Page 45 of Shadow Bonds

“I agree. Let’s head over there,” Robin says pointing to a large group of rocks.

We start making our way toward them, but a few feet forward, the ground starts to shake and tremble beneath us.

“What the—” Sand explodes around us as something huge shoots up and out of the dunes of sand.

I widen my eyes on the gigantic beige worm as it shrieks, revealing its pinpoint jagged teeth. It shrieks again, and I realize I’m standing there like an idiot instead of running.

“Run, damn it!” I tell the others, and they finally snap out of their shock to get running.

Glancing over my shoulder, dread knots my stomach as the huge worm follows, shooting forward on the sand and heading straight for us.

I keep running while quickly glancing around to make sure the girls are doing the same.

We make it to the rocks and move through them, getting halfway before realizing the worm isn’t following us.

My gaze falls on the sharp edges of the rocks and the jagged direction pointing outward, and I start to relax, realizing it’s probably the only thing stopping the worm from reaching us.

I bend over to catch my breath and find the others do the same.

“Where the hell did they bring us again?” a blonde with thin black streaks in her hair asks.

“Somewhere they’re trying to kill us off,” another answers.

“The Shadows do this every year. They take a group of girls and place them in harsh terrain to weed the weak. It’s lucky we have companions that actually care enough to even tell us about it,” the blonde with black streaks says.

“Weed the…” A girl with long raven black hair, shakes her head. “I fucking hate the academy.”

“So, I’m not the only one?” I ask, feeling relieved but also pissed at my mates for not warning me about this place.

The raven-haired girl glances over at me. “Definitely not. Most of us hate it. I’m Callie, by the way.”

“Sena,” I tell her, and she nods.

She points at the short girl with a hot pink bob. “Cora.” She moves to the brunette next, “Skye,” and then to the girl besideher with blonde and black streaks in her hair, “Lily. And you already know Robin.” She glances at the girl with long, thick wavy brown hair, “And you are?”

“Arabella,” she answers.

“Great, now that we’ve all been introduced, how the hell are we going to last the two days here?” Callie asks.

I glance up at the blistering sun that only seems to be getting hotter. The rocks provide no cover from it, which means we need to find proper shelter.

“Shelter should be our first priority,” I tell them, and they look to me. I tilt my head up at the sun. “Is it me or does it feel like it’s getting hotter?”

Robin frowns. “I was thinking that, too. From the time we got here, to now, it feels much hotter. If it gets any warmer, we’ll start to blister.”

“So, shelter is the priority,” Callie says with a nod. “What’s everyone rations like?”

We all check the bags we were handed, and I open mine to find the bottle of water I brought and that’s it.

Frowning, I glance around at the girls to find them taking out bars and multiple bottles of water and varies items of food.

“Score. I suppose my companions aren’t that bad,” Skye says, lifting up a can of coke and bottle of water. “They know me so well.”

Companions… Their Shadows filled those bags for them. They gave them all a heads up about this place and made sure they had enough food and water. While my so-called mates didn’t even bother to let me know I would be doing this.

I drop my barrier and open a connection to Knox, ready to chew him a new one when I hit against a wall. As if another barrier outside of our own somehow erected between us. I try Malakai next but quickly find the same wall-like barrier as I try to reach him.

“Sena, what about you?” Robin asks and the others look to me. I shake off my frustration of not being able to chew them out to focus on what she’s asking me.

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