AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I elbowed Nikkos, and he swore when he saw them.
“What’s wrong?” I asked her.
Her eyes hardened as she faced us. “The priestesses of the mists say a bad omen is coming.”
Nikkos braced his feet and ruffled his wings. “What bad omen?”
Esther released a sharp breath. “They sense dark magic creeping toward the islands.”
Dread iced over my veins. “What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.” Esther worried her bottom lip. “The priestesses can’t see it, but they can feel it.”
Nikkos gaped at me. “What do we do?”
“The wyverns have been alerted, and I have soldiers stationed outside the pyramid.” She nodded toward the girls. “But be on your guard.”
My heart thudded like thunder in my ears. If anything happened to the girls, I’d lose my mind.
“Dada Finn!” Ember cried.
My legs felt like they were deadweights as I stumbled toward her. “What is it?”
She clasped a hand to her heart. “My friends said she found us!”
My inner wolf roared to life. “Who?”
“The bad demon!”
“What? Where?” I spun around, unsheathing my claws while Nikkos summoned his fire, and the satyrs raised their swords, but we saw nothing out of the ordinary. I spun back toward the girls.
They trembled as they clung to Triss. The hatchling had stopped crying, her eyes bulging as she stared up at the slate ceiling.
Ember pointed to the ground beneath them. “She’s opened the port—”
A flash of light, and the girls and Triss vanished.
My wolf broke through my skin, and I let out a howl as I pounced on the spot where my daughters had been just a second before. Venom shot through my veins and threatened to implode my heart. “Ember! Aurora!” I spun around like a mongrel chasing his tail then threw back my head with a howl. “Where did they go?”
Nikkos jumped into the air, shining flames on the top of the cavern, revealing nothing but endless black slate. “Did Aurora teleport them?” he called down.
My legs gave way, and I fell to my knees, a hopeless feeling washing over me. “I don’t think so.” I felt as if I was looking through someone else’s eyes as I stared down at my clawed hands, my mind numb from fear.
Esther knelt in front of me, placing her palm against the floor with a frown. “What was Ember saying?”
Nikkos landed beside me. “Portal,” he rasped. “The bad demon opened a portal.”
Cannon fire split open my heart as I let out an agonized howl. “Goddess, no!”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Tari
Aterrified scream rent the air, startling me awake. I looked up at at dawn’s early rays of sunlight piercing the trees overhead. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. What was happening? Where was I? I blinked at the campfire beside us, then stared down at Helian and Ash sleeping on either side of me.
Then I looked across the campfire at Shiri. My sister was sitting up, gaping at me as if I was a spirit.
Ash let out a howl in his sleep.
