Page 119 of Cycle Keeper’s Shadow

“You’re out of control,” Silas spat after him. The words cracked across the riverbank like a whip. He dusted himself off and stomped past her.

She moved to follow Orzen but slowed when she saw the others still shaking on the bank. Branwynn clutched Tommick, rocking him in small, trembling motions. Calen and Garin stood beside them, shoulders rigid. The hiss of scorched bark still hung in the air. She couldn’t leave them to look for him.

“I’ll go after him.” Jessa slipped up beside her, voice low. “You deal with that one.” She jerked her chin toward Silas.

Wren blinked. “Are you sure?”

“Oh yeah.” Jessa’s mouth quirked. “I’ll take flames over that man any day. You’d be doing me a favor.”

Something sharp and humorless rose in Wren’s chest. She swallowed it down, her thoughts looping through the rage in Orzen’s eyes and the memory of Silas standing still on the bank, watching them go under.

Angry voices brought Wren’s attention back to the group. “How could you think I’d harm him?” Silas snapped at Branwynn. She was several feet shorter than him, but the righteous anger of a mother’s fear for her child made her the fiercer of the two.

“You’ve said enough.” Garin hovered between them, staff braced to listen, voice low and warning.

Silas threw his hands up with a huff and stalked down the bank. Wren touched Garin’s arm gently, then nodded toward Branwynn, whose eyes never left Silas’s retreating form.

“Let me talk to him,” she said.

Silas paced the pool’s edge, jaw clenched hard enough to crack. The moment they were away from the others, outrage snapped into place like a mask.

“How was I supposed to know the water was corrupted?” His voice rose, brittle with insult. “It looks clear! And that monster—” Silas flung a hand toward the trees where Orzen retreated, “—acted like I meant to drown the boy myself!”

“Silas—”

“No.” His voice cut over hers. “You listen. He could’ve killed me.” Silas stepped closer, his shadow falling across her. “Are you saying I’m wrong? I told you he’s dangerous.”

She forced her jaw to unclench. “He was worried about the boy. And he’s right, you never moved when that thing came out of the water!”

“I was in shock,” he snapped, eyes cold. “Anyone would be. I’ve spent days leading you through this cursed forest.” He leaned in, lowering his voice to a dangerous murmur. “I chose to help you despite my concerns. And what do I get as a reward? Suspicion.”

His eyes flicked to the others, then back, burning hotter. “If you want me to keep helping, he needs to go.”

“Absolutely not.” Wren opened her mouth to say more, but Silas seized her arm before she could speak. The grip burned cold against her skin.

“You’re the only one pretending you can’t see it. He’s losing control,” Silas hissed. “You’re letting your feelings for him cloud your judgement, and if you let him, he’ll take you down with him.”

His words washed over her like cold water. This had nothing to do with her complicated feelings toward Orzen. She’d watched Tommick get pulled under with her own eyes. Silas had barely flinched. Did that justify Orzen’s anger? Maybe he’d taken it too far, but he hadn’t actually hurt Silas. He’d stopped himself. Wasn’t that proof enough that he’d changed?

“You don’t know him.” Her pulse hammered. Wren forced the tremor from her voice. “He could’ve hurt you, but he didn’t.”

“Because you stopped him!” Silas growled under his breath. He barked a laugh. “I don’t know him…and you do? Didn’t you only meet him right before the festival?”

“Look at me. You can leave if you’d like.” Her voice cracked, sharp as a snapped branch. “But if you stay, this ends. You stop needling each other until we’re safe enough to part ways. Or I’ll find another way to get to the Glade.”

Silas opened his mouth, as if to argue—then his breath hitched. For a beat, something flickered in his eyes—panic breaking through the smooth veneer.

The forest went still. Not peaceful. Hiding—like it sensed a predator looming that the rest of them couldn’t see. Silas’s body jerked as if something unseen grabbed him by the spine. He fell hard to the floor, convulsing, eyes rolling. Wren gasped, reaching for him. When her fingers brushed him, her mark screamed under her skin, a brand searing bone.

Water frothed in the pools, boiling beneath the thin waterfall, black foam bubbling. Her vision blurred, every pulse in her arm hammering in rhythm with it. Calen shouted, rushing to Branwynn and Tommick, dragging them back with Garin’s help.

The surface of the water split. The pool erupted. Something new rose. A monster far too big to fit within the water that contained it.

A skeletal figure clawed the air, blocking the sun where it loomed beside the cliff. Moss and algae draped its bones. Strips of reeking flesh clung to its frame.

Black hollows gaped where eyes should have been—yet they fixed on Wren, as if nothing else in the clearing existed. In its grip, it held a bone scythe longer than Garin was tall.

Wren stumbled back, tripping on the uneven bank, collapsing beside Silas’s now still body. The monster’s roar shattered the clearing, rattling the trees themselves. Wren’s scream tore loose as the scythe rose high above her.