Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 91891 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91891 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Realization stabbed me: I’d seen the past mixed with the future. This was my vision.
Death had come for us.
A roar split the sky open, clawed through my ears, and shook my lungs.
Then another roar came, and another and another, until they merged into an endless shriek. My eardrums burst and bled.
Focus. I ripped the bag’s zipper open, and light spilled out. A surprise. The stones glowed faintly, alive with an inner beat.
Okay, that was new. Let’s find out what they can do. I lifted one, preparing to hurl it at a beast.
But which one? The swarm blackened the horizon: massive, grotesque things with eyes like rubies, wings like torn sails, and scales that drank the moonlight. Veins of molten orange ran from chest to jaw, lighting their mouths from within.
I’d drawn them a thousand times, but the truth eclipsed every nightmare. At least I didn’t spot the half-morphed Jasher among them.
One creature dove low and spat a torrent of fire. The canopy smothered it, turning flame into instant smoke. Arrows hissed through slits in the fabric, flying up, up, slamming into the first line of monstra only to bounce harmlessly from their obsidian scales.
“Look them in the eyes,” I shouted. “They can’t strike if you meet their gazes.”
Multiple monstra jetted down, down, intending to snatch soldiers between their teeth, but they impaled themselves into the hidden spears. White dust flung, and the monstra behind them began raining from the sky, flailing. Others broke into a frenzy of aggression.
The air filled with the odor of scorched metal and blood. I locked on a target to hurl the glowing stone—
Flash. Suddenly, I was running but not fast enough. A monstra’s claws closed around my shoulders, snatching me off my feet as if I were a doll.
I screamed in agony, and the vision snapped, tossing me back into the present, the stone now on the ground at my feet. Hot wind brushed the back of my neck. I’d seen the future. And now, as a shadow fell over me, I knew. Dive or get carried off.
I dove, dirt exploding around me as monstra claws scythed through empty air, missing me. Barely. No time to pause. I snatched another stone from the pack and hurled it. It struck his belly and bounced, causing no damage.
Nooo!
When he circled back for round two, I didn’t panic. I pumped my arms, running as fast as my feet could carry me. Heat scalded my heels, streams of fire licking the ground in my wake. My lungs felt like sheaths for knives, every breath cutting. I yanked another rock free of the pack. I would shove this one down his throat. Let’s find out what that did.
As the creature opened his mouth, I launched my missile. He swallowed it. The glow inside his throat jerked as if the stone had hit a knot. Then he sank his claws into my shoulders, pinning the pack to my side, slicing through flesh, scraping bone. I screamed a raw, animal sound when the ground fell away.
He yanked me skyward, higher and higher, and I saw more and more stars burst behind my eyes. Wind howled. Pain roared. My blood burned hot, even when the temperature dropped. So much for escaping the vision. I’d only rewritten the ending and made it worse.
Higher. Higher. Clouds and smoke churned below us. We soared until my breath frosted my throat. Escape? Not an option. Not without dying.
My teeth were chattering by the time we joined hundreds of other flying beasts. Only then did my captor level out. None of the others attempted to deep fry me. A pleasant surprise.
Despite the ever-thickening darkness and my growing dizziness, I looked over at the monstra holding me captive as best I could, hoping I would and wouldn’t find Jasher. As my vision hazed, I couldn’t tell.
A dark, imposing mountain loomed up ahead, stabbing the heavens. My queasiness intensified as we began to descend. When he released me, yanking his claws from my shoulders, I fell, tumbling through darkness—
“Uff!” I crashed into something soft that reeked of musk and smoke. Feathers, hay, silk—bones? The backpack slammed into my ribs. I rolled over, gasping, and froze.
A nest. Huge. Littered with scales that shimmered like crude oil.
I was in the monster’s cradle. He’d brought me home—to Ian.
22
IN BED WITH THE ENEMY
Cold wind whistled all around as I huddled in the nest that crowned the mountaintop. Scores of beasts filled the night sky, screeching at the moon, each call a nightmare of sound and wrath.
I have to get out of here. I crept to the side and peered down the jagged elevation, hoping to discover a way down miles of sharp obsidian rock.
A searing stream of fire came whirling down.
I wrenched back, barely avoiding incineration. The monstra responsible shrieked at me, revealing rows of molten-veined fangs.