Page 127 of Sweet Nightmare

The second the last one slides free, and we separate with a squelch that turns my stomach as he goes flying backward.

I spin around prepared to fight them both if I have to—only to realize that they’re several feet below me. Because somewhere in the middle of all this mess, my wings started to work.

Now I’m flying.

CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX

GETTING AN

EYE-FUL

I give myself one moment to freak out—because being up here is way better than being on the ground with those leopards.

I can tell that I’m wobbling around up here like a toddler who’s just found her feet, partly due to lack of experience and partly because of the high winds. But I just need to figure out how to use my wings before I go careening into something—or someone—else.

Below me, the leopards are circling and jumping for me, trying to catch my feet or tail or any other part of me they can get. And since I’m currently not flying much higher than they can jump, the idea that they’ll soon succeed isn’t a far-fetched one.

I concentrate on flapping both of my wings at the same time so that I can fly in a straight line. As I do, I can’t help noticing that being up here gives me a hell of a vantage point. Also, a terrifying one because I can see the ocean in triplicate, too. A sunny, beautiful day from the past. The nightmarish storm of the present. And a starry night from the future.

It messes with my brain, makes my eyes hurt and my head ache as I try to only see the present. And anyone who can fly or swim—dragons, mermaids, sirens, firebirds—are making a break for it. I watch in horror as they fly and swim straight into the storm only to be buffeted back, again and again. They crash into the ocean, slam into the land, get pulled under the water and don’t come back up.

Those who can recover do and try again. While those who can’t… I don’t let myself think about that right now.

For the first time, I start to wonder about this storm. All along I’ve been thinking it was just a normal hurricane—a bad one—but being back here watching the way it’s currently refusing to let anyone out makes me wonder if there’s something else at work here besides just Mother Nature. Especially when I think about how the portal my very conscientious mother made sure was the strongest and best quality possible broke before we could finish evacuating.

Alarm bells sound deep inside me.

But before I can think any more about it, a giant gust of wind comes howling along the beach and slams straight into me. It sends me careening backward, tumbling ass over teakettle, through the sky.

Just as I start to go down, well within range of the leopards, three giant gold-and-red birds come flying toward us. I have one second to register that there’s actually only one bird—that the other two are past and future incarnations—before it attacks the leopard’s face with its claws.

The bird is Ember’s phoenix form, and she’s come to help me.

I land—or, more accurately, fall—to the ground beside the leopard whose throat I clawed earlier. He’s still bleeding, but he’s on his feet. Then the leopard is flying through the air. He lands several yards away and comes bounding back toward us, but Jude steps in front of me, looking more fierce than I’ve ever seen him.

A black dragon—Mozart, I assume—swoops in and snags the leopard mid-run in her talons. She carries the leopard all the way to the surf and dumps him in before flying back toward the rest of us.

In the meantime, the other leopard leaps at Jude in a rage. I freak out and step in front of him—there’s no way I’m letting Jude die for me.

I swing my uninjured claw and catch him in his underbelly as my tail comes back around and stings him in the neck. This time, I feel something strange as it happens, something red-hot coursing through my whole body before magnifying in my tail.

My venom, I realize with a little bit of horror. It’s the same warmth that I felt when I was unmeshed, only a lot more manageable. And as my tail cools down as quickly as it heated up, I realize it’s because I’ve emptied my venom into the leopard.

And just like that, the leopard falls to the ground, convulsing.

CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN

DÉJÀ YOU

I’m freaking out. I didn’t mean to kill him. I didn’t want to kill him. Jude sees the panic work its way across my face. So he bends down and puts two fingers on the leopard’s neck.

“He still has a pulse,” Jude announces. “You just stunned him. He’ll be fine once he comes to.”

“Kind of wish he was dead,” Ember mumbles.

“Let’s at least get him away from the waves,” Mozart offers, taking one of his arms. Jude takes the other, and they start to drag his rag doll of a body up the beach.

As they do, a wolf crests the ridge by the admin building, running straight toward us. My fight-or-flight mode immediately kicks in, and I raise my paws in defense. At first I’m completely freaked out, but when he comes into view and his silver eyes meet mine, I realize this isn’t just some random wolf.

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