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I did as he asked, sinking to the ground slowly,sure Morio stayed connected to me Physical contact wasn’t absolutely necessary, but it round was soft andinto the earth A reverberation of htto unhook my corset, to press my breasts into the soil At that moment, Morio let out a sh y…" My words drifted off as I openedI had not to reel back, to break the connection and spell

For there she stood, Ivana, the Maiden of Karask, only she was no longer hideous and gnarled, but tall and brilliant and dark as the evening sky Her hair flowed now, long and silver, with black streaks running through it She was taller than Sht, and her eyes gloith a dark burgundy--not in the way of vampires, but like hot coals in thein her unnatural beauty--far netic pulse resounded fros, and it captured me with a deep rhythmic vibration I wanted to run to her, to fall at her feet

Fighting with ling, too I could feel longing rise up in Morio--a deep hunger I reached up, took his hand, and squeezed as hard as I could, driving my nails into his skin to shake him out of his stupor He lanced atDelilah as she huddled in his ar on, but she didn’t look hurt, so I returned my attention to Ivana, who slowly crossed to stand beside ain, then leaned down She kissed one finger, then pressed it to et, the Elder Fae have many forms andyou my power"

"Why would you do that?"

"You need to know For this creature who gobbled up o delving into the grave for its bugaboos and secrets, best you know th Then, you can decide whether to proceed You suspectedthe boneyards I could, if I chose to But I leave sohosties in boneyards, they are hoo after the spirits ander, whose fury keeps the…whatever it is, plays by its own rules It eats its fill and scatters the bones"

I looked around "I see no bones"

"This is no graveyard, but only a ghostly repository But the bones…the bone-walkers and the ghoulies and the zombinos…they travel in the wake of this creature To create such an army…think of the power it takes"

I nodded I didn’t want to tell her that we already kneere facing a god--it didn’t seem a wise choice to spill secrets at this point

"I hear your words" I would not thank her for her advice--that would be giving her too much power over me--but I wanted her to know I appreciated the atteainst the to up frohost who had been anchored to it--hateful and angry and bitter And then, as I searched, trying to sort out the blur of sensations and i, in one long lash of the whip, the sky split open, and I was catapulted into the heart of Gulakah

Chapter 6

At first, everything was dark and h ray,h the water and caotten here? And where was here?

But a crest of waves crashed against , and I pushed all questions out of ht to keep above the surface It was then that I noticed the snakes

Fuck

All aroundas they ca to tread water--if this liquid murk could be called water Viscous, it remindeddetritus filled my nostrils, like old briny seaashed up on the shore, and overripe cla to suckjust beneath the surface Great, what the fuck was next?

In the back ofto hold on to, like a piece of wood or maybe, if I was lucky, a life vest No such luck As I saas rising fro a sharp turn Exit, stage left Or any place that wasn’t here

What looked like a giant matte black eyeball rose out of the water It rippled with veins, and hundreds of writhing snakes were attached to it, like the tentacles on an octopus I wasn’t sure howas a boulder and I didn’t want to stick around to find out how big the entire creature was

Terrified, I launchedstrokes The ooze tried to suck s Part of me wanted to ask, How can this be real? But the fear inaway fro a logical answer

I struggled against the sloshing waves The liquid was trickier than the actual ocean As I fought to remain above the waves, they battered n of land In the distance, I could see what looked like a faint silvery shore, but it was a long way off--and I began to think thatto lanced over h out of the water, its body visible, and I realized I’d seen it somewhere before And then, I kneho it was, only here, he was a giant, and malformed

As he reared up, I screa into my mouth It tasted likeAs I treaded water, trying to keep the roiling waves fro over me, the creature continued to rise, deep and dark and from the depths of the Netherworld It stank of Deer and unquenched desire

Gulakah

The Lord of Ghosts

And he senses you

I let out a strangled cry as the god turned towardinto his head, the snakes norithing like hair Medusa’s coils As he leaned down, ai toward me, I sucked in a deep breath and dove, deep into the water, letting it suck me down Better to drown in the depths than let hian to drift doard, floating free, unable to see There was no question about breaking the surface again Gulakah was there, and I couldn’t fight hihtened, I steeledfor the rush of liquid into otten here, and all I could do was pray that they’d find me somehow Smoky, Morio, and Trillian would feel the Soul Sy an to let out my breath, I tu hard

What the fuck?

"Ow" I rubbed my head

First realization: I could hear

Third realization: I was sitting in front of a torab me up in his arms