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My attacker took his chance with me on the ground, charging Theron’s exposed back.
“Sword!”
My blade sprung up—lengthening in the space of my shocked shriek. I gaped at the sword suddenly in my hand. Shining, sharpened steel and a weighty hilt held heavy in my palm.
“It’s what you need when you need it.”
“Thanks, Dad,” I whispered, then struck up—plunging my blade between the centaur’s forelegs.
He crashed to the stone—kicking and neighing as he died.
“Amazing, Aella!” Ionna jumped over me, grabbed the soldier’s fallen weapon, dropped to her knee and spun—slicing the legs of two charging attackers. “How did you do—?”
She stopped.
Stopped speaking. Stopped moving.
Her bloodied blade hung in the air, stiff within the grip of a hovering fist.
“Ionna?” I pushed up, cradling my broken arm. “Ionna, what’s wrong—? Ionna!”
Gray moved like creeping, rolling miasma up her legs and consumed her body. My jaw cracked in a silent scream as Ionna turned to stone.
It was the buzzing I heard first. Steady and low-pitched, it pierced the noise of the battlefield, harkening their arrival.
“Gorgons.” Theron jumped on Nitsa, throwing his arm across her eyes. “Look down. Look down!”
“Ionna,” I cried, cursing myself to hades and back. She fucking said it. If we were dropped in the middle of the battle, who were the centaurs fighting? Why didn’t we listen?
A group of centaurs broke away, meeting their enemy. Eyes pointed to the floor, I made out two—five—eight—twenty gorgons and counting, slithering around the corner.
“Alex, baby, you have to get up.” I shook him. “We have to fight. Get up, you can do it.”
His head flopped to the side, giving me a clear look at the arrow in his eye.
“No!”
Daciana raced across the rooftops, speeding to our aid. She propelled off the edge—soaring through the air—and the gorgons turned on her, screeching and hissing their venom.
A stone wolf smashed on the ground, crumbling in a million pieces.
“No. No, no, no,” I gasped, sobs wracking my chest. I struggled to my feet and charged—wildly slicing and cleaving through the air. “Beasts! Monsters!”
“Aella, stop.” Theron chased after me. “Fall back! We need to—”
A blade sprouted through his chest. Theron stared at it, his face a mask of pain and disbelief—the last thing I saw before the centaur heaved his body overhead and threw him, tossing my friend to the shadows.
“Wait,” I sobbed. “Please.”
Arrows rained from the sky, finding their final home in Nitsa and Jason.
They were dead before they hit the ground.
“Nooo!” A hard blow struck me from behind, shoving me down. I shakily lifted my head. The last thing I saw was the centaur’s brown, rotted teeth as the axe fell.
THE THREAD SPACE KICKEDme out, throwing my consciousness back in my body.
“It knows us. It knows our weaknesses, and it knows it’s not letting us get to the end. There’s no plan we can make against this place—”
