Page 36 of Circle of Shadows
Daemon could feel Sora’s amusement through their gemina bond, the hop and skip of a smirk.
“Er, thank you,” he said, tracing the tines of a comb decorated with tiny seashells that looked like lemon drops so he wouldn’t have to watch the girl ogling him. “Do you know where the Society’s post is?”
She nodded eagerly. “By the harbor. There’s a tall wooden building, all black. You can’t miss it.”
“Thank you,” Daemon said.
“Anytime,” the girl said. “What are you doing tonight? I finish work at four o’clock....”
“I, um, will have left town by then. But have a nice day!” Daemon hurried away.
Sora caught up with him and shook her head, that smirk he’d felt plastered on her face. “You don’t even have to do anything, and girls fall at your feet, don’t they?”
Daemon threw up his mental ramparts for a moment, so Sora couldn’t sense what he was feeling. “Not all the girls,” he said.
There was an awkward silence. At least, Daemon thought it was awkward. Maybe Sora wouldn’t notice.
Then suddenly, the sky exploded.
Sora dove for cover. Daemon threw himself over her. Screams engulfed the marketplace.
Green mist burst from the explosion. It billowed everywhere, filling the air and blotting out the sun.
Daemon could hardly hear over the pounding of his heartbeat.
“A bomb?” Sora asked, as she clambered back into fighting stance.
He leaped to his feet too. “Possibly—”
The mist started to move. Not innocently like a bank of fog, but with determination. The clouds of green streamed together, hissing loudly and drowning out all other sound.
“This is really not good.” Daemon drew his bo from the holster on his back. But despite standing ready to fight, he gawked at the sky, unsure of what to do next.
The fog formed into a massive serpent. Its body stretched several miles long, with scales glistening like green drops of dew.
A girl nearby shrieked. All the color drained from her face, and she fainted, knocking down her entire display of hats.
The snake circled above Kaede City, red eyes narrowed and glowing. It opened its jaws to reveal a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth, icicles reflecting the cowering sun.
“Luna help us,” Daemon said. If ever there was a time he wished he was better at magic, this was it.
Sora looked over at him, sensing his doubt through their gemina bond. She punched her fists to her chest.
It reminded him that he wasn’t alone. Daemon saluted back, then spun his bo in his hands. Whatever was coming, they would handle it together.
The mist serpent snapped its teeth, and he jumped as the sound ricocheted through the air like a thunderclap. The force of it sent tremors through the city. Flowerpots careened off window ledges. Pedestrians fell to their hands and knees in the street.
The marketplace erupted in confusion and noise.
“What was that?” a woman behind Daemon shrieked.
“The gods are punishing us!” someone else yelled. “I told the mayor he needed to be more generous with his gifts to the sea!”
Rumbling came from down the road that led into the marketplace. The sound grew louder and louder, until it rattled the stalls, shaking wares off tables and drowning out all the shouting.
A large black orb shot toward the far edge of themarketplace. A collective, high-pitched, insect whine filled the air.
Holy heavens. Daemon nearly dropped his bo. The bug boy had seemed so much less threatening on the road, when he was far away.
