Darkness.
Not the kind that came with closed eyes. This darkness was heavy. It pressed against him like wet sand, choking, filling every breath with something too thick to be air.
Kade gasped, but no sound came out. His throat worked, lungs burned, but there was nothing—only that crushing black, swallowing him whole.
Am I dead?
The thought flickered weakly in his skull, barely a spark. He clung to it like a lifeline, because it was the only thing that felt real.
Dead. Yeah. That would make sense. The fight, the Drag tearing him apart, that thing—those shadows—devouring him like he was nothing. Maybe this was it.
But then… the whisper.
“Not yet.”
Kade’s eyes snapped open—though he wasn’t sure when he’d closed them—and sucked in a ragged breath. Air burned down his throat, cold and s
