Go, go, go.
I didn’t need the red Dragon’s encouragement. The crystal dust zinged through my veins as I reached deep—there was no shortage of fear to tap into.
For just a split second, I saw the meadow outside the academy…
And then Isobel enveloped us with a blast that replaced the white noise in my head with blood-red energy that scorched, turning everything to agony.
Snap.
My feet touched solid ground, and then the red wave ripped it all away. My brain and body burned. Everything was bathed in crimson light. I thought I heard Maddy scream, or maybe it was me. Her hand was torn from my arm, and then I was flying. We seemed suspended for a very long time—
Something seized hold. I was aware of a desperation that grabbed my power and took us—somewhere. But Isobel’s energy pursued us like a blood-crazed hound, scrabbling at my mind and body.
And then we crashed.
When we hit—hard—she was still there, clawing at my mind as blackness hovered at the edges of my vision. Pain enveloped me, and I struggled both to hold on to wherever I’d landed, and push the invading presence away.
Instead of leaving, it seemed to shift to someone else near me. The groan sounded male.
The world spun, I couldn’t focus on anything. I lay on the ground—but I was seized by excruciating pain.
I heard another groan that sounded torn from the throat uttering it. I thrashed through the agony, but even the effort of opening my eyes was too much.
Maddy’s here. But where the fucking hell are you?Havoc sounded frantic, something I didn’t even think was possible.
I struggled to answer him.I-I don’t know.
Movement nearby drew my attention. “Riley!” A shadow hovered over me. A narrow face framed in long, sparkly hair. Rafael’s eyes peered at me from dark orbits, haunted and weary. Even his cheeks appeared gaunt. But he’d made it here with me, wherever that was. And behind him—Lucas.
Tell me where you are.
I had other worries.Maddy? Is she okay?
She’s here. In the meadow. Unconscious, but alive.Havoc’s mindvoice had very little of its usual snarl.
I looked up into Rafael and Lucas’s eyes, which were huge.
Dammit, where are you?
I don’t know, okay? Stop fucking shouting at me.Wrapped in agony, I tried to push myself up—and failed. Something was horribly wrong with my lower half—my legs were contorting, and something new sprouted from my lower torso.
Newarms. Only they ended in hooves…
What the fuck? Rafael reached out to grab my hand.
“What’s happening?” he demanded of Lucas.
“I have no idea,” the Morph said. “I didn’t know she was a shifter.”
“Not a shifter,” I hissed through clenched teeth. My voice didn’t sound like my own, it was higher pitched. “This happens when I Jump. I’ve been a Dire, a Dragon, and a Satyr.”
I could see a forest around us, but I didn’t think this was the one near the academy. Where the hell were we? The trees seemed familiar—their trunks were like pillars, with no underbrush at all, just bare to the ground.
Then another bout of anguish made the point totally moot.
What the fuck is wrong with you?
I just wanted Havoc to stop yelling in my brain.
