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Talibah roared a terrible, screeching wail that was neither human, lion, nor bird.
I waited for the final hit that ended it all... but it didn’t come.
I peered through my arms. Talibah threw herself against the stacks, raining books like falling bricks. They struck her wings, body, and head. Huge welts and cuts opened on her cheeks and forehead. She didn’t notice, or stop.
My dagger shone on the ground amid her stomping and flailing. Carefully, I got to my feet, flicked from the dagger to her. Talibah was obviously nuts. I didn’t want the dagger, but I wanted to be alone and weaponless with this multi-creature loon even less.
I dove for it.
Talibah’s head snapped down. I slid across the floor, sliding right to her snarling maw.
“No!” I clawed the wood, spinning and kicking back around.
Her paw came down on my foot, crunching the bones. I screamed.
“You are correct,” she barked. “You will go again. Again!”
“Okay! Just let me go.” I picked up every book in reach and flung them at her. “Let me go!”
“Two mothers and two daughters enter the library. Talibah scratches, claws, bites, andbleedsthem.” Her claws ripped through my pants and entered the skin. “Only three people leave, but no one is left behind. How?”
I clamped my mouth shut, penning in a cry. Any reply but the correct answer, and I’d pay dearly.Think, Aella. Think. There has to be some way—
I glanced at my wrist, and finally noticed the bracelet wasn’t there. Selene was gone. Taken from me like my friends were.
Cold reality slapped me in my face. I had to face Talibah alone. Well and truly alone, and this place knew that I wasn’t, so it fixed it. I wasn’t just dealing with a prison that was well-guarded, brutal, and inescapable.
I was dealing with one that fought back.
“Ooh, does she give up?” Talibah giggled. “Stupid, silly girl. Not smart enough for Talibah’s game.” Her claws dug deeper. “Not smart enough to live. Give up, silly girl”—a shadow fell over me—“and die.”
“Grandmother,” I cried. Pain bled darkness into my vision, fighting to drag me down. “Three generations. Grandmother, grandmother’s daughter, and the daughter’s daughter.”
“Arrggh!”
I clapped my hand over my ears, shouts leaking through my clenched teeth. Talibah’s wailing battered my eardrums.
“What are you doing?” I cried.
She thrashed against the stacks—ramming her head against the tomes, clawing at her own wings. Blood and feathers showered me, turning my stomach. She rammed the shelves, and they tipped.
Boom! Boom!
The stack crashed into its neighbor, taking down that one, who took out the next, and the next. Wood and books buried the ground, and if I didn’t get out of here, I would be next.
The key. I have to get away from this monster and find the key.
I didn’t think. Once again, I dove through her stomping paws, snatched my dagger, and ran. Hidden somewhere in this nightmare maze was the means to get out and get to my mom. Two generations in this hole, and no one would be left behind.
Up ahead, the stacks ended to open a break in the path, leading to more shelves and books. I skidded out and there it was. Fifty feet in front of me, a door.
“Silly girl.”
My head snapped up, and wide eyes latched on burning pools.
Talibah leaped down and the stack wobbled from the force. It tipped off its center, and went down.
“No!”
