Page 77 of The Last One
“Where are we?” Olivia asks, stumbling behind me, Philia clutching her hand.
“The wolf’s not following us,” Jadon says, catching up but still looking over his shoulder to watch the woods. “Feels like this place is hidden, protected.”
I feel it, too, this muffled sense of magic creating a bubble of peace around us. It makes my skin prickle, though. We don’t know where we are and whose circle of protection we’ve wandered into. What little I’ve seen of magic tells me that not every mage is a friend. I shiver as I scan our surroundings for clues. The air shimmers with color and light, and the sky is too vivid—the wildflowers and grass too perfect. This is a meadow glimpsed in a painting. Not real. Fear clutches my heart like a vise, and I turn a circle to confirm we’re alone. What if this place belongs to Elyn? What if it is her magic I feel? What if that wolf was another creature sent by her and it has successfully chased me right into her trap?
“We need to keep moving,” I say, now deeply uncomfortable and vulnerable standing in this space. “Let’s—”
A distant howl from the woods. The wolf, and it’s still on our trail.
We hurry along the creek until we reach a gleaming dell clear of giant trees and gnarled roots—without those obstacles, a wolf can lope here, speed up to catch its quarry. The air smells of soft, green grass and sweet clover. If there wasn’t a wolf chasing us, I’d think this place would host only happy times. Families spreading picnic blankets, lovers holding hands and kissing, babies learning to walk.
But a growl disrupts this vision—and that growl sounds much closer this time. I spin in a circle, my eyes skirting across the forest to the perimeter of the clearing.
There.
A flash of white muzzle, a wink of a whiter tail.
“Oh no,” Olivia murmurs.
“Girls, stay behind us.” Jadon pushes out a breath, flexing his hand around the sword’s handle. His eyes meet mine. “Ready?”
“Do I have a choice?” I also flex my hands, wind power the only weapon I brought with me and still learning to control it. And now that I’m in danger again, I pray that it works. Muscles bunching and pulse pounding, I clench my fists, prepared to conjure wind.
Jadon and I stand with the girls between us. Another growl—this one deeper and meaner—rumbles from behind us. We spin to face it.
A lesser growl rolls from the shadows at the other edge of the wood.
Three distinct growls.
The original predator has brought friends.
Olivia whimpers. Philia scans the ground, probably searching for something sharp and stabby.
Then we see their eyes: three pairs, silver and sharp, floating in the dark shadows of the forest. And then we smell the sickeningly sweet perfume of decaying meat. The stench of death.
My breath bounces like balls of fire in my chest. But I don’t move, I don’t cower.
Let them come.
The first wolf steps out of the gloom and into the dell. Its bared fangs are so long and so sharp that they could tear me apart on the first chomp. The wolf’s thick coat is brilliant white, and I squint to avoid being blinded by its glare. The beast swaggers, moving like it already knows the ending to our story.
On our right side, a second wolf, bigger and brighter than the first, stalks into the clearing. Another lopes behind him, wearing a lazy smile.
“Breathe, Kai, breathe,” I tell myself, breathless. I lick my lips and taste the salt of my sweat. I try to reach inside me, invoke the buzz of wind power generating through my arms. I even touch my amulet, urging it to come alive, but nothing happens. What did I do before to make the wind? My fingers aren’t burning like they did right before fighting the sunabi and cursuflies.
Not good.
I clench and unclench my fists, willing the heat to come.Please, please, please. My fingers remain cold. Begging doesn’t work. Not a great time for my new power to abandon me.
At least Jadon has his sword. Good old steel. Always ready.
The pack stands around the dell, but they don’t come any closer. They bark and yip, speaking wolf to one another.
I widen my stance and focus on the beast closest to me. A blue lightning bolt zigzags down his snout.
I don’t know which wolf Jadon’s chosen, but I feel the tension wafting from him.
“They don’t stand a chance.”That’s what he’s thinking.“None of you will win this fight. I’ve killed stronger things—and I’ll kill these things, too.”
