The first sign that something was wrong came from the children.
They started having nightmares the same nightmare, every night. A voice in the darkness. A whisper that promised pain and pleasure in equal measure. A face with too many eyes and a smile like a wound.
Lee woke on the seventh night to find Inyocha standing at the window of their shared room, staring at the stars.
"You feel it too," Lee said. It wasn't a question.
Inyocha nodded. His hands were shaking not from cold, but from something deeper. "It's him. The Hollow King. He's sent something ahead. A herald."
"A herald?"
"A whisperer. A demon that doesn't kill it corrupts. It finds the cracks in people's hearts and widens them until they break." Inyocha turned to face Lee. His brown eyes were dark with fear. "It's looking for me, Lee. It wants to pull me back into the darkness."
"It won't succeed."
"You don't know that."
"Yes, I do." Lee stood up, crossing the room to stand beside his brother. "Because you're not the same person you were six months ago. You've changed. You've grown. The cracks in your heart are healing."
"Are they?" Inyocha touched his chest where the reversed spiral used to be. "I can still feel it, you know. The hunger. The darkness. It's still there. Just... quieter."
"The Whisperer wants to make it loud again. That's what it does. It amplifies fear and doubt and despair until they become unbearable."
Inyocha looked at Lee. "What if it succeeds?"
Lee put a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Then I'll pull you back. Again. And again. As many times as it takes."
Inyocha's eyes glistened. "You really are insane."
"Probably," Lee said with a smile. "Now come on. We have a demon to hunt."