The power Thom channeled into the wards was amplified tenfold, shooting out in crackling arcs toward the Greys. Their diminutive opponents scattered screaming—those that didn’t collapse into the snow, charred or shattered by the energy that shot out from the warding lines. Thom strained his ears over the sound, breathing hard, heart pounding as he sought the source of the laughter.
He shook his head hard. “There’s someone out there!” he shouted. “Someone’s laughing out there.”
“I don’t see anything,” Thordin shouted.
Thom swore, shoulders tensing. He could feel sweat starting to bead up at his hairline despite the cold. Lightning crackled up his arms but didn’t hut, didn’t burn, but set his hair on end. It sounded like it was close—felt like it was even closer.
A hand grasped his shoulder. Seamus cursed but didn’t let go. “Leave off,” he roared. “Let it go! They’re running.”
Breath rasped in his throat as Thom ratcheted back, withdrawing his senses from the wards before he let go of the stones. His limbs shook as he rocked back against his heels, blinking blearily toward the churned snow between the edge of the ravine and the warding lines. A cadre of the Hunt bunched together, plunging down the walls of the ravine and across the bridge in pursuit of the Greys as they fled.
“They shouldn’t—there’s something–”
Seamus shook his head quickly. “They’ll be fine and if they’re not, this is what we’re built for in the Hunt. Do you still hear it?”
Thom swallowed bile as a shudder racked him. He could still hear the laughter—somewhere near and far all at once. It sounded like a woman, but it was hard to know. “Yeah.” He squinted in the darkness, scanning the trees. Who was it? What was it?
“Your hand,” Seamus said.
“What?”
“Your hand. Give me your hand. The right one.”
Without thinking, Thom extended his right hand to Seamus, who took that hand with his left.
A chill shot through Thom and his vision suddenly shrank down to nothing in the space of a heartbeat.
Yikes! Now what? Love these eerie endings…. makes me more than ready for another chapter. Thanks for sharing your talent with us.