Ki swooped in, coming to the rescue before I could shoot a string of curses toward General Douche. In one move, Ki yanked the untamed away from Tom’s throat and pressed his hand to the wild creature’s skull.
Magic flowed out of Ki, and, though I couldn’t see what was happening, he was clearly controlling the situation. The untamed stopped struggling, rolling limply onto the sand. It was as if someone had tranquilized him.
On his back, Tom stared up at Ki. “How’d you do that?”
Ki held a hand to help Tom up. “Honestly, I have no idea. It’s something my father can do, but I’d never tried it before.” A slow smile broke over Ki’s face. Tom’s smile joined it.
“Your magic is working,” I said, picking up on their excitement. A smile crept up my face, too, imagining what we could do if we all had powerful magic like Black Rock.
Tom’s eyes lit up. “We did it. This could actually work!” He threw a fist in the air, whooping.
The sound of hands clapping cut through the scene as a figure stepped out from behind a fishing hut.
Tara Palmer.
Oh. My. God.
“Isn’t this cute?” Tara said, walking out toward us. Her physical appearance was that of the human-reptile hybrid we had seen at our last fight. Blue scales ran up and down her humanoid body. Her fingers ended in curved claws and her head was sleek, hairless and now sported small ridges that mimicked her dragon form. Her eyes were electric blue and the nose below it wasn’t much more than slits, reminding me of Voldemort from Harry Potter.
She was ugly as sin and seeing her made a rage explode inside me as hot and violent as a supernova. I couldn’t wait to tear her apart, but I waited, realizing that, without my sword, defeating her would be difficult. We would need to work together. We needed a plan.
“A little fledgling training exercise, Black Rock? Taking off the training wheels? Adorable. Don’t let me interrupt. I see you’ve met my friends.” She gestured to the two untamed subdued in the sand.
“Mother,” Tom shouted, his body tense beside me.
Ki was at my other side at once. Their magic surged beside mine. Santiago was somewhere just behind us. I knew, this time, nothing would stop him from using everything he had to fight our mortal enemy.
This was it. This was when I finally got the chance to kill Tara Palmer and avenge my family. My vision grew fuzzy with rage.
“Come on, Tara. Let’s finish this,” I hissed.
She held her palms up as if accepting my challenge. Taunting me to come get her.
Challenge accepted. I readied myself to charge.
A mighty clap boomed over the beach.
When I tried to walk, talk, move, I found it all impossible. Black Rock stepped between us and Tara.
No! I wanted to shout. She’s mine! Let me go!
My lips remained as frozen as my body. There was nothing I could do as Black Rock alone walked toward Tara.
“Leave the fledglings out of this, Tara. Face me and give yourself a real challenge.”
She smiled wryly. “You? A real challenge? Where’s your army, Black Rock? Your little minions to hide behind. You think four unruly teenagers can take the place of your conciliatory? You really are as dumb as you look.”
He shook his head, his body going into a fighting stance as his massive muscles flexed and released. “No army. No minions. Just you,” he cracked his neck, “and me.” His golden eyes pulsed as the tornado of magic built and swirled around him.
Coils of blue electricity coursed up and down Tara’s scaly arms and over her bald, reptilian head like she was a walking plasma globe. “Me and you alone? You’d like that, wouldn’t you? But I’m a bit busy right now. First on my to-do list is murdering my son and his friends. Then I’ve got more untamed to infect and a world to conquer. So, you see, I don’t have time for you.”
Black Rock didn’t take the bait. Instead, he charged.
Tara dodged his attack, shooting bolts in Black Rock’s direction. He jumped, rolling onto the ground as the blast twisted sand into a ragged sculpture of glass. I expected Tara to shoot again, but instead, she burst into her dragon form and labored into the air.
She was retreating? And I couldn’t even move!
Black Rock jumped and shifted in midair. As he went up, I felt his magic leave us and we stumbled into the sand as we regained our legs.
Santiago ran over to me and gripped my arm.
“Amor, are you okay?” His eyes searched my body for injuries.
