Gabby like them immediately.
“How can you tell them apart?” Shelly asked.
Josie’s brow rose. “I’ve known them for too damn long. They each have their own unique annoying mannerisms.”
“Get ready!” Aviur bellowed. His voice thundered through the night above the sound of the whipping wind.
There was a frenzy of movement as warriors spread out across the clearing.
The ground began to shake. Gabby and her friends followed Miles and Josie to join the others. A moment later, four huge beings constructed from massive boulders walked out of the trees.
“Please tell me they’re on team good guys,” Shelly said.
“Hold!” Professor Frost yelled as some of the warriors put their hands up, ready to use their power. “They’re with us,” Frost told them.
Gabby’s heart pounded painfully in her chest as she watched the huge rock creatures move to stand in front of the three royal elementals.
The portal pulsed with light.
“Shit,” Aston said as he lowered into a fighting stance.
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you curse,” Tara said. “That has to mean things are about to get bad.”
“Another one is about to come through,” he said, pointing at the portal. “That’s what happened when the first one got Jax.”
They all spoke loud enough to hear each other over the wind that was now gusting violently.
Gabby looked down at the ground. Her feet were held in place. “Why are we not falling over?”
“I’m holding you steady,” Elias yelled. “The other earth elementalists will be doing the same thing. The ground will stay level under you, and the wind elementalists will help the wind blow around you in an even amount so your body isn’t thrown around.”
Gabby’s face must have clearly shown that she had questions because Elias continued.
“Aston has done it for us, and I’ve done it for them when we practice together,” he explained.
Gabby nodded. “Cool.”
“But that’s not cool,” Shelly hollered as another dragon, this one purple, moved through the portal like a bullet.
The huge boulder creatures threw up their massive arms and roared as they slammed into the dragon. The beast reared back and caught itself with its wings as it was shoved backward. There was another rumble as the dragon that must have killed Jax was suddenly just there, swooping out of the black sky. His scales shimmered a brilliant blue and green. It was larger than the second one, so Gabby assumed that must mean it was male and the smaller one was female.
The female sported various shades of purple scales that shimmered in the light of the fires the elementalists were burning. The male nudged the female forward as if telling her to move back, and they both flew higher into the air.
“Why aren’t they attacking?” Tara asked.
The minute the words left her mouth, both dragons turned and dove at them. Fire shot from their gaping maws, and Gabby was sure they were all about to become ashes where they stood.
Before the flames reached them, however, a burst of power shook the air and ground as Nasima’s hands flew up, and light erupted out of them. The air power she’d just released was massive because it pushed the dragons back as if they’d flown straight into a solid wall and bounced off of it.
“Air elementalists,” the air queen yelled, “join me!”
Next to Gabby, Aston’s arms rose, and she felt a blast of air as his power flew out of him. All of the air elementalists in the group were lit up like white light bulbs, illuminating the sky and forest around them.
“They’re holding the dragons back,” Shelly called out, her eyes wide and full of anticipation.
Gabby started to feel a sliver of hope. Maybe they had a chance against the huge, fire-breathing beasts.
That sliver was crushed when, out of nowhere, a huge figure appeared in the middle of their group. Gabby had never seen one in person, only in her books from the academy, but there was no doubt he was a demon. A very large, and she would assume, powerful demon.
He was over six feet tall, probably close to seven. His eyes were as black as night. Sharp cheekbones were set around a grinning mouth containing pointy teeth. Two horns grew out of the top of his head and curled backward. His muscular arms ended in hands tipped with razor-sharp claws. His legs were shaped like that of a hoofed animal, complete with the actual hooves.
Gabby felt Liam move closer to her, his shoulder pressed against hers.
“Okay, so I seriously thought we had a chance there for a minute,”