“Fuck!” I turn around and holler, “Adrien!”
Miraculously, he hears me and doubles back.
I pull off my scarf and knot it hard around her thigh. “Pull it out.”
Adrien winces but does as I ask. When blood squirts out along with the glass, his hairless head turns a sickening shade of yellow-green.
I scoop Gaëlle up and then scram for the exit, Adrien on my tail.
Another tremor rocks the building, tipping an oak bookcase. With a loud thud, it slams into the door, wedging it closed.
That was our way out.
50
Cadence
Maman’s terracotta war god releases a thunderous roar as he bursts through the broken glass wall and whirls, his dull eyes settling on me.
“What the hell’s that?” Alma screeches.
“That’s my piece,” I say but then whip my attention off Ares and look toward Alma who stands halfway between me and Bastian’s prostrate body. “You can see him?”
“Well, duh. He’s a behemoth, and he’s standing right there!” She carves up the air with a jerky hand movement.
Yet, she hadn’t seen the dragon. Can she see my piece because it breathed life into something that already existed? Why am I wasting time pondering this? It’s a good thing she can see him. At least, she won’t run into him by mistake.
The statue takes a step and then another before stopping and letting out a cry so fierce the force of it rips out my hair tie.
“Alma, help Bastian, and get the others! And whatever you do, stay away from the statue, okay? Under no circumstance do you touch him. He’s only after me.”
When he steps in my direction again, which is also Alma’s direction, I take off sideways, leading him toward the Humanities building. As expected, he follows. For some reason, he doesn’t run, but he’s so inhumanly huge, that his strides are giant, and soon, he’s closing in on me.
Weapon. I need a weapon. I try the door but it’s locked.
When I look over my shoulder, Ares is right there, sword brandished, ready to pin me against the door like a butterfly.
I thought I’d felt fear before but apparently not. The icy claws tearing through my body are a brand-new sensation.
Ares’s arm flexes, and he plunges his terracotta sword forward, straight toward my head.
51
Slate
“It’s solid oak. There’s no way we can move it by ourselves.” Adrien uselessly shoves the bookshelf blocking the library door.
“What about a fire exit?” I venture.
He gazes across the room, where more thousand-pound bookshelves have fallen like dominoes. “This is a magical temple. There is no fire exit.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Thank fuck Cadence and Bastian and Alma aren’t here. Thank fuck they’re safe.
The room shudders, and books tumble down. The sharp corner of one knocks into my skull.Great.I was all out of head lumps.
Gaëlle sucks in a breath as a book lands on her leg.
“There should be a first-aid kit behind the reference desk,” Adrien tells me.