I should’ve felt grateful, but all I felt was anger. I pulled my arm away. “No thanks to you.”
He recoiled as if I’d hit him. “Amor.” His eyes were pleading with me to understand.
“I’m sorry,” I said, softening to his plight. “It’s just—”
“Guys.” Ki cut us off.
“What?” I asked, annoyed. I wanted to shift, but found I wasn’t able to. Did Black Rock put a spell on us? Or was I too weak from the magic I’d expelled? Frustrated, I whirled toward Ki. “What is it?”
But then I saw.
Rows and rows of infected untamed, dozens of them, running in our direction.
Chapter 11
There had to be at least thirty untamed headed toward us, their mouths gaping, their torn clothes saturated with the stench of decay. There were women and men alike, all in different states of disarray, but with the same crazed quality in their eyes.
“Shit,” Santiago said, shaking all over. “I can’t shift.”
“Me neither,” echoed Ki and Tom.
“Black Rock did something.” Anger toward him blossomed in my chest. How could he do this?
I squeezed my hands together, rubbing my ring and calling on its magic.
Ki stepped forward, his own magic saturating the air. He stood confidently and rightfully so. His power had manifested quickly and worked like a charm to subdue one of the crazed creatures. Tom and Santiago stepped next to him, while I used my warden power to cast a concealing spell over us.
The untamed in the front row seemed confused for an instant as we blurred before their eyes. Still, they kept charging, too crazed to care if they attacked nothing but air.
With a jerky motion, Tom threw his electrified hands toward the mindless zombies. Blue bolts of energy sprang from his fingers, hitting one of the untamed square in the chest. The creature seized, fell to his knees, then face-planted on the sand.
One down. Twenty-nine to go. We were screwed.
The throng of untamed was on us.
We sidestepped and ducked to avoid them as they ran blindly through where we stood. Ki grabbed one as it rushed by and sent a jolt of magic into her skull. She screamed, convulsed once, then collapsed, properly subdued. There might be a cure for them still. We didn’t need to kill them.
Alerted by the scream, the untamed that had ran past us whirled and faced us. Suddenly, we were surrounded.
One of the untamed swatted at the air in front of his face and started walking in our direction. Others followed his example, closing in the circle.
We formed our own small circle, shoulders touching, backs to each other.
Next to me, Tom jerked a hand toward one of our enemies. Energy shot from his fingers, but petered out halfway to its target. He stared at his fingers in disbelief and cursed.
Behind me, Ki growled. He had jumped to attack one of the untamed, but another one had come to the creature’s defense. Santiago pulled the second one by his leg, giving Ki enough space to jolt the first one into unconsciousness.
Skipping away from his rabid untamed, Ki kicked sand to its face, blinding it momentarily.
“I’m spent,” Ki cried out as the untamed he’d just constrained slowly rose back to his feet.
Thanks to my ring, my concealing spell seemed to be going on strong, but what was the use? We were surrounded.
Santiago interlaced his fingers with mine. We clung to each other as the untamed advanced.
I glanced to the sky, searching for Black Rock or a
nyone who would come to our rescue, but there were no signs of the conciliatory leader among the gray clouds.
“Shift, shift, shift,” Tom growled under his breath.
I tried to shift too, but nothing happened.
Had Black Rock done this on purpose? Had he known the village was overrun with untamed?
Dammit! If I got out of this one alive, I would kill him.
The untamed fell on us. Feeding time at the zoo.
We kicked and punched, but the creatures came down on us like starving dogs.
Snapping its rotten teeth, one of them fought me to the ground. Still unable to see through my spell, the creature bit at the air by my ear. I turned away, grimacing at the stink of spoiled meat on its breath. Claws dug into my middle as if trying to pull my intestines out. I cried out and pushed with my legs. The untamed came off me for an instant, but collapsed back down as others piled on top.
“Lila!” I heard Ki call my name, then he grunted and let out a cry of his own.
“Ki!” My soul surged in the direction of his terrified voice, but I was useless.
Santiago and Tom also struggled. I heard them, their sounds of pain sending panic through my veins.
