Page 6 of Monsters of Midnight

I moved toward the main hall where Caroline had died, and I was shocked to find my wings naturally fluttered and lifted me off the ground, moving me quite quickly and smoothly just inches above the floor. As I went back toward the main entrance, not even sure how I was going to get it open, I paused and looked back up into the shadows of the ceiling. Magnus was up there, and no matter what it cost, he was still someone I had cared about. He was Ryder’s brother.

I had to do something to try to help him.

I beat my wings, a little stronger, not even knowing exactly how I was doing it. I was just wanting them to move a little faster, and they did, propelling me up into the shadows. My eyes adjusted, but because of my glow, I could see more easily. It was when I heard a moaning I knew I had found Magnus.

As I moved toward his cage, a small shadow moved in the dark, creeping up behind me and calling out to me. “Fire fly, you were offered to me,” the voice said. “You are mine.”

“They forgot to get my permission,” I retorted, moving to the side of the cage where Magnus huddled, looking miserable.

“You should’ve gotten out when you could,” Magnus muttered at me. “You shouldn’t have come back for me.”

“You’re absolutely right, I shouldn’t.” I agreed as I pulled a hair pin out of my hair and picked the lock to his cage door.

“How do you know how to pick locks?” He asked curiously.

“My life wasn’t always peaches and souffles,” I said with a wink as the latch opened and I pulled him out.

The surrounding shadows screamed in a riot, creating a whirlwind of dark energy that erupted around us.

“How are you going to get us out of this?” Magnus cried.

“The same thing I did before,” I yelled back.

“And that was?” Magnus looked around fearfully as the swirling mass of darkness grew.

“Glowed really bright!” I screwed my eyes shut and used all of my thoughts and powers to work toward one single goal, which was creating that popping sound and glowing so brightly that Cade’s brother disappeared.

It wasn’t working, though.

“Can’t you help?” I asked.

Magnus was weak, and he had done a makeshift bandage on his hand to stop the loss of blood when Cade cut off his finger. He still needed me to fly him down from up here. Clearly, he was a monster demigod like his brother, but he didn’t have the same attributes. He certainly didn’t have the wings. I wasn’t even sure if my wings would hold us up, but I was going to give it a try. It was the only chance we had if we were ever going to get out of this black mass of swirling shadows.

Claws were coming out of in the dark. I could feel their tips scraping against my skin, making thin, small slices. I screamed in pain.

“Drop me,” Magnus cried.

“I can’t,” I grimaced, using all my energy to simply fight down words. The creature was trying to smash us into the ceiling, kill both of us and do whatever it needed to do to have a corporeal body. It was my job to make sure none of that happened.

“So, this thing is afraid of light?” Magnus asked.

“He was for a second at the magnitude I was shining at, yeah,” I returned. “Though maybe it just pissed him off. Right now, he seems really, really pissed off.”

A sudden, forceful flash of light erupted in the center between Magnus and I. It was so sudden and so bright, I dropped him. I could just see his body falling away from me, toward the ground below.

I pointed straight down and raced after him, grabbing him just before he cracked his head against the floor.

“What the hell was that?” I asked, looking down at his bloody bandage and the small stone he held between his thumb and the palm of his other hand.

“The sun rune,” he said. “It’s been a long time since I’ve used runes, but I seem to not have lost my touch.”

“He’s probably just going to come back more pissed than he already was,” I pointed out. “Come on, how do we get out of this place?” I took him past the lava pit where Caroline had died just hours ago and looked for the door where we had come through. It was marked out by a framework, but there was no actual door there.

“Do you have a rune for opening doors?” I asked.

“Yes, there’s a rune for that,” Magnus said, “but I don’t have it. It’s not like we all walk around with a ton of magic runes, and you just take your pick.”

“I don’t know exactly how this all works,” I said. “I do know if we don’t find a way to open the door soon, we’re going to be in a hell of a lot of trouble with the screaming demon ’s swirling around up there trying to find a body to inhabit.”

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