The Forest of Sleepers (Nowhere Book 2)

f o r t y - t h r e e : d e s t r o y e d

 Birdie was screaming before she even realized the sound was coming from her own lungs.

She clutched Ophelia as closely as she could, though Ophelia had ceased breathing minutes ago.

Marshall had also stopped moving a few feet away, leaving only Birdie and Silas as the last ones standing.

Birdie watched numbly as more shadow creatures attempted to claw their way out of the black sphere hovering over the pond.

Their cries split the air and Silas tried to pull Birdie to her feet, but she had no energy, no motivation left to stand.

"We have to go!" he was saying, but Birdie barely heard him.

She was sitting amidst the death of everything she loved.

The creatures wailed and shrieked until suddenly, they stopped.

Silas and Birdie watched as their motions slowed down and they were sucked back into the darkness one by one.

There was a moment of peace, then the trees around them splintered in two, sending dangerous shards of debris swirling around them.

Ophelia came to with a gasping inhale and Birdie almost let go of her in shock.

"Ophelia?" Birdie dared to whisper.

Ophelia's eyes were unfocused and glassy, but they were open. She was alive.

Birdie kissed her sister's forehead, shaking with a relief that proved to be short-lived.

"Birdie," Silas warned.

Birdie wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand and lifted her head.

The forest itself was being sucked into the black mass before them.

Ophelia wrapped her arms around her sister, hiding her face from the debris, but Birdie was transfixed with terror as she observed what was happening.

Marigold.

Wyatt.

They were still in there.

Her heart would be racing if there was any heart left at all. She felt like a shell--numb with shock.

"We have to get out of here," Silas said, more urgently this time.

Birdie turned fiery eyes on him. "What?!"

"The entire forest is being destroyed," Silas replied.

"Marshall," Ophelia murmured against Birdie's shirt.

Birdie glanced at Marshall, who was barely even visible as he lay in the grass.

It became increasingly clear what they had to do. Even as much as Birdie tried to ignore her instincts, as much as she wished for this nightmare to not be true, she knew they were going to have to leave without them.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

The ground shifted beneath them and the crumbling of Gwydyr intensified.

Drawing from what little strength she had left, Birdie got to her feet.

"Whatever happens in there is up to them," Silas said, nodding toward the black mass.

Birdie swallowed down a sob and felt Ophelia's hand lace through hers.

Birdie took in a breath.

And she started running.

They sprinted, dodging through flying debris and leaping over fallen trees.

Branches and leaves whizzed by Birdie's head, slashing at her face, but she didn't let go of Ophelia. She wouldn't let anything happen to her, no matter what it took. That, at least, was something she could do.

How was any of this even happening? Gwydyr was supposed to protect them like it had protected her the night they'd awakened it.

But Gwydyr was dying and they had no other allies. Birdie couldn't even conjure any energy to guide her to an exit.

None of them knew where they were going, but out was the only destination in mind.

Before they could get their bearings, however, darkness became their new enemy. It sat beyond the trees as black as night and as thick as wool. Silas was the one to jerk Birdie back before she fell into the nothingness.

"We'll have to go the other way," he shouted above the noise.

They turned and ran in the opposite direction from where they'd come, only to meet another expanse of darkness.

It stretched out like fire and no matter where they turned, it was there, until it surrounded them completely.

"There's nowhere else to go," Birdie realized, desperation clawing inside her chest.

Parts of the ground floor crumbled beneath them, threatening to swallow them whole if they didn't leap out of the way.

Soon, there was only a small patch of earth still intact.

Birdie and Silas clustered together, backs pressed against one another.

Birdie let out a shuddering breath. This was it.

"I love you," she whispered to Ophelia but meant it for Marigold, for Wyatt, for her parents as well.

The darkness closed in around them.

Ophelia squeezed her hand one last time.

Birdie closed her eyes and allowed the darkness to wash over her.

There was a moment like death that filled the seconds that followed.

It felt like peace tinged with sadness, loneliness filled with rest.

And then she was awake again, looking up at a bright blue sky, Ophelia's hand still in hers, the taste of decay still on her tongue.

Slowly, fearfully, she sat up.

Ophelia was lying next to her on one side, Silas on the other.

They were in the old Nowhere clearing and they were alone.

Gwydyr was gone. 

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Hi guys! Things are getting a little crazy over here in Nowhere, lol :)

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~Who do you think survives?

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Thanks so much for reading!