Page 80 of The Dead Queen

He pauses, like he’d very much like to force me to stay back, but he knows me better than that. He gives me a curt nod.

The air is cold and still. The skin on the back of my neck prickles as we move cautiously toward the darkened doorway. I can’t shake the feeling that we’re being watched.

My heart beats wildly in my chest as I lean through the door, expecting to see the king’s copper knights waiting for us.

But there’s no one there.

The small room has only one exit, and we’re standing in it. There’s no way anyone could’ve snuck out in the time it took for us to cross the street. Hunter pushes past me, kicking cobwebbed furniture out of his way and turning over molded bedding. Mice scurry around his feet.

“I don’t understand,” I say. “I swear, I saw someone.”

Hunter looks toward the narrow window.

I shrug. “Maybe? It’s a pretty small window.”

“Let’s look outside.”

We walk down the street, listening for any sound that might indicate we’re not alone. All I hear is the clatter of dried leaves and our boots on the dirt road.

As we round a bend into what used to be the village square, my heart seizes in my chest.

Standing in the center of the square are three figures cloaked in shadow, their forms shifting and swirling like smoke in the moonlight.

“Please tell me you see them too,” I whisper to Hunter.

He answers by grabbing my hand and pulling me back around the corner. We stand up against a wall, frozen in fear.

“What do we do?” I whisper.

Hunter shakes his head. “I don’t know.”

A small pebble lands at our feet. We both squint into the darkness to look for the source. Across the street, someone crouches in a narrow alley.

Tristan.

He puts a finger over his mouth, telling us to be quiet, then, quick and silent as a wolf, he flees deeper into the alleyway.

“We should follow him,” I whisper.

Hunter shakes his head, then points toward the other direction and mouths, “The horses.”

But something in my gut tells me we need to trust the Wolf, that he knows things we don’t. I grab Hunter’s hand to move toward the alley, but he pulls me back, shaking his head frantically.

Before we can make a decision, the monsters round the corner and turn their hollow, black eyes toward us. For a brief moment, we stare at each other, frozen. Their slick, emaciated bodies are clothed in nothing but swirling shadows. Their terrible over-large mouths gape open, exposing too many teeth. A low, keening wail fills the air and vibrates in my bones.

“Run!” Hunter shouts. Our boots skid against the ground as we race down the alley.

The black, ghost-like creatures glide after us, their movements smooth and unnaturally fast. I glance back and see their skeletal fingers reaching out to grasp us. I force my legs to run faster.

We weave through the narrow alleys and abandoned streets. My heart pounds in my chest. Every corner we turn, every darkened doorway we pass, they are right behind us. Their number multiplies as more of them appear out of the dark corners of the village to join the chase.

We run around the corner and nearly slam into someone.

“Run!” I shout when I see it’s Tristan.

He skids to a stop, slipping to the ground. “You don’t have to ask me twice.”

Hunter helps him up and we sprint through the moonlit streets, trying to lose the terrifying black creatures behind us. Dread fills my chest. It’s so heavy, it can’t be natural.