Chapter 27 · Don't Die for Me

The Echo's got us.

I know it before I see it. The air shifts. Like someone sucked all the oxygen out and replaced it with static. My skin crawls. Leah freezes mid-step, her hand halfway to her rifle.

"Ivy." Her voice cracks. "Run."

I don't run. I grab her wrist instead.

The thing materializes between us and the Moonwell. Not solid. Not smoke either. Something in between. It's shaped like a person but the proportions are wrong. Arms too long. Head cocked at an angle that would snap a neck. Its eyes are holes. Not empty. Hungry.

Leah jerks her arm but I hold on.

"Let go," she hisses. "I can take the shot."

"You can't shoot something that isn't there."

"I've done it before."

"And how'd that work out?"

She doesn't answer. The Echo tilts its head the other way. Watching. It moves closer. One step. Two. The ground under it doesn't crack or shift. It's like the thing doesn't weigh anything.

My wolf is screaming at me to shift. To fight or run or do literally anything except stand here holding my sister's wrist like an idiot. But I can feel her pulse hammering under my fingers.