Page 96 of The Evernight Court

He slammed against the ground between the dead trees just like I had when the sky had spit me out—because of him.

Valentine.

That man was Valentine. He’d finally managed to get Romin to banish him.

Hope filled me from head to toe like a boost of magic, stronger than fresh blood. I was running before I knew it, jumping on rocks and spreading my wings to keep my balance, even if I couldn’t fly.

It didn’t matter anymore, though. Nothing mattered because Valentine was here, and whichever way he planned to get off this Isle, he’d take me with.

I was going back to Fall tonight no matter what I had to do.

Twenty-Two

I jumpedoff the rocks and into the woods again, my senses not even close to what they were before, but still very much capable of leading me in the right direction—toward Valentine.

He was here. He’d fallen against the trees just here. The tomb had two entrances on either side of the mountain, and Valentine had landed very close to the second. Despite the weakness of my body, I didn’t slow down. Just the idea that I would be seeing Fall again sent me soaring forward—until something slammed against my back.

I fell forward, rolling on the ground a few times before I hit a tree with my side. The beast that was coming for me with two rows of teeth on each jaw was right there.

Instinct moved me to the side, and it bit the tree instead of my face, but more were coming.

They must have been getting really desperate to get so close to the edge of the mountain. They came at me from all sides at once, five of them—mutated beasts that weren’t wolves nor tigers nor anything I’d ever come across before. They had dark fur that grew in patches, red or green eyes, andeach had talons and sharp teeth in heaps, in strange places and in different sizes.

One bit me on the arm as I tried to move away from the other, and even though I still had those two ribs to fight with, they didn’t serve me much when there were so many of them.

And the bigger problem was, more would be coming. They’d sense my weakness, smell my blood, and they’d come for me despite how close to the tomb we were.

I couldn’t get to Valentine, not like this. The only way to survive was to get up on those rocks, as far up as I could, and the beasts would retreat. No matter how wounded I was, they never came up the mountain.

Cursing under my breath, I began to climb branches as well as I could and to jump until I was close enough to the rocks to touch them. Their claws were everywhere, and one bit me on the calf, but the pain hardly registered. I instead focused all my strength on kicking back to get it to let go, and when it did, I jumped for one last time.

I jumped high and I thought I would make it. I thought I’d get up on that rock and call to Valentine, tell him to come closer, help him up here with me before those beasts tore him apart, too.

Except another one of them got more courageous than I’d ever seen before, and it jumped with me. It bit my ankle and pulled me to the side hard, and there was no way I could keep my balance.Thispain I felt all the way to my bones. It blinded me, rendered me deaf for a long moment, and turned my body completely numb so that when I slammed against the rocks, I didn’t feel it. So that when I rolled and rolled, and some rocks groaned as they, too, rolled down and fell onto the floor of the forest, I didn’t feel it.

My body was twisted at a weird angle, hips on the side while my chest was against the rocks, but I couldn’t really tell if it hurt. Or maybe,whereit hurt. It took me a long time to beable to see my surroundings when I blinked and realized that half those rocks that had broken with my fall had landed on top of me, too, burying me underneath. My energy was gone, and the world around me was getting darker by the moment. I couldn’t raise my head up no matter how strong my resolve.

But just before my eyes closed and my mind shut down for good, I saw a silhouette climbing up the rocks in a rush, as well as the footsteps of what I’d come to know as those beasts. The larger ones, the ones who’d finally gotten me.

Valentine had already reached the tomb mountain.

I saw him, saw his profile as he straightened up and dusted off his jacket, looking around himself in disgust at what I assumed were those animals that I could barely hear growling from the edge of the mountain.

He’d see me. Valentine would see me in no time, and he’d help me get out of the rubble—I was sure of it. Despite everything, I knew he hadn’t had anything personal with me or Fall that morning—he’d just wanted to end uphere.

But Valentine wasn’t looking my way at all. Instead, he turned to the mountain, to the mouth of the cave that was the second entrance to the tomb and looked up at it with his lips slightly parted. I had no voice to call his name with, no way of moving to let him know I was there.

So, when he disappeared behind the rocks, I was terrified. The dragon that guarded Syra’s body was in there, and if Valentine made too much noise, he’d awaken.

If he did, he’d kill Valentine. He’d kill all of us.

But even knowing that didn’t make a difference. My body was too far gone. The fear and panic could no longer get to me.

I passed out.

My eyes openedand the view in front of me didn’t change. The same darkness, the same smell of deadness in the air. Deadness, dried blood and rot.

I jerked up and pieces of rock fell from my body. I’d been half buried underneath them, and I hardly felt my legs. The wounds from the bites of those beasts were still raw, though I didn’t think they were bleeding anymore.

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