Avery’s POV
The voice froze my blood, dripping with malice. “Did you think you could just step in and take what belongs to the cursed?”
I turned toward the source of the voice, my throat choking on air. All I could see was a figure wrapped in shadow, their height and stance crushing and monstrous.
Jameson yanked me behind him, his voice showing his humanity. “Who are you?” he asked, his hand on my arm showing he was nervous too.
The figure laughed, a sound so hollow and bitter it nearly broke my chest. “It doesn’t matter who I am. What you’ve disturbed is what matters. What you’ve unleashed.”
Before Jameson or I could respond, the ground beneath us popped to life again. A tremendous fracture appeared in the soil, and the faint, haunting reflection I had seen in my vision flowed throug
