Page 122 of Soulmateless
A shadow catches the edge of my eyes. I tug Clara’s arm so we simultaneously duck. I whirl around to the blossom now doused in purple flames. It crackles as it overtakes another bush next to it. Other flowers and bushes around succumb to more torches thrown by the purple dreamscreecher’s army. With Clara's hand clamped in mine, I try to calculate which spots we could escape the garden.
We're completely surrounded by fire.
I drag Clara with me and follow the stone path. Pitter patters and eerie screeching amplify behind us. I glance back to make sure Clara's okay, before dashing down a different direction. Each way we go, fire blocks its path, or dreamscreechers stare back.
I start coughing through this.maze. I can barely breathe!
“Get down!” Clara demands before yanking my arm and pushing me to the floor. A flick of brown and purple hits Clara's back, engulfing her clothes instantaneously!
“Clara!” I scream as she wipes and blows off the flames on her clothes, almost as if she’s brushing off cat fur. The fire on her actual skin and hair dissipates within seconds.
Oh yeah. She's a dreamscreecher.
She pulls me back up and pushes my back. “I need you to run!”
I look over my shoulder to her. “I'm not leaving you.”
“I can han-” Clara stops mid-sentence before hauling me to her. A group of black dreamscreechers shriek as they turn the corner, baring their teeth.
I turn back the other direction and another group of dreamscreechers growls our way. Clara wraps a leg around mine, grabbing my wrist as I fall to the ground.
What is she doing?
Before I can recover, she bends her body over me.
Shit. We might die here being mauled to death.
Vasilisa chuckles. “You can't cover him for long! Soon enough, Amias will be nothing but scraps of meat.”
Chapter 41
Ignatia
I won't leave Amias in here to die.
The dreamscreechers close in as Amias pants under me. It doesn't help that we're in-between bushes of fire. I know I can't do this for long, but it can hold them off temporarily.
How can I get him out of here before they kill him?
Vasilisa cackles, “Get them.”
Amias twists underneath and shoves me off. I shout as I crash on the ground beside him. Someone hisses in my ear, but when I look up to face my attacker, a flash strikes a blow at the dreamscreecher’s cheek.
“Don’t touch her!” Amias snaps.
What is he doing?
The dreamscreechers snarl at him and close in, pulling and nipping at his skin and clothes. Just as his eyes start glowing red, they rush in at once, sinking their teeth and ripping into him and his clothes.
He twists and tries to punch them all, but there's too many. They drag him off me as he unleashed a cry.
“Amias!” I scream. That idiot!
“Stop!” I yell. I try to focus on shifting into dreamscreecher form, but knives drag across my skin. I snap my head to my attacker and slug him.
I need to protect Amias!
I could barely see Amias through the swarm of dreamscreechers around him. The others are prowling towards me, snapping their jaws.
