Twisted (#1 Deathwind Trilogy)

by Holly Hook

The storm is so thick that I can’t see.

  That we can’t see. Walls of rain slice through us. Thrash and turn. The world is angry water. Hail beats away at everything. The storm pulls us higher towards its heart. We’re in its jaws.

  Dorian! I think.

  Resist it, Allie. Try.

  The rain clears. The storm drops low to meet us.

  I can’t!

  We’ve got to.

  Dorian’s hopelessness blends with mine. There’s no stopping this. We both know it.

  The plains drift below. Stretch out. Grow smaller. Turn into squares of brown and green.

  And the roar builds like an oncoming avalanche.

  It’s started.

  Louder. Angrier. Hungrier.

  We spin. Descend. Everything shrieks. Tiny trees whip down, slapping the ground. They snap. Disintegrate.

  God, we think.

  The roar grows painful. We're gaining strength. There's no holding it back. We rip up the ground itself, leaving a brown scar in the earth behind us.

  Allie...

  His thoughts break down. Fly away. We're losing our humanity by the second.

  Allie...

  Gone.

  Only roaring takes the place of all.

  Tiny buildings spread out far below. Trees wave around them like terrified guards. Roads stretch out, empty. Dead.

  Evansburg.

  It's pebbles. Gravel. Glass.

  We're about to annihilate it.

  The storm shoves us forward. I try to pull back. Stop. Lift up. Anything.

  Dorian!

  We scream ahead.

  Sweep away the first buildings. They lift like leaves. Fly like cannonballs. Crash like bombs, exploding into shrapnel.

  I shrink away.

  Vanish somewhere in the depths of myself.

  I’m numb.

  None of this is happening.

  It’s not real.

  I have to believe that. Believe that the rising debris is a nightmare. Believe that I’m not the nightmare.