The Eating Woods, #2
Eldritch
by Keri Lake
Contents
Chapter 55
Overview
Zevander inadvertently enters Alastor’s mind, witnessing the web-choked Eidolon and the aftermath: his mother dead, Rykaia alive and guarded by Branimir. He realizes Alastor is Cadavros and that their lives are bound. A poison intended for Loyce nearly kills Zevander, dragging Cadavros toward death as well, before Zevander wakes to Theron’s alarm.
Summary
Zevander finds himself in a misted forest strewn with bones and confronts a horned, bark-skinned creature devouring a carcass. Recognizing the voice, he names it Alastor. Demanding to see his family, Zevander is shifted into the dark, lifeless Eidolon foyer despite Alastor’s warning not to let what he sees destroy him.
Zevander claws through choking webs toward his mother’s chamber, feeling countless watching eyes. Inside, he finds pools of blood, stripped bones, and his mother’s body cocooned on the bed. Nearby, Rykaia lies bruised but breathing, with Branimir curled protectively against her. Overwhelmed, Zevander asks if this vision is real; Alastor calls it a possibility and urges him to leave.
Zevander presses for answers about their connection and Alastor’s afflictions. Alastor snaps, confessing he shielded Zevander from past torments by forcing him not to look. Suddenly, a searing pain wracks Zevander’s stomach and chest—mirrored in Alastor—revealing a lethal bond: if one dies, the other dies. Realization crashes over Zevander; he names Alastor for what he is—Cadavros—as darkness takes him.
Zevander wakes gasping, with Theron panicked above him. Theron’s fractured words reveal a poison—meant for General Loyce—somehow reached Zevander, who was believed dead. Reeling, Zevander grasps that his brush with death dragged Cadavros to the brink as well. Grief surges as he holds the images of his mother’s cocooned corpse, Rykaia alive with Branimir, and the truth of his life-link to Cadavros. Living, he understands, hurts more than dying.
Who Appears
- Zevander (Zev)Protagonist; mind-walks Alastor, discovers his mother’s death, Rykaia alive, and learns he is life-linked to Cadavros; survives poisoning.
- Alastor (Cadavros)Revealed as Cadavros; shares a lethal bond with Zev—if one dies, both die; his mind shows Eidolon’s aftermath.
- RykaiaZev’s sister; found bruised but breathing, protected by Branimir amid the devastation in their mother’s chamber.
- BranimirGuardian figure with spiders; lies curled protectively with Rykaia, sensing Zev’s presence.
- TheronFinds Zev after the poisoning; panicked, reveals the toxin was meant for General Loyce.
- Zev’s motherDiscovered dead, cocooned on her bed amid blood and bones in the web-choked chamber.