Page 103 of The Edge of Darkness

Auren lowered her hand, which was still aglow with starlight. “What is that?”

I squinted through the mist that peppered the air, waving my hand to clear it from around my feet. When it dissipated, I saw that the area where I’d stepped was littered with dozens of white shards. I pushed them around with the toe of my boot, and the sound of them knocking against each other reminded me of⁠—

Bones.

Auren seemed to figure it out at the same time I did. She swung her hand around the area, illuminating dozens of them—piles of them. Some so small they must have belonged to rodents. Others were so large that I started to wonder how an animal that size could even make it up the path and into this cave.

My head shot up as Aremis’s Aura returned to him.

There are too many bones here for a single animal to have feasted on, I said into his mind.

That’s because it’s no animal that inhabits this place.

Just as his words echoed in my head, a distant mewling sound floated through the tunnel.

All of us flinched.

“Looks like the legends were right,” Aremis murmured aloud.

I met his eyes, and suddenly, he didn’t look so confident that we’d made the right decision to come here.

If this was the place Verdi had taken Evander for answers, then we had no other choice but to face whatever was in the cave. With Skadi showing up, we needed information now more than ever.

“What did you see?” I asked Aremis.

He stepped closer, bringing us all into a tight circle. “Up ahead, the tunnel opens into a cavern with a fairly large water source. I didn’t see a physical being, but I could feel her. She’s hidden somewhere in the shadows.”

Auren chewed on her bottom lip, her face still pinched from the stench of the air we were breathing.

Nivelle remained oddly quiet.

“Anything you’d like to add?” I asked the witch.

She glanced around at the bones that littered the space. “I did not expect a wraith to truly be alive after all this time.” She shook her head. “It makes no sense. They all should have died long ago.”

“All?” Auren pressed.

“When Torin escaped to this world, she brought several clans with her. There would not have been much hope for the wraiths’ long-term survival, but I guess anything would be better than suffering genocide.”

“How many are in a clan?” I asked, not bothering to hide the tension seeping through my voice.

“A few dozen—fifty at most,” Nivelle answered. “They prefer small groups. But they cannot live in the sun. Their skin is too thin, their coloring too pale to be able to withstand it. That is why they thrived on Skotos.” She paused. “What I don’t understand though, is how one has managed to survive here for so long without its natural source of energy.”

When we all stared at her, waiting for an explanation, she obliged. “The wraiths feed on chaos.”

“Chaos?” Auren repeated.

Nivelle nodded. “Remember, our world was nothing like this one.”

Another pitiful cry echoed down the tunnel, snapping our attention back to the darkness beyond.

“What is that sound?” Auren asked, calling her orbs closer to her.

“Sounds like an animal in pain,” I answered.

Nivelle stepped closer to us. “Wraiths can disappear at will. Do not underestimate what this one is capable of.”

Aremis shifted on his feet, then opted to take the lead. “Best we get this over with.”