There was a bone-chilling roar.
Something immense slammed against me. My head cracked against the wall, and I fell, slumping against the stone.
I braced myself for the attack.
A furry body moved, and I squinted in the dark.
Ungodly shrieked as they were slaughtered, and razor-sharp claws glinted as they sliced mercilessly.
Groggily, I rubbed at my eyes as I tried to push the confusion from my brain.
“Stand up!” Jinx’s voice was fuzzy and barely audible. “S—protect—you. Find—sword. Do—now!”
Head aching, vision spinning, I crawled through the debris toward the blue glow.
I reached toward a sword.
My fingers…just…barely…wrapped around metal. A wall of muscle and fur slammed against me.
Everything went silent.
In slow motion, as if I was merely spectating, I sailed through a brick wall, and my teeth chattered against my pipe.
A white-and-black, striped creature flew through the air with me. Razor-sharp claws were bright pink and decorated with rhinestones. It had twin fangs longer than my arm.
Moisture blurred my vision.
Sadie had heard me.
Against all odds, she’d heard my call for help.
The ceiling where we’d stood fell down on the ungodly, and the corridor disappeared in a pile of rubble.
My body turning midair like a rag doll, my eyes widened as I saw what we were flying toward: A vacuum of swirling energy.
A portal.
This can’t be good.
We slipped through time and space and kept falling.
Sadie turned midair and cushioned me.
We slammed into concrete.
Time lost all meaning as we lay in a pile of bruises and broken bones. Everything was silent. It was almost peaceful—until it wasn’t. The saber-toothed tiger cushioning me shifted back into a scrawny woman.
The world snapped, and sounds rushed back into my ears.
Fear mixed with adrenaline, and I stumbled to my feet. I stood in front of Sadie’s naked body.
The room spun, my vision blurred, and my hips ached with throbbing pain as I pointed my sword forward protectively.
Blue glowed all around.
I blinked furiously to clear my vision.
A rock pinched the side of my mouth, so I pulled out my pipe and spit it into my palm. It was my tooth.
I shoved my pipe back between my lips and inhaled smoke desperately as my eyes slowly focused.
We were in a sprawling brick room.
The temperature was unbearably warm, and my clothes were suffocatingly heavy. I broke out in a sweat.
The walls were covered in pictures. Flame sconces provided the only source of light. The ceiling towered high above and was at least thirty feet tall. There were no windows or doors.
On the far wall, an expansive tartan hung off the ceiling and showed the locations of the mountains, valleys, and infested settlements within the realm.
It was a map.
In the far north, next to the third battle location, large red Xs were once again laid out across the mountain range near the valley. I squinted. At the bottom corner of the map, there was a key that said “X - villages.”
My stomach pitted with unease, because even if we were successful in clearing the last compound, there was likely still more infected.
The war wasn’t done.
I exhaled with shock, a puff of smoke curling from my lips as I took in the rest of the room.
I stared forward numbly.
A hundred or so people stood before me, most of whom had enchanted swords hanging off their hips.
My brain processed anomalies: there didn’t seem to be any bathrooms, and there weren’t signs of food, but the room didn’t stink of waste, and the people weren’t starving.
The portal swirled in the center of the towering ceiling.
A rushing sound filled my ears.
I backed up slowly. We were lucky we’d fallen near the corner of the room so we had protection at our backs.
That was where our luck ended.
In the dim lighting, the crowd of people’s eyes glowed with a familiar, vibrant green sheen.
The nearest infected were about ten feet away.
They stared at us.
I crouched low, stance wide and protective. No one was going to hurt Sadie. Not on my watch.
Chapter 52
Jinx
SURVIVAL
Thanatophobia （noun）： fear of death.
DAY 36, HOUR 3
Through our guardian-angel connection, I saw through Aran’s eyes.
She was surrounded by dozens of infected, pain radiated through her body from multiple contusions, and Sadie was naked on the ground behind her.
She crouched low and inhaled enchanted smoke.
She swept over the infected with a disturbing nonchalance as she analyzed the situation. Her thoughts were freakishly calm.