Broken Knights (Gifted Academy #4) - Michelle Hercules Page 0,106

her direction too, which makes my anguish grow. I wonder if what Xavier said about the antidote being the only thing that could help Renata is true. If Bryce can bring me back from certain death, then surely he could heal Renata. But if he does that, he’ll be too weak to fight against Chaos.

I bite my lower lip, deciding to keep my suspicions to myself. The guilt over Renata’s death—if that comes to pass—I’ll carry alone.

“What now?” Soren asks.

“We look for Morpheus,” I say.

Phoenix stares hard in the direction of the jungle. It looks unwelcoming even under the bright sunlight. Ironic that Chaos’s prison would be in such a beautiful place.

Rosie ambles forward. “Oh my God. This is just like the legends said. This is indeed paradise.”

“What are you talking about?” Toby glances at the wall of verdant but oppressive trees and then back at her. “You think an ominous jungle is paradise?”

“What jungle?” Her forehead crinkles.

Apprehension runs down my spine. I trade a worried glance with the guys and then move next to Rosie. “What can you see?”

“She must be looking at the village. When Erebus brought me here, that was the view from the beach,” Mrs. Malek explains.

“But why is Rosie seeing the village whereas we’re all seeing the jungle?” Rufio asks.

“Wait. Something is happening.” Toby points at the distance.

Like magic, the jungle shimmers and then fades away, allowing me to see the village too. “What in the world?”

“We should go there. Maybe they’ll have an antidote for Renata.” Rosie walks ahead without pause.

“No! Nobody move,” Bryce interjects. “It’s probably a trap.”

“I’ve been to the village. It does exist,” Mrs. Malek tells us.

“Well, the jungle is gone. We only have two options. Stay here and wait for Chaos to find us, or head to the village and try to find Morpheus,” I say.

Rufio shakes his head. “Morpheus won’t be in the village, Daisy.”

“Well, he has to be somewhere!” I snap.

In my distraction, I can’t stop Rosie from sprinting ahead. She’s almost at the edge of the village. How the fuck did she get there so fast?

“Rosie! Wait up.” Toby scrambles to follow her.

I try to follow too, but it feels like I’m walking through quicksand in slow motion. I can’t get traction. Everyone else seems to be suffering from the same problem.

The village vanishes again, and the jungle takes its place. The tops of the trees begin to sway as if something large is making its way through. Rosie is on a collision path with it.

Raising my arm, I try to freeze her, but she keeps running without pause.

“Someone stop her!” I yell.

“I can’t move!” Soren shouts in frustration. “Something is messing with my gift.”

The trees and shrubbery at the edge of the jungle part for a giant were-worm. Its flower-shaped mouth opens, revealing long sharklike teeth. Rosie finally stops, looking up at the monster in front of her. She screams in horror right before the giant worm strikes. She vanishes before our eyes as the monster swallows her whole and disappears into the sand.

“No!” I drop to my knees with my arm outstretched. My ragged scream comes from deep in my chest, raw and filled with agony. “Rosie, no.”

Toby clutches his head, staring at the gaping hole the worm left behind.

The sky turns pitch black as Chaos’s storm gathers above us. His evil laughter echoes in my ears, whipping my already bleeding soul raw.

The ground begins to tremble, announcing something terrible is coming our way. A rough pair of hands lifts me up. Rufio’s. “Come on, Daisy. We have to get out of here.”

“I can’t leave. We have to go after Rosie.”

“She’s gone, my love. She’s gone.”

I pull free from his grasp. “No! Don’t say that. I won’t give up on her.”

A patch of sand explodes in front of us as the were-worm returns, roaring savagely. The sight should propel me to run in the opposite direction. But something inside of me snaps. Rage and pain erase my self-preservation instinct. Instead, I face the beast with shoulders squared and my bare fists as weapons.

“Give me my sister back, motherfucker!”

The monster shrieks in response, a sound so high-pitched it hurts my ears. The giant worm coils its body back, preparing to strike. I brace for the impact, not knowing how I’m going to avoid those sharp teeth. It stops midmotion when a net of electricity wraps around it. Bryce is at the opposite end of that string of energy. The white-blue light from his blast emphasizes the