Untamed Fate (Magic Side: Wolf Bound 2)

No. I had the sense that if she had wanted to, Cavra could have killed us

right there. I was certain she believed we had a chance.

But maybe just a slim one.

I skuttled behind a crumbled wall and listened. Apart from the pulse of

the Dreamlands and my pounding heart, there was nothing nearby.

I wished that Sorsha had prepared us a little more for this. All she’d told

us was that navigating the Dreamlands was more about your intent than

geography.

Maybe that was something. Hope dwindling like sand in an hourglass, I

squeezed my eyes shut.

I need to find the heart of the woods.

Repeating the thought over and over like a mantra, I opened my eyes and

began moving forward with a pool of dread in my chest. Ducking under

branches and moss, I scanned my surroundings for any sign of that damn

basalt pillar with the bloodstone.

Nothing.

I pushed onward, scrambling around and over the ancient ruins that the

jungle had claimed. Finally, as my mind grew numb from repeating the

mantra, the lights from earlier appeared ahead.

I brushed an oversized palm leaf aside. The lights had stopped and were

clustered and hovering around a pitch-black void in the trees.

The Glen of Shadows. It had to be, judging by the way the darkness

leaked out of it like tendrils of smoke. I glanced behind me, praying that I’d

see Jaxson, but he was nowhere.

“Crap,” I muttered, forcing my feet forward. I took several gasps, trying

to get my breaths under control. I just had to go in, move quickly, and find

the stone without looking at the shadows. Piece of cake.

I stopped just short of where the darkness started, and my skin tingled.

A chorus of faint whispers filtered out of the blackness: Join us. In the

darkness, you will find your answers. Take what you want. You belong here.