The Dark Between Dreams | ✔️

Chapter 43 🔻 Raise the Dead

The ground above us quaked. Pebbles and trickles of sand spilled down on our group as we made our way deep underground. An acolight welcomed us when we reached the main chamber of After's subterranean temple. The white Light flickered in his pupils as he ushered us all inside. He conjured another wall of Light behind us, repelling any shadows tailing us.

Even more hollows huddled together in this cave than in Blackburne's palace. Every time the ground tremored or a shadow would scream above, a ripple of fear would pass over the crowd. A few hollow children took notice of us newcomers and ran over, laughing excitedly. Vale caught one in her arms and lifted her up. Webb laughed and chased after the other kids, doing his best to keep them distracted from the monsters wreaking havoc aboveground.

"Before you came back, we helped as many people as we could find shelter here," Vale explained to me while the little girl tugged on her braids.

The people who used to shy away from the former right hand of the king now gathered around her, and Vale—who used to only watch them from afar—now mingled amongst them with a smile on her face. My chest warmed at the sight.

Reynard said nothing as he gazed up at the giant red-eyed crow engraved in the wall.

Then everyone in the temple fell silent when a murder of crows flew in from the tunnel and filled the chamber like smoke. The shackled hollow at the back of our group lingered in the shadows of the tunnel.

"Crow," I whispered to him. "It's okay."

White eyes flashed in the dark. Slowly, a silhouette detached from the dark as Crow slunk into the cavern with cawing crows on his shoulders. Gasps filled the air. Children shrieked and ran for their guardians while scavengers tightened their fists on their weapons. Crow stiffened and turned his head this way and that, snarling at the noise.

The leader of the acolights shoved her way to the front of the crowd. "The Prince of Light and Shadows," she said in awe. "He has returned to us!"

She dropped to the ground and pressed her face into the dirt in the deepest of bows. Every other acolight did the same as if Crow were a god.

The non-anchored ghosts fell silent as they beheld After's betrayer. I could practically taste the metallic tang of fear in the air. Webb, Vale, and I stood in between Crow and the other ghosts. "He won't hurt you!" I told them. "He's a friend!"

Scavengers pointed their blades at the former king. Crow curled his lip in a growl. The acolights, meanwhile, hissed at the scavengers, "Lower your weapons in the face of God and accept your judgment!"

"That ain't no god!" someone shouted from the crowd.

Crow sniffed the air. "I know that voice."

My friends and I ducked out of the path of a barreling bear-sized man. Everyone in the chamber exclaimed in surprise when Orville swept the Prince of Light and Shadows up in a bone-crunching hug.

"Release me, you giant ape!" Crow wheezed in the red-faced man's arms. "You are crushing me!"

Orville dropped his small friend and let him gasp for air for a moment. Then, after recovering, Crow grinned and embraced him back.

Orville's red, watery eyes searched me. "We all saw that ball of lux rise in the Dark! Already this rotten place was lookin' less depressin'. Was that yew, Small fry?" he asked. "Didju find a sun?"

"Siqiniq!" the toddler clinging to his coat chimed.

"Yes!" I said. "We couldn't have done it without Crow!"

Every glowing red blade lowered while hollows looked on, confused. I took a deep breath. Then I stepped forward toward the other ghosts. "I know this is going to sound crazy," I told them all. Echoes of my shaking voice made me cringe. "But everything your king has told you has been a lie. We have been beyond the wall, further than any hollow has been before, and we have seen the truth."