Skye is dead.
How she perished is a mystery. All she knows is that she is trapped in After, a makeshift city of souls surrounded by infinite darkness and terrifying monsters that tear ghosts apart.
But while all other ghosts accept the eternity of...
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It was quiet as a tomb when we climbed back inside the sub. We navigated our way back toward the crew's quarters, leading with our blades and startling at the sound of our own footsteps.
There were no birds to be found anywhere, and there was no more humming. "Crow?" I called when we paused in the galley, just outside his door. Our truce had ended, but he was still bound and unarmed.
I reached for the hatch.
Every light in the sub blew.
"You were warned," growled a voice from all around us, as if the darkness itself spoke to us.
Faster than we could put on our masks, the Prince of Light and Shadows struck.
We were blind. Webb cried out in the dark, and I saw his red sword fly across the room. The sound of a body thudding hard against pipes made my heart hammer. I heard the sound of ropes cutting apart in a single slice.
The monster used Webb's sword to free himself.
Vale hacked at where the sound came from, but only struck air. She, too, let out a shout when some monstrous force slammed into her.
Her machete clattered to the floor.
I called out for my friends. "Guys?"
And then there was one.
I held my spear out, flinching and jabbing at every noise. There was the sound of footsteps to my left-no, now there was a rustle of wings toward my right.
Then someone laughed in my ear from behind. Breath stirred my hair and made chills crawl up my spine. I screamed and spun around, hoping to cleave that bastard with my spear.
But Crow wasn't there.
From above me, a hand snatched my spear and wrenched it away. Some force like wind barreled into me, and tossed me hard against the wall. I slumped to the floor and could only watch as the two red tips of my spear spun in front of me. Then the spear's unseen wielder stabbed it at me.
My own spear pierced my chest.
The only thing I saw of my attacker was a pair of hellish red glowing eyes glaring down at me while I gasped, impaled, on the floor. I grabbed at my weapon with one hand in a feeble attempt to free myself. I reached my other hand out to Crow, pleading.
Those red eyes only burned hotter.
A raspy caw filled the chamber as a crow flew between Crow and me, scratching at the pole of the spear with her talons. "Nannāru?" the man said.
The rest of his flock joined the pesky bird. They squawked and beat their wings at their master, assaulting him with pecks and scratches. "Naparkû!" he yelled. He swatted at his enraged flock, but that did nothing to quell them. "Enough!"
The lights came on. My body couldn't stop shivering at the sight of my weapon embedded in my chest. At his birds' persistence, Crow withdrew the spear. The wound left behind had already begun to seal shut. I touched a hand to my injury.
