Casimir

I spent half my life hiding in the shadows.

In Veymaw, I could never truly be myself. Not even for Freya, the person who knew me best in the entire world. Because if anyone were to find out who I was, what I was, she would've been hung too.

But creeping through Veymaw as a wanted man is an entirely different kind of hiding.

Killian blends into the shadows seamlessly in front of me. He's barely visible as we sneak through the marketplace, the dark early hours of the morning our cover. My bones ache with the memory of the last time I was here. I can still feel the roughness of the noose around my neck, the sweat down my back as the villagers awaited our execution.

The village feels cold and desolate; and it has nothing to do with the winter air.

I never thought that I would grow to miss Veymaw. The village always felt so small, claustrophobic when I knew all that was beyond it. But to return to a place that you grew up to find that it no longer feels like home is a destabilizing feeling I never anticipated.

Myers cabin awaits us deep in the forest. If it weren't for the tiny light emanating through the fog of the back window, it would look entirely deserted. Killian casts a glance my way as he reaches the door.

"I noticed during the last visit he wasn't such a fan of deserters," he says.

"I'm not waiting outside."

Killian shrugs, mumbling something beneath his breath, before turning and knocking on the door. Three firm knocks, reverberating through the wood. The seconds tick by, emphasized by the quiet of the forest. Killian and I exchange a glance before he knocks again.

Still, after several moments, there's no response. "Maybe he's not home," I suggest.

"Or maybe he's ignoring us."

I glance at the back window, where the glow of a light seeps through the dirty glass. A rattling sound draws my attention back to Killian. His slender fingers fiddle with the door hinge. "What're you doing?"

"Fun fact about me." He casts me a brief glance, the left side of his mouth tugging up. "I don't like being ignored."

With one more nudge, the door comes off its hinges.

Freya

"Get away from the window," Lei urges, tugging me back.

The village, mere moments ago, bathed in the glow of the morning sun lies shrouded in darkness. My heart hammers in my chest. The cloud. Its imminent presence fills me with dread.

Did I do this?

I stare down at my hands, squeezing them together to try and keep them from shaking.

"It was me," I whisper. "I think it was me."

"What?"

I let out a shaky breath, my mind running at a million miles a second. I'd felt it course through my body, the sheer rage. It burnt hot through my veins, pumping my chest, stirring something in the air.

I meet Lei's eye. Her furrowed gaze darts from the window back to me, her lips parting. "You made it come?"

"I... I think so. I didn't mean to..." I squeeze my eyes shut. Something ripples beneath my skin, hot, like the anger that coursed through mere moments before. "I have to go."

Lei catches my arm.

"What? You can't go out there."

"I have to. I'm the only one who isn't affected by it."

She doesn't release me. "Alaric is still awake. We won't be able to escape. I didn't mean for you to set the cloud on the village now."

"I'm not trying to escape." I rip my hand from her. "I'm trying not to kill half the villagers."

Before she can say another word, I'm already running down the stairs.

The cobblestones are slick with rain as I press forward. My coat billows around me, failing to protect me from the sleet that pelts sideways. The howling wind courses through the streets, thunder rumbles overhead. The storm's rage lashes upon the village and yet it comforts me.

Because it means that the cloud is not truly here.

I tear through the narrow alleys, shouting at the single villager to stay inside as I tear past where they stand to observe the shift in the weather. Each step is a battle against the elements, but I push forward, aware of the thick fog crawling closer from the forest edge.

A crack of lightning strikes the sky, sheets of rain following in its wake. I seek a moment of shelter beneath a wooden sign banging in the wind. My breath fans around me in a white cloud as I press against the cobblestones, forcing my heart to slow.

In my mind, I picture the lumin bugs, the energy of that cave.

Pushing off the wall, I press on, shielding my face from the rage of the weather. In the market, stalls are abandoned, the village fountain casts an eerie silhouette across the empty cobblestones.

Thunder rumbles overhead, a primal roar shaking the buildings.

Find the cave.

