Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 69923 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69923 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Galen’s hand snapped up and it seized his wrist, twisting it away and jumping off his arm. The creature grabbed his neck.
“Noooo!”
His teeth sank in and tore, ripping out his throat. My scream echoed through the parliament of gods.
The monster sprang off his chest, knocking Galen off his feet. He collapsed in my arms for I was there in an instant. “Galen, no! No, please.”
His jaw worked and breaths gasped. I pressed a hand to his ruined throat as if I could hold the blood in.
“L-look... out...”
A screech sounded behind me. I twisted as it leaped—its blood-stained mouth gaping and aimed at my neck. My hand flashed, cleaving the beast in three.
Its parts splattered in a mess of black-tainted blood and the now overpowering reek of sulfur. Head rolling, my knee stopped its escape—letting my shifting face be the last thing imprinted on its bulging red eyes.
I smashed my black scaled fist on his face, cracking open his skull better than any stone.
The world blurred in my rage, pain, and fear. I saw nothing—knew nothing—under my relentless tearing, smashing, and pounding.
“Yes, my pet. Give in to the grief. Surrender to fear and despair,” she whispered. “Demigods are coming. Kill them. Let them know our pain.”
I jolted to, ripped out of my fog. My claws and scales retracted fast—only blood and gore remained to prove they were there.
A sharp hiss of displeasure was her only acknowledgment of me. I was on my own, cradling Galen’s body, when a bunch of dripping wet demigods entered the atrium through another door.
“I’m sorry,” I cried, holding him closer. “I’m so sorry.”
“Hey. What’s going on?”
“Who is that?”
“Isn’t he—?”
“Galen!” Thunderous footsteps, then I was shoved out of the way—into grasping hands. “Galen, no! Not like this, brother. Speak to me. Please.”
Those hands spun me around. Alexander’s pale face and oh-so-green eyes filled my vision. “Aella, what happened? My gods, Galen. What did you see? Who did this?”
The noise and screams and cries around me faded. I saw only Alexander as he came apart before me. His soul unknitting itself as if the threads holding it together unraveled.
It hurt me infinitely more than I could ever say.
“LET ME REPEAT EVENTS as you have stated them. You went out for a walk to clear your head, when you heard a child’s cries carrying on the wind. You went to investigate and found an abandoned baby being cared for by the dryads. You then stole the child back, which incited the dryads to attack and chase you out of the woods.
“Galen Teresi heard your shouts for help and came to your rescue. The three of you escaped inside the academy where Galen finally noticed the smell coming from the child wasn’t that of a soiled diaper, but that of a shape-shifting tenebrae demon. Discovered, the demon murdered Mr. Teresi and then... died.”
I swallowed hard.
“Are those the events as they happened, Miss Galanis?”
My voice was a thin rasp. “Yes, Headmaster.”
I didn’t think I could end up in the headmaster’s chambers so soon—in the middle of the night before my first day could officially become my second. Another time, the room’s opulence would leave a lasting impression on me. As it was, the stretching stone walls, hanging tapestries of divine battles past, stacks beside stacks of bookshelves, and the long, grim shadows stretching over them all under a single lit candle’s losing fight against the gloom— All of it would leave me as soon as I walked out of this room. If I ever did.
I cast a look at Commander Vasili standing tall and imposing behind the headmaster. On his left was the woman in the white coat, finally named Stavra Remis—the academy historian.
“How could it have gotten in?” I heard myself say. “Aren’t there spells and enchantments to keep monsters out?”
“Of course,” Drakos said. “Many layers of protection had to be lowered to allow the trainees and novices in. It’s not the first time daemons that can don a human shape have used that opportunity. They’re able to because of another adjustment in the protections that allow non-demigods to reside in the forest.
“Dryads must be with their trees, so there is no choice in this other than ripping them out by their roots. The demon got as far as it was ever going to get... until you.”
I winced. “If the spells wouldn’t let it past the trees, why did I make a difference?”
“Because your life was in danger. You were holding the beast. Barring it from entering meant barring you as well. You would’ve been killed and barriers are meant to react to a demigod in danger, and hold your well-being above all.”
A single brow climbed his forehead, the only window into his thoughts. “You see how the tenebrae arranged the perfect scenario. Either he turned on the dryads and slaughtered them, or a softhearted little girl stole and brought him into the academy where he’d slaughter everyone inside. Quite a clever beast.”