I began to kick and punch in quick succession, eyes closed, reason clouded by the fear of losing the boys.
Rage and impotence filled me. How could Black Rock do this to us? Tara Palmer couldn’t win. I couldn’t die without avenging my family.
Searing pain shot into my arm and shoulder. At first, I thought one of the untamed had bitten my hand off, but then I realized it was my ring, heating up, demanding my focus.
I shook myself out of my panic and clenched my fist. I thought back to all the things Aunt Scarlett had taught me and commanded my attention within, away from the boys, away from the mad chaos.
More heat built around the ring. I kindled it, calling it to me. A terrible pain stabbed my shoulder, but I ignored it, focusing solely on the blaze that throbbed within me like a beast clamoring to be let out of its cage.
My chest swelled with power. Instinctively, I held on to it for as long as I could, the tendrils of my consciousness wrapping around it, persuading it to wait a little longer.
At last, it was too much to hold back and—with a scream that tore from my throat, leaving it raw—I let the power go.
An inferno burst from my hand.
Flames and heat rolled over my body and exploded outward. The world turned orange and red. Scorching power lapped at my skin. I was burning.
Everyone was burning.
The stench of singed hair and flesh filled my nostrils.
I cried out and rolled over the sand, desperately trying to put out the fire that consumed me.
“Lila!”
Tom. He was burning too, dying in agonizing pain.
“Lila!” He cried out again. “Lila, stop.”
My eyes sprang open. Tom was hovering over me, his face twisted in fear and confusion. He wasn’t burning. He was fine, thank God.
For an instant, I thought it had all been a nightmare, that I’d been asleep and Tom had shaken me awake. But when I sat up, the sand shifting under my hands, I realized that wasn’t the case.
Trembling, I glanced around us. Ash twirled in the air, lazily floating down to the ground. The untamed, every single one of them, were gone.
“W-what happened?” I asked in a small, scared voice.
Tom shook his head, and I wondered if he didn’t know or if he didn’t want to tell me. Flakes of ash landed on the legs of my magenta suit. Gut twisting violently, I recoiled, swatting at the them.
Oh, God. My ring… the fire… Had I killed all the untamed and somehow left the boys untouched? How was I able to—?
But the question never finished taking shape because I suddenly noticed Santiago kneeling on the sand, his back to me. His shoulders were shaking ever so slightly, and his hands were tangled in his curly hair. Deep scratches cut through his suit and marked his forearms, seeping blood.
Concern for him flooded me until I noticed he was kneeling next to Ki’s prone shape. My heart froze.
“Ki,” I whispered. “Is he okay?” I waited for Tom to tell me everything was fine, but he just pressed his lips together.
Scrambling on hands and knees, I crawled toward Ki.
“No!” I said when I stared into his bloody face, more oozing from a bite wound in his neck. There was a chunk of him missing. One of the beasts had decided Ki, my Ki, was its meal.
Suddenly, I didn’t care what had happened to the zombie horde. If they were all dead, if I had killed them… good riddance.
Moving frantically to press my hands to Ki’s neck, I stanched the flow of blood as best as I could. It gushed through my fingers. So much blood.
“Santiago, do something,” I said.
Santiago shook his head, tears rolling down his face. “I can’t.”
“Yes, you can, please.”
He shook his head desperately. “No, Lila. I’ll kill him. I can’t”
“If you don’t do something, he’ll die. Oh, God. He’s bleeding so much.” My fingers were slick with Ki’s blood. Ki’s life. “Please.”
Standing up abruptly, Santiago walked away, digging his fingers into his hair. “No,” he said in a quiet whisper that rang of finality.
“Tom.” I turned my pleading eyes in Tom’s direction, then looked back at Santiago.
Getting my meaning, Tom walked to Santiago and placed a hand on his shoulder. “You have to help him. We’re losing him.”
“No!” Santiago twirled, the word falling from his mouth like a hammer blow. “I will not kill our friend. I would never forgive myself… or you.” His gaze went from Tom to me, then he walked away, turning his back on us once more.