The rain falls like a curtain of needles, biting into the exposed skin on my face. Mind consumed with a singular purpose, I ignore the pain, trying to retrace the steps I'd taken with Alaric. The streets of the village seem more of a labyrinth in my panic; shadows dance at the edge of my vision, alerting me of the thick clouds gathering overhead.

I halt at the edge of the forest, where the cobblestones transition to dirt. Fog circles my ankles, stretching towards where I stand. In the back of my mind, a voice of reason urges me to turn back, to sprint in the other direction. But with a glance over my shoulder at the village, shrouded in darkness from the ongoing storm, I force myself to turn around.

I won't be the reason for their demise.

I plunge into the forest. Though the wintry trees provide little protection from the harsh weather, within moments, it subsides, a thick fog clouding out any noise from the weather in the village.

A blanket of silence covers the forest.

A memory floods my mind. Killian in Torinne, when we'd sheltered from the cloud in the makeshift tent. Reaching for a nearby tree, I snap a branch, using the sharp end to tear a section of my cloak off to wrap it around my mouth and nose.

Enveloping me in its eerie embrace, the fog thickens with each step. Only the sound of my ragged breath breaks the suffocating silence. Every footfall a drumbeat, matching the rapid pace of my heart. Everything inside of me screams at me to turn around as the fog chokes higher, crawling up my shins, to my thighs, around my waist. I propel forward into its grasp.

At the edge of my mind, voices whisper, faint and fragmented like tiny shards of glass. A familiar, agonizing groan echoes all around, tugging my chest.

Casimir.

It forces me to halt, turning to pinpoint its location. Another takes its place, raw and desperate. Killian.

I squeeze my eyes shut. "It's not real," I murmur. "It's not real."

The voices subside, carried away by the fog. I clench my fists, eyes burning before continuing on forward. The fog reaches my chest now. My hands grasp at the trunks to guide me forward, trying unsuccessfully to find my way back to the cave.

"Freya!" A voice, somewhere in the distance, halts me. It's too far to recognise, too hard to tell if it's real or imagined. Dread claws at my insides as I push on. The fog deepers with each step, a suffocating embrace.

"Freya!"

I swing around, my heart jumping as my eyes dart around the landscape. Alaric stands several feet away, his chest rising and falling eyes wide.

"Alaric?" I ask.

"What're you doing?" he demands. "It's not safe."

"I'm trying to stop it. I... if I could just find the cave. I know I can stop it."

He shakes his head, stepping closer. "We have to get back. It's too dangerous."

"It's my fault."

Before I can turn away, he reaches for my wrist, trapping it on his own. The fog claws between us even as he pulls me closer. "It isn't safe out here," he says, tone more panicked. "Don't you remember in Torinne what lingers in the cloud? The infected, Freya."

"I--"

Behind me, a growl reverberates through the silence. Every muscle in my body freezes. Alaric's grip on my wrist tightens, dark blue eyes turning to steel.

"Run."

His hand wraps around mine, giving me little chance to respond before tugging me forcefully towards him. My lungs burn, heart hammering as we sprint through the trees, ragged breath behind propelling me forward. Alaric is faster than me, stronger, his grip so tight around my wrist it burns.

My heart hammers with each step, threatening to break out of my chest. Muscles ache, legs burn. The fog makes it near impossible to anticipate our path, each tree materializes before us with milliseconds to dodge.

The ground, concealed by the cloud, catches up to me. Something hooks around my ankle, sending me flying face first into the ground. My arm is ripped from Alaric's grasp as I tumble to the ground, landing with a thud atop something protruding from the earth.

My head spins as I sit up, panic setting in.

"Alaric," I mumble, disoriented. "Alaric!"

"I'm here!" he calls. "I'm here."

I feel around the ground, coming into contact with his skin. He must've fallen, too. Fumbling closer, I drag my body across the earth. His hand is ice cold to touch, stiff. I halt, breath picking up. Dragging myself closer, it takes me three seconds to realise the body I've stumbled across is not Alaric.

Colourless skin, shredded, bloodied clothes. My hands shake uncontrollably as my eyes make their way to the face. And as it stares back at me, familiar eyes void of any life, mouth hanging open, I can't hold the scream back.