It was quiet at first— so subtle I wasn’t sure my friends had heard it.Click, click, click.Though the tunnel had narrowed to mere feet across, I slowed my step. My friends stilled beside me, and Oberi growled lowly.
“What is it?” Ava leaned into me anxiously.
I tilted my head to listen closer. “There’s something ahead.”
“I… I think I see a light…” Ava said slowly.
The clicking sound sent a chill down my spine. I couldn’t describe it, other than to say it sounded like bone sliding against bone. Something slithered across the cave floor, and a hiss came.
“Everyone get back!” I cried as I threw my arms out in front of my friends. “It’s an animal.”
“We’ll fight it,” Ava said bravely. She stepped forward, but I stopped her.
“Your magic isn’t working. Let me.” I lifted my hands. My magic didn’t work on the enchantment of the labyrinth, but it still worked on the loose rocks scattering the cave floor. I used my magic to lift them into the air, then shot them at the creature.
The rocks should’ve squashed the creature, but instead, they connected with athud, and the animal responded with a spiteful hiss.
Oh, shit. This creature waswaybigger than I’d anticipated. It slithered forward at a quick pace, and I was finally able to assess it with my Air magic.
It was a serpent— and the fucker must’ve been at least fifty feet long!
“Run!” I screamed.
There was no other way but backward. We ran, our screams echoing off the cave walls. Several crashes sounded as headlamps tumbled off my friends’ heads. We didn’t have time to go back for them. I tossed rocks back at the snake with my magic, but his scales must’ve been as thick as armor, because he did nothing but shake it off and advance on us.
“Help me out, guys!” I cried.
“Nothing’s working!” Ava screamed. “My magic’s still out.”
“Same!” Kallie panted.
“I can’t do a fucking thing!” Marcus screamed.
“Oberi?!” I demanded.
He barked, and panic came through the bond. His magic wasn’t working, either, which meant shifting into a Fire unicorn and frying the serpent’s ass was out of the question.
I gritted my teeth.Fuck!We were either going to be crushed by this cave or eaten by this monster. I did the only thing I could think to do.
I skidded to a halt and whirled around. The serpent was right on my ass, but I moved so fast it didn’t have time to respond. I did somethingreallyfucking stupid, and jumped onto its head.
If I thought my weight would keep it down, I was sorely mistaken. The best it did was slow the creature, to give my friends a chance to flee. But that didn’t matter, because there was no running from these shrinking tunnels.
The serpent’s head must’ve been the size of a horse, because it felt as big as Oberi when she was in unicorn form. I straddled the creature, but I couldn’t get my arms all the way around its neck. It shook its head from side to side, slamming me from one wall of the cave into the other. I held on tight and ran one hand over the serpent, searching for a weak spot. My hands moved over smooth, cold scales, then to exposed bones that protruded from its spine. Horns grew from the top of its head. It continued to slither down the cave with me on its back. Ava cried out in horror from up ahead, like she couldn’t believe I’d jumped onto the snake.
“Charlie!” she screamed.
“I’ve got it handled!” I cried, though that wasn’t totally truthful.
I shoved my hand toward the serpent’s eyes. Something hot seared my palm, and I jerked back. Its eyes burned— as if they were on fire. That must’ve been what Ava had seen in the tunnel!
When my hands touched its eyes, the serpent freaked. Its head snapped from one direction to the other, then drove upward, slamming my back into the ceiling. The wind was knocked out of me, and I couldn’t hold on any longer. My hands slipped from the snake’s horns, and I tumbled over its head. I slammed to the ground and rolled, until I came to a stop at Ava’s feet. The serpent snapped its jaws toward me. It came so close I felt its fangs skate across my skin, and its cool breath chilled me.
But it missed me, and went for someone else.
Ava’s cry filled the tunnel, and my stomach lurched as I felt her pain ricochet across our bond. She crumbled to the ground beside me, nearly landing on top of me.
“No!” I screamed as I caught her.
