“Luna! Where’s Skye?”
Follow me.
Ava risked a look behind her. Andras was catching up, ensconced in shadows with fury in his eyes as he continued his pursuit. He raised a hand and dark wisps zoomed toward them, headed straight for Remy. Ava grabbed the hobgoblin just in time, lifting him and whirling them behind a tree.
She set him down, unsheathing a dagger, and peeking around the tree to fling it at Andras. He shouted as it pierced his shoulder but it didn’t stop him, only made him angrier.
She willed thorny vines to wrap around his legs, but his shadows dissolved them in seconds. Trying to create another flower to trap him, her hand trembled, her magic sputtering. She was too weak. The portal had drained her significantly.
She wasn’t strong enough to fight him alone. They had to run.
“Come on,” she said, dashing through the woods again.
Remy followed, surprisingly keeping pace, and theyemerged into a clearing. Skye’s eagle cry pierced the night as she lowered herself. Ava picked up Remy—still clutching the book—and set him on Skye’s back in between her golden wings, then clamored up behind him.
“Hand me the book and hold on tight,” she said. Holding the book against her, she crossed her other arm in front of her small friend and gripped Skye’s feathers.
I’ll meet you there,Luna said, bounding into the woods.
Skye took off the moment Andras emerged into the clearing. Ava met his eyes as they rose higher. Raising a hand, he shot one more burst of shadows straight for them.
“Go!” she shouted at Skye.
But the eagle wasn’t quick enough.
As if in slow motion, the tendril of darkness zoomed through the night. Ava hollered and raised her arm as if she could shield them, trying to stop it. To do something, anything. But the wisp of ebony smoke sped forward…
And hit Remy directly in the chest.
4
The scream that ripped out of Ava tore at her lungs as Remy tumbled from Skye’s back, plummeting to the ground.
No no. Not Remy. Please not Remy.
The pain of watching her friend fall into the night sky was unbearable; a knife being run through her soul. Ava was powerless, the shock on Remy’s face full of horror as he continued his free-fall to the earth.
Ava was barely able to hang on as the eagle dove, snatching Remy from mid-air with one of her taloned feet. Ava’s fingers tightened around Skye’s feathers as she banked left, skimming over the tops of the trees.
The book clutched to her chest, Ava scanned the horizon for their group, hopefully far enough away from the daemon camp now. And throughout the flight, she begged and pleaded with the Earth Mother to spare Remy, squinting through her tears.
It didn’t take long to reach them, the group of soldiers appearing terribly small from so high up. The eagle let out acry as she descended, landing on the grass with a thump and gently releasing Remy.
Ava jumped off her back, Skye taking flight again to give them space. Isolde rushed to evaluate Remy, kneeling beside his prone body.
Raine stormed toward Ava, immediately yelling in her face. “What the fuck were you thinking going after the book alone? You’re just as brash as Cas!”
Raine had never raised his voice at her, had never been so angry. “Well, I got it.” She shoved the tome against his chest. “Here.”
He held the book as he continued his tirade. “You could have gotten yourself captured again or killed! Are you out of your mind?”
Tears leaked from Ava’s eyes as she lost control of her emotions. “It’s over. I got the book and I’m here. I didn’t get captured.” She leaned in further. “Stop yelling at me. Especially since I got the thing we were here to retrieve in the first place.”
Raine ran a hand through his platinum hair and growled. “You didn’t let me help you! And then you pulled that princess bullshit on me. Don’t ever do that?—”
“Because I would rather die before I’d let something happen to you!” Her shout cut him off. “You’re my best friend,” she hiccuped. “I’m so tired of losing people.”
He froze, anger dissolving, as his face fell. “Shit, Ava.” He pulled her into a hug. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I yelled at you. I was scared. I thought…when you went back, I imagined the worst.”
