Three Trials (The Dark Side Book 2)(13)

“Find shelter!” Gage shouts, dashing through the forest as it lights up in neon blue pulses.

Thousands of flying spiders go crazy when the light starts glowing brighter, slithering like an oozing, neon, live entity over the black trees.

I can hear the sound of rain gaining on us, and I’m too scared to ask why it’s called black ice. I’m also scared why the forest is turning a creepy, glowing blue, but I’m positive the two are related.

Kai shouts, tumbling sideways with Gage as they roll with the shifting ground of the forest that seems to be breaking apart to drink in the rain.

Jude curses as he gets stuck out in a newly made opening, and he dives for the coverage provided by the thickly vined trees.

But the rain catches up too quick, passing through me as I shout a warning to them.

Ezekiel dives to the same broken hole Kai and Gage fell to, but Jude is swallowed up by the earth much farther away. I zap myself to him, landing beside him as he roars in pain, his back arching as agony steals every feature and twists him in knots while the merciless rain pelts him.

I turn whole, not feeling whatever excruciatingly painful thing he is feeling. The rain slaps against me, pounding relentlessly, and I grab his arms, dragging him over to a small cave. The forest has been full of them, but I don’t actually think we’re in the forest right now. It’s more like we’re under it with massive openings over us, exposing us to the surface.

Roots are sticking down all over in this underground world with thousands of large cave holes that I hope aren’t occupied with monsters the same size.

The rain pours through the openings that lead back up the large drop to where the forest is, but at least I have Jude sheltered from it now.

Jude is shivering violently, and I hate to leave him, but I have to make sure the others are alive and okay before I focus on what’s going on.

“Are you okay? Can I go check on them?” I ask in a panic, even though I can sense all three nearby when I go phantom.

“Go,” he bites out. “Check on them.”

I vanish, feeling sick about it as I zap myself to the others.

Ezekiel is staring down at his arm, cursing as he makes a frustrated and pained sound. I dive to him, looking around for the other two, wondering why Ezekiel is just in his boxers.

“What happened?” I ask on a gasp when I see his arm.

It looks and smells like decay, and it’s visibly spreading through the veins.

Kai and Gage jog over, both of them also down to their boxers, and Kai answers.

“Black ice. If it penetrates the skin, it starts freezing you with certain death from the inside out. It spreads fucking fast too,” Kai growls.

Gage starts looking around him. “We need something to cut away the arm.”

My hands reach for Ezekiel’s arm on instinct, and I turn whole when phantom hands don’t seem to be doing much.

“Don’t!” they all shout at once.

Immediately, I flinch at the burning cold on his skin, but the pain is brief, and his relief is instant as his eyes flake gold again, his arm warming under my touch.

Then my stomach roils when I think of how violently Jude was shaking.

“I have to go,” I gasp, zapping back to Jude.

My stomach completely drops when I get back to see him practically convulsing as he wheezes in pain. His neck has an icy, veiny black coloring, as he continues to shake violently on the ground.

I turn whole and dive to him, ripping open his shirt to reveal his entire torso. The decay is spreading quickly, and it’s so much worse than Ezekiel’s was.

With panicked, shaky hands, I fumble with his belt before getting it off, then grab his pants and boxers, jerking them both down to his ankles.

The decaying process goes all the way down to his knees, and it’s spreading lower.

He starts choking when it reaches the top of his throat, and I strip out of my Devil dress, whipping it over my head before I drop to him. Putting as much of my skin against his as I can, I press my cheek to his, hoping this works as fast on an area five times the size of what Ezekiel had.

The burning cold is so much harsher than it was with E, but I grit through it, telling myself in mantra that it’s working. That it has to be working. I’m too terrified to look and see, though.

I don’t speak, unable to find any words that sound soothing enough for this situation. It isn’t until I feel his shaking start to slow down, that I finally look up, finding his eyes already on me.

His teeth chatter, even as his jaw tics.

“If it’s not infecting you, don’t move. It’s working,” he manages to say through a great deal of strain.

I tuck my head back under his chin, sliding my hands over his shoulders that still feel cool, even though the darker color seems to have faded.

After a few more minutes, the shaking stops completely, and he releases a breath that sounds as though it’s been held for ages.

His arms slide around me, almost hugging me, while the rain ceases as abruptly as it began. The neon blue light flickers, losing some of its energy, but still lingering enough to offer us light from the roots above.

Lazily, his fingers toy with the garter straps holding up my red fishnet stockings. At this particular moment, they seem very inappropriate.

I lift up, my eyes meeting his as I cup his face in my hands, studying him to make sure he’s not still in pain. His hands tighten on my ass when my gaze flicks to his lips.