POV: Kade
The white light burned like staring into the sun.
I couldn't look away. Couldn't move. Could only watch as my daughter my tiny, two-year-old daughter became something else entirely.
Her feet touched the ground, but she wasn't standing. She was floating, hovering inches above scorched earth. Her eyes had gone beyond gold. Beyond white. They were empty now. Void-like. Windows to something vast and incomprehensible.
When she spoke, it wasn't Ember anymore.
"WRONG CHOICE," the voices said through her. Dozens of them. Hundreds. All speaking in perfect unison. "THE SHAMAN BROKE THE FINAL SEAL. THE OLD PACTS ARE SHATTERED."
The shaman stumbled backward. For the first time since she'd arrived, she looked afraid.
"What have I done?"
"SUMMONED US," the voices answered. "INVITED US.
