Adne gasped when suddenly the rosebush wrapped around her wrist and hand. Thorns sliced through her skin and blood dripped from the wounds, falling like raindrops upon the closed white petals of the rose.
Barely feeling the pain of her pierced flesh, Adne was instead transfixed by the rose. As Adne’s blood stained the white petals a deep crimson, the rose began to bloom.
In blood and fire we are born.
Somewhere behind her, Adne heard slow, heavy footsteps crunch in the snow. She tried to turn, to see who approached, but her thorn-covered bonds held fast.
The footsteps were closer now. And for the first time since she’d stepped into the garden that night, Adne was afraid.
A spike of adrenaline made Adne jerk back. The thorns tore her skin and she screamed, the wounds suddenly unbearable. Despite the pain, Adne struggled to free herself from the tangle of branches. Not a speck of white remained on the rose beneath Adne’s palm, soaked as its petals were with her blood.
Light brought by the rising edge of the sun filled the eastern sky, appearing to set the horizon on fire. Without warning, the rose under Adne’s hand erupted into flames. Adne screamed again as the fire seared her palm.
The footsteps halted at Adne’s back. A presence loomed over Adne, surrounding her. She would have been able to turn her head to look at whoever stood behind her, but she was too afraid.
“I can take the pain away.” A man’s voice. Low, coaxing.
Yes. Please, Adne thought, but she didn’t say the words aloud. Even so, the flames of the rose became embers. Adne’s hand throbbed, but her skin was no longer burning.
“Ariadne,” the man said. “I can do more for you. So much more. Let me show you who I am.”
Adne didn’t want to turn. She didn’t want to look. She even shut her eyes, squeezing her eyelids so tight, it made her temples ache. But she felt her head moving, lifting toward the sound of that voice.
“Open your eyes.”
Adne shook her head, desperate to resist the command. There was no denying that it had been a command.
“Open your—”
A new sound cut through the night, silencing the stranger’s voice. A wolf howled, long and sorrowful. Another voice joined the first. Then another. A chorus of their distant calls reverberated in the winter air.
The pack’s song surrounded Adne, filling her ears and easing her frenzied pulse. Their howls carried her to the earth so that snow kissed her cheek. Her hand was suddenly free and she moaned as her burned skin was buried in the cold drifts. A new sound drew close, someone approaching. But these weren’t footsteps; they were the quiet padding of paws, nearly silent on the snow. Then she knew no more.
“A GUARDIAN!” Audrey shrieked. “You summoned a Guardian! What the hell are you playing at, Logan? Is this some kind of sick joke?”
“Calm down, Audrey,” Chase told his sister, though he was also gazing at Ren in absolute horror. He said to Logan, “I’m sure you can explain what’s going on.” His voice was calm, but his face had taken on a sickly pallor.
Though his heart beat at a frenzied pace, Logan managed to say, “Of course I can, and I will, just as soon as Audrey stops her hysterics.”
“I am not in hysterics!” Audrey flailed her arms.
Fear made her look and act so ridiculous, it actually helped to calm Logan’s nerves. “My mistake.”
He turned back to the strange, yet so familiar, apparition. At least he hoped it was an apparition. Thinking of what a flesh-and-blood Ren Laroche would want to do to his former master made Logan’s skin crawl.
Logan remained silent, returning the Guardian’s steady gaze.
“Aren’t you going to ask why I’m here?” Ren smiled lazily. The silver flecks in his dark irises flashed with amusement.
With an uncomfortable cough, Logan said, “You’re here because I summoned you.”
Except that he hadn’t. The spell had been intended to open a channel between the earth and Bosque’s Nether realm. Manifesting a likely vengeful Guardian hadn’t been part of Logan’s plan.
Ren laughed. “If that’s the way you’re going to play it.”
“What does he mean?” Chase asked, but Logan held up his hand to silence the other Keeper.
Pondering his next move, Logan didn’t take his eyes off Ren, wary of any signs of imminent danger. On the one hand, Logan couldn’t risk Chase and Audrey seeing his confidence waver—he had to at least give the appearance of being in control of this situation. The problem remained that Logan had no idea why Ren had appeared in the glen. He needed to play this scene as if he held a winning hand, when in truth he was bluffing.
Lifting his chin, Logan said to the wolf, “You know why you’re here.”
Still smiling derisively, Ren nodded.
“How do I reach him?” Logan asked, frustrated but not yet disheartened.
At last, Ren’s smile vanished. His eyes fixed on Logan’s, reassessing the situation.
“I don’t want to ask again.” Logan squared his shoulders as his confidence reasserted itself. He didn’t even flinch when Ren snarled at him.
“I’m the first step,” Ren answered. “But placing a single stone won’t build the bridge you need to reach the Nether.”
“What are you?” Chase blurted out.
Ren snarled again and Chase took a step back.
“Don’t frighten my friends.” Logan shook his head. “Answer his question.”
Ren’s jaw tightened with resentment, but he told Chase, “I’m the intercessor.”
Logan had to swallow a sigh of immense relief. Chase and Audrey could ask the questions Logan could not. And it was becoming clear that when the spell had brought Ren to Logan, it also forced the wolf to obey him. Now they were getting somewhere.
“What’s an intercessor?” Audrey crept up to stand just behind Logan’s shoulder. She peered at Ren, curiosity mingling with her fear.
“I can commune with both realms,” Ren said. “This one and the Nether.”
“How?” Chase sounded skeptical. He watched the wolf as though he expected Ren to shift forms and attack them at any moment.
Logan couldn’t blame Chase for his apprehension—after all, when Ren had first materialized in the glen, Logan’s mind had filled with visions of Sabine ripping out his father’s throat without warning in Rowan Estate’s library. For so many nights after that fateful day, Logan’s nightmares had been of running through the forests surrounding Rowan Estate, pursued by a pack of howling Guardians.