"What do you mean split up? You're better off together," I said, my heartbeat hammering in my ears.
Alpha only glanced at Regina before slipping away with her sister into the shadows. Then Regina seized my arm, pulling me deeper into the castle.
"Wait—what about the others? Are we leaving them behind? Who even is Eris, or her daughter? Or those dogs?" My words tumbled out, but Regina didn't answer.
The night swallowed everything. It hadn't been this dark during the fight with the Barghest; that had at least been night. This was absence. The unmaking of light itself. Yet Regina ran as if she could see every turn.
We rounded a bend—then steel kissed flesh. The wet sound of a body dropping. My grip on Regina's hand tightened, but she only dragged me faster. Then, without warning, she shoved me into a room. I hit the ground hard as the door slammed behind me.
"Close it. And do not open it for anyone. Not even me." Her voice was raw, edged with something feral. At some point, she had let go of my hand. My tether was gone.
I pressed my back to the door, shaking. The cold in here wasn't weather, it was absence. A chill that gnawed marrow-deep. Goosebumps prickled across my skin as if the dark itself was touching me. My chest heaved, every heartbeat too loud.
"Maybe I should look for Regina," I whispered to myself.
But her words echoed: Do not leave. Not until the crack of dawn.
We hadn't eaten in days, but hunger was nothing compared to the gnawing urge that seeped into me now. The frantic itch for slaughter. The devil's whisper. My nails dug into my knees as I curled up, trying to block out the occasional distant screams.
If I kill everyone… then no one will be a problem. The thought slithered out before I realised I'd spoken.
"Luna…"
My name rasped in the dark. Voices clawed at the edges of my mind. I pressed my hands to my ears.
Then the smell hit—iron, hot and sharp, threading through the freezing air.
I held my breath.
The next thing I knew, I was sprawled on the floor, temple throbbing from where I'd struck it. Still dark. Still wrong.
Somewhere close, dogs whimpered—Barghest, no doubt. And beneath them, a human scream, ragged and far away.
"Breathe…" I whispered to myself, crawling forward on shaking hands. My palm brushed wood—a table. I slid beneath it, curling up, forcing my breath to steady.
Time stretched thin. Then—shift. The frost receded, air warming just enough to burn in my lungs. Pinpricks of light returned to the sky. Stars scattered overhead like false hope.
I pushed the fur coat from my shoulders, stood, and stumbled out.
The iron stink was heavier outside. My foot sank with a wet squelch. Blood.
"Luna! Where are you?"
Relief surged—Regina. Her voice. I turned toward it and saw her, drenched in blood, cuts slashing across her body. She staggered like a child learning to walk.
"Regina?" My voice broke. But she didn't look at me.
"Luna, where are you?" she called again, eyes glassy.
Something twisted in my gut. Wrong. Not her.
Her earlier words rang out again: Close it. And do not open it for anyone. Not even me.
The illusion cracked.
Before me, the figure stretched tall, grotesquely elongated. Its milky-white head had no features, only a slack yellow mouth lined with razors. My breath caught, hands trembling.
It lurched closer.
I staggered back. "What the hell—"
Then it lunged. I threw up my arms to shield my face—
—and a spear burst through its skull with a wet crunch.
The thing crumpled to the ground, twitching.
I didn't wait to see who had thrown the spear. I bolted, sprinting back into the room. I slammed the door shut, shoving a table against it, heart in my throat.
The storage stank of grain and dust. I pressed my back to the bags, clutching the spear until my knuckles whitened. The fur coat lay on the floor where I'd dropped it. I pulled it over myself, teeth chattering, eyes locked on the door.
Waiting.
Praying, to whatever gods would listen.