Mag-log inAnd every single person was walking.Everyone. The men from my truck, from all the trucks, and beyond them more, spilling out of side streets and doorways, hundreds, then more than I could count, every one of them moving the same way at the same slow even pace toward the blue light, and not one of t
SofiaThe thing nobody tells you about stowing away in the back of a wolf's supply truck is that wolves do not believe in shock absorbers.I'd been folded between a crate that smelled like gun oil and a stack of canvas duffels for going on four hours, knees up under my chin, one hand knotted around
AvaI came back into my own body the way you come up from under cold water. All at once, lungs grabbing, except the water was me, and I'd been drowning in myself longer than I knew.For a second there was no up. Too much arrived at once. After the white nothing of the place with Catherine, the world
"Alexander."My name, in the low voice, gone thin at the edges now. A command. Come. Hold the vessel. Put your hands on it and hold it still.The wall in my chest told my feet to move. A year of habit told them to move. I took one step up toward the seat. My body did it the way my body did everythin
AlexanderI had spent my whole life learning to read the exact moment a thing breaks, and the goddess wearing my bride was beginning to break, and I could not turn my head to look at her.That was the cruelty of the wall she'd built in me. It let me see everything and touch nothing. I stood where sh
"Ava." I said it out loud, to a concrete wall, and it came apart in my mouth. "I've got you. I'm here. I've got you, baby. I've got you."She couldn't hear the words. She never could. But she could feel a hand close around her in the dark, the way I'd once felt hers close around me from a hundred mi
Don't worry, I don't intend to bore you with more backstory! I know you're here for the action. Just needed to establish Hilda's history before we get back to the main storyline. Next chapter we'll jump straight back into the present situation with Evelyn and Ava. The real drama is just getting star
Ava climbed out of the boat first, her small body wobbling as she landed on the uneven ground. She staggered but managed to find her footing."Sorry," I said, though I wasn't sure what I was apologizing for. For bringing her into this mess? For not being able to help her mother? For everything that
Ava nodded solemnly. "I'm really good at games. I won't tell anybody.""Promise?"She held out her pinky finger. "Pinky promise. The most serious kind."* * *I slipped into Ava's room close to evening."Wake up, Ava," I whispered, gently shaking her shoulder. "It's time."Ava was instantly alert, h
"Let's not worry about that right now," I said, my chest tightening at the resignation in her voice. "We need to focus on getting to the cabin."Ava nodded again, and we lapsed into silence. The only sounds were our footsteps, the occasional rustle of nocturnal animals in the brush, and Evelyn's inc







