31

As deep as the sea and as high as the tallest mountain, the weird warble vibrates from the forest and through our bones, invading our skulls, making us gasp and cover our ears. The air swells with the reek of rotting fruit and sour milk…and death.

“What is it?” I shout.

“No idea.” Jadon scrambles to his feet and reaches for the broadsword he’d just put away.

I expect dangerous creatures like the burnu to live in the forest. But this cry sounds more terrifying than anything I can imagine, including the burnu.

Wide-eyed, Veril shakes his head. “I’ve never heard that sound in these woods.”

Lesser shrieks—compared to that heart-stopping bellow—drown out Veril’s words.

“Get inside!” Jadon cries.

I grab my sword and dagger from the workbench and run behind my companions into the cottage, pulse racing, leg burning.

Another high-pitched cry screws through my skull, the creature closer than before.

Bam! Bam! The cottage shudders as the beast flings itself against the walls.

Bam! This time, the creature strikes the window in the bedroom.

Almost simultaneously, something dark and the size of a large pumpkin strikes the window in the sitting room. A crack spiders out from the center of the window.

“There are two?” I shout.

Olivia, courage outweighing sense, darts to the window and gasps, “Sweet Supreme.”

Bam!

Jadon and I creep over to stand beside her. Together, we peer through the window. There, a dog-sized, black… thing smacks against the glass. That stink moves past the barrier of glass and fills our nostrils. Olivia winces, “Ugh,” and wheels away from the window and races back to Philia, who holds the crook of her elbow against her nose.

Bam! Another dog-sized black thing, this one with an orange marking, smacks the glass.

Through the shattered windowpane, Jadon and I see the creature’s vast, leathery wings and glowing, hungry eyes.

It’s the same beast that was perched on the hollow outside the bedroom!

“Battabies,” Jadon whispers, awed.

Battabies… Battabies… I whip the pages of my memory, matching what I just glimpsed outside with what I know from my past. Wings like a bird. Leather wings, not feathers.

I look over my shoulder to Veril. “This bowl of bother is the creature I told you about.”

The old man tries to speak but can only shake his head.

“Do battabies gouge eyes to reach brains?” I whisper to Jadon.

“Yep.”

“Talons that never dull?” The creature in my mind matches the creature on the other side of this window.

He nods and adds, “And teeth that sharpen with each kill.”

Battabies never give up, relenting only once they’ve fed.

Bam! The window in front of us cracks again. Bam! The wood in the bedroom creaks.

“They’re trying to knock down the cottage,” Olivia shouts, her voice quavering. She and Philia clutch each other’s hands. “Did Elyn send these things?”

“I don’t think that matters right now,” Jadon says, bending over to tighten the clasps of his boots. “We’ve got to send them back to the cave they haunt.”

“And where is that?” I ask.

“Unfortunately,” Jadon says, “that would be Azzam Cavern.”

Philia gasps.

I don’t know Azzam Cavern, but Philia does, and her reaction frightens me. “Veril!” I spin around to find him standing frozen near the hearth. “Veril,” I bark again.

At my voice, the Renrian snaps out of his trance.

“Is there something you can do?” I ask. “Something that will scare them away? Some kind of enchantment that could hide us, make us disappear?”

Veril’s mouth pops open, then closes, then opens again to say, “No. Yes. There’s, I don’t know, I’ve never had to, yes.” He takes a deep breath and slowly releases it. “Yes, I can figure something out, but I must be outside to—”

Bam! More creaking wood.

“Kai,” Jadon says, “we need to distract them while Veril figures out a spell.”

I turn to Veril. “How long do you need?”

The old man’s eyes lighten to their lavender glow. “All the time you can give me. Enchantments aren’t as simple as blinking my eyes.” His gaze settles on mine. “This may not work, dearest. I’ve never enchanted under such pressure and from battabies especially.”

Jadon steps beside me, Chaos in hand. “We’ll go outside and start backing down the walkway. Then, like we did with the cursuflies, the soldiers, and the burnu, we’ll separate. I’ll go right toward the creek. You’ll go left toward—”

Bam! Bam! Bam! The pots and glass vials rattle. A braid of garlic bulbs and one of the dry-aging ducks fall from their nails.

“I don’t have my amulet, but I’ll still try to blast them first with—” I hold up my left hand.

Silence drops over the cottage. None of us are foolish enough to believe the battabies have grown bored with us and are now flitting back to their roost.

“Let’s take this time to prepare,” Jadon says in a near-whisper.

Moving slowly in case my movements make noise, I pluck Fury from the floor. My shoulders and scalp tingle, and my hands burn hot. My hands are hot! I gape at them, so surprised that a sob nearly breaks from my chest. Even without my amulet, I have my power.

Olivia and Philia gape at me. “Your eyes,” the redhead whispers.

Jadon does a double take, but not at my eyes. “You can’t go out there like that. You need armor. You’re just starting to heal.”

I look down at my tunic, already feeling strain and pain in my muscles.

“Jay, you’re not wearing armor, either,” Olivia adds.

He shakes his head. “I don’t care about that. I care about her .”

My grip tightens on Fury. “But—”

“If you get hurt again,” he says, “you’ll never reach Mount Devour.”

Shit. He’s right.

We need to figure something out. Like now .