Page 66 of Poison Sun

It’s a good thing I teleported again, because its sharp tail slices through the air where I was previously standing.

I can’t stay in one place for too long.

So, I fire travel a few more times, stabbing the monster’s underbelly with everything I’ve got. As I do, I pray that the fact that it hasn’t attacked me with its head yet means Blaze is still holding it off.

But fire travel is one of the most consuming ways witches can use magic. I can’t keep this up forever. Especially because I have no idea how badly my dagger is injuring the thing.

Maybe it’s doing nothing. If so, I need to stop wasting my time and energy, and try another approach.

Suddenly, Blaze screams so loudly that the sound pierces the night.

In a blink, I fire travel to help him. But without a clear idea of what’s going on up there, I arrive in a prime spot for the wurm to come down at me with its jaw open, ready to bite.

Fueled by fear, I flash away in a burst of fire.

A second before disappearing, a sharp pain slices through my forearm.

When I land on the ground about twenty feet away, I see it. A puncture mark on my skin. It’s not deep, but it burns in a way that fire never could.

The poison.

The Tatzelwurm’s poison is in me.

Blaze releases an anguished cry and blasts the monster with more fire than ever.

He thinks I’m dead, I realize. To him, it looked like that thing chomped down on me and swallowed me whole.

Blaze’s attacks aren’t working. It doesn’t seem like my stab wounds did anything to the wurm’s body. The poison continues to burn my arm, crawling beyond my elbow and up my bicep, eating away my blood and bones.

If it burns this much right now, what’s going to happen when it reaches my heart?

It’s going to kill me, I realize. If I don’t get this poison out of me, then that’s it. I’m done.

But I don’t know how to get it out of me, or if it’s possible to get it out of me at all.

And I won’t leave Blaze to kill this thing on his own.

So, I focus, visualizing the top of the wurm’s head. Fire travel takes more than just power. It takes will, and right now, mine is fueled by desperation, determination, and the searing pain in my left arm.

I have one shot at this.

Now.

In a burst of flames, I teleport to the top of the monster’s head, holding onto one of the spikes coming out of it with my good arm to balance.

Blaze is about to shoot more fire at it.

But shock fills his eyes when he sees me, and he pulls back his magic. Not like fire could actually kill me, but I suppose he’s acting on instinct by not lighting me up in a blaze of glory.

Without fire being blasted at it, it’s not going to be long until the monster reorients itself and launches at Blaze.

So, taking a deep breath, I let go of the spike, reach for my dagger with my good arm, and singlehandedly plunge it into the space between the beast’s eyes.

The Taztelwurm lets out an ear-splitting shriek that echoes off the mountains and collapses, flinging me off its head and sending me rolling a few times on the ground.

Then, silence.

Blaze rushes over, falling to his knees beside me. “Morgan,” he says, his voice getting stuck in his throat when he speaks my name. “You’re alive.”

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