Page 84 of Remington’s Mate

“Hey, bro,” Colt called.

A big grin split Remy’s face. “In trouble again, I see.”

“Always.”

Jaeda and Remy worked on making the hole bigger, with Colt pushing the debris back out the tunnel. Finally it was big enough for a person.

“Come on through,” he said to Jaeda.

She shook her head. “Fernandez first,” she said. “He’s hurt, and he saved our lives.”

She saw Remy wrestling with his conscience and his instinct to protect her all costs, but finally he nodded. “Okay.”

Colt already had Fernandez. He’d managed to wake him up, and Fernandez was groggily dragging himself through the tunnel with Colt pushing from behind. Jaeda squished to the side and helped him get to the point where Remy could grab him and drag him out.

Jaeda followed them, with Colt behind her. The ceiling moaned and shifted above them. The boy’s face appeared in the wall. You must hurry. It is about to fall.

You are freaking me out.

She crawled faster. Remy was coming back the other way, having gotten Fernandez to safety. He was frantically trying to widen the tunnel so she and Colt could come out side by side.

They weren’t going to make it.

If only she could shift, maybe she’d be stronger. Faster.

Desperately, Jaeda tried to find the animal energy inside her. She groped for the feeling of pulling that energy through her, like when she’d been a bear. A bear might be strong enough to get them out.

There! She had it! She pulled, and pulled, and pulled. Dimly, she heard the boy scream, No!

But it was too late. Just as the ceiling fell in, she Changed.

Chapter 33

Remy was almost to Jaeda when the ceiling above her and Colt started to go. He screamed out her name—and then she shimmered and Changed.

She grew, and grew, her back pressing against the ceiling. Her neck elongated like a serpent, and her hands and feet grew birdlike, with enormous talons.

She was a dragon. A black dragon.

Jaeda pushed upwards, her huge body keeping the rubble off Colt and Remy like a dragony umbrella. Colt scrambled underneath her and she surged forward, sheltering them and making a path until they were in the clear, near where he’d left Fernandez.

Then she slammed her upper body upwards, scattering rubble everywhere. Remy could see the night sky through a hole the size of a van.

Dimly, he heard someone screaming. Stop it! Stop it! You’re killing me!

The boy appeared before them, on his knees, his face contorted in agony. His voice thundered in Remy’s mind.

GIVE ME MY BODY BACK!

He reached out and grabbed Jaeda’s leg. A mist enveloped her dragon form and she was sucked sideways like smoke into a vacuum cleaner, and they both vanished.

That little fucker had sucked her into the spirit world.

But before he could even think what to do, Colt yelled, “Remy!” and pointed overhead.

Remy looked up, out of the hole, and saw one of the hospital’s remaining three-story walls start to ripple, a few stones toppling inward. It was going to come down on them now.

“Grab Fernandez!” he yelled, and Changed to owl.