Page 34 of A Court of Bones & Sorrow

The hair rose on the back of my neck, and I sidestepped so my back was to Vail and looked at the wall behind us. “Fuck. It. All.” My heart raced as I watched dozens of creatures silently crawl down the rocky surface from where they’d been traveling across the ceiling. They vaguely resembled the occasional starfish I’d find while walking along the shore, which would be fine . . . except for the six eyes arranged in a perfect circle and the eight serpentine tentacles that stretched out.

“Can someone explain why the fucking starfish look like spiders?” Alaric cursed.

“Because Lunaria, that’s why. Of course we’d have fucked-up arachnid starfish.” I glanced up at the ceiling, which was teeming with hundreds of them. “If these things fall on us, I’m going to scream.”

I wasn’t kidding. There were a lot of things I could deal with. Spiders were not one of them.

“We make our way to the same path as before,” Vail said calmly. “Samara, take the lead. Alaric in the middle. I’ll cover you both.”

“I should go first.” Alaric glared at Vail. “Samara is the Heir of House Harker.”

“Samara can handle herself just fine,” Vail growled.

“Or maybe you’re thinking third time’s the charm in getting her killed?” Alaric narrowed his eyes at Vail, who was looking at the leaner-built Moroi like he was debating chucking him into the water as bait while we got away.

“It’s fine, Alaric.” I placed a hand on his forearm, and he glanced at where we were touching before meeting my gaze, a sharp, close-lipped smile stretching across my face. “I’d rather have you at my back anyway.”

Vail stiffened, but before he could say anything, I stepped towards the path, my gaze bouncing between the wall writhingwith monsters and the slippery rocks. Now was reallynotthe time to fall.

I slid to the side just as the air shifted, and a creature slammed into the rock where I’d been standing a second ago. It landed on its back, giving me a view of the center of its underbelly, where five triangular teeth mashed together in its circular mouth. I barely managed to bite back my shriek. Its nearly two-foot-long tentacles slid across the ground, and it started to flip itself over. As soon as its back was to me and the tentacles were pointed in the opposite direction, I kicked out as hard as I could.

A loud splash sounded from where it had landed, but I could hardly make out the rocks two feet in front of me. The rest of the cavern was nothing but inky blackness. Sure would be nice for the moon to come back right about now.

The sound of hundreds of tentacles sliding across the algae-covered wall echoed around us, and I stepped closer to the edge of the rock. Slender tentacles stretched out from the wall towards me, and three more fell from the ceiling around us. I raised the strap of the bag over my head so that it rested diagonally across my chest before tucking the dagger back into the holster on my thigh.

More monsters fell from the ceiling, and one of them hit my shoulder and bounced off, its tentacles grazing my skin. Alaric hissed behind me as several of the starfish critters began to fall on the other side. I’d be jumping straight into them, but right now, there were only half a dozen on the ground. We needed to go before all of them fell off the ceiling.

I backed up a few steps, bumping into Alaric, then ran towards the edge and leapt across, but something wrapped around my ankle just before my feet hit the other side and yanked me back. My scream was cut off as my upper body slammed into the rocky ledge before I was dragged backwards. Tentacles grabbed me from all sides as I desperately dug inwith my clawed fingers, trying to find purchase, but the rock was too hard and slick.

“Vail!” I cried as I went over the edge. Water splashed below as several starfish lost their grip on me and fell. Every muscle in my body screamed as my fingers gripped the edge of the rock. Whatever was wrapped around my ankle pulled harder, and pain raced down my arm as one of the smaller monsters wrapped all of its tentacles around me and flattened its circular mouth full of sharp teeth against my bicep.

My fingers started to slip when another tentacle wrapped around my waist, and I felt something pull on the bag. “VAIL!”

Two sets of hands gripped my arms, Alaric grunting where he was flat on his stomach above me, hands wrapped around my left forearm while Vail held my right arm, bright silver eyes shining with determination. “Don’t look down.”

A low, trembling, keening sound came from beneath me, and I couldn’t help but look. Never in my life had I ever so immensely regretted disobeying a command. A shriek tore from my lungs. “Pull me up! Pull me up!”

“We’re trying!” Vail ground out.

The enormous, spidery starfish beneath me pulled harder. It had to be at least twenty feet wide, and its eyes glowed a sickly yellow. I could feel something cutting into my skin where its tentacles had wrapped around me, and pained whimpers slipped from my throat. The rock to my right shook as it slammed another tentacle there, and I saw the flash of small, curved barbs on the underside.

Just when I thought things couldn’t get worse, the starfish clinging to the ceiling started to drop even more. Alaric’s and Vail’s grips slipped, and I dropped another inch. “I don’t want to get eaten by a fucking starfish!”

“Don’t let go!” Alaric ordered. Several starfish chose that exact moment to fall on his back, and he bellowed, fingersdigging into me as he tried to hold on. Vail hissed when one fell on his shoulder and latched onto his flesh.

“I’ve got her,” Vail growled. “Keep these fucking things off us. Otherwise, we’re all going to die here!”

“Fuck!” Alaric bellowed, tearing himself away to deal with the monsters ripping into him and Vail. The loss of his grip on my arm sent me swinging, and Vail’s claws dug into my arm, skin tearing as I was wrenched into an awkward angle. The tentacle around my right ankle was pulling me to the side, while the one around the bag was pulling straight down.

My body pivoted until I was looking down at the beast once more. Terror drenched me at the small bulges moving across its body, unfurling their tentacles before gliding off into the water. That must have been how they’d all gotten here. This was their mother, and she’d carried them on her back.

Blood ran down my arm from where Vail held onto me. Despite his efforts, his grip had slipped to my wrist, and I knew he couldn’t hold on much longer. I gritted my teeth and swung my free hand towards the dagger on my thigh, agony shooting through my back. It felt like I was being torn in two, but I freed the blade from its sheath.

I had one chance. If I missed, I would fall. To fall was to die.

Vail grunted as the creature pulled harder on my ankle. I used the momentum of being twisted to the side to my advantage and focused on the closest of the large, yellow eyes. The weak point. No matter the beast, eyes were something to be protected.

“Get ready, Vail.” I panted before flipping the dagger in my hand and hurling it a second later. It whistled through the air, the spinning blade catching the small patches of moonlight and reflecting them back before sinking home, straight into the starfish’s eye.

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