As the day dimmed to complete darkness, the camp glowed. An ethereal white spread through the space between tents, filling the landscape with a soft glare. The night was stark pale, and David felt the throbbing essence underneath him. The taint clouded it; made it seem like he was reaching into an infinite nothingness.

  And as the light flowed through the floating island, the taint became a living thing. A miraculous thing, too. The trees, once bent and leaking pungent sap, began to right themselves. The bushes grew, their leaves glowing with a subtle pulse of essence.

  David gasped as weeds and low brush grew where they hid.

  The soldier, Gaines, had timed it perfectly. But even though they were warned, David still stared at the slow workings of the anchor’s magic in awe. He had never seen essence used in this scale. It affected everything, revitalizing the island while mixing in foulness in an intricate weave.

  “This is madness,” Elisha growled, stumbling away from the glowing leaves. But there was nowhere to go. The magic was everywhere. The forest was dense and overflowing with the power coming from the camp. But even as it overflowed everything, David still couldn’t get a clear sense of it. And the harder he tried to reach it, the stronger it fed off him.

  “It will kill us,” Zoey murmured, looking up. The larger trees didn’t glow as much as the smaller plant life. Insects buzzed. A smell of warm, wet soil reached David. But soon he perceived the smell of dying or dead things. Then he understood what Gaines had said before.

  “The anchor can control the ghouls.”

  The soldier nodded. “Not all of them, only the older ones. But yes. You have to make your move soon.”

  “Zoey,” David called, staring at the camp, sizing it up. He would like to kill as little as possible, but he allowed the possibility that his plan would go awry. That would put them in a bind, but he had an ace for that.

  “Can you pull their attention?” David asked her.

  Zoey gave him a flat look. “All of them?”

  Gaines looked from brother to sister in disbelief. David found his stare comical, but the situation was one that needed his utmost focus, so he ignored the soldier.

  “Yes. Or as many as you can. Gaines will help you. Elisha and I will get through the camp while you do so.”

  “You can’t draw the whole camp by yourself,” Gaines said. “They will cut you down before you know.”

  Elisha snorted, looking down his nose at the man. The soldier had the good head to ignore him. Instead, he focused on Zoey.

  “I know you are strong, all three of you. But you have no understanding of our army or how we fight. You were able to defeat us, true. But the commander will be in the camp. And she—”

  “Let us worry about that, Gaines,” David said, his voice hard as concrete. “And your part in the plan is simple. All you have to do is scream.”

  Gaines stared at them as if they were mad while David gave them the rest of the plans. He asked Gaines about the guards around the anchor and the anchor itself. He adjusted the plans several times to accommodate possible eventualities, until he was sure there was no alternate scenario to worry about.

  “This is a terrible plan,” Zoey said.

  “Maybe,” David conceded. It was a simple plan, but it was the best way to avoid bloodshed while saving time. Zoey didn’t know he could tell she had her hands clasped to stop the shaking. And Elisha didn’t talk much because he was so focused on holding on to his slipping power. They were out of time. Any more delay, and they might be reduced to ghouls.

  David and Elisha slipped from the treeline into open ground. Elisha’s shadow swelled and wrapped them in darkness until they vanished, even under the anchor’s harsh glow.

  “Can you hold it?” David murmured.

  Elisha nodded, gaze fixed on the hundred yards of brush between them and the camp’s first tents. The leaves glowed faintly, but their roots reeked of rot, forcing them to crawl through the stench in silence.

  Gold streaks tore across the sky, cutting through the anchor’s white glare. Moments later, Zoey’s arrows fell—whistling death—and the camp erupted in screams. In the din of chaos, David heard the single voice coming from behind them. Gaines screamed at the top of his lungs, running past them.

  “Balorn soldiers! Curse them, they are coming!”

  David and Elisha stopped, scanning the distance to see if David had been right. If his plan would work. They waited silently until Elisha’s breath came in dragged, laborious huffs. His face was strained, the effort obvious. David said a small prayer in his mind. If only he could do something, but there was nothing he could do from where they hid.

  More voices joined Gaines. And more arrows sailed on the camp. The scream of the dying was like a chorus from hell. David listened attentively, picking up what he couldn’t see in what he heard

  Then the footfalls came, heavy and uncoordinated. David urged Elisha to curve left and quickly as the men approached them. Any longer, and they would have been trampled.

  More arrows rained down, and then nothing fell again.

  The diversion worked. David just hoped Zoey could outrun the force Gaines was luring away. They’d find no enemy army waiting—only more of her taunting arrows to keep them chasing ghosts.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “Quick,” David whispered, and they rose to a crouch, jogging low the rest of the way.

  Elisha released the shroud just as they reached the first line of ragged tents.

  The shadow peeled, revealing their crouched forms. The camp was chaotic. Screams still echoed as the soldiers left behind scrambled to form ranks against the invisible force they expected to fall on them soon.

  David waited until they were gathered on the far end of the field. That was their opening.

  He took the lead, weaving between the makeshift tents, keeping his mind focused on the pulsing power he could still feel beneath him.

  They had to stop and hide every time they heard the thuds of footfalls. Elisha covered his back while David kept the growing, glowing thing in sight. Until they were out of the clusters of tents and walking in the open, soldiers on the other side.

