I summoned the eather, but it sputtered weakly. I tried again, horror shaking my breath.
The tentacle exploded the ship, flinging wood and steel beams in every direction. Eather pulsed weakly in my chest, responding to the sudden deaths—
The creature—a leviathan—came aground, its bony tentacles crashing through the tin roofs of warehouses, sending brick and boards flying.
Poppy. Delano’s fresh, springy imprint brushed against my thoughts as slivers of something I rarely felt from the wolven scraped at my skin.
Bitter fear.
I tore my gaze from the remains of the ship to see the horizon bulge—no, it wasn’t the horizon. It was the towering wall of water rising as high as the city’s Rise.
I’d never seen anything like it.
A deep, thunderous roar filled the air as the wave surged, racing toward the shore—toward us.
“Run,” I whispered to Delano. It was a desperate plea, one I knew wouldn’t matter. No one could outrun that.
“You need to run,” I told him anyway.
Never.
“Delano,” I gasped, my heart twisting as I tried to summon the eather to shadowstep us, but it only flared and then faded.
Terror wrapped itself around my heart as I willed myself to move. To get up. My muscles trembling, all I was able to do was grab a fistful of fur and hold on to Delano. Even that caused me to pant for breath.
“Please,” I whispered, my vision blurring as I twisted my head to the side, searching for Casteel and Kieran. Both were scrambling toward us as Delano sank low, pressing his body against mine.
“Poppy!” Casteel shouted, his figure blurring as he started to shadowstep.
It was too late.
Even if they made it to my side, it wouldn’t matter.
It was too late.
CASTEEL
A sudden burst of silver light lit up the wharf.
The draken—the female, Aurelia.
She dove over Wayfair’s inner Rise, her greenish-brown wings grazing the tops of roofs as she released another stream of silver-tinged flames at what I knew was a leviathan—a kraken—but my brain refused to accept it. The creature roared, shaking the ground as it turned, slamming its limbs down. The deafening crack of another building exploding thundered through the air. The fiery eather seemed to do little to nothing to the beast.
“Fuck,” Kieran gasped. I caught a flash of gold—pure golden light.
My head snapped toward him. Gold eather swirled along his neck and cheeks. I followed his stare, and my gut clenched.
“Run!” Kieran shouted, twisting toward Sage. The wolven was on the wharf, frozen. “Godsdamn it, run!”
Sage jerked, letting out a pained howl as she turned and darted down an alley, dodging debris flying through the air.
I’d seen that kind of wave before as a young boy. The ground had shaken, and then a massive wave came inland, washing away the small city between Aegea and Evaemon. There had been no escaping it. Nothing to be done.
I knew the only chance we had was to shadowstep, but I had no idea if I could pull it off—carry the three of them. I didn’t know if I could be fast enough to come back for my brother. For Emil and Naill.
But fucking gods, I would do it.
Somehow.
