HYLOPHOBIA – FEAR OF FORESTS

A man stood in the forest, surrounded by clawed, spindly brambles. He was a horrid beast with a scar that turned one eye white, the skin around it festering, and another that disfigured his nose and mouth.

The man listened. Silent. Still.

A chaotic noise could be heard in the distance. A jumble of laughing, thumping music, and chatter. But of all the voices, the man was able to discern the few he sought:

The ghost. The young man with a clouded mind, trying to remain unnoticed.

The little Necromancer with the fierce orange eyes and an even fiercer power.

He, too, had heard the rumors. The Relics were back. He'd been observing them for weeks to see if what he'd heard was really true. And he could feel it—the stench of their power radiating from them. The girl was far more repressed than her counterpart—it had taken him quite a while to really catch the scent on her.

But the boy . . . the boy was ripe with power. All that potential, and they didn't even know it. But the man did. And he knew what he had to do.

He raised his arms and screamed, "ARDU!"

RISE.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then the soil shifted. It turned over and bubbled as something climbed from its depths—a hand clawing its way from the soil. The air was suddenly filled with the moans and growls of the dead.

The man addressed his army, grinning venomously. "BEATHA!" he cried.

FEED.

No one paid much mind as Erebus materialized at the edge of the forest and slinked across the lawn. Light and music and bodies surrounded the house as the late hours set in.

Ridley, Damien, and Mason had been taking turns scoping out the Lahey house, trying to catch a glimpse of the strange raven that had been lurking around. Erebus had always followed along, too, though none of the others knew that. He needed to know if this mystery person knew him, and what they wanted. And if they were following Nyx around, then maybe she knew something.

He'd heard the girls talking about the party, so he knew where to find Nyx. It wasn't long before he caught a glint of silver through the crowd.

She was standing in a small circle with two others. Even at a party full of people, they occupied their own space. Erebus could sense their magic.

Nyx keeled over laughing at something one of the others said, and Erebus's eyes fell on a figure standing behind her—a boy leaning against a nearby wall. The space around him was different too. It wasn't stagnant air, like that hanging around the humans. This space was darker, almost shadowed. From the dark jacket pulled tightly around his arms to his black tousled hair, something about him was different.

And he was watching Nyx.

Without thinking, Erebus found himself moving around the room. But before reaching him, the stranger's eyes locked with his own.

The boy smiled, stood up straight, and held out his hand. Erebus was taken aback.

"Hey, man, how's it going? I'm Cole."

Erebus regarded the outstretched hand a moment before warily shaking it. "Erebus."

The boy wore the briefest visage of disbelief. "Erebus . . . that's a different name, man, where'd your parents get that?"

Erebus decided to play along. "No idea," he replied, truthfully. "You know anyone here?"

Cole shook his head, bringing a red cup to his lips. "Nah, I just heard about it through the grapevine. Thought I'd check it out. What about you?"

"Same, just heard about it from some friends." He felt it then, across the room—Nyx Lahey's eyes had landed on them. She said something to the other girls and started moving through the crowd. Erebus looked at Cole as Nyx neared.

"Looks like someone's recognized you," Cole said, laughing.

Nyx popped out of the crowd beside them. She looked pretty, and small, next to the two of them. "Hi, do you mind if I steal this one for a bit?" she asked, grabbing Erebus's arm.

She was strong, Erebus thought. And angry. A strong, angry, pretty thing, he decided.

Cole shook his head. "By all means. Nice to meet you." He turned and disappeared into the crowd.

Nyx let go of Erebus's arm. "What on earth are you doing here?" she asked softly, though like she had expected him.

Erebus wasn't about to tell her about the strange raven. He shrugged. "Heard there was a good party tonight."

Nyx rolled her eyes, and Erebus saw his necklace around her throat. He gave a halfhearted chuckle. "That looks nice on you."

Nyx dropped her eyes to her chest. "Shit, this is yours, isn't it?" She reached around the back of her neck and undid the clasp.

"It is," he admitted as she handed it to him. Just like that. He closed his fist around the locket and regarded Nyx warily, unsure of what she was going to do.

"Is that why you came here?" she asked, one brow raised.

Erebus nodded. "Yeah—well, no."

"Good," she said. "Because I'm not done with our talk."

"Oh that." Erebus made a face.

"Were you telling the truth?" she asked.

