Page 59 of Monsters of Air

Screams and roars echoed through the cave behind me, but I didn’t dare turn. I just plowed forward, focused on the sound of wind and water, hoping that it wouldn’t lead us into utter destruction this time.

The ground shook with each step, the thundering feet of the dragons shaking everything as they kept up with me, still fighting the snowy beasts who had attached themselves to their scales. The Fairies screamed in glee as they ripped at their scales, the dragon’s howling in pain.

Run. Faster.

The tunnels branched and I chose one that should take us further through the mountains. That was what we needed, right? To get to the other side of this damn mountain and out of the cave.

I kept running, the torch flickering against the gray stone as it slowly died.

One of the dragon’s roared, the sound a low bellow as the stomping slowed.

Shit. Shit. Shit. This wasn’t going to work.

There was that fluttering sound again up ahead. I came to a halt, breathing heavily, trying to see in the darkness, the torch no longer enough.

I ran back, taking a hard right and ran, pumping my legs as fast as I could, trying my best to not trip over all the loose rocks that littered the ground. A roar ripped through the air behind me, the dragons weren’t far behind, but they weren’t as close as they needed to be.

I needed to go back, I couldn’t leave them behind. I turned as I ran, praying that they would burst through the darkness to catch up to me. Instead, I slammed into a wall.

I stumbled back, my world spinning as the torch fell to the ground and promptly went out.

“No. No, no no.” I felt around, trying to find the path or the torch or anything, but I had reached a dead end.

Worse, I had reached nothing. My fingers turned to ice as they curled around the edge of stone, a rush of cold air moving over them from the depth just beyond this. It was a drop off.

I couldn’t tell how far down it went, it could only be a few feet for all I knew, not that it mattered, I couldn’t see without a torch anyway.

This was it…

Chittering exploded from behind me, the dragons and fairies who were racing through the dark after me had arrived. They were headed straight for the cliff.

Oh shit.

“Hey!” I yelled, turning toward the sound and rising to my knees. I raised my hands, waving them around as if they could see me. “Hey! Stop!”

There was too much chittering, too much roaring, the sound was almost overwhelming. There was no way they could hear me.

“Stop!” I screamed, tasting blood on my tongue as my voice cracked.

I only caught a glimpse of the beautiful blue dragon, of his jewel bright eyes and beautiful wings when he ran into me, and we both went over the edge.

Right into the cold abyss.

Chapter Twenty

The overhang wasn’t just a few feet.

Wind rushed around me as I tumbled into the black abyss of nothing, Philit’s screech of surprise drowning out my screams.

“Philit!” I yelled, reaching for the gleam of blue scales that sparked in and out of the dark. My fingers slid over the smooth scales like they were made of little more than air, unable to get more than a passing grip.

“Philit!” I screamed as he roared, his dragon panic echoing through the nothing as his tail slid past me. I tried to grab on to it, but again it slid away as though he was coated in soap bubbles.

“Philit!” I was yelling, but I think deep down I knew it was no use. This nothing would end, I would be a pancake, and then Philit and the others could soar away to the academy.

I braced, every muscle coiled painfully as I waited to hit stone.

I hit scales instead.

---