Chapter 21 · Shadows Play Rough

"Get your head out of the dirt, Bram! Move or die!"

Jace’s voice cracked like a whip over the sound of screeching metal. He didn't wait for a response. He lunged forward, grabbing the ex-captain by the collar of his reinforced vest and hauling him backward just as a blade of solidified shadow slammed into the mud where Bram’s skull had been a second ago.

Bram didn't thank him. He couldn't. The man was shaking, his eyes wide and glazed, staring at the thing emerging from the gloom. It was a Void-Stalker—ten feet of oily, translucent muscle and too many joints, its face a smooth, featureless slab of obsidian that mirrored everything it killed.

"I can't... I can't see it," Bram wheezed, his voice a broken rattle. "Every time I blink, it's closer. It's in my head, Jace. It's showing me..."

"Shut up about what it's showing you!" Jace snapped. He shoved Bram toward Lira, who was barely holding the perimeter.

Lira’s hands were trembling, her palms pressed hard against the Anchor’s humming surface. She looked frayed.