Out of Evenfall (BOOK 1)

Chapter 15

ADARA

It kept haunting her dreams, and what made it worse was the familiarity it brought. Something deep inside her couldn't reconcile the hazy images of her nightmares with the real thing across the creek. Something to haunt her earliest memories, but the red never left the faces of knights who purged the magickae from Tebora into the shadow beyonds. It hissed, groaned, and cracked its bones in her ears as she tried to scramble away. Stories Mother never told, but Garren had. Hungry, relentless, unable to forget the urge to feed in its gaze. Sleep hounded for another day, she snapped up from her bed when she heard its distant screech, so different from an animal's. Distinct and bone chilling, the screaming hadn't ended long after she turned it to stone.

It was real, but what was it? Garren came back and didn't say anything to me. Adara brushed her fingers through her short hair, then got out of bed, giving up on her nap before a hard day of work at the Sunfire festival. Apron tied around her tavern smock, she fashioned her mask against her nose, where its bird beak fit snug. Just this one day. Out of her room, she walked past Garren's to reach the living area, where he sat by the fireplace, poking at it with the firesetter. "I'm going out now."

His answer was a dismissive grunt.

"I'm assuming you're not going to be participating in the festivities?"

Another, but more affirmative grunt.

Adara went for the handle, but stopped at the flickering shadows cast by the firelight. Red embers struck the world, but it was nothing but a bad dream. A nightmare from her childhood. "Did you ever find what you were looking for on that walk days ago?"

"No."

The music dancing its way through the forest to their cabin almost made her dive back into the safety of her room. "Are you sure you believe me?"

"Yes, Adara." Garren set the firepoker off to the side to consider her. "Why wouldn't I believe you?"

"I know how you feel about something that sounds like it came out of a story, but you knew what I was talking about," Adara observed as the music swayed the house, and the crimson embers bounced along in the shadows. "It was familiar to you — what I described. You knew what you were looking for." Her grip on the door handle slacked as she faced him down. Unable to stare into the iron, she turned away, trying not to allow her fear to drown her and burn down everything she called home. "It—" Her heart pounded at the music, distorted when it came out the beast's maw. "It's still around, isn't it? I didn't kill it. What are you not telling me, Garren?"

Garren shuffled, and she kept herself on guard as he stood up with a huff. In the corner of her eye, his shadow headed down the corridor to his room. Adara opened the door, but stopped when he called, "Hold a moment, Adara."

"What is it?" Adara turned around, and rested her back against the door to try and ease out the crawling dread through her spine. "I can't be late for this. It's going to be busy well into the night, and I promised to help with the extra bells. I'm expecting some more coin than I usually get." She stopped when Garren left his room, carrying a dagger sheathe. Wavy designs curled around the handle up to the guard. "What's that for?"

"The other one I gave you rusted to nothing," he pointed out as he drew it. It glinted in the ember firelight, where the design along its fuller fell into more ocean foam. He handed it to her, handle first.

Adara brushed her thumb down the grip, and her magick pulsed into her heart. "It's beautiful. I haven't seen anything like this, and I've seen the forge once or twice. I doubt they'd make something like this, or that you could afford it."