the way just in time to avoid one of the sharp talons from slicing through her flesh. However, she stumbled backward and landed awkwardly on her wrist. Pain lashed through her as the darkhel rushed at her again.
This time she held her sword up and managed to nick its flesh. For a moment it paused and winced, and Emma quickly got to her feet, at least grateful her injured wrist wasn’t part of her sword hand. She had thought her first fight with the creature was hard, but this was even worse, and her muscles screamed in protest as she lifted her sword once again and sent it plunging deep through the ironlike skin and slashing at its windpipe. For a moment its red eyes widened and then it . . . laughed?
“Oh, did Mommy forget to mention that while she managed to inconvenience me for a while, I’m not that easy to kill?” It grinned to reveal a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth.
“How do you know my mother?” Emma demanded as she wiped the sweat away from her brow and tried not to panic.
The creature didn’t bother to answer. Instead, it stepped toward her again, this time raising a giant talon. Emma only just managed to avoid it, her whole body burning up despite the cold, overcast weather.
“The pendant,” Loni yelled from somewhere in the distance, and Emma immediately dug into her skirt pocket and pulled it out. She had no idea what she was supposed to do with it, but it had to be worth a try. The minute she held it up, the darkhel took a step back, which gave her a moment to collect her thoughts. Maybe it was like darkhel kryptonite? She held it toward the beast, but the fear had gone from its eyes and it started to laugh at her again.
“You don’t have any idea what that thing is, do you?”
“I know you don’t like it,” Emma bluffed as the creature once again stalked toward her. Okay, so there went the kryptonite theory. She felt some of her confidence shrivel up and go racing back across the quad. The creature struck out at her again, and she went tumbling. She winced as her body jolted harshly against the ground. Pain lashed through her and her sword went flying out of her hand.
“Now,” the creature continued, its mouth contorted as if it wasn’t big enough to hold all of its teeth. “Time to die.”
“I don’t think so.” A voice suddenly came from somewhere in the distance, and the creature swung around just in time to witness the brunt of Curtis’s sword crashing into its skull. Never had Emma been more pleased to see anyone in her whole life. Even if the someone did have a broken leg, a burned hand, and was wearing the dreadful white sunglasses.
“You can see it?” Emma tried to drag herself up, but her leg refused to work, so instead she crawled over to retrieve her weapon. The pain threatened to overcome her, but she bit it back. She was her mother’s daughter. Pain would not defeat her.
Before Curtis could answer, the darkhel steadied itself as it reached out and slashed at him. Curtis blocked the move with his sword before sending a second thrust into the creature’s shoulder. He pressed forward once again, but as he did so, the single crutch he had been leaning on fell away, and Emma gasped as the darkhel delivered a blow that sent Curtis sprawling across the ground.
Emma was still trying to drag herself into a sitting position as the creature spun toward her, its red eyes full of fire and hate.
This time there were no fancy speeches or small talk; it simply lifted its giant arm, the sinewy muscles outlined against the leather sleeve. As she tried to roll out of the darkhel’s reach, she considered trying the pendant again but then remembered the nail files in her other pocket and she let her fingers curl around one of them. It felt flimsy and inadequate, but as the creature brought its hand crashing down toward her, she used all her might to thrust the file deep into the fleshy palm before quickly rolling out of the way.
The darkhel let out a howl before opening up its gigantic wings and flying up into the gray early-evening sky.
Emma blinked and for a second was tempted to check to see if someone was holding a remote control and they’d fast-forwarded through half the movie, because