[This post is from Matt’s point of view.]
They’d gone three steps before Thordin leaned toward him and muttered, “Where would she be trapped? There’s nowhere around here for that, is there?”
Matt shook his head. “Nothing physical.”
It took Thordin a second to catch his implication. The bigger man nodded slightly. “Right. Right, good call.”
“I thought it was,” Matt said, gaze roaming, searching for the source of the keening and the voice. The fog swirled around them like a living thing. Even only a few steps away, looking back over his shoulder he could barely make out Hecate and Carolyn. A fresh chill crept down his spine, one he tried to ignore as he looked around again. “See anything?”
“Just this damn fog,” Thordin muttered as they pressed on. “It’s not natural.”
“Tell me something I didn’t know,” Matt said, squinting at the shadowy outline he could see in the fog.
Light flashed, dazzling him. Matt swore, throwing an arm up to shield his eyes too late.
“What the hell was that?” Thordin asked, blinking and shaking his head as if to clear it.
“Don’t know,” Matt said, rubbing at his tearing eyes. There were spots dancing in his vision, but it was coming back.
That was when he noticed that the keening had stopped.
“Help me.”
“Matt?” Hecate called from behind them. “Are you okay?”
“Fine,” he called back. “Stay there.”
“Have you found anything?”
“Not yet.” He glanced toward Thordin, still blinking, then shook his head. “Come on.”
They kept moving, deeper into the fog. The smell of damp, fresh earth grew stronger even as other sounds started to fade away as they moved. The shadow was still there, indistinct, but there.
“You see it?” he asked Thordin in a low voice.
“I see it,” Thordin murmured. Energy crackled in the air and Matt gave him a sharp look.
“What are you doing?”
“Getting ready,” Thordin said, taking a slow, deep breath.
“Help. Please help me.”
Matt sucked in a breath. The voice sounded closer and the shadow seemed closer, like it was standing still and they were closing in on it. He hoped it was her.
But if it was, why wasn’t she coming toward them?
I’ve got a bad feeling about this.
He could hear the faint sound of sobbing, now.
“Please,” the voice pleaded. “Help me.”
