Chapter 23 · A New Menu

"Get back, Kael! Now!" Lyra's voice cracked like a whip, her hand slamming into my side to shove me back into the gloom.

I didn't move. I couldn't. The air tasted like ozone and old blood, and my new body—this twitching, semi-solid mess of shadow and spikes—was humming. Not the kind of humming you get from a fridge. This was a hunger that felt like a physical hole in my chest, screaming to be filled.

"What the hell is that?" Lyra hissed, her blade out, the steel shimmering with a faint, anxious light.

Above us, perched on a jagged ledge of obsidian, was a Hunter. He looked like a textbook arrogant prick: gold-trimmed armor, a cape that probably cost more than my old apartment, and a smirk that said he’d already won. He wasn't looking at Lyra. He was looking at the spot where I was shivering in the dark.

"Found a little stray, did you, sweetheart?" the guy called down. His voice was smooth, the kind of voice that sells you a fake insurance policy before robbing you blind. "That’s a nasty looking parasite you've got there.