She shook her head. “He likes you. He looks up to you.”
I doubted that very much, but if it made her happy to believe it, then it was fine with me.
“Let’s get going.” I turned to the others. The vampires quickly dispersed back into the ranks, Rose’s eyes looking bright with unshed tears. Hazel and I returned to our bull-horses. The children and supernaturals quickly vanished off from the path, using the undergrowth for cover till they reached the northern parts of Nevertide, as I’d instructed earlier. The only truly uncharted territory of Nevertide was the Dauoa forest, and the mountain range that lay at the back of it. I had my misgivings about sending the children that way, but had confidence that the Hawks and the jinn would protect them. I really didn’t see another way.
We continued the journey, slowing our pace a little as we reached the main road. I felt like we were more exposed here, and though the forests still provided cover on each side of the track, I couldn’t escape the feeling that we were being watched.
I glanced over at Hazel, wondering if it was paranoia on my part, or if others could feel it. She was looking out into the depths of the forest on her right, her body rigid.
“Something’s coming,” she whispered.
“True Sight?” I asked, looking in the same direction. I could see nothing but acres of dense trees, gray tendrils of mist winding their way along the bottom of the forest floor.
“No,” she replied, her eyes still fixed in the distance, “just a feeling.”
The bull-horses were becoming jumpy too. I scanned the sky over the trees, looking for a shadow looming in the distance, but I saw nothing.
“Let’s just keep going,” I replied. “It might be because we’re approaching the cove. Maybe it knows we’re coming.”
I steadied my bull-horse, placing a hand on its neck, and then dug in my heels. The pace picked up, and I could hear the army behind me following suit.
Suddenly, the bull-horse reared up, whinnying in fright. Hazel’s did the same, and I leaned over to pull hard on the reins. We both came to a standstill. A few moments of silence followed, then I heard the hoofbeats of Ash riding to the front of the line, followed by Derek, Ben and Aiden.
“What’s going on?” Derek called.
“I don’t know,” I replied. There was nothing to indicate why the creatures behaved so oddly—the sensation of being watched remained, but other than that, the land was still.
“I can’t see anything,” Ash replied, turning his bull-horse around on the path. “Has there been anything—”
He broke off suddenly as we all heard the sound of undergrowth being whipped back—something was headed toward us, moving fast. Before Ash or I had a chance to use True Sight, there was a loud shriek and a creature appeared before us, coming from the left-hand side of the pathway, staggering into the middle of the road.
It was a woman, naked, covered with a thick black liquid the consistency of tar. As I took in the spectacle, I noticed that the tar was seeping from crude rune carvings on her skin.
“Abelle?” Ash whispered.
The apothecary?
She was unrecognizable, her face distorted in sheer terror and rage, her mouth gaping open and her eyes bulging as she stared at us, unblinking, trapped in her own madness.
“The master!” she cried, holding out her hands toward us in a silent plea…for help?
“Oh, my God,” Hazel murmured next to me.
“The master is evil! Dark! H-He was promised as a benevolent power,” she screeched at us. “He LIED! They all lied! He is coming for you, and you won’t survive. He will DESTROY!”
Her wild eyes met mine. She vomited, black tar spilling from her mouth. Her body spasmed, twitching grotesquely. Then her eyes closed, and she dropped, collapsing into a heap of flesh on the ground.
“Abelle!” Ash cried, leaping toward her.
“Ash,” I warned, not wanting him to touch the body.
He ignored me, dropping down next to her.
“Forgive me,” he murmured in anguish. “I should have known—I should have stopped you.”
“Ash.” Ruby approached him slowly. “There’s nothing you could have done!”
He looked up at her, his face pale.
“How did I not know about her being an Acolyte? About any of this? I knew her my whole life. I was so sure that she…” He stopped, unwilling to finish the sentence.
“I think she did love you,” Ruby replied gently. “She just believed that this was the best thing for Nevertide. She got it wrong.”
Ash stood up, his head bowed, almost as if he was ashamed to face us.
The jinni queen moved forward, breaking the ranks. She shook her head sadly at the sentry on the floor. The other two witches and the warlock, Ibrahim, followed.