5. Asher

FIVE

Asher

C ereal officially pissed in.

That poxy glitter light crackled like too many volts of electricity, all violent and spitty and coming in too fast.

I tried evading it, but I was flying too slow. It struck me in a breath-stealing blast, wrenching Luke from my grasp.

I roared for him, blazing agony rioting in my bones. My body spasmed, totally at the mercy of this pain, drowning in sparkles.

Man, the vibrancy almost burned my peepers out of my head.

My wings retracted along with my tail, my stone skin switched off. The rest of me solidified as if dipped in concrete.

Shit.

I heard wings beating, a kerfuffle behind me. The glitter light died.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

For a few moments, I hovered in the air, a tad hopeful I might not take an unwanted skydive. But gravity quickly made me its bitch, my body spinning in a sickening descent.

By the stone gods, this was gonna hurt.