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CHAPTER4
Arin
Lark’s retreatingfigure vanished behind the sandworm’s quivering form. The ground trembled like thunder. My heart leaped into my throat, trying to choke me. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Draven had already said we couldn’t outrun it. I’d told them no, and Lark had lured it anyway.
“Come on, run!” Draven grabbed my arm and hauled me out of the cave.
What they’d both failed to understand was how I wasn’t leaving Lark. Not to that worm, and not alone in the desert.
I yanked my arm free of Draven’s grip and planted my feet. “Let go.”
“Arin?!” Draven lunged, attempting to grab me again.
I danced back. “Go, Draven! Send someone back for us!”
For a moment, fury turned his face into a stranger’s, but that fury quickly gave way to defeat.
“You stay here—right fucking here!” he yelled, and then he was gone, disappearing into a cloud of settling sand. He’d return for us, I knew he would—he’d come back forme.
Lark? I couldn’t see him, or much of anything, just a red storm churned up by the worm. I stepped out of the cave. Lark was light on his feet, but he was also weak from his ordeal. One wrong step, one trip, and he’d be gone.
“Damn you!” This shouldn’t have been happening. I’d told them both no.
I had to do something. Slow the worm somehow. Get it off his scent, or whatever it used to track us.
Perhaps I could draw the creature away, giving Lark time to circle around? I strode from the cave mouth, planted my boots on the loose ground, and breathed in. “Hey! Hey worm!” It was too far away; it didn’t hear me. Did it evenhaveears? I waved my arms, shouted, and stamped my feet again.
I couldn’t see Lark or Draven.
Just sand.
I started forward, leaving the cave mouth behind. “Hey!” How did it know to find us? The ground? It didn’t have eyes, or ears. Only a mouth. If it didn’t hear and it couldn’t see, then it had to feel its way…
“Hey! Come on, you hideous beast!” I stamped my boots harder. “Get your hairless hide back here!”
Was it slowing?
Perhaps.
It was difficult to tell among the clouds of dust.
What if it was slowing because it had already consumed Lark?
“Come on you fuckin’ monster.” I kicked the ground. “If you’ve hurt him, Dallin help me I will rip you to pieces with my bare fucking hands.”
It reared up in a great horseshoe of quivering skin and muscle and slammed back down, pushing up red waves, and hurtled toward me, comingfast.I backed up. I had to time it right, giving Lark enough space to escape it, and me enough time to get back to the cave.
I stared long and hard at its eyeless front end, willing it to come closer. The ground trembled, and the whole world shook, rattling through my bones.
It grew so big, came so close, that when its jaws opened, I saw down its vast gullet.
I spun and bolted, legs pumping, running like the endless winds, boots thumping—until I hit a soft spot and tumbled to my knees. I rolled, spilled back to my feet, and sprinted forward again. Heat beat against my back, the sand hissed. I sensed its mouth opening, ready to inhale me inside.
I shot into the cave, hit the back wall, and spun in time to see it plunge back into the ground, burying itself a second time.
Sand settled, hiding it, and I was back in the cave. Alone.
Lark and Draven had to be all right. Draven would go for help, and Lark…
