Chapter 111

An icy cold breath blew past my cheek, and I froze. A frigid hand fisted through my hair then tossed me into the air. My shoulder hit the ground first with an agonizing jolt, and the rest of me slid behind until I came to a stop. I sucked in a mouthful of air only to let it out in a loud groan.

Someone called my name again, followed by clanging steel.

As I spit dirt from my tongue, I stared up at Ica's old ash tree, the one I'd first put her in, its split sides looming up above me. The black three singed into its bark seemed to stare down at me sideways over the gaping mouth that still oozed blood.

It couldn't be Darby's. I would never give her blood to Ica. So where did the memory come from of me standing next to Ica's tree in the dark, watching spiders crawl out of her mouth and toward me?

One and Ica stood on either side of me while the twins stepped up to my head.