Erebus deflated. This broke almost every rule the
Dewmort Legions had. "I wish I wasn't, but I kind of had to after you watched me walk through a fence, you know?"

Nyx was still unsure. "Come outside?" she asked, pointing with her cup to the open back door.

Erebus followed her through the crowd as Nyx led him into the garden, stopping under the branches of a massive cypress pine, where the noise of the party wouldn't drown them out.

She sat on the stone wall surrounding the garden. "Can you do it again?" she asked, looking up at him.

"What?" he asked.

She pointed with a nod. "Walk through that tree."

Erebus glanced over his shoulder. "In front of all these people?"

She shrugged. "I don't think they're paying you much attention."

Which was true; no one had even looked his way. "All right then. You're explaining it if I get caught, though."

"Deal," Nyx agreed, and watched as he stepped into the garden. He glanced back as he approached the tree, stepping gingerly over small clumps of flowers.

He slid his hands into his coat pockets and looked at Nyx. "What, you want me to just walk through, that's it?"

Nyx looked amused. "Yep."

"Fine," Erebus replied, giving the party a final once-over.

He closed his eyes and took a breath. He felt his body lighten, and he stepped forward, growing lighter still with each step as his body moved through every ring of the tree. It felt rough as he moved against the grain, until, finally, it all dropped away.

Erebus opened his eyes; the tree was behind him now. He turned and faced Nyx; her face had grown serious.

"Good enough?" he asked, stepping over the flowers again.

Nyx nodded as he sat down next to her, swinging his legs against the stone wall. She spun and faced him. "So how come you don't just fall through this wall here?"

"I control what I want to phase through. Right now, I don't want to, so I just don't think about it. But like, if I . . ." Erebus raised his hand, watching Nyx. She did the same. Erebus closed his eyes as Nyx brought her hand to his. A breath, and Erebus could feel her palm press against his. And then—she fell through it, her hand moving through his.

Nyx was wide eyed with wonder. "If I think about it, I can move through anything," he said. Nyx pulled her hand away and his tangibility bounced back.

Nyx shook her head. "What about the raven thing? With your coat? Is that just a ghost thing too?"

"No, that's our uniform in the Legions—the hunters. The coats let us transform. As ravens we can get away when we need to while remaining inconspicuous."

Nyx looked at the ground as she took it all in. The wind blew her inky hair in her eyes. "How did it happen?" she asked.

"How did what happen?"

"How'd you die?" Nyx cringed.

"Oh." Erebus raised his brows, surprised. "To be honest, I'm probably one of the only people in Dewmort who can't remember."

"Anything?"

"Not a thing. All I know is I woke up in the city one day with this"—he held up the locket—"and that's it. And I can't even open it."

"That's why you wanted it back so badly. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have taken it," Nyx said sadly.

Erebus shook his head. "It's okay, I'm the one who dropped it. You had no idea what it was. And it's not so bad there—in Dewmort, I mean. I've got a family there now. Three other guys who are like my brothers. We live with this old guy named Max. They've helped me try to find out who I am."

"And have you learned anything?"

Erebus shook his head. "People in the streets have come up to me and said I look familiar, but they can't figure out why. That's about it. I knew after a while that my name was Erebus, but it wasn't until that night at the amusement park—"

"Eros."

"Yeah, Eros. It was a nickname. I don't know who gave it to me. But it stood for my initials. Erebus Reid Oram Salem." Erebus frowned. "But I have no idea how I heard it that night."

Nyx had heard it, too, the night at the amusement park. Like a whisper on the wind.

Erebus remembered the dream he'd had earlier. The benches in the dark room. Ira speaking that name. It had all felt so familiar.

"Your brothers," Nyx spoke, pulling his attention back. "These ones you have in Dewmort, are they like you—hunters? With the coats?"

Erebus nodded. "Yeah, why?"

"Does one of them have a red eye and a scar?" Nyx drew a finger down one of her eyes.

Erebus felt slightly sick. The stranger. The other raven. "No, that's not one of us. We're not—"

Nyx moved suddenly, kneeling, and holding a finger to her lips. She inhaled deeply and then glanced at him, noticeably paler. "Can you smell that?"

Erebus was about to shake his head when the wind blew once more, filling his face with the stench of . . .

Rot.

He stood, and they looked at the tree line—past the darkness and swaying branches.

Nyx grabbed his arm, pulling him back toward the house. "We need to find the others."