“Shit shit shit.” Tom took a few steps toward the village. “Maybe there’s someone—”
The whomp, whomp of dragon wings immediately had us searching the sky.
Black Rock!
He was back. Ki would be fine with his help.
The conciliatory leader approached the beach as if to land, then shifted in midair and alighted like a ballet dancer after a fancy pirouette, wearing scales from his waist down.
“She got away,” he said under his breath, unable to hide his embarrassment.
But I didn’t give a damn about Tara or anything else. Only saving Ki mattered.
“Help him!” I blurted out.
Moving closer, Black Rock assessed Ki’s state with cool detachment, then shook his head. “Santiago should help him. That’s his specialty.”
“Damn you, Black Rock,” I yelled, standing up and confronting the massive man without any trace of fear, “This is all your fault, so you either help Ki or I swear you’ll regret the day you first set eyes on me.”
I was trembling with rage, my fists clenched as I threatened one of the most ancient dragons alive.
As I threatened peril itself.
Despite my rage, I expected him to laugh in my face, but he didn’t. Instead, his gaze flicked to my hands, then up again. His brow tightened as he seemed to consider something, and finally he nodded and walked to Ki.
“I can stop the bleeding,” Black Rock said. “He should make it to headquarters for Ivy to take care of him. I’ll carry him.”
His voice sounded faraway. I was too busy staring at my glowing hands, trying not to incinerate the world.
Chapter 12
I paced outside the infirmary, barely able to control myself. The fear and rage inside me swirled into a tornado of emotions I couldn’t contain. Images flashed through my head—the untamed, Ki, Black Rock descending on the scene, Santiago refusing to help. I gripped my head, tugging at my hair just to have something to hold onto.
If he died… If I somehow caused it…
Fang glanced up from where he was slumped against the wall, waiting for news about his brother. His only brother.
“Lila?” a tentative voice behind me called.
I whirled, spotting Santiago ling
ering in the hallway a few feet away. His shoulders were hunched, his posture submissive as if he felt like the gum on the bottom of someone’s shoe.
“No,” I barked, pointing. “I am not ready to talk to you.” My tone was harsh and pointed. The image of him refusing to help was burned on my retina. He did nothing while our friend lay dying. I closed my eyes to contain my rage. “Get out of here, Santiago,” I said through gritted teeth.
“Lila, please.” He took a step forward.
My hands fisted as the ring burned bright against my skin. If he wasn’t careful, I’d burn the whole conciliatory down around us.
“Buddy, this isn’t the time.” Tom walked up, slinging an arm around Santiago. He flashed me a look before leading his miserable friend away. “Okay, Lila?” he asked over his shoulder.
Choking on words, I shook my head. No, I wasn’t okay. What did my magic do to the untamed? To Ki? Why did Black Rock set us up like that? I wanted answers. I wanted to punch him right in his smug face.
But Ki was my priority. I wasn’t leaving this doorway until I knew he was alright.
Black Rock had flown Ki home, rushing him to Ivy who locked herself and her patient in the infirmary. No one would let me in. No one would even meet my gaze. Black Rock had stalked off when I was preoccupied, avoiding my rage.
For now.
Exhaustion clung to me like wet clothing, but I fought off sleep with every inch of my being. As much magic as I had expelled, I felt like I’d just run two marathons and swam the Atlantic with my hands tied behind my back, but I struggled to stay upright for Ki. The minutes ticked by and my legs sagged. I settled for sitting next to Fang with my back to the door, my head lolling to the frame as I waited.
Sometime later, the door opened behind me, startling me from the snooze I’d involuntarily fallen into. Beside me, Fang was snoring. Well, let him sleep. Maybe in dreams his brother wasn’t knocking on death’s door.
As I scrambled up, I was met with a very tired Ivy. She pulled the surgical mask from her face and waited for my questions.
“What happened? Is he okay?” I blurted, blinking sleep out of my eyes to peer over her shoulder.
Perilous: The Dragon’s Creed Series Book 3 Page 8