Page 103 of By the Flames of Her Fury

And beneath that rested three names:

Caius

Zotika

Aurelia

“The originals,” I breathed out. The demithes who sacrificed their lives to forge the amulets that would one day save their kingdom. I took a hesitant step forward, but something in the air made me pause. A chill slithered down my spine. On the outskirts of the mausoleum, the shadows wavered.

And then they moved.

Shadows pooled along the bases of the columns, seeping over cracks and gathering in dark, swirling circles. I edged closer to Everett without thinking. “Do you see that?” I whispered.

“I see it,” he responded. His dual-toned eyes darted around the area, his shoulders tense and alert.

Darkness peeled itself from the ground, thin at first, then thickening into something shaped like a body. Black, smoky tendrils curled into the sky, shifting as if the wind were moving it.

The temperature dropped, and I could see my breath as small pockets of fog. These things didn’t have faces, only two faint points of light that I swore were looking at me. Shadows streamed from them like ribbons and trailed along the ground as they floated closer.

“Fates,” I said on an exhale, not sure where to look as more and more bled from the walls of the mausoleum.

“Not Fates,” Arcadia muttered. “Wraiths.”

“That doesn’t sound any better,” Everett said. I didn’t miss the way he stepped around me, discreetly putting himself between me and the wraiths.

“What exactly are wraiths?” Starke added.

“Undead spirits,” Arcadia said, keeping his voice low. “Shadows of souls that linger between life and death. They are a warning, a harbinger of the pain in your future.”

“They sound fun,” Everett mumbled.

“More myths,” I said, taking a step back as several drifted closer. “They’re from the Fates, aren’t they? They’re trying to stop us from finding the amulet.”

“That must mean we’re close,” Kieran said.

I threw up a shield of shadows in front of me, then carefully slid out from our little circle, keeping a watchful eye on the wraiths. Their soulless pinpricks of light tracked my movements, but they stayed still, shadows curling and uncurling in the wind.

“Do not let them touch you,” Arcadia hissed.

“Why?” I whispered back.

“These guardians are not like the others you have faced. Not only can a wound from them infect you the same way Odessa was, but they can also get inside your mind.”

“Noted.” I crept forward another inch. I was almost to the marble steps leading to the crypt’s platform. “If I can just⁠—”

My boot touched the step, and the shadow wraiths bolted.

“Vera!” Starke called, reaching for me. The first wraith glided through his body as if walking through a door. He went rigid. The color drained from his face, and the sword in his grip slid to the ground.

I grasped his shoulders. “Starke.” I shook him, but there was no reaction. His eyes were squeezed shut, his spine locked into place. “Starke. Look at me.”

When his eyes opened, they were completely black. “Please,” he whimpered, breaths ragged. “Not them. Th-this wasn’t how it was supposed to go. Pl⁠—”

Without warning, he threw his head back and let out a scream. Shadows flew from his mouth and into the sky. He crumpled to the ground in a heap, his head barely avoiding crashing into the marble step. I dropped down next to him, then froze as more wraiths filled the space. They floated around us, caging us in, sending waves of ice over my skin.

Smoky tendrils reached for Everett. I formed a ball of shadows in my hand and sent it flying toward the creature, knocking it off its path. But I didn’t catch the one standing behind Kieran until it was too late.

Kieran brought his shortsword down in an arc across the creature’s chest. The smoke dissipated where the blade landed, then reformed. Shapeless arms latched onto his body. He gasped and arched his back, his eyes morphing into the same black pools that Starke’s had.