The sudden light from the Jewel at his feet blinded him. He threw his arm up over his eyes.

The bubble reached the Jewel chip and burst, and the cavern…The cavern vibrated with the sound of a child screaming.

3 / Terreille

The screaming stopped.

Surreal raced across Briarwood’s empty lawn toward the hidden door. The Gray Jewel around her neck blazed with her anger. Tonight there wasn’t a lock anywhere in Beldon Mor strong enough to keep her out. Once inside, however, she had no idea how to find the one she sought.

A few strides away from the door, someone shouted at her, “Hurry! This way. Hurry!” Swinging to the right, she saw Rose gesturing frantically.

“They’re too strong,” Rose said, grabbing Surreal’s arm. “Kartane and Uncle Bobby are letting him draw on their strength. He’s got the room shielded so I can’t get through.”

“Where?” There was a stitch in Surreal’s side from running, and the cold night air burned her lungs. It made her angrier.

Rose pointed at the wall. “Can you make the pass?”

Surreal stared at the wall, probing. Pain and confusion. Rage and despair. And courage. “Why isn’t she fighting back?”

“Too many medicines. She’s in the misty place and she can’t get out.” Rose tugged on Surreal’s sleeve. “Please help her. We don’t want her to die. We don’t want her to be like us!”

Her lips pressed into a tight, angry line, Surreal reached for the knife sheathed against her right thigh, but her hand swung across her body and pulled out the knife from the left sheath.

Titian’s knife.

A slow smile curled Surreal’s lips. Never taking her eyes away from the wall, she held out her other hand to Rose. “Come with me,” she said as she stepped forward and melted into the wall.

Briarwood’s outer walls were thick. Surreal didn’t notice.

This time…This time she would wash the walls in blood.

The shield was there, braided by the strength of two. Fools. Two Reds might have slowed her down if they were aware of her presence. But Kartane and Uncle Bobby? Never. Never.

Surreal unleashed one short blast of power from her Gray Jewel. The shield around the room shattered.

Surreal leaped. Landing in the small room, she whirled to face the man on the bed. Even as he thrust into the too-still body under him, he raised his head, his face twisted with hatred and lust.

Lunging forward, Surreal grabbed his hair with one hand and slashed Titian’s knife across his throat.

The blood sang as the white walls turned red.

Still pushing forward and up, Surreal drove the knife into his heart, lifting him off the bed with the strength of her rage.

He fell to the floor, Titian’s knife still in his heart while his maimed hands groped feebly for one heartbeat, two.

Finish the kill.

Squatting over the still body, Surreal pulled out her other knife to drive it through his brain, intending to use the steel as a channel for the Gray to break and destroy what the husk still contained. As she raised her arm for the final strike, Rose’s low moan made her glance at the bed.