Shadows of the Night | BOOK 2 DRAFT

10

10.

We set out as soon as the sun begins to set, this time on two feet instead of four. Eric came around and finally agreed to let Anastasia stay conscious based on the fact that she wouldn't help us if we kept knocking her out. He didn't admit that I was right, though, just acted as if it were his idea all along. Not that I expected anything different.

Once again, Eric walks at the front and Malik brings up the rear while Cassia and I hang in the middle. I pretend not to notice the way Anastasia hovers close to me, but I don't blame her. I'm the only one in the group who'd actually oppose to disposing of her once she's no use to us. But unfortunately for her, that means putting up with my pestering, to which she exclusively answers in one or two words.

"What village did you come from?" I ask as we trod through the forest. It's my second time asking. The first time all I got was a huff as a response.

"The south."

I'm not familiar with any of the other hollower villages; I didn't even know they existed until Elias told me about them, but the idea is intriguing. "Did you guys hide in tunnels, too?"

"No."

"How did you hide from the shifters?"

"Creatures," she corrects sharply, looking at me. "They're creatures."

Eric scoffs from ahead. "You hollow people out for sport and somehow we're the creatures."

Nobody says anything in response. Eric holds up a low hanging branch for us to pass through but releases it just before Anastasia can duck under. I catch it before it can whack her face, given her hands are tied so she can't push it away from herself. Eric huffs in annoyance.

"So how did you hide from the shifters?" I ask again.

She looks away. I shoot an annoyed look at Eric, even though he can't see me. If he feels it, he doesn't bother to acknowledge it. We continue walking in silence, our only company howls coming from the distance. But then something in the air shifts. An icy fog trickles through the trees, and the birds scatter from their slumbers in the branches above.

I freeze, hoping I'm imagining it. But for once, I'm simply hearing what the others do. The thudding of feet on the ground, the distant murmur of voices. Someone's coming.

Cassia reacts first, grabbing Anastasia and pressing her fingers into the dip of her neck. She drops limp. I stare wide-eyed and Cassia off-hands the hollower to Malik, who slings her over his shoulder without a word.

"In the trees, now," Eric commands. "If we're outnumbered, we don't want to fight."

He doesn't have to ask twice. The noises in the forest beat like a drum as I grapple the nearest tree, hoisting myself into the dip where the branch meets the trunk. The bark grazes the bare skin on my arms, but I keep my mouth shut. Adrenaline pumps in my blood; my breath is short and sharp.

From my spot wedged in the tree, the ground is just visible through the branches below. Cassia disappears and Eric clambers up the same trunk I did, the clearing empty as the once distant calls waft closer. Moss climbs the trees, moist against my shaky fingers. The voices grow louder.

My heart pounds to the beat of the earth as people burst through the space below. Ragged breaths. Glinting machetes. Dirt crusted skin. There are four of them. I lean forward to get a better view. One woman, three young men cowered behind her with their machetes gripped tightly in their hands. Eric smacks the back of my neck, his eyes warning me to sit back.

The last time I hid in a tree, Elias was with us, on our trip to the mountains. He'd ripped the hollowers heads from their bodies like they were weeds in the ground and it was that moment when I saw a glimpse of what Charles did—maybe they were monsters. I'd been so afraid. I didn't know how it tortured him, how the blood painted across his hands never washed away.