The Price She Paid: Shadow & Bone (Book 2)

Chapter 1: The Beginning.

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I glanced around the small Ravkan village, watching as different people milled about. I watched as two young kids raced around their mother's skirts. She was in a frenzy, struggling to try and juggle various baskets filled with foods she had no doubt purchased from the local vendors. I saw donkeys milling about, lazily grazing on the long grass that grew below them. There was two men sharing a smile as they balanced tall buckets of well water on their shoulders. Vendors were scattered about, some sold fruits, others sold seeds and vegetables, I spotted one that was selling thick knit blankets, along with hats and gloves. They were people, they were real people just living their perfectly ordinary mundane lives and I envied them for it.

I envied the life they had, the life I would never have.

"Mother, mother look, the birds!"

The two kids I had seen before had stopped playing and were pointing up at the sky, their eyes wide. I followed their gaze and saw a flock of birds take flight. There must be dozens of them, fifty, maybe more. They seem panicked as they flapped their dark wings, as if they couldn't fly away fast enough.

"Run!"

A man raced by me, a look of pure terror flashing across his simple features.

"It's coming!"

I stumbled back, struggling to see why everyone was running. I whipped around, searching for Fjerdan soldiers, preparing myself for the sound of gunfire.

I saw the Fold instead. It was moving, coming towards us like a hurricane of death and destruction. People started to scream, running as if somehow they could escape the darkness.

My heart hammered in my chest, and I fought the urge to run. It was too fast, there was no out running it.

I braced myself, swallowing down a scream as I squeezed my eyes shut. The Fold rushed past me, pulling me inside with a harsh tug. The air shifted and the temperature dropped. I opened my eyes and saw I was surrounded by darkness.

I could feel the Fold around me, feel the power of merzost that Aleksander had used to create it. My skin crawled and I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up on edge. I could hear the distant shrieks of the Volcra, but I couldn't see them.

I had to get out of here, I had to find Alina and Mal.

I tried to summon. I pressed my hands together and quickly pulled them apart, imaging the familiar flames of Inferni fire appearing before me. A flame flickered and then vanished as if someone had come along and blown it out.

"What the—"

"Evelynn!"

My breath caught in my throat and my body went still.

I'd know that voice anywhere.

I spun around and there he was. He was standing a few feet away, his blonde hair was askew, his clothes tattered and ripped but he was here, he was alive.

"Sebastian!"

I rushed forward, forgetting about the threat of the Fold or the Volcra.

I got closer and that's when I noticed the thick black chains that bound his wrists and ankles together.

"How are you—"

"Evelynn, you can't be here!" His voice was scratchy, his expression full of panic and distraught. "You have to go, you have to go before he finds you!"