Page 127 of Nightshade

“What are you doing?” I fixed my attention back on Anya, who pushed to her feet while staring down at the swarm of women that seemed to be devouring Aurelia. “Don’t be greedy, girls!” Anya swung her attention back to me, and it was then I caught sight of flames in her eyes. An orange glow that almost appeared to flicker. “It’s all right, dear. Don’t be afraid.” As she stepped toward me, I backed myself further away, until the hard panel of the door hit my spine.

“You’re … you’re all …”

“We’re not going to hurt you, Farryn. Come.”

Shaking my head, I turned the knob of the door behind me and gasped in horror as Anya lurched toward me. Before she could reach me, I slipped through the door and ran down the dark corridor with their laughter trailing after me, and at the sound of ticking, I turned to see shadows chasing me along the walls.

Pushing speed from my feet, I ran faster.

The brisk, sea air stole my breath, when I threw back the enormous wooden door and bolted out of the cathedral, into the night. Strides nipped by the long hem of my dress, I tore across the open yard toward the field of nightshade flowers that glowed off in the distance. My mind rewound to the scene of those women devouring Aurelia’s body, and I ran harder. As fast as I could in that damn dress.

I had to get out of there.

Pick a flower, jump off the cliff.

I’d already decided the most terrifying thing for me was standing on the cliff’s edge, staring down at the rolling, black sea below. I didn’t know how I’d manage the guts to jump, but I wasn’t thinking about that right then. My only objective was to pick one of the flowers and return to my own world. I’d come to miss it, after all, hadn’t I?

Surely, a person wouldn’t choose to stay in a dangerous place like Nightshade for very long.

Poor Aurelia. Poor, innocent Aurelia and the baby who would suffer her death.

I reached the meadow, vaguely aware of the dogs, who’d chased me to the field. Prowling back and forth, they seemed to keep watch as I reached for one of the flowers. The moment I plucked one, a terrible sound, like an agonized wail, rose above the monotonous crash of waves somewhere behind me. More wails joined the first, until they unified into a single terrifying sound of misery. Slapping my hand over my ears, which brought the flower in close proximity, I ran for the cliff whose edges I could hardly make out in the darkness.

The cold bite of air burned in my lungs, the panic and determination inside of me battling out a rush of adrenaline. Frost-covered grass numbed the soles of my feet, my toes burning and stiff. The faint line of the cliff’s threshold became clearer as I neared it, and fear tickled my chest. The dogs abandoned their chase behind me.

On a skid, I halted just before the brink and watched as a small rock tumbled over the edge. Only the vicious white caps of the sea below were visible, their roar beckoning me to jump. Anxious for a life to claim.

I stared down at the flower in my hand, whose wail had died down, the light of it dimmer than before.

Terror and grit battled for dominance inside my head, their cacophony leaving me confused and exhausted. I closed my eyes, breathing hard through my nose. Visions of my father leaping to his death slipped behind closed eyes. At the thought of him lying on the rocks below, alive, in pain, tears filled my eyes. I opened them to a murky blur of black cliffs and water.

Do it, my head urged.

I had no choice, unless I wanted to meet the same fate as Aurelia.

A sound reached my ear—the faint screeching I’d heard before. In the maze and in the woods. The creature. The one Van Croix had supposedly killed.

Twisting around showed no sign of it. Only darkness.

Yet, it screeched again. This time louder than before.

When I spun around again, the shadows shifted to its form, though the features were impossible to make out. It lurched toward me on all fours. My heart pounded inside my chest. I stepped backward, could feel the edge give way across my heel to nothingness of a painful fall.

Do it. Jump!

The shadow moved closer. The hem of my dress caught on a jagged rock, and I yanked hard to free it. My heel slid backward.

Another screech startled my muscles.

I slipped over the edge on a sharp tearing of fabric.

Down, down, down.

A futile scream shot out of me while the wind whipped past. A cold, numbing rush swept through my body, muscles tensing for the impact I could never imagine. With a presence of mind, I fought the force of the wind to bring the flower to my mouth--the one I’d forgotten to consume. The one essential for getting back, otherwise, I was simply plummeting to my death.

I couldn’t reach my hand to my mouth!

The flower slipped from my grasp, carried away by a harsh turbulent wind. Oh, God! I couldn’t even scream, the pressure too much.