Calder was Moonling—Oro knew that he would find his way out of the water. But dread sunk through Oro’s chest as he watched the creature’s attention shift down, toward the ocean, as if it was searching for Calder. Tracking his energy. Oro hurtled toward them. He needed to get there before—
The beast lunged.
Then roared as Zed flew circles around it, daggers carving through the creature as he went. He moved so quickly that moments later, long lines of its scales had been shredded. The Skyling was too fast for the beast to catch. And it seemed to require a few moments in between emitting blasts of energy.
Zed had given them an opening. Oro shot forward, unleashing a torrent of flames. Enya did the same from the opposite side. They both released an inferno between them, and the creature bellowed.
Enya’s wings lengthened as she spun in the air, her wings merging to create a single beam like a sword, made of the strongest fire. She cut right through the creature, and it roared again. It swiped at her and blindly shot out energy, but she didn’t falter. She kept spinning and digging in, her wings piercing deep, as Oro kept launching his own streams of flame through its weak points. The beast tried to move, to escape, but Zed kept it still with a massive wall of wind.
Just when Oro thought it was nearly over, he noticed the beast’s scales glimmering. Changing. Filling with the slightest tint of silver.
“Move!” he yelled—just before the creature unleashed another explosion of stored energy, this one far greater than the rest. The surge hit Oro and nearly knocked him out of the sky. He surrounded himself in a Starling shield at the last minute.
Enya tried to shield herself in a ball of flame. But when that energy struck her—her flames went out. So did her wings.
And she was falling.
Calder emerged from the waves, rising toward her. Zed soared from the side, Oro close behind him. Between the three of them, she would be fine.
But before they could catch her, the creature turned, shot through the air—
And swallowed her whole.
No.
Oro’s entire world fractured as he bellowed, his devastation surrounding him in flames and ice and energy and wind. He flew straight toward the creature, dodging as it tried to swing its tail at him.
He didn’t attack its scales this time. Surrounded by blue-tinged flames, Oro crashed right through its armor and spine and innards, until he saw a wisp of red hair.
He didn’t dare hope. He didn’t dare breathe as he caught her, as he wrapped her in his protective fire, as he shot all the way up through the creature, out through its teeth, with Enya in his arms.
He looked down. And she was staring up at him.
Alive.
Somehow...she was alive.
“You didn’t die,” he said, in disbelief.
She scowled. “I could have told you that.”
Oro turned in time to see the creature jolt once, letting out a strangled roar. Then, it fell.
It was so large that half of it crashed into the sea, and the other half crushed a forest, turning a cliff to dust.
Oro landed on the beach, in front of the hole he had made in the monster. He could almost see all the way through it. Enya slipped from his arms as Zed touched down nearby. Calder used a wave for passage, joining them.
Zed sighed, deeply. “Wow, Enya,” he said. “I really thought that was how you went.”
Enya gave the Skyling a sidelong look. “Did you really think my glorious death was in a beast’s stomach?”
Zed shrugged a shoulder. “Sounds pretty glorious to me.”
Enya huffed. “Trust me. My death is far better than that.”
Oro couldn’t even focus on their words, or on his relief to have slain this creature. He was too horrified by the creature itself. It couldcontrol power.
He looked to the sky, as if he could see all the way to Isla and will her to return before there was another attack. If this kept happening...he didn’t know if the island would survive it.
