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.