  It hovered above the ground, a floating dome of translucent light. It didn’t look like it had been built. It simply existed. As if the very idea of space had been pulled inward like a folded fabric.

  Essence spiraled around it like a storm in slow motion, threads rising and wrapping in long, measured beats.

  At the center of it all was the girl Gaines had mentioned.

  She floated within the cocoon of transparent curved space, wrapped in endless strands of silver hair that spilled like a waterfall. Her arms were crossed loosely over her chest, her eyes closed, her expression peaceful. She was beautiful in the same way that ruins could be said to carry beauty. She looked dead. But if the power flowing outward was any indication, she was very much alive.

  “The Anchor,” David whispered.

  “He was not lying,” Elisha murmured beside him, his voice barely audible. “It is really human.”

  “You snuck in,” An angry voice spat, and David looked to the side, toward the voice. “I guess I was wise to wait here.”

  A tall woman, clad head-to-toe in hard armor. David tensed, his eyes catching the markings etched on her armor. It stretched across her breastplate, armguard, and helm. Her face was hidden within the helm, but there was nothing uncertain about her stance. Her broad shoulders squared; massive great sword balanced in both hands and pointed toward them. A challenge.

  Every movement of her body was a threat.

  The commander, Ignis warned, but David was looking past her, toward the girl. The anchor. The longer he stayed here, the worse they’d be for it. These soldiers had found a way to bypass the side effects of being in a place like this. Which meant they wouldn’t be in danger when he removed the anchor.

  “Go,” Elisha said, walking forward to face the commander. David scowled.

  “What?”

  “You heard me. Get the Anchor. I’ll hold her off while you get it.”

  “Elisha—”

  The armored woman didn’t wait for them to decide. She lunged for them, but she didn’t make it far. Dozens of black tendrils erupted from Elisha’s shadow, twisting up from the dirt like serpents. They grabbed her ankles, knees, and arms, binding her mid-charge.

  The commander’s shock palpable, followed by a frantic struggle to get out of Elisha’s web of shadows.

  “Now, David!” Elisha shouted.

  David dashed, leaping over the thrashing woman to close the distance to the dome.

  Behind him, the woman roared. Her armor flashed violently, and the rune-laced plate ignited with surging essence. The tendrils around her shredded into wisps, violently repelled.

  David risked a glance back.

  Elisha didn’t hesitate. He met her head-on, shoulder slamming into her chest before she could fully rise. They crashed to the ground in a flurry of essence. Her sword skidded across the dirt. Elisha’s knives shattered and reformed.

  And David turned back to the dome to face his task.

  He stepped inside.

  The light bent around him. Sound dulled, then vanished entirely. His breath slowed. Each movement felt heavy, like the space was pushing against him. And in the depth of it all, the silence was complete, as though he’d been swallowed in a peaceful dream.

  “He…lp me,” A familiar voice called. It was so faint. From a great distance.

  David listened harder, waiting. And when the voice came again, she was suddenly right there, before him.

  “Help me,” she pleaded.

  He stepped closer. Her head was bowed forward, her hair pooling in front. She looked up slowly, her eyes barely moving. But David knew she could see him. That meant what he could see outside the dome was some kind of illusion?

  Her lips didn’t move, but her eyes opened through the strands of hair. They met his, and David took a step back as he realized what he was looking at. Only when he’d calmed his racing heart did he get closer, reaching down to part away her hair so he could see her face.

  The moment his fingers touched the edge of her hair, the dome cracked and faded away. He felt himself pulled into someplace else. He stood in a space of white so bright it hurt to look at. A shapeless, endless place that bent at the end, curving out of view.

  When his vision adjusted, he saw her.

  The girl stood alone in the expanse, her silver hair drifting in a wind that didn’t exist. Her dress was simple, white, and sleeveless, made of the same filmy nothingness that formed the world around them. She didn’t look up. She stared at the floor—though there was no floor, just more of that endless, bright void.

  But David saw the chains.

  Dozens of them. Some wrapped around her arms, some coiled around her waist, sinking down the endless beyond. They were forged from essence, heavy strands of twisted power.

  They pinned her in place, suspended above the nothing, churning with power.

  “Yo…u,” she said softly.

  David approached slowly. He could feel the chains as he got closer. Here, the power felt like knives on his skin. It made his stomach churn. It was clearer here though. He didn’t have to guess to know who he was looking at, and that confused him.

  “Ishkar?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she replied, frail and breathless. The quiver in her voice made him shudder. For someone so strong, she looked broken.

  “This is your real form,” David said.

  Why would a Warden be locked here?

  She finally raised her head. Her face was young; younger than her avatar, but her eyes were ancient.

  Too old and worn, so close to death.

  “He…he locked me,” she said. She tried to move, and a crackle sparked off the chains. Her body shook violently, and Ishkar went limp, falling to her knees.

  “Balek did this to you?” David asked. She nodded slowly. “Why?”

  “Debt,” she muttered. “Debt.”

  David clenched his fist in frustration. This wasn’t what he expected.

  “You don’t have much time left,” Vith warned dryly.

  “Why would he lock you up, Ishkar? What debt?”

  You will need to free her, Ignis growled. David ignored the dragon, waiting for the Warden to answer. He couldn’t free her. Not without knowing what he would be unleashing on everyone else.