Page 49 of The Void

“About us leaving?” she asked and then shrugged. “I’m not sure. We were supposed to save them from the darkness.”

“Yeah, and all we did was let an evil djinn loose.” Lucas sighed.

“Right.” She groaned. “So, I’m not sure. Maybe we should wait a few days?” She could see the worry flash in Lucas’s eyes and reached over to touch his arm. “I’m even more determined to leave now. It’s just…” She glanced around and sighed. “A calm before the storm.”

Lucas nodded. “A few days.”

“Besides, I need to figure out what we’re going to tell our parents,” she whispered as she motioned to where her brother was eating dinner at the end of their table.

They were just finishing their meal when the general rushed in.

“Soldiers, to the walls!” His eyes flashed to Mia and Lucas, and she knew something was wrong.

Lucas jumped up and rushed over to the general.

“What’s up?” he asked just as Mia and Lei reached them.

“Darkness comes. It’s time for you to fight,” he said, then he turned and left.

Lucas looked over at her with a frown, then they both headed towards the stairs at the same time. Lei followed them as they went up the stairs to the rooftop.

It was funny, the entire time she’d been there, not once had she thought about what sort of weapons the soldiers used. She hadn’t seen guns or even swords on their hips. Now, however, each soldier they rushed past on the stairs held a strange stick that she supposed could have been some sort of gun or sword.

They were running too fast for her to stop and see them clearly.

When they finally reached the rooftop, all three of them gasped.

In the sky, blocking out both suns, was a beast. Mia didn’t want to call it a dragon, but… it looked like a freaking dragon.

It was easily a mile long, its body thin and snake-like, with huge yellow and red scales. It had long black horns on the top of its head that twisted and turned to make a crown of sorts. It flew through the air like a string caught in a strong breeze. Its wings were translucent and reminded her of a dragonfly’s wings, fluttering so fast you could hardly see them.

If it wasn’t such a terrifying sight, she would have described it as beautiful and fluid.

Suddenly, long streams of yellow and blue lightning bolts flew at it and hit its scales, bouncing off the creature as it flew around the city.

She looked over and saw the general and his men pointing the long sticks at the creature. The lightning was coming from the ends of the sticks.

“Is that a dragon?” Lei gasped beside her.

The creature stopped and looked down at them. A slow smile formed on its black and red lips.

“There you are, dog.” A loud hissing sound filled the city. “Did you really think you could get rid of me that quickly? There is no place you can hide that I won’t find you.”

“It’s Moros,” Lucas growled, and instantly he shifted into the giant Cerberus. Seeing Lucas with three heads had been a shock the first time. Now she was thankful he’d learned how to control the new transformation. They were going to need it if they were going to win. “Get your sister inside, now,” Lucas yelled at Lei before he jumped into the air and latched onto the tail of the long serpent dragon as it flew by them.

Even though Lucas had seemed giant as the three-headed dog in Feng’s cave, his looked like a puppy next to Moros’s dragon.

Mia turned to her brother, who frowned over at her.

“I’m not going inside,” she warned him. “But you’d better, just to be safe.” She shot up into the air to join Lucas in the fight.

As she went, she shifted out of the long dress and back into what she thought of as her fighting clothes. She also produced the same sword that she had when she spent that first night in the monolith alone.

“Mia, go inside,” Lucas growled when she swiped at the side of the beast. Lucas was attacking Moros, trying to bite the creature’s throat with one of his three heads.

As she struck out, the dragon laughed and flicked her away like a fly. She crashed through the glass of one of the tall buildings and came to a stop against a stone wall.

It was strange, but looking down at herself, she realized that there wasn’t a scratch on her. Shaking the dust and debris off her clothes, she stood up and made her way back to the window she’d just crashed through.