Spearwood Book One
Page 15
I stare at him. “How do you feel?”
He swallows hard and stands. “How did you do that?” He moves arms and twists his back. I’d say he feels better.
I ignore his question. “We need to keep moving. We should be able to reach the mountain by nightfall if we book it.”
The others continue on; I take hold of Jericho’s hand. “Are you really okay, does your leg hurt?”
He pulls away from me again. “I’m fine. Let’s worry about finishing this.” Jericho walks ahead.
My heart aches. I need to figure out how to make this better.
Dante falls to his knees in front of the peak, where the key lies. “Thank the Sun god, we made it.”
I look at the sky, hues of orange and reds bleed across the horizon. Within the next few minutes I’ll be shifting for the night. Maybe it will help us reach the peak. I could fly up and one of them could get the key. Then, I could fly back with them. It would take less than an hour to reach the school in that form.
Mirren rubs at his eyes. “We’ve made it, now what?”
I hold up the rabbits. “We eat, start a fire. I wish we had an earth user with us, then we could have them build a cave. Once the sun sets in a few minutes, I’ll shift and then we can get the key. After that, I’ll fly us back to the school.”
Dante shrugs. “Sounds good to me, but we didn’t find anything to build a fire.”
He’s right. They put three fire users together with a water and air user. This was never part of a survival test with Edgar, we always had an earth user with us.
“Does anyone…does anyone.” I can’t focus my thoughts as the common pain careens to new heights. Something’s different. It’s always painful, but I’ve learned to supress the pain to another part of my brain, a place where it’s but a faded memory of what it was like when I was a child. I peer up at the sky. It’s not time yet, I should still have a few minutes.
I hand the rabbits to Jericho. “Are you okay?” he touches my shoulder.
I cough. “Something’s wrong.”
I take off the hoodie, before I can’t think anymore. Fire rushes through my veins. Falling to my knees, my back arches, muscles forcing me to contort at odd angles. Tears run down my face, I want to scream, but my lungs won’t let me take in a breath. Crunching bones fill the silence of the mountain. Why isn’t my skin turning to clay and cracking like it always has?
Warmth inches up my throat. Filling my mouth to the brim and running down the sides of my chin. My back remains arched, making it impossible to spit the liquid out. I can’t breathe. In one snapping motion my body whips forward as my wings tear through the skin of my back; ripping a scream from me as I spit out the black stuff. My claws push my fingernails out of the way, making the skin bleed. I’ve never bled during a transformation.
Black tips mar my golden claws as my golden spiked-scales rupture their way to the surface of my skin. The loose flesh falls off in chunks, staining the pure white snow with my scarlet life force.
I grip at the snow as muscles tear while I grow in size. “Kill me!” I cry before it turns to a roar.
What could be hours or mere seconds pass as my body rebuilds itself into my dragon form. I sag into the snow.
“Your transformation has never looked like that.” Jericho comes to touch my face, his hand shakes. I huff in response, smoke billowing up from my nose. “Are you okay? Your wings are different.”
I lift my head just enough to peer at my back. My angel wings have taken the place of my leathery dragon ones.
“No. That’s what I imagine a tortured death to feel like.”
I stare at the flesh and blood around my body. Why did this happen? It fades, disappearing into nothing, just like my clay skin always has. Nothing of the incident remains as proof that anything was different.
Something pings from overhead. A glint of silver falls into the snow in front of us, indenting the snow.
Dante reaches down and picks up a silver key. A small note hangs from it. He lights the tip of his finger with a flame. “Objective complete. Return to Spearwood.”
I can’t help but get the feeling Rosemen has something to do with my transformation suddenly changing, but how did he do it?
To Be Continued….
Be on the lookout for Spearwood 1.5 March 2016. And Spearwood Book Two Spring 2016. When Avalon and her boys age up to 18 and the really steamy fun begins.
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