“The message is this…” She grinned but the smile didn’t reach her eyes. “If you do not return to your rightful home in the Netherworld, I will kill someone you care about.”
My eyes narrowed. “Tell myfatherthat my home is here.”
“Wrong answer,” she purred.
My mouth dropped open, but before I could even process a response, she flicked her hand outward, and Skye was blown twenty feet across the clearing until she slammed into a tree. She dropped, landing upside down at an awkward angle on her neck. I could hear bones break from where I stood, and a scream of terror ripped from my lips.
“Skye!” I fumbled forward, complete shock ripping through me as the level ten moved with the speed of a leopard and zoomed in front of me to block my way.
“Come with me and no one else gets hurt.” She snapped her fingers and a portal opened beside her, the familiar red and black swirls spinning in the air. I could barely see Skye behind her. Skye’s head looked bent unnaturally and she wasn’t moving, but I wasn’t ready to accept what my eyes were seeing.
Skye’s just unconscious. She’s not dead. She’s not dead. This isn’t happening.
I hardened my resolve as I shifted my gaze and peered into the portal, seeing the outline of Shadow City beyond the layer of spinning colors.
I remembered my mom’s message: I had free will, and I was a Lumen now, so neither Apollyon nor his demons could take me by force. He needed me to come to the Netherworld willingly for whatever his plan was.
Someone’s sobs ripped through the clearing, and it felt like time stopped.
I peered behind the demon and spotted Drea hunched over Skye’s limp form, shaking her wildly. Skye’s head bobbed as if it were only held onto her body by skin alone, and I felt the blood drain from my face.
Was Skye dead? Did that monster seriously just kill my friend with a flick of her wrist?
I was going to pass out.
No. No. No.
“Come with me or I take another,” she growled impatiently, and glanced at Drea.
“Please don’t hurt my friends,” I begged, unsure what to do now.
Maybe I should just go with her?She was a level ten for crying out loud. I wasn’t a match for her and the power she’d just displayed.
“Step away from the portal, Tatum,” Dash called out, and I looked over to see he was holding a light sword, white and gray-streaked wings snapped out behind him as he glared at the powerful demon. Blood dripped from a gash on his arm, but he seemed otherwise unharmed.
I swallowed hard.
“I’m not scared of you,witch,” Dash sneered at the demon.
Okay, now that was stupid.
The demon grinned. This time it did reach her eyes lighting up her entire face. “You are such a disappointment, Dash Slate. Your power could have been unmatched had you chosen Shade.”
Wait, what? This demonknewDash?
The level ten cocked her wrist backward as if she were about to inflict pain on Dash, and I snapped.
No one else was getting hurt today. Not on my account.Notwhile I was still breathing.
With a scream, power shot from my skin like a bomb. Purple embers burst from my body and slammed into the demon, knocking her through the open portal and snapping it shut.
“Get Drea!” I yelled to Dash, who stared at the spot the portal had been with his jaw open. I didn’t have time to process my shock, so I just ran toward Skye.
A moment later, footsteps pounded beside me, and then together Dash and I reached our friends. Drea was sobbing and still shaking Skye by the shoulders. Skye’s eyes were open and glassy, devoid of life.
No. My stomach turned instantly sour.
“That level ten could come back any second and finish us off,” Dash muttered.
