Two girls. Two secrets.
Only one can survive.
Years before Nelle Wychthorn plans her escape, Tabitha Catt may unearth something in a Horned God's lair that is the key to freedom.
Desperate to save her beloved aunt from a dark curse, Tabitha is out t...
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I stood in front of the cave as I'd done every single afternoon for the past few days.
A faint crackling of static magic strummed inside my ears in electric pulses. It answered the question I had, as to how Tabitha managed to keep whatever was inside trapped. The wild magic emanated from behind ivy that swept downward in a knot of vines and leaves to hide the cave's entrance. The rock face was a furry blanket of golden moss and lichen, and at its pinnacle unruly grasses and ferns glistened with droplets of rain. Birds chirruped in the distance as they huddled on branches to escape the hazy shower, but not a single one roosted near the cave.
This morning I'd woken up to a sky messy with dreary clouds and consistent drizzle. I'd plunged into the Hemmlok Forest before the sun rose to meet up with Tabitha—which, shockingly, ended up with me being stood up—I'd spent my day hunting through the Deniauds' mansion only to return to the forest's somber depths as dusk feathered the forest in shadowy grays, deep emerald greens, and saturated browns.
I'd found Tabitha's cave the morning after we'd had our very first date. That morning, Tabitha and I had met in the forest and walked along a running trail, my fingers laced between her slender ones, teasing one another's choice of favorite bands and songs—my girl was a Def Leppard fan—as dawn slowly vanquished the darkness. When she left for the Deniauds' to begin work for the day, I'd turned back into the forest to track her last whereabouts.
I knew it was a shitty move but I had to know what she was up to.
Tabitha had traveled deeper into the Hemmlok Forest than I deemed safe, and she'd done her best to conceal her movements. But even if I hadn't been able to track her indelible scent lingering on the cool air, I'd have spotted the odd footprint squishing sodden earth, bark scraped from twisted roots by the soles of her boots, and a branch she'd snapped as she shoved her way past, clambering up a steep incline.
It was quite a trek to get up to the cave, and hampered by prickly shrubs that scratched at my armor and whiplashed against the hilts of the swords strapped down the length of my spine. And Tabitha did this every single morning before the sun rose. Though I admired her tenacity, I worried about it too.
Icy rain trickled down my forehead and dripped onto my eyelashes, rousing me to the here and now and the cave before me.
Blinking the wet beads from my lashes, I shifted from foot to foot on the rocky ledge and rubbed my chilly hands together briskly to warm them up. Every afternoon since discovering Tabitha's cave, I came back to stand and stare at it, never daring to go inside. When was I going to grow the balls to go inside and see for myself what she'd trapped in there?
But truth be told, part of me didn't want to know.
I was having the greatest time I'd ever experienced in my life with Tabitha. I felt like a fucking teenager again—a teenager I'd never truly been—all cumbersome limbs and skitterish emotions. It was as if my past had been revised and Irma had been rewritten out completely. Tabitha was adorably sweet and funny, a little fucking crazy for sure—the fun kind of crazy—and she made it so easy to be myself around her. She was the epitome of endless, carefree summer days.
