trees, abandoning Leo’s body. He blinks at me and collapses to his knees.

From behind me comes a moan, “Leave this place.”

I spin to find another dancing wisp, no more than a yard away. It takes a human form, features passing briefly over its face. Then it’s shapeless again, swirling in the blackness and dousing me in waves of stinging cold.

Leo lets out an indecipherable shout seconds before icicles piercethe back of my neck. He throws himself on me, knocking me onto my back and covering my body with his. The ghost swings back and forth above him, purposely taunting.

Leo shivers so hard his muscles give out and his weight crushes down on me. I wheeze, pushing and panicking at the same time. The ghost spreads above him like a sheet snapped open over a bed. Lower and lower it drifts, until the pressure on my chest disappears and Leo is glaring down at me with those spectral black eyes.

His burning cold hands circle my neck. “Leave or die!”

Blood thunders in my skull. I claw at the frigid fingers squeezing the breath out of me, spots dancing before my eyes. From the trees comes a gust, so sudden and violent that Leo stills. Shadows flutter in and out of my vision, and cries pierce my ears.

Like one massive black wing, a flock of crows swoops over Leo’s back, chasing the silvery ghost up into the sky.

Thank you, Rime, wherever you are.

Leo tears his hands from my neck and falls off me, gasping in horror. I flip onto my hands and knees and drag in breath after breath, each one scorching my bruised throat.

More cries, more caws, more beating of wings.

In the chaos, someone shouts, “Where is it?” Someone close.

Slowly, painfully, I lift my head, tracing a path up the figure standing close by. Thick legs, wide shoulders, fierce eyes.

River.

He lets out a howl that makes every hair on my body stand up on end. An arpeggio of yelps echoes back from the mountains.

Leo lunges in front of me, one hand reaching toward the trees.

River sneers. “Impressive work in the library, plant weaver. But you won’t be that lucky again.”