Page 122 of Land of Monsters

Ash

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The cold air blissfully licked against my skin, my lungs filling with freedom, with life. Earth balanced on a fine line between existence and the void. Either you went too far up in the atmosphere or too far down into the core, and life ceased to exist. The hollowness was like a vacuum, leaving an emptiness in my body.

My toes curled in my boots when I spotted the night sky, giving my eyes focus. I craved the feel of my feet in the soil, the buzz of nature sinking into my bones, whisking away the panic still thumping in my chest.

Raven’s hand squeezed mine, calming the chaos in my chest. The thrum of her pulse centered me, like she was the soil my roots needed to embed themselves in.

Stepping inside the courtyard of the castle, she let go, her gun raised as she searched the area, but her weapon was for show. Her dweller lingered underneath; the obscurer sat impatiently on her tongue.

Rook’s large dweller shape glided in silently, blending in just as well with the night as he did in the pitch black. Hiseyes glowed hot, his claws cutting into the cobbled ground. He huffed, his nose nudging Celeste to stay next to him.

Her expression was blank, her eyes still slightly unfocused, her body covered with bruises, cuts, and grime. But she clung to him like a terrified child. She wore a loose tank that barely covered the tops of her legs, and I could see the redness between her thighs, the coating left behind from her assault.

My stomach twisted, my gaze flickering to Raven. She had been within seconds of being his victim too, a body to use as he pleased, nothing more than an empty vessel. Guttural rage surged up my throat, the snap of tree branches echoing through the yard.

The sounds of battle raging on the other side of the courtyard wall finally brought me back to what was important in the moment.

Surviving.

“This way.” I pointed us towards the exit. We barely got a few feet.

Swish!

Rook’s beast roared, and I whipped around to see his back leg dip, an arrow sticking out of it.

Swish!Another arrow drove into his other back leg, dropping him to the ground. My gaze snapped up to where the arrows came from.

Revulsion strangled my throat.

“I knew the bomb would scurry some rats to the surface.” Iain stood on the upper balcony, smugness curling his lips, his bow and arrow aimed at us, shooting off another one into Rook’s back. The dweller jerked, his body twitching, trying to shake it off, yet his massive frame struggled to rise.

“Rook!” I felt Raven’s fear, her confusion at her brother’s rapid response to the arrows. Dark dwellers were the killers,the almost indestructible assassins of the old fae world. A few arrows shouldn’t be able to take him down.

“I had these custom made.” Iain grabbed another arrow, appraising it. “Coated in a lethal dose ofpuregoblin metal. It seeps into your blood system instantaneously, paralyzing you.” Fuck. Pure goblin essence was fatal. “Did you not see what happened to your Russian friend earlier?”

My mind scrambled back to how easily Eve went down, her legs not able to get her back up after the arrow hit her.

“She’s dead. And soon your brother will be too.” Iain sneered.

A rumble of pure fury vibrated up Raven’s throat, taking a step towards him.

“I wouldn’t.” Iain pulled back the bow, pointing at Celeste and letting another go, zipping over her head to the person who stood behind her.

The tip sank into my chest before I could even move.

“NO!” Raven screamed, her eyes wide in horror, instinctively moving to me.

“Uh-uh,” Iain toyed, stopping her in her tracks, her body heaving, her fear radiating through me.

I stared numbly down at the arrow piercing my chest, feeling the poison slipping into my tissue. Plucking it out, I dropped the toxic barb to the stone floor with a clank, my sneer rising to Iain.

“I will make sure you go down with me.”

“Such meaningless words.” Iain rolled his eyes, lowering his bow, his face a portrait of pure conceit and narcissism. “You will do nothing to me.” He nodded to something behind us.

A bulked-up figure stepped out from the shadows, chest puffed as he made gorilla noises while another man slinked toward me, his catlike characteristics stalking his prey. The third shifted shadily closer, the hyena-man going for Celeste.

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