Page 81 of Starside

A hand grips my shoulder.

Tears streaming down my face, I look up into darkness. Into a hood like a rippling shadow. The voice is harsh. It’s brutal, like a truth shoved down my throat. “Get up. This isn’t real.”

I bare my teeth at him—

And the forest … Even aflame, the forest stills, as if it’s taking a breath. Raker looks up. A second of silence.

Before he can say a word, the darkness splits open. High-pitched screams sound from everywhere. Tremors throw me to the side, like a hundred creatures are rising up at once.

“Idiot,” Raker barks above me.

We run.

The ground is uneven. It’s undulating, like a wave of beasts are crawling just beneath the surface.

Demons. Finally, the first breaks through. Then, the next. Then, them all.

Dirt sputters as dark, night-spun creatures emerge all around us, sprouting like wicked plants. They’re made of dried, rotted skin, fitted tightly over mangled bones. They’re the devils my mother would tell stories about, the God of Death’s underlings.

Killing one awoke more. So many more.

Raker reaches the rock face first and climbs. I’m right behind him, tiny stones falling onto my face from his boots, dirt clouding my vision. I can’t see the creatures, but I hear them when they reach the cliffside, their claws scraping against it, just below me, the sound piercing my skull.

The cave—we need to get to the cave. I blink through the darkness and dirt and watch as Raker moves toward it—but beasts are already blocking the entrance. One parts its mouth in a mind-piercing shriek, revealing rows and rows of fangs.

Fuck.

Raker shifts immediately, as if he’s going to climb the whole rock face. My arms tremble as I take in the distance to the top. My fingers are already slick with sweat. I’m not sure I’ll make it all the way.

Something grabs my ankle.

I don’t turn around as I kick, dislodging its hold, and then I’m climbing for my life, following the glint of Raker’s sword like a guiding star, my own heavy on my back. Tears blur my vision as I remember my sister, or whatever demon it was that crawled into her skin. She wasn’t real, but this pain is. The memories are.

This time, instead of letting the grief choke me, I let it ignite me. For her. I will fight until every bone breaks and I can’t stand anymore, and even then I will crawl to the edge of this world for her.

Those memories from before, I cling to them as I grip each ledge, as I ignore the shrieks below me, as nails scrape my ankles. My mind narrows to arrow-like focus, and I climb until we reach the top, and then I’m pulling myself up, and panting as I run as fast as I ever have before.

Far ahead, something sparkles silver—the moon, reflected off water. That’s where Raker is headed.

Water.

I remember the small moat around the village. The fact that Xara said we would be safe on the boat. The stream in the cave. Of course. The beasts must not be able to pass water. Raker must know that.

Hope flares in my chest. We just have to reach the lake.

My legs burn as I push them, as dirt sputters behind me, as I use my arms to take me farther. Raker isn’t in front of me anymore. Did he take a turn? Did he go off in a different direction?

I finally look over my shoulder, only to see teeth, glistening like metal. I gasp and run—

Until my feet leave the ground. For a moment, I’m weightless, as if gravity has taken pity on me and released its hold. I’m free. Floating.

Then I’m falling.

I hit the water, and it swallows me whole.

I gasp, my lungs filling as I sink. My arms reach for the surface—but it’s gone. With my sword on my back, I’m going down quickly. The lake is black as ink. My blade pulses against my spine, as if in panic.

The moonlight fades, giving way to an almost comforting darkness.