her rune-marked hand, held to the portal’s frame, taking on a blue glow as the ripple of silver in the portal’s center gains strength and begins to streak with gold.
Strangely, the scorpios all wait, limbs twitching, as they stare Lukas down, stingers raised and quivering.
Three more of the horrific things slip into the clearing and my pulse ratchets higher.
Valasca’s gaze darts toward the portal as she takes a step backward, her hand closing tight around my arm, as if she’s ready to hurl me through the portal the second it sets.
The things are chattering now, their horrible jaws making rapid-fire clicking sounds. I notice the one nearest Lukas, the most stretched-out one, has the biggest swarm of eyes, spread clear down its neck. Two more eyes dot the thing’s forelimb like a disease.
It turns, a pale green eye in the center of its head riveting onto me.
I take one small, faltering step back as all the beasts swivel their heads and set their countless eyes on me.
Terror explodes as they all lunge for me in a unified stampede.
Valasca yanks me backward, and the largest one knocks Lukas sideways with the blunt side of its forelimb, stingers lashing forward like whips. A cursing Valasca wrenches me farther to the side then releases me and springs forward in a whirlwind of slicing blades as Lukas battles three of the beasts, his sword whirling as he lops off limbs and venomous tails, creatures shrieking and falling as they descend into an unfocused, scuttling attack.
I pull back my arm to hurl my rock at an advancing scorpio just as its huge pointed forelimb slams down through my cloak and tunic, grazing my shoulder to impale the edge of the cloth, pinning me against the stone wall behind me. I frantically struggle to beat back its forelimb with my rock and pull my arm free as the largest scorpio closes in to peer down at me and I’m overtaken with a horror.
It’s the most hideous one, with eyes clear down its neck.
The insect monster slinks its head forward only a hand’s length from mine as every one of its eyes pivot forward to stare hard at me.
I stare back into the single pale green eye in the center of the thing’s head as recognition blasts through my mind.
A Vogel eye.
I cry out as Vogel’s Shadow limbs punch into me in an explosion of pain, Lukas’s shield fracturing, the violent assault quickly followed by the ghastly feel of Vogel’s power slithering into me and around my lines, his invading Shadow rooting me to the spot and wresting away my control over my own body. I’m trapped inside Vogel’s Shadow magic, trapped within his terrifying thrall as wraithlike Shadow smoke rises all around me.
But then, as I stare into Vogel’s cruel, soulless eye, my fear gives way as an explosion of pure fury sparks then detonates inside me. Fury for the Lupines. Fury for little Fern. Fury for every last person who is running for their lives because of this monster.
Fight back, everything inside me screams as the fury whips through my lines and ramps up my magic. Fight Vogel with every last shred of magic inside you.
Throw off the thrall.
Vengeful energy rises, like an inescapable tide, as I pull in a deep breath and gather my power against Vogel’s shadowy grip, my fire rising as my earth magery arranges itself into killing spears.
Eyes fixed on Vogel’s eye, I exhale hard and force my power toward him in a savage rush.
The image of Vogel’s dark tree shatters, his Shadow power flying off me as I break through his paralysis with a stinging burst of agony.
Suddenly and shockingly freed from the thrall, my power whips through my lines, rapidly dampening the pain. I grit my teeth, tighten my grip on my rock, and slam it straight into Vogel’s eye.
The huge Vogel scorpio rears back with a furious shriek just as Lukas advances, swinging his sword in a flashing arc that cleaves straight through the beast’s neck. The scorpio scuttles sideways then crashes to the ground as Lukas hacks at it in a blur of motion.
The smaller scorpio closes in, jaws snapping, but I’m ready to fight now. With a snarling cry, I swing my arm at it, aiming my rock at its mass of eyes. The creature flinches, dodging my attack, still pinning me to the wall as its jaws click and a fierce battle cry sounds behind it.
Valasca leaps onto the creature’s back, throws her arm around