The last one was the youngest yet—an eleven-year-old boy with fox ears and a reptilian-like tail who kept asking us for crackers.
I put my hands on his upper arms, rubbing them up and down. They all looked so cold. Their skin was paper-thin and pebbled with goosebumps, and the rags they wore did little to protect against the winter chill. “We’ll get you some crackers and anything else you want as soon as we get the others, okay?”
His little fox ears wiggled when he nodded, and my heart cracked further.
Now that we had another Strider, we were able to move alittle quicker. Theo and Arowyn worked together to whisk others out of their cells and into the hallway, and soon, we’d covered three tunnels and had about a dozen scared but hopeful prisoners trailing behind us.
“How much bigger is this place?” Arowyn hissed at me.
Before I could respond, Elynor appeared at my side. “There’s another tunnel this way”—she pointed to the right, where the path veered up ahead—“and one more beyond that, but it doesn’t have any cells. It just leads to the main laboratory.”
When I glanced at her in surprise, she smirked. “You’re wondering how I know that, aren’t you?” She gently touched the cloth covering her eyes. “Mortep did a lot of tests on me. I never let him figure out they actuallyworked. I can’t see with myowneyes, but I can see throughothers. When he would take me out of my cell and to his lab, I could see everything he saw. I have these tunnels memorized.”
Arowyn crossed her arms. “Why in the world have you been lettingmelead, then?”
Elynor chuckled and motioned the rest of us forward. The stone walls looked darker the farther we went. It was mustier and colder, with the softdrip drip dripof water echoing down the path. We collected a couple more prisoners and were about to turn back when Theo threw out a hand to stop us.
“Do you hear that?” he whispered.
Our eyes swept the darkness, and we all held our breaths. I pulled Mae and the youngest boy close, holding them to my side as my shadows trickled protectively along my arms.
I felt a quick, sharp stab of pain on my forearm. When I hissed and looked down, there was a small cut with blood blooming to the surface.
I didn’t have time to dwell on it long before I heard a sound.
Footsteps, distant at first, then loud and thunderous as they pounded against the stone. A low snarl tore down the path. More heavy steps rumbled, menacing growls following in their wake.
Arowyn and I forced the younger children behind us. I staredinto the shadowed tunnel, barely able to see a few feet ahead. My shadows swirled around my arms when I held out my hands. They, like me, were waiting. Breathing. Watching.
The footsteps slowed, and the first pair of glowing yellow eyes pierced the darkness.
“Stay back!” I shouted at the kids, molding my shadows into two blades in my hands. I put my right foot forward and braced myself as Thecae had taught me.
Two enormous, fully shifted beasts stepped into the firelight. My eyes landed on the nearest one, and I had to hold back a gasp. It was some sort of canine withtwoheads, each baring rows of razor-sharp teeth.
It locked eyes with me and let out a growl that sent waves of musty heat rolling over me. Heart hammering, I held my shadow blades up to my face.
The first creature charged.
It flew through the air and collided into my chest. Its hot saliva slid down my neck. I barely managed to erect a shield before its teeth sank into my shadows. The weight of its giant body crushed me, making it hard to breathe.
I tried to strengthen my shadows to force it off me, but it was too strong. When I blocked one head, the other lunged, snapping at my neck. I jerked to the side and felt it grab a mouthful of my hair.
Its jagged tail whipped around and lassoed my wrists together. I stared into its maw of sharp teeth, its black eyes, its flared nostrils. My heart battered against my ribs. I had to get out of this. I couldn’t let it get the children?—
Without warning, my body fell.
It felt like I was freefalling as I sank straight into the darkness beneath me, then popped back out from the shadows behind the beast.
“Whoa,” I muttered, steadying myself from a spell of dizziness.
“Whoa,” Arowyn echoed in agreement.
Shadow melting. I grinned. “Oh, I’msodoingthat again.”
The creature whirled on me, but this time, I was ready. I formed a sword from my shadows, my smile widening as it hesitated. With a snarl, it swiped a paw at me, and I swung my sword through the air.
It leaped back, its tail so long, it nearly hit Arowyn and the group of prisoners. I taunted it, trying to lure it toward me and away from them.
