Page 97 of Seaborn and the Seven Seas

We moved toward the gate.

“How do we get in?” Ranis tilted his head far back.

Minha shrugged. “I don’t know, but I’m not touching that thing. And you can’t ask the Priestess.”

“I’m sure we can figure it out.” Theron waved a hand. “But after you, Crown Prince.”

“I’m not—” Ranis stopped talking when the gates swung slow and silent on their own, like they’d been expecting us.

“Fine. I’ll go first. Stay together.” Theron’s eyes found mine for just a moment. Then he walked through and the darkness swallowed him.

I followed. One step inside and the thick fog closed around me.

“Theron,” I whispered.

No answer.

“This isn’t funny.” I turned in a slow circle, seeing nothing but fog and bone-white trees. “Theron.” Louder this time. Then. “Ranis. Minha.”

Nothing.

Stay together. Do not separate. The Priestess had been clear. I supposed whoever ruled here had other plans.

I squared my shoulders. “Hello?” I called into the void. “Show yourself. Whatever you are, I know you’re there.”

The fog shifted.

A dark shape materialized fifty feet ahead—a wraith, easily six feet, formless where a body should be, hovering level with the treetops, a phantom wind lifting the shredded edges of its black cloak. Where a face should have been, there was nothing. Just darkness shaped like a head, tilted slightly toward me, watching.

The voice, neither male nor female, came from everywhere and nowhere, like sound dragged through water. “One comes seeking. One comes hiding. One comes already lost. Which are you?”

“I’ve come seeking the lost gods.”

Was I supposed to pick out of the three? I had no instructions for what to say or do if we got separated.

“Flesh and blood.” It tilted its head. “It has been a long time since the living wandered in. They never leave the same.”

I closed my fingers around the stone in my pocket, humming steady against my palm. A reminder of who I was and why I had come here.

“You are alone.” Its voice was almost gentle, but I knew better than to trust it.

“My friends and I got separated. Do you know where they are?” I shouldn’t have admitted I was lost. Damn it. Now it knew I was vulnerable.

“I can take you to them. Follow me.” It gave me its back, still hovering, cloak drifting in that phantom wind.

Not the answer I’d expected, but I took a step anyway. Then stopped.

The wraith spun toward me, noticing my every move.

“Tell me where they are first.”

“They are where you are, child.” A dry humor in his tone.

I searched. Nothing but fog, bone-white trees, and somehow the gate farther away than when I’d entered. Though impossible, either the gate had moved, or I had.

“I don’t see them.”

“You are not looking with the right eyes.”