Page 36 of Fallen Demon

I ran to Lacey while the others chained the fainted demon back to the pillars.

“Are you okay?” She nodded, but wobbled to the side, and I held her arms so she wouldn’t fall.

“I’m okay,” she whispered.

“How … is your magic?”

“It’s fine. It’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?”

She nodded again. To me, she felt weak and dazed, and she needed rest. But we had to get out of here. I grabbed a cereal bar from my bag and handed it to her. “Here. It’ll give you some energy.”

She took the cereal, but her movements were sluggish as she unwrapped it and took a small bite.

When the demon was secured on the pillars once again, Jasmin started weaving a ward around him. “So he won’t be able to get free until we come back.”

“I can help,” Lacey said. She shoved the last piece of cereal bar in her mouth and walked to Jasmin.

“You were just drained by a demon!” I argued.

“He didn’t take much,” she said.

I watched with hawk eyes as Lacey helped Jasmin, and they wove a fine thread of magic around the demon. Should he wake up and break the chains, he wouldn’t be able to get through the ward.

At least, that was the hope.

Rage looked around us. “Let's get out of here.”

11

To getout of the canyon, Farrah cast her ice stairs again. Zad and I offered to fly everyone over, one by one, but they preferred it this way. Once we stepped out of the canyon, the ground shook and it returned to what it was before: a not so gentle valley with nothing in it. And ahead of us, it went back to a flat, dry terrain for miles on end.

We went on for another hour before the landscape changed. Several yards ahead, the dry, flat ground curved down again; however, this time, we couldn’t see the bottom.

“This could go on forever,” Rage said, leaning at the edge and looking into the darkness below.

A half-broken black wooden bridge sat to our left.

We glanced down the cliff and at the other side. It wasn’t terribly wide. Zad and I could fly over it, and maybe some of the others could jump across it, but most would have to cross the bridge.

“That bridge seems suspicious,” Farrah said.

“I agree,” Wyatt said.

“Maybe we should go around,” Jasmin said.

“We don’t know if there’s a way around it.” Zad pointed to the sides, where the cliff extended as far as we could see.

“We’ll cross the bridge,” Rage said, already heading toward it.

As usual, he went first, step by step, testing the broken structure to see how firm it was. A few times, it creaked, and once, a board broke and fell into the ravine.

One by one, we crossed the bridge. I was third to last, and I kept my wings ready to go in case I felt the wood giving away. A few spots, I thought it would, and once, it creaked so loudly, I thought the whole thing was coming down. But somehow, it held.

Barn and Zad were last.

“Everyone here?” Rage asked, looking at each one of us as if counting.

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