Page 144 of Commanding Scythe and Sky

Death. Definitely Death that time.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

I scrambled upright, wincing as my skin stung—magic already fighting to stitch closed the cuts and scrapes I’d collected in that frozen monstrosity. Snatching Ally’s rucksack, I fought through the spin in my head and tried to reorient myself.

Behind me, the storm still roared beyond the wards. Ahead? Nothing but looming white dunes concealing what I prayed was that damn castle. With a huff, I started climbing, feeling almost… refreshed now that my head had finally cleared after four days of hell.

That confidence survived exactly three dunes before the sand rippled. Shuddered. I braced as a brown-scaled body pushed up from beneath it.

I eyed the thing.

It eyed me back.

I slowed to catch my breath. It cocked its head, forked tongue tasting the air between us, then glanced back the way I’d come before looking at me again with what seemed like newfound… understanding?

Preparing for a clash, I stalked one step forward and shifted the Erebos blade into my palm.

The thing tracked the movement. Then… slithered forward.

With every step I trudged up the dune, the thick serpent slid along beside me.

“Well, you’re not so bad,” I muttered, still watching it skeptically. If I wasn’t completely insane, the snake looked offended by the assessment.

It hissed and flicked its face back toward the direction we were both—apparently—headed.

“Do you have a name?”

Another displeased hiss.

“You look like a Tom.”

It whipped its head toward me, and a high-pitched laugh burst out of my mouth.

When I became nearly certain the damn thing had bobbed its head in agreement, another frantic laugh escaped. I slapped my free hand over my mouth before the sound could summon less benevolent company.

Then I remembered that hand was still caked in blood and grime and ripped it away again, spitting and spluttering as I scrubbed the back of my arm over my mouth.

Tom the snake bobbed his football-sized head and picked up the pace, turning to watch me when he crested the dune. His enormous, muscled body curled back on itself just so he could keep me in sight. I tightened my grip on the blade. Cute little understanding or not, I wasn’t letting the creature lull me into a false sense of safety.

Hello?

My breath locked in my chest, my spine snapping straight at a voice I would know anywhere.

Rika? Even mind-to-mind, the desperation in my answer was obvious.

How? she breathed back. None of us can talk to anybody Earthside.

I’m not Earthside.

Ringing silence answered. I spun my moon ring around my middle finger as I climbed, still watching the snake watch me. I felt Rika’s presence sharpen before her voice returned—frantic now.

Gods, Mags, we’re being hunted… by fucking snakes—I eyed Tom warily—and something’s wrong with Jason. I don’t know what to⁠—

Her thoughts cut off. Every muscle in my body froze because somewhere in the distance came a scream. Her scream.

Tom hissed in blatant disapproval.

I glared at the last scraps of light and blew past Tom in a dead sprint for the shadows. The haze in my head vanished the instant Rika’s terror slammed through our mental connection. The moment I hit darkness at the base of the dune, I shifted into the gray and left the strangely benevolent beast behind.