The air of abandonment and death that permeated the howf was probably left over from the Burnings. The few who had survived had lain low until the hysteria was over. Now, there were so few left and the threat so distant that they could move about without too much fear, as Esha did.
If they’d visited, they hadn’t moved anything. Wise, considering the fact that Esha could feel an imprisonment charm on the place. Anything removed would result in consequences. Was that one of the reasons it was supposed to be difficult to leave here?
With the bookshelves and paintings all inspected, Esha wound her way around the tables and chairs, inspecting the things laid out upon the tables. She reached out to touch a piece of paper, but when she did so, she swore she saw her hand disappear. So quickly she couldn’t be sure, but her time was drawing to a close.
Nothing on this table, so she moved on. A square of white on another table caught her eye. She gasped soundlessly. On the largest table in the middle of the room sat an envelope.
With her name on it.
With a trembling hand, she picked it up. Though she had no body, the items in the room had obviously been enchanted to be manipulated by souls.
Who could have written to her? Stupid question.
Before her eyes, the hand that held the letter flickered in and out of existence. Damn it.
She was running out of time. Esha glanced nervously at the Chairman. He flickered too, and she swore she saw annoyance in his eyes. Biting her lip, she began to tear the letter open. She just had to glance at it long enough to get an idea of the message. But her flickering hand wouldn’t work properly. One second, she felt the letter’s seal beneath her fingertips—the next, nothing.
Swallowing hard, she debated the pros and cons of trying to remove the letter from the room. Determining that it was worth chancing the unknown penalty and unwilling to risk losing her body, Esha dashed for the entrance with the Chairman at her heels. Her arms flickered as she skirted a chair. So close—the entrance was just ahead.
She would make it in time. She had to.
With a deep breath, she plunged through. As soon as she landed on the other side, a harsh wail echoed through the cavern. It tore at her eardrums and howled through her mind. To preserve her sanity, she focused on finding Warren.
Near where she’d left him, he surged to his feet, her limp body cradled in his arms. Esha hurtled toward her body. She gasped as she opened her eyes and met Warren’s. Strong arms held her tight to a broad chest, heat radiating through every inch of her.
“We need to go,” she said, struggling to escape his arms.
The shrieking turned to howling, a sound so harsh it threatened to make her black out. She gestured to the boat that was their only hope of safety.
As soon as Warren put her down, she grabbed his arm and turned toward the boat. A glance behind her showed that the stone entrance to the howf was bulging outward, some areas more than others. Stone should not be able to move like that.
“Come on.” With the letter gripped tightly in her hand, she sprinted for the boat.
After only a few steps, an agonizing pain tore across her back. She stumbled, a scream caught in her throat, and lost her grip on Warren’s hand. The pain began to paralyze her and she fell to her knees.
Before she could fall any farther, Warren swept her up and charged forward. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a great stone claw reaching out from the entrance, growing longer as they ran. She could no longer feel her legs.
“Hurry.” Her fist clenched around the letter that had caused so much trouble.
Warren leapt into the boat, the Chairman behind him, and she cried out at the pain that streaked across her back as he jostled her. Darkness crept into the corners of her vision, but she fought it, desperate to not lose consciousness with certain death chasing them.
“Hold on for me, damn it. I’m going to get you to safety, I promise.” He wiped wetness from her cheeks, and only then did she realize that she was crying. “But first, can you get us out of this damn cave?”
“Can summon a wave… but can’t… aetherwalk.”
She had to get them out of here. She was the only one who could.
He nodded at her, then wrapped his jacket around her before returning to the wheel. Cold crept along her skin as he started up the engine. It was going to be close. Closing her eyes, she focused her remaining energy on calling forth a wave big enough to carry them out of the cave.
“We’re nearing the wall,” Warren shouted over the otherworldly shrieking that still bounced off the stone walls.
She reached for the Chairman, pathetically grateful to feel his fur against her palm. The effort to dredge up enough power to create the wave had her head spinning, but soon she felt the surge of water beneath the boat. It roared in her ears. Or was that the pain?
She managed to crack her eyes open long enough to see them rise closer to the ceiling of the cave and fall on the other side.
The boat crashed down and blackness took her.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN