Chapter 170: Shadows Over Daisy

The heavens ripped open broad and far, their golden light spilling over the horizon as the sun dipped below the sands of the dunes. The desert wind wailed in torment, ancient myths on its breath sweeping over the rocky barrenness and bluffs. Alpha Lleus, Viktor, Alfonso, Darius, and Daisy walked through the burning sands, their exhausted forms from the frenzied flight from the underworld. She walked beside him, her blond hair glowing like a stripe of gold in the fading light. Her shoulders ached, but her mind was elsewhere—caught in memory of Lleus losing his wolf. One of the worst moments of her life. Yet deep inside her, she could not quiet a stirring that came over her like a second skin. We need to set camp," Viktor said, scanning the surroundings. "We've ridden for hours, and I don't think we will make it to civilization before dark." Alfonso agreed. "And I don't like the smell of this country. It's too still." Darius teased. "It's a desert, Alfonso. What did you hope for? A procession?" Alfonso scowled but couldn't protest. He turned to Lleus instead. "What do you feel, Alpha?" Lleus had no time to examine them. His head reeled, his brain weighted. Even having been returned to wolf form, something was. wrong. His instincts strung him on edge, his stomach roiling as though there were some hidden danger. He had nothing to back it, though. He nodded toward some rocks in the distance. "We camp there." Evening had approached, it was cold, the heat of the day had vanished, as if it never was. A fire was lit in the center of their camp, where night danced its flames. Daisy sat somewhat apart from the others, stroking the sand idly. There was something in the air, something pulling at her that she couldn't quite identify. She'd ever been attuned to energy—something her grandmother had once described as a "blessing" before being murdered by rogue wolves. She looked over at Lleus, seeing fire dance across his features. He was lost in thought. "You alright?" she asked quietly. Lleus blinked, looking at her as if seeing her for the first time. 'I'm fine." Liar. But she let it go. She rose to her feet, stretching. 'I'll get some water from the packs." Alfonso tossed her a canteen. 'Take mine. It's full." She caught it with a smirk. 'Lazy." Alfonso chuckled, leaning back on his elbows. Daisy took a few steps away from the fire, and the silence of the desert closed in around her. The stars in the sky gleamed with a cold light, and for a moment she was small beneath them. And then all was not quite the same. The wind died. The world made a silence around her. And then—a whisper. A cold whisper in her ear. She stiffened. Her own heart pounding in her chest, she spun around. The campfire next to her, the others chatting with one another. But behind. Nothing. Yet someone had been looking at her, she was sure of it. She moved forward another step— And the ground dropped out from under her feet. Guttural sounds strangled in the back of her throat as void swallowed her whole in its entirety. The Search It was Viktor who broke the silence. "Where's Daisy?" Lleus was shaken out of his reverie. His head came up, scanning camp. "She went to get water," Alfonso said, standing. Something was amiss. Lleus leapt up from his chair. "Daisy?" Silence. A seeping horror trailed down his backbone. He looked across at her. There were her footprints… by the fire. And then—and then they just ended. Dead in the sand. Eaten by a ghost. Darius cursed, a growl. "That is not natural." Lleus' heart pounding, he roared her name a second time, louder. "Daisy!" Silence. Alfonso brought his rifle to shoulder level. "We need to locate her. Now." Viktor was already disappeared, his senses scanning the horizon with knife-edged intensity. "No scent trail. No struggle. Like she vanished into thin air." Lleus' fists were clenched. His wolf growled in him, furious. Something had crept in and snatched her away. And he was going to take her back. Dark. Cold. Daisy gasped, weightless body, flailing arms waving back and forth as she fell down into a nothing. She wasn't falling. She was descending. Descending, descending into someplace other than earth. And then—suddenly—her body struck something solid. It knocked the wind out of her, and she doubled forward onto her elbows. She coughed. She was in an underground cave. Black walls pulsing with pale, living flesh. The cave was filled with an unearthly pale blue glow that cast light on wall carvings—carvings she could not recognize. And then she saw it. Something standing outside the cave, watching her. Its face hidden by black tattered robes, but the air around it appeared distorted—distorted like the world distorted around it. Daisy's racing heart. "Who—" A voice in her head. "You shouldn't be here.". She attempted to sit up. "I didn't exactly have a choice." The figure inclined its head. "And yet, you were drawn." She frowned. "Drawn?" Mirthless, cold laughter. "You feel it, don't you? The pull. The whispers. The truth." Her breath caught. The whispers… "I don't know what you're talking about," she lied. The figure stepped closer. "Oh, but you do." Shadows around it coalesced—wolves. Dead wolves. Daisy's blood ran cold. "What are you?" Air vibrated with the creature's breath, "A forgotten god." Lleus knelt where Daisy's trail had stopped, his wolf consuming him from the inside out. He'd lost too much already. He wasn't going to lose her, too. Viktor put a hand on his shoulder. "We'll find her." Alfonso snarled, "Whatever has taken her. it's not of this world." Darius tightened his fist on his sword. "Then we follow it there." Lleus rose, his eyes ablaze. "We will. And we're saving her." In the Cavern Daisy's fists were tight. "What do you want from me?" The figure's hood fluttered. "Not what I want, child. What you want." Darius's heart was racing. "I want to go home." There was a silence. Then the creature spoke again, its voice the rustle of sand. Would you sell your soul for it? Her breath caught. "What?" It took another step forward. "You do not yet know who you are. What you can be." Daisy swallowed. "I don't care. I just want to go back to my friends." The monster laughed. "Very well." It held up its hand. The air warped. And then—horror. A burning, blinding agony ripped through Daisy's chest. She screamed, collapsing onto the sand. Something ancient was flowing through her bones. The figure snarled, "The bargain is made." And hell opened wide. Daisy's shape reformed on the beach—precisely where she'd vanished. Lleus sprinted toward her, catching her when she collapsed. "Daisy!" Her eyes struggled to open, with something not-mortal around them. "Lleus… I saw—" She choked, her hand clutched over her chest. A glow lay on her heart, a sensation she'd never experienced. Viktor went white. "What in the devil is that?" Daisy was whisper rather than breath. "I think I did something wrong."