this reaper’s eyes saw nothing.
My lips quivered and I took a frightened step back. “What the hell is that?”
“Nycterid” was all Will said as his hand tightened around his sword. “That’s Orek, one of the oldest and strongest of them.”
And then two more landed behind the first. My stomach leaped into my throat as I gaped in horror up at the towering monsters. There was no way we could fight all three of them at once. I wasn’t even sure I could fight one of them.
“Step aside, Guardian,” Orek rumbled in a deep voice, his long jaws snapping, forked tongue flicking as he spoke human words. His glossy pale eyes stared unseeingly and made what felt like worms crawl through my stomach.
Will straightened and said nothing.
“So be it.” Orek craned his long neck toward one of his companions. “Take her, Jabur.”
In a flash, Orek lurched forward and slammed a wing into Will, sending him soaring through the air. The nycterid chugged toward Will and snapped his jaws like a crocodile. Will pounded his fists into Orek’s head as the jaws crunched air, questing for soft flesh. Orek’s tail swung around and smashed into Will’s body, sending him flying again across the alley and into the wall of the nearest building, crushing brick. He hit the ground with a low groan, and Orek descended on him.
I bolted forward to help Will, but something massive slammed into me before I could react, knocking my swords out of my hands and to the ground. The second nycterid, Jabur, grabbed me with the talons of his hind limbs. His gigantic wings spread, and he took off with me in his clutches.
“Will!” I screamed, wildly reaching for him. I beat and clawed at the reaper’s leathery skin, but he ignored me as we flew up and away. Panic sent shock waves through my body as I twisted and flailed, desperate to get away. The alley was disappearing far below me.
Will broke free from Orek, tearing away from claws and gnashing teeth, and he dived beneath beating wings.
“Ellie!” He ran down the street, his ivory wings spreading from his back, and he jumped into the air after me, sword in hand. He was lighter and faster than the nycterid, and when he reached us, he swung his sword, but Jabur’s other foot collided with Will’s chest, sending him careening downward. The wind rushed violently into my face like an arctic hurricane, and I struggled to see where Will had fallen, my heart pounding in my ears. I cried his name again, but I couldn’t catch sight of him. Jabur lurched suddenly, dropping several feet in the air, and my stomach jerked into my throat before we steadied again. I twisted my head to see Will’s wings stretched out above Jabur. The nycterid swung his body left and right, trying to shake Will off. Jabur’s long snout crunched his crooked teeth together, and he made a dragonlike hiss.
The nycterid jerked into a barrel roll, and Will slid free. He dropped through the air until he was beneath us. His wings beat hard and he flew up ahead of Jabur. He slashed his sword down with a furious cry, slicing the blade through Jabur’s neck. The reaper’s head fell away and vanished. The rest of his body slowed its flight as it hardened into rock.
And then I fell, still trapped in the clutches of the stone reaper. I plummeted much faster than we’d risen, the immense weight of the giant reaper’s stone body hurling us both toward the ground. I screamed until I was nearly deaf from the sound of my own voice and the wind rushing into my face. I beat at the rock leg, trying to break free, and I saw Will diving past me like a falcon. He swung his body, and then he was in front of me, his sword gone and his hands freed.
“Get me out of here!” I shrieked, tugging my trapped body uselessly.
Will pounded his fist over and over again on the stone limb. I stared past him at the rapidly approaching street below. The limb cracked at last, and Will threw it into the air and kicked the body away from me. His arms wrapped around me, but we didn’t stop falling. He swore as he beat his wings, futilely trying to catch us in the air, but we were falling too fast. I held back a scream of terror as we plunged toward the earth. At the last moment,