Page 71 of Children of Blood and Bone

She pulls me onto the bridge, and my stomach flips when I make the mistake of looking down. Beneath the panels of decaying wood, sharp rocks shoot toward the sky, threatening to impale anyone unlucky enough to fall.

I shut my eyes and grip the jungle vines. They’re already splintered and frayed. Terror grips my chest so tightly I can’t even breathe.

“Look at me!” Amari commands, forcing my eyes open. Though her own body quakes, fierce determination flares in her amber gaze. My vision blacks out and she grabs my hand, forcing me forward plank by moaning plank. We’re halfway across when Inan bursts through the thick underbrush, the admiral following moments later.

It’s too late. We won’t make it—

“Àgbáj? ?w3àw?nòrìsà!”Lekan slams his staff into the ground.“Yámi níagbáraàr?!”

His body explodes with a powerful white glow that surrounds the ryders’ bodies. He drops his staff and raises his arms. With them, the beasts rise into the sky.

Inan and his admiral cry out as they slide off the backs of their leopanaires, their eyes wide with horror. Lekan throws back his arms, sending each ryder flying off the cliff.

Oh my gods…

Their massive bodies writhe and twist. They claw at the sky. But their roars meet a sharp end as they’re pierced by rocks.

A terrified rage takes hold of the admiral. With a guttural scream, she jumps to her feet and races toward Lekan with her sword.

“You maggot—”

She lunges forward only to be trapped in place by Lekan’s magic. Inan rushes to her aid, but he too is caught in the white light—another fly in Lekan’s web.

“Run!” Lekan shouts, veins bulging against his skin. Amari pulls me forward as fast as she can, though the bridge weakens with our every step.

“Go,” I order her. “It can’t hold us both!”

“You cannot—”

“I’ll make it.” I force my eyes open. “Just run. If you don’t, we’ll both fall!”

Amari’s eyes glisten, but there’s not a moment to waste. She bounds across the bridge and leaps onto the ledge, crashing onto the other side.

Though my legs shake, I push forward, dragging myself along the vine. Come on.Lekan’s life is on the line.

A terrifying creak escapes the bridge, but I keep moving. I’m almost to the other side. I’m going to make it—

The vines snap.

My stomach flies into my throat as the bridge collapses under my feet. My arms flail, desperate to grab on to anything. I latch onto a plank as the bridge smacks against the stone cliff.

“Zélie!”

Tzain’s voice is hoarse as he peeks over the ledge. My body quivers as I cling to the stone panel. Even now I hear it splintering. I know it won’t hold.

“Climb!”

Through my blackening, tear-filled vision, I see how the broken bridge has formed a ladder. Three planks are all I need to reach Tzain’s outstretched hands.

Three planks between life and death.

Climb!I order myself, but my body doesn’t move.Climb!I scream again.Move! Go now!

With a trembling hand, I grip the plank above and pull myself up.

One.

I grab the next plank and pull again, heart in my throat when another vine snaps.

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