Page 12 of Claim the Light
At the appearance of the cousins, Tyler steps backward. No matter his confident threats, he’s well and truly outnumbered now. “Don’t forget what I said, Sophia.”
A moment later, he bursts into a cloud of soot and ash that seems to swarm like insects before it forms a tornado and rushes upward.
Finally, he disappears into the sky and takes the darkness with him.
The haze across the moon clears. Light strikes down around us, although it’s muted now that natural clouds have gathered.
The moment Tyler rises from the rooftop, the golden bullets zip in two directions: half to Gisela where she stands near me, and the remaining bullets to Dane where he crouches on the other side of the rooftop. The bullets deposit themselves neatly into the magazines resting against their chests.
I slump to the ground as Gisela and Dane rush toward me.
Beatrix bends to me first. “Sophia! Are you okay?”
I can’t answer her. The worst of the pressure around my chest has lifted and my fingers and toes are flooding with feeling, no longer freezing, but my dread is quickly becoming panic.
The fine sheen of dust that gathered on my hands and arms when I punched Tyler is still there even now that he’s gone. So is the grit on my legs.
So is all of the ash covering Micah’s body. A blanket of it rests across his dragon scales, layered over his entire form.
He still hasn’t moved.
I can’t stop my cry. “Micah!”
I claw at the ground, trying to make myself move. The weight on my legs and arms remains, and the small gap between me and Micah feels like a mile.
My focus rises to Beatrix. “You have to help him! Please!”
She’s already moving, but Felix gets to Micah first, bending to the Grudge dragon and carefully peering at him without touching him.
Micah’s eyes remain closed and his scales are a dull gray.
Far too dull.
“Is he breathing?” My question is panicked. The stillness of Micah’s chest is scaring the fuck out of me.
Felix lifts a calming hand in my direction. “He’s breathing. It’s shallow but steady.”
I slump with a soft cry, fighting back my tears of relief. If Micah is breathing, it not only means he’s alive, but that his cracked ribs didn’t pierce his lungs. It’s a small mercy.
“I’ve never seen anything like this.” Felix casts an alarmed glance at Beatrix, who has remained beside me. “What is this substance coating Micah’s skin?” Felix gives me a quick onceover. “And yours, too, Sophia?”
“It was Tyler.” I struggle to find the words to describe the grit that remains on Micah and me.
Is it shadow? Mist?
Fear in a tangible form?
Ashseems like the best description since it’s rough and gray and leaves me feeling as if I’ve been burned to cinders.
“Every time Micah came into contact with Tyler, more of this ash covered his body. Just like it did with me.” My arm shakes as I hold up my hand to indicate where the ash has turned my own skin a pallid gray.
Beatrix reaches down to help me up. She and I were never friends. In fact, there were times when we fucking hated each other, but now she holds her hands out for me despite Felix’s quick, quiet warning.
“Beatrix, be careful,” he says. “We don’t know what this ash is or what it can do to us.”
Beatrix’s arms close around me without pause. “I’m not letting Sophia cut her elbows and knees to shreds dragging herself to Micah. She needs to be near him.”
Tears burn behind my eyes as Beatrix’s arms tighten around me.
