Love and Other Wicked Things by Philline Harms

Author:Philline Harms [Harms, Philline]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wattpad WEBTOON Book Group

17

NINE OF SWORDS

sleeplessness — anxiety — helplessness

When Rhia woke up, her heart was throwing itself against her rib cage. She had no idea what time it was, but judging by the thick darkness that filled the room, dawn was still a few hours away.

Her head felt heavy in the way it always did when she startled out of the deepest of sleeps, and there was a pressure behind her eyes that only increased as she rubbed her hands over them.

With a groan, she squeezed them shut again and turned onto her other side, reaching out to seek Valerie’s warmth. Instead, her hand brushed against cold sheets. Rhia abruptly sat up. That was what had woken her: the sound of the door opening.

Squinting into the pitch-black room, she realized that the door was still ajar. With a sinking feeling, Rhia pushed off the sheets and swung her feet over the edge of the bed. Her clothes were still strewn across the floor, and she wasted no time putting them on before stepping outside.

The bathroom at the end of the hallway was dark and vacant, but somehow she’d known Valerie wasn’t there even before checking. Her heart pounded as she rushed towards the stairs, not bothering to be quiet as she raced down towards the first floor, driven by a sudden sense of urgency.

A second door was thrown open before she’d made it halfway down the staircase. “Rhia, wait!”

Rhia turned her head to find Quinn hurrying towards her, almost stumbling down a few steps as they hastily pulled a sweater over their head. “Do you know where she is?”

“The river,” Quinn panted, catching up with her. “She’s going down to the river.”

Rhia didn’t question them, didn’t ask how they knew. She just turned around and ran, Quinn on her heels. When they reached the living room, they saw the front door standing wide open, the wind sending leaves tumbling across the hardwood floor.

“She went this way,” said Quinn, starting towards the woods.

With a quiet curse, Rhia followed them, leaving the cabin and the clearing behind. In front of her, branches snagged at Quinn’s clothes, their feet catching on roots and twigs—Rhia caught up to them and grabbed their hand, and the trees pulled back, clearing a path for them.

Was she here? Rhia asked them.

They responded like they always did, with a murmuring of leaves, an ancient chorus of brittle voices audible only to her: Yes, yes, this way.

“Has she made it to the river yet? Can you tell?” she breathlessly asked Quinn.

“She’s at the riverside.” Quinn’s fingers were cold and clammy around Rhia’s, holding on to her hand so tightly it hurt.

“But she hasn’t gone in it yet.”

Rhia gave a curt nod. The river couldn’t be much farther.

Ahead of her, the path was dappled in what little moonlight made it through the dense treetops. Every time she caught a glimpse of the Hunter’s Moon— the Blood Moon—Rhia’s blood froze as her sister’s words echoed in her ears again: The veil between our world and the spirit world is starting to lift tonight.

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