Confusion caused me to slow as I tried to understand what was happening, but it was theworstthing I could do. This was proven true less than a second later when a heavy weight smashed into my back, claws hooked into my shirt, and fetid breath washed over me.
I staggered beneath the impact of the weight and couldn’t catch my balance as I slammed into the ground. With my chest pressed into the earth, I had no way to fight off the creature digging its claws into my back.
As it tore into my flesh, a scream ripped from me. Reaching over my back, my hand clamped on one of the dog’s legs as it lowered its muzzle until its teeth hovered centimeters above my cheek, its hot breath filled my ear, and its drool slid down my face.
When its jaws opened wider, I screamed as I pulled energy from me and the ground. The burst of lightning I unleashed threw the dog away with such force that I still held its leg afterward.
The sulfur stench of the beasts mingled with the torched scent of hair. Scrambling toward my feet, I tossed aside the dismembered leg and ran toward Mouse, who staggered away from whatever was rising from the earth.
The boy was so focused on the earth creature that he’d forgotten about the dogs. Lightning danced at the ends of my fingers before I shot a bolt toward whatever moved before him.
When my lightning hit it, a loud rustling came from the trees surrounding us, though no breeze stirred the air. Mouse scampered toward me as something rose from the ground. A row of trees now blocked the way forward.
I didn’t understand how that was possible, considering it was clear moments ago, but I didn’t have time to figure it out either. I was almost to Mouse when three more black dogs emerged from the trees and sprinted toward the boy.
Throwing up my hand, I managed to take out two of the dogs, but the other reared back on its hind legs and leapt into the air. Mouse’s mouth dropped before he threw himself to the ground.
The dog soared over his head as the boy rolled toward me. Farley whizzed around us in frantic circles until he became a see-through blur amidst the trees.
A sickening thud came from somewhere behind me a second before a heavy weight hit me in the side. I’d never seen the black dog coming until we tumbled across the earth.
CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX
Ellery
The breathof the creature exploded against my skin, and it yelped. I had no idea what had happened to it as my dagger was still in hand, and I hadn’t released any lightning.
Something suddenly tore its weight away from me. Rolling, I prepared to unleash lightning on whatever came next, but all I saw was the black dog vanishing into the leafy bowers above as the tree branch through its middle pulled the dog away.
My heart sank at the sight of the intertwined trees overhead. The branches were all wrapped together as if they were holding hands and supporting one another.
The first time I saw these trees, I thought it was magnificent how they strengthened and supported one another. That was before their roots started erupting from the ground and trying to eat me and Ryker.
Then they’d sent treelike creatures from the ground to drag us into their shadowy depths, where I was sure they’d impale and drain us dry like a spider did a fly. They weren’t going to share their meal with the dogs.
Great. Like I need another thing trying to eat me right now.
Rolling back over, I ignored the agony in my battered body as I shoved myself to my feet and raced toward Mouse. More roots had risen from the earth, and now that I knew what they were, I could see the gaping places where holes and mouths should be on these monstrosities.
Their roots snaked through the air, moving past him as they approached me. They wove a tapestry of brown all around him as the dirt falling from the roots bounced off the ground and him.
I re-sheathed my dagger before throwing one hand forward. Lightning whipped through the air to hit the creature closest to him, and behind me, something cracked.
“Lery!” Farley screeched.
I twisted my head in time to discover one of those treelike creatures behind me. It had eye sockets but no eyes and a gaping mouth but no tongue or teeth.
The roots rising from the top of its pointed head weaved like Medusa’s snakes as more slithered from its mouth. They snaked toward me in a rhythmic, eye-catching pattern meant to disorient their prey, but I refused to let it deter me.
I hit it with a bolt of lightning as something smashed against the back of my head. The impact lifted me off my feet and flung me forward.
Stars burst before my eyes. I was sure my skull had shattered and all the broken pieces were digging into my brain; my fingers twitched, and gurgled sounds escaped before I hit the ground.
Unable to move, I lay on my side, trying to regain my vision. Fingers scrambled over my arms, and I blinked away the white light to see Mouse with more roots stretching toward him.
“No!” I gasped, or at least I think that’s what came out; I couldn’t hear anything beyond the ringing in my ears.
Grasping Mouse’s arms, I pulled him down and rolled over to shelter his body with mine. I lifted a hand, but I wasn’t sure if it was lightning at my fingertips or the starbursts from my eyes.
