Page 39 of The Dragon Sacrifice

Her eyes spied the open door. Now that all the beasts were inside attacking the princes, there was a pathway out. If she could draw the beasts out into the open, then Stenton could follow behind and shift into his dragon form in the bigger corridor beyond. It could save them.

Once the thought was in her head, she decided it had to happen. Without thinking about the consequences, Seela sprinted toward the open door.

The princes didn’t see her until she was in the doorway and barreling through. She heard a sharp cry and then her name. “Seela, no!” one of them shouted, but she didn’t look back to see which.

She ran.

Into the dark, she sprinted, the rocks tearing at her feet. She’d forgotten she wasn’t wearing shoes, had no need for them on the worn smooth paths inside the princes’ cave, but here, the rocks cut at her feet mercilessly. She ignored the pain, running headlong, but the light soon dimmed. Without the princes’ magic to light the gems, it became pitch dark. She was reduced to feeling the wall with one hand and jogging forward with the other stretched out in front of her. Twice she bashed into rock outcroppings, sending more jolts of pain into her shins and hip.

But worse, she could hear the horde behind her. The bait had worked. They were coming.

Hundreds of legs were skittering over the rocks behind her. Horrible scraping noises reminded her of the wicked claws each had at the bottom of their legs. They were fast, too. Soon, they would catch up to her and then what?

She shuddered and ran.

“Seela!” a voice echoed from behind. The princes were coming, too.

The plan was working. All she had to do was make it into the open cavern, the one where they’d been when Langdon had shifted. Stenton could shift, and all would be wel—

Something caught her ankle and pulled. Seela pitched forward. First her wrist, then knee, then her side hit the hard rock. The air huffed from her lungs as she skidded forward, feeling the skin on her knees and palms shred against the gravel. When she rolled to a stop, she lay on her back, too stunned to do much of anything. What had caught her ankle?

Something brushed over her. Then another shape, hairs trailing over her skin. Skittering by her head sent her heart blasting into her rib cage.

The sharp bite of claws in her arms made her gasp. She screamed as more and more knife-like appendages punctured her skin.

“We have the girl,” the voices said in unison. More claws sank into her.

She fought, but there were so many. They lay on her legs, pulled at her hair, bit at her neck. The feel of their bodies climbing up and down hers made her want to gag.

Then they began to drag her backward.

“No,” she cried. “Stop!”

“Seela?” One of the princes was close.

“Here,” she cried in hopeful desperation. It sounded like Jerrard. “Over here.”

The beasts’ movement became more frantic. They dragged her faster, her body skimming against hard stones. She fought again, hitting one and sending it spinning away, but there were always two to take its place. Her hands flailed helplessly, her legs pinned.

“Let me go,” she screamed.

A bite on her neck made her yelp. She could feel its mouth latched on, the teeth pulling against her skin. The smell of it was like rotten animal. She’d never felt so disgusted.

But then another feeling stole over her—a feeling of fatigue so great it descended over her like a fog. Her eyelids weighed one hundred pounds. Her limbs went limp.

“Sssleep,” they said in one voice. “Sssleep.”

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