48. Lyle

Chapter 48

Lyle

A s I prise the second metal door, a dark presence assaults the air, predatory, mythically powerful, and violent.

Someone laughs, and it's a purely mad, venomous sound. It fills the air, my ears, and my mind.

I recognise what it is straight away. And so do Savage and Scythe. My instinct to protect my regina kicks in and I snarl in warning, low and vicious.

"Eugene!" Savage announces. "Your time has come."

The little rooster tilts his head back, takes a deep breath and cockle-doodle-dos into the darkness. The shadows stutter for just a moment.

I turn around, grab my regina around the waist, and run directly past it.

My brothers pursue right behind me, Savage holding Eugene tight under his arm like a rugby ball as he lets out another yodelling crow.

Cradled in my arms, my regina is pressing a hand to her ear, deep worry etched into her face as her eagle eyes pick out the darkness. "I can run!" she protests.

"No you can't," I say quickly, holding her tighter and praying that she understands what I mean.

"Where are we going?" she huffs, clinging around my neck.

It's all dark in this stone corridor, the lights no doubt purposefully turned off, so I'm going on instinct alone to make sure we don't fall into a trap somewhere.

"Scent shield off, Lia!" Savage calls. "We need our noses!"

I know she's removed it when the air gets slightly cooler. The darkness behind us pulses from further back, but it's still in pursuit. Eugene crows a third time as I round a corner, my shoes skidding a little.

"Eugene is marking our position," I growl over my shoulder. "We need to lose him."

"We don't have a choice!" Savage calls, kissing Eugene on the head. "Go, go, go!" he urges.

Eugene tilts his head back and crows a fourth time.

"I have half a mind to turn around and fight this out," Scythe says into our minds.

"You know we can't," I say quickly back.

Aurelia pipes, "Maybe I can ? —"

" No! " all three of us shout in unison.

Her body is hot against mine and I know she's not happy as she trains her eagle eyes into the shadows beyond. "This could be a labyrinth for all we know."

"That's exactly what this is!" I dart left. And the fucker has led us right into it.

"Jump!" Aurelia screams.

I only manage it just in time, seeing the metallic glint of upturned spikes at the last second.

"Fucker!" Savage cries as he and Scythe soar through the air on my telekinesis.

"You're welcome," I cry back.

"I didn't need it!" Savage retorts with great, unnecessary attitude.

He probably didn't, but it was better to be sure. Aurelia pats my neck absently, and I forgo the urge to nuzzle her neck. Sprinting into the dark is the dumbest thing I've possibly ever done, but in between Eugene's cawing, the roiling, poisoned dark behind us surges forward in clear pursuit.

"There's something wrong up ahead," Scythe says. "Slow down."

I do as he advises, my senses on alert for any anomaly.

That dark, mad chuckle echoes off the walls, seemingly coming from all directions. At that point, I come to a crossroads.

"Left!" Aurelia cries.

"No, right!" Scythe calls.

But I'm too fast round the bend to the left, surging forward on sprinting feet. No turning back now.

"Fuck!" Savage says as the darkness presses in on our heels "Scythe, can't you squeeze his heart?—"

Scythe calls, "Lyle, watch?—"

The stone beneath me gives way, and I roar as I leap for the next stone. But that too falls, disappearing into the sudden open dark beneath.

Aurelia and I plummet. I get my telekinesis under us just in time, catching Savage and Scythe as they lose their footing behind me.

But the shadow is above us, laughing in a way that makes all the hairs on my body stand on end. He follows us down, pressing in.

I have no choice but to go down.

"It's okay!" Aurelia cries. "There's another level down there!"

That's enough permission for me, so I send us shooting down something like twenty feet. Aurelia's screams echo around us until my feet hit stone. I absorb the velocity in a crouch before looking left and right and deciding right is as good as any direction. I drop Savage and Scythe two meters from the new floor and they land on their feet with grunts.

A low stone ceiling replaces the open area we just dropped in and the cackling madman pursues us still.

Eugene's crow is hoarse this time and he stutters, ending in a croak.

"I knew I should have brought the manuka honey!" Savage says angrily. "If only you could turn into a rooster, Lia!"

"I'm not that kind of Boneweaver!" Aurelia retorts. "Why don't you give it a go?"

"Don't," Scythe warns as Savage takes a deep, meaningful inhale.

"We need to stop this!" I cry angrily.

"Face us like a man!" Savage roars over his shoulder. "And let's fucking see how well this turns out!"

"Tick, tock. Tick, tock," a sinister voice resounds. "Time is running out."

Aurelia stiffens in my arms as we come to a diverging path.

"Left!" Scythe shouts.

I oblige the shark's instincts and push my human legs further while my body demands that I shift and deal with the threat. Just as I'm thinking it might be worth doing that, two ancient wooden doors appear ahead.

Doors .

Sprinting right through them, I shout out to my brothers, turning around. Savage runs through with Eugene, and when Scythe sprints inside, he slams the doors shut behind him as I skid to a stop. Aurelia jumps out of my arms and I fling out my hands to add telekinetic resistance to the door.

The wood shudders before rattling fiercely. The hinges creak and I grunt, holding my power steady against the powerful onslaught.

Rattling fills the air, louder and louder still, as the wooden door bows. My power strains in my grip, the opposing forces pushing, pushing, pushing harder still.

My match. He could very well?—

The door flinches, a long crack appearing in the middle. My telekinesis might hold up, but the old door won't.

And then Aurelia screams, with all the rage of a woman who's truly had enough. " STOP! "

The rattling abruptly and definitively, ceases.

We all stare at the door. Silence presses on my skin and the door remains still. A minute ticks by as we hold our breaths.

Finally, Savage sighs, sagging to the floor with a quivering Eugene.

Aurelia presses her hand to her ear again—no, not to her ear, I realise, but the side of her neck. She is sweating, visibly shaken, blinking hard at the floor.

"Angel," I say, reaching for her.

"No." She moves out of my reach, and a sharp pain pierces my primal core.

"I just need a second."

She turns around, facing away from the three of us, her hands on her hips, breathing hard. It's alright, I tell my beast, she just needs a moment to process this.

After a moment, Savage whispers, "Regina."

"Eugene," Aurelia says instead.

The bird immediately flies over to her and she catches him in her arms, holding him close to her chest, her head bowed. Jealousy tears through me and I close my eyes as I catch my breath, trying to focus on convincing my rabid lion to not tear this entire place down. Aurelia whispers something to Eugene that I can't hear.

"Which way now?" Savage mutters, wiping at his forehead. "He's probably led us in the completely wrong direction."