The jolt is hard—I did nothing to break my fall, so it must be—but I barely feel it.
Hands curl around my hips and haul me upright. Red flashes in front of my eyes. Celine’s hair? Why can’t I focus?
Blistering heat warms my face and melts my thoughts.
Celine’s flaming wings illuminate Ciprian’s sharpcheekbones. His eyelashes flutter as they defrost, and orange streaks of light dance across his hair.
Celine has one arm wrapped around each of us. Her breathing is labored, and I beg my legs to do something. Anything to help her.
My feet scramble uselessly against the ground, puppet legs skimming across a stage. I curse them for failing me and lean closer to her flames. Celine is being careful to keep her wings outstretched. They’re close enough to keep our blood from freezing in our veins, but not close enough to melt the skin from our bones.
The ground shakes beneath my feet, or am I imagining it? I can’t tell anymore. Helpless rage rolls through me. The shaking ground doesn’t matter. We’ve got to leave or we’re going to die here.
Face ashen with fear, Celine takes slow, deliberate steps. The wind whips her flames dangerously close to my sleeve. Luca grabs me. Malach hoists Ciprian over his shoulder, and together we walk the final steps to the portal.
And then it vanishes.
A creature bellows.
Monstrous, too loud to fathom.
I blink, and horror steals my remaining sliver of optimism as Celine’s wings illuminate a pair of armored legs. Greenish tiles—overlapping, knobby, and scarred—make up the beast’s skin. I tilt my head up, and shock replaces my fear as I take in the monster.
Standing upright on trunk-like legs, it’s at least thirty-feet tall. Its snout and jaws are reminiscent of a prehistoric breed of alligator. Red-eyed, with three toes on each foot, it’s blocking our way to the portal.
On top of the monster, mounted behind its thick neck, a masked figure stares down at us, their mottled cloak billowingin the wind.
Celine’s flames sputter out, and the feathers turn to blades.
“No, fuck, shit—not now!” She screams with anger as the temperature around us drops. The feather-shaped knives are molten, like they came out of a forge seconds ago. They glow in the dark, but they don’t give off the same heat as her flames.
Stretched across Malach’s broad shoulders, Ciprian’s eyes are closed. I cup his face and slap him awake. “C-c-can you scare it away?” I ask.
A drop of blood drips from his nose. It freezes before it reaches his upper lip.
I could identify Ciprian Casanell’s blood while blindfolded in a room full of decoys, but the cold is so severe, I can’t even smell it. It scares me. He slumps against Malach, his eyes rolling back in his head as he passes out. That scares me more.
Roaring with fury, Celine advances on the horrifying reptile, her wings flapping wildly as she attempts to take off. She makes it two feet off the ground, then falls. She tries again. Another fall.
“H-help h-her,” I beg Luca, shoving him away from me with stiff, clumsy hands. He stares at me for one heartbreaking second, then pivots. A second later, Luca is gone, replaced by the basilisk. It lifts yellow eyes to meet the monster’s red ones. My heart stutters in my chest as the beast looks away, avoiding Luca’s death stare as if it was expecting it.
My hope turns to ash, blown away by the gusting wind. The monster must be sentient, and it’s clearly seen or fought a basilisk before.
Malach drops Ciprian in my arms and yanks a small blade from his backpack. “Stay as warm as you can,” he shouts. “The eclipse will pass soon.” With his breath forming a cloud around his face, he charges the beast, hacking at its foot and severing one of its toes.
It roars, yanking its leg back as bright red blood splashes theground.Gods above.Move.I try to shout. To warn Malach. But he doesn’t have time to get out of the way.
The monster drives its leg into him with an almighty crack and sends him flying. He lands, skidding several feet before he stops moving. He doesn’t get back up.
Celine watches, her face flushed with rage, and gives up trying to take off with the weight of her blade wings. Instead, she charges the monster. Groaning and staring at its mangled foot, it pays her no attention until she collides with its other leg and starts to climb.
There are no handholds, nothing to grab on to at all, but Celine is vicious and resourceful. She uses the tips of her wings as grappling hooks, stabbing them into the thick, leathery hide repeatedly. Blood splatters from each entry wound, soaking the tips of her wings and dripping down the monster’s bumpy legs.Gods above and below, it’s working.
She narrowly avoids the mouth full of razor-sharp teeth and reaches the top, swinging herself up to challenge the cloaked rider.
Yes, angel. You can do this!I curl around Ciprian, trying to block the worst of the wind from reaching him. Black spots dot my vision. There are shadows everywhere, and I’m not sure if they’re real or if I’m imagining them.
Luca coils his body around the monster’s legs and squeezes.
