EVA

THE MOMENT EVA AND Emrys approached the treeline surrounding their safe haven, the forest beyond shimmered with a magical barrier similar to the one Amaya had thrown around them a week before. One that, as soon as they crossed, plunged them back into the lifeless world they had come to know. Peering behind them, the barrier vanished, replaced by an endless, blackened forest.

Eva gripped the Runestone tighter. Its pull guided her gently in one direction, where she knew they would find her vision's destination, but she almost couldn't bring herself to follow it.

Suddenly, Emrys' hand wrapped around hers, and she turned to find a wavering smile on his lips. He was trying to put on a brave face for her, but she knew the truth.

He hadn't been happy to find out she still had the Runestone, despite it reappearing beyond her control, and he was even less thrilled about using it to guide their way. Still, she knew some part of him must have burned with the same curiosity as herself, and the drive to save the woman he loved, or else he wouldn't have agreed to such a risky plan.

As he gave her hand a gentle squeeze, his eyes softened, though Eva wasn't sure if it was from compassion or exhaustion. No matter how much he'd rested in their temporary home, he looked rough. The graying skin that spread up his neck didn't help matters. They were running out of time.

He was running out of time.

"I've got you," he said. "If you go haywire, I'll take the stone."

Eva nodded, but she couldn't bring herself to give him the reassurance of a smile. They both knew that, despite his time to heal, he wasn't strong enough to stop a potential possession. Even without Thana's help, she could have taken him down by hardly lifting a finger.

She only hoped that Thana would know some way to reverse her Touch's affliction—and that they could find her before it was too late.

Eva focused on the Runestone in her hand, allowing its pulse to guide her. "Northeast."

She wasn't sure how she knew the exact direction with no stars or sun to orient them, but neither of them questioned it. They navigated the forest with bated breath, waiting for Corrupted attacks that never came. It was as if the forest had been silenced, yet the feeling of being watched followed their every footstep. A shiver raced down Eva's spine at the thought of the Corrupted remaining just out of sight, curious enough themselves to watch their journey from afar.

But something deep inside Eva's chest swelled with confidence, as if she knew, somehow, that she would be fine. That nothing would touch them because they were on the right path.

That maybe Thana was not only guiding their way, but protecting them.

Eventually, the forest gave way to overgrown fields, and Eva spotted the battered remains of a village not far ahead. Her heart thrummed louder against her chest at the eerie sight—one she had seen twice before with Faeran's assistance.

"Shrew Hollow." Emrys' voice was so soft that Eva almost didn't hear it over the Runestone's droning hum.

Eva quirked a brow, but she couldn't help but feel a certain familiarity about the place. There wasn't any reason for her to know its name; she didn't believe that Thana and Emrys had ever been there, at least in the time she had dreamed about them.

"You know this place?" asked Eva, finally pulling her eyes from the village to look at him.

"I've... heard of it," he said, though the recognition on his face told her otherwise. "This place used to be alive with necromancers. Terrible things happened here a few centuries ago, but the rumors got so out of control that no one knows the truth."

The information should have been new to her... so why did she recognize the information as if it were a long lost memory?

As they drew closer to the decimated buildings, Eva's mind whirred in rapid attempts to recall how she knew the area. She fixated on every structure and crumbling brick in her path. While some of the ruins were ancient, others appeared to be more fresh. Not recent by any means, but not centuries old, either.

"Years back," continued Emrys, "necromancers tried inhabiting the village again. Squatting in old shacks, hiding their stashes... gods only know why they would try coming back here. It's like something drew them here. But after the Darkness invaded, it led the Guild here. They bombed the remains with radiant magic."

Eva tuned out his nervous chatter so that he became background noise to the increasing hum of Thana's magic. When she peered into the distance, his voice was almost non-existent in her mind as she noticed an overgrown field past the edge of town. The grass was almost higher than the gravestones of what must have once been a beautiful cemetery—and, at the very center, a mausoleum stood tall over the weeds.

Eva headed toward the structure instinctively before feeling a tug on her wrist. It drew her back to the present, and her eyes flicked behind her.

Frozen in place, Emrys' complexion had turned a ghastly pale. His eyes skittered between her and the monument in the distance, almost as rapid as his breathing had become.

"Come on," Eva urged. "We're almost there."

"We can't."

Eva stared at him—at the sheer terror on his face and the way his hand sweat as he gripped hers with trembling fingers. She had never seen him like that. Like someone looking into the face of death itself.

"Thana needs us." Eva gave his hand a calm, reassuring squeeze. "We have to do this."

While his expression remained unsure, he didn't resist Eva's pull toward the overgrown graveyard.

As they approached the edge of the village, the grass came nearly to their waists. It swayed in the delicate breeze, with the soft glow of lavender wildflowers illuminating the Darkness' blight.

It wasn't long before the overgrowth stopped. Charred ground encircled the mausoleum, leaving nothing but death in its wake. Even a stray leaf that fluttered to the ground failed to survive when it touched the bone-dry dirt and withered to nothing in hardly a second.

While off-putting, it didn't deter Eva from her mission. However, she was pulled to a complete stop by her companion.

She turned questioningly to find Emrys more petrified than he had been from a distance, refusing to cross the line between life and death. His gaze was locked on the looming structure, both entranced and horrified by the inanimate object.

"What's going on?" asked Eva, her voice sharper than she meant for it to sound. "I've never seen you like this."

"We can't go in there."

Emrys broke his trance-like state to meet her gaze. Deep in his eyes rested an unimaginable terror, as if a million memories flashed through his mind at once. A cold sweat had broken on his forehead that he tried to swipe with his free hand.

The breeze around them picked up, flicking Eva's hair around her face. Leaves flitted and swept to their death across the charred ground. Warmth filled the wind, growing uncomfortably humid when it whipped their exposed skin.

As the blustery air built strength at a rapid pace, Emrys' stare shifted in horror.

Eva followed his eyes to find the winds encircling the mausoleum, carrying debris around the building in a tumultuous shield. For a moment, she expected it to form a funnel from the ground up, but a sharp gust knocked her off balance before she could find out.

When she slammed into Emrys' chest, he released her hand to wrap his arms around her protectively. She turned her head and watched while the continuing bursts of wind blew one of the structure's doors open with a huge thrust. Brilliant, turquoise light emanated from inside the mausoleum, bathing the area in its glow.

A stronger gust bellowed from within the monument itself, hitting them with such a force that it knocked them both to the ground. Eva buried her face in Emrys' chest as she laid on top of him, willing whatever was happening to stop.

The wind obeyed.

Silence blanketed the land so quickly that the ringing in Eva's ears was nearly unbearable, only broken by the sound of her and Emrys' heavy breathing. She rolled off his torso to rest beside him, but she kept herself suctioned to his side. With her hand on his chest, she could feel his heart, beating more rapidly than her own.

A low rumble came from within the mausoleum. Its light flared brighter in the darkness, and the grass around them, untouched by the circle of death, began to flit once more. The air was disturbed by the slightest movement—this time, pulling the blades toward the open door.

Emrys' eyes grew wide. "Move!"

He tried to pull them both to their feet, but he wasn't fast enough.

A sudden, suctioning wind ripped their legs out from under them and slammed their faces into the dirt. Every attempt at grabbing onto the ground was futile as the mausoleum yanked them backward beyond their control.

Before Eva could register the growing thrum of magic, they were pulled inside the structure in a flash of turquoise light.

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