Page 105 of The Evernight Court

High.I was so high up the vertigo hit me like a fist to the face, and I moved back on instinct, away from the edge which I’d climbed just a minute ago. The Whispering Woods stretched around me, dark and mysterious like it had come straight out of a horror movie. Lights and trees and darkness—that’s all I was able to make out because of the snow that kept falling on me, and the wind blowing from my side that almost kicked the coat off my shoulders. Holding onto its leather ties, I turned around to see that the rock I was on was wide, at least fifty feet before the rest of the mountain continued, the snow-covered tip of it disappearing into the dark clouds in the sky. I’d gone farther up than I’d realized. I wasalmost at the top, but the problem was, there was nowhere to climb to get there. No more sharp edges or trees or anything, just an impossibly steep surface covered in snow.

My heart fell all the way to my heels. Even if I had wings, I wouldn’t be able to get all the way to the top. I’d made itthisfar, yet I couldn’t get all the way to the top.

Closing my eyes, I forced myself to take in a deep breath. It wasn’t over yet. I was still alive.Greywas still alive.

And hopefully, Storm was, too.

Either way, I was about to find out.

“STORM!” I called at the top of my voice with every ounce of energy in my body.

The book that Valentine had written for me talked about how to use magic to amplify any sound, but to get that book out of my bag right now was impossible. Too cold. Too much snow. Too much wind.

All I could do was call out Storm’s name.

I called him over and over again until my throat was raw, and I riskedbreakingfrom the cold. I called him, sure that he would hear me, sure that he would come to me as soon as he heard my voice.

I was right—someone heard my voice, and they came.

Unfortunately for me, it wasn’t Storm.

The mountain groaned when something heavy fell on it—or rather,hungon the side of it behind me, one foot on the landing I stood on, the other in the air as his wings remained spread and his arm hugged the side of the mountain tightly.

A red dragon. A dark red dragon with large horns and teeth so big they could have been the size of my arm. Curved claws and a thin long tail with rows and rows of sharp spikes all around it.

I moved back toward the edge again—forget vertigo and the fear of falling down the mountain. I was about to be eaten by a fucking dragon instead.

The scream that tore from my throat when he roared and jumped for me could probably be heard by the entire Woods. The red dragon was coming for me with his jaws wide open.

Regret filled me, making my limbs heavy. God, I shouldn’t have called for Storm like that. I should have just figured out another way to get up to the damn top.

Too late now.

My legs gave two seconds in, so I dragged myself back with my hands, trying to reach the edge, tojump offthe mountain so I could die like that instead—because I really didn’t want my remains in a dragon’s fucking belly.

Except I wasn’t fast enough. The dragon was too big and he was right there, red horns and claws and scales and eyes and tongue, coming to devour me. Even my magic didn’t rush to burst out of me because it knew it couldn’t do anything against that creature. No, the best I could do was close my eyes and put my hands in front of my face as if that was somehow going to stop him.

It didn’t.

But another roar did.

It was so loud, so close that the snow clinging to the mountain’s steep top fell off in big chunks at the sound of it. So loud that the very foundation of it shook, and the red dragon that had been about to eat me whole stopped and looked up.

He looked up, then spread those wings wide and beat them once, twice, taking himself up in the air.

Throwingmeoff the goddamn cliff.

No more voice left in me to scream with. The shock had paralyzed me completely—limbs and muscles and vocal cords and magic. My eyes refused to close so I saw exactly how fast I was falling right to the ground, just as I’d hoped for a second ago. I saw exactly how fast death was coming for me, and there wasn’t even time to regret a single thing.

But then I also saw the grey belly of the creature that suddenly appeared right over me.

Talons around my waist and neck. My body moved at such a strange angle that if those talons had grabbed me just a bit lower, my backbone would have snapped in two, and so would my neck. Another loud roar filled my ears. I saw nothing but darkness and my hair that the wind moved in all directions, but I wasn’t falling anymore. I was climbing higher and higher up in the sky, and I had yet to take in a single breath.

Thankfully, it didn’t last long.

Thankfully, a loud noise later, and I stopped moving. My hair fell away from my face and I blinked my eyes fast, desperate to see my surroundings, to know if what I thought had happened was true—that Storm was there, that he’d grabbed me before I hit the ground as I fell off the mountain, that he’d brought me to safety.

And I was.

---