Page 141 of Starside

I guess the book really didn’t include everything.

Terror clutching my chest, I jump out of the way with only feet to spare, sheath my sword, then cling to a wide trunk. My feet lift off the ground.

And the world splits around me.

I scream as the surrounding trees are ripped away, the wind a bellow that turns into voices telling me to let go, pulling at my heels, pricking my fingers, shaking the trunk back and forth, trying to throw me off of it. My braid whips my cheeks, branches pelt my body, but I don’t release my grip, using the strength I’ve been training to hold on, until, finally, the wind settles, and my feet hit the ground again.

In a half-mile radius, there’s almost nothing left. My knees buckle. I’m covered in dirt. The rain is falling sideways, the large drops blinding me. My skin is cold as ice.

I have to get out of here.

On unsteady legs, I race through the plundered forest, boots sliding in the mud as I weave around the remaining trees, some just trunks without branches, their limbs ripped clean off.

I veer to the side to avoid a pile of trunks stacked like kindling—and step right into the path of a wind spout like a fallen tornado. Before I can retreat, I’m soaring. I land with a sickening crunch, hoping to all the gods it’s branches snapping beneath me, and not my bones.

There’s no time to assess any injuries. I roll out of the way and run like hell, turning in a different direction, only to be met with another mangled face, formed from the forest itself. Headed right toward me.

Its body is a tunnel of violent wind tearing everything in its path to form scales of wood it wears like a storm serpent. It opens its jagged mouth with an ear-splitting howl.

Shit.

My chest feels like it’s going to explode with panic, but I wait. I wait until it’s just a breath away, then I dive out of its path and roll, hitting rocks and roots, bruising everywhere, before I come to a stop.

I’m soaked to the bone. Cold, and trembling. I think of that fire Raker made. How good it felt to put my feet by it.

Gods, I wish I was back there. I know why I snuck out, but right now … I fucking regret it.

Especially when a startling flash of lightning spears across the sky, and I’m thrust into a memory.

A clear blue day, hunting wildflowers with my sister. Going way too far outside of town. Laughing. Chasing each other in circles. My sister in a cornflower-blue dress that she loved. The one with a wide white ribbon that tied in the back. That ribbon whipping wildly in the breeze as she ran from me. As she looked over her shoulder.

The storm came from nowhere. That bolt of lightning spiraled right at her. And I remember that fear. Pure, soul-shredding terror.

I—

A gasp rips me back into the present. It is no ordinary gasp. No … it sucks all the air out of the forest, leaving only muted quiet. Just like in the mists.

That smell of magic is all that’s left, searing the inside of my nostrils.

I get to my feet. Look around. I’m alone. The storm serpents are gone. There are only endless sheets of rain in front of me.

Another flash of lightning—

Illuminating a woman.

Her hair is bone-white and clinging to her face. She wears a thin white robe over an elegant dress, with a hood and a long train. It drags behind her, whispering over rocks and twigs and fallen branches. There are just sockets where her eyes should be, with long scratch marks around the holes, as if she clawed them out herself.

In her hand, she carries a velvet pouch. It’s drooping with weight. It’s embroidered with glimmering gold.

I swallow. The lightning disappears, and the woman with it. Thunder roars.

I don’t dare breathe. I can’t see her anymore … but the forest is still far too quiet. The metallic smell is everywhere. My eyes search the woods wildly for any trace of her. Nothing. She’s gone.

I lean against the trunk behind me, finally taking a breath. I can feel my pulse beating against its remaining bark.

Another flash of lightning brightens the forest.

And she’s right in front of me.