Takota had to hold Ayita back, though she fought against him frantically. Finally, she relented, and inched away from Amelia as the serpents became more alive, more animated, and more violent. Ayita, along with Takota, stared up at Jack in frightened confusion. Jack could only return the gesture. Utter disbelief. But the truth hit him like a storm when the gloomy serpents whipped and snapped, elongating until they came to within inches of his face.
“Jack!” Takota tugged him. “Let’s get outta here! Come on!”
He stood still as a statue. He’d never believe it. Amelia. She was stationary as well. Facing him. Staring into his eyes. He pleaded with his look, and she pleaded with hers. Then, without warning, thin lines formed vertically on her forehead, then her cheeks, then down her neck. Her whole body disconnected into hundreds of narrow stripes, bands of black coils, stretching and taking flight.
“Amelia!” he burst toward her and felt all kinds of hands pulling him back. Then the dark monsters, their wings flapping in rhythm like buzzing bees, surrounded him. Takota materialized in front of him and growled, slashing at the air with his deceptively large and sharp claws.
“Takota! NO!” he held back his tiny protector. “Don’t hurt her!”
“She’s gonna hurt you!”
“Amelia wouldn’t do that!”
They watched the tempest of winged snakes, dark and murky and angular, circle about them. Like a tornado, the creatures lifted off the floor, higher and higher, along the curvatures of the walls, searching for an escape. Finally they found it—the ventilation shafts. Filtering out, clicking and clacking and buzzing, they slipped into the vents in bunches, cluster after cluster until each and every one had gone.
“Amelia! Come back!” Jack saw one final thing floating in the air. He reached out by instinct, snatching a feather. Amelia’s eagle feather. He filled his lungs and unleashed another, desperate cry.
“AMELIA!”
Also look for
Jack James and the Tribe of the Teddy Bear
Book I in the Jack James Series
Jack James and the Children of the Blue Crystal
Book III in the Jack James Series
From the author...
Thank you for reading Jack James and the Call of the Tanakee. It’s my sincere hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing this exciting adventure epic. If you wish to offer your feedback, I’d love to hear from you. Please feel free to write a review and let me know what you think. Thanks again,
-J.
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