Chapter 24: AshFUSCHIA SCREAMS AS the creature rips into her. It sprouts a single silver horn between the smoking, drooling craters where its eyes should be. It bellows. The light draws swiftly downward, splitting it in two. The pieces ignite, a flash inferno that devours the world.
And then everything’s quiet. I’m at the edge of the rooftop again, gazing toward the moonlit sea, one hand upraised as if plucking an invisible string from the sky.
A slight scraping sound. I turn.
Light glimmers, as though he reflects starlight like the distant ocean. He’s younger than I’d realized. He looks up from tucking away a blade, eyes wide and wary. His face transforms, grim determination melting to something softer.
“Cady!”
“Ash,” Cadence says in return, joyful and clear.
But it’s my lips that m
