Page 93 of Skyshade
Behind him, she said, “And you never will.”
Grim laughed darkly. He was behind her in an instant. “Will you be mad at me when I launch you off this peak?” he whispered in her ear.
Cocky demon. His shadows swarmed her, but she was too fast, she froze his shadows solid, and they fell into the snow. She shot herself back with a burst of energy, then began throwing ice dagger after ice dagger, aimed at his heart, his head, his neck. Each turned to ashjust an inch before landing true. In response, he sent an army of snowballs in her direction, which bounced off her Starling shield. They didn’t touch her, but the force against her shield hurt.
It was too thin. She needed thicker. And she needed to wipe that self-satisfied grin off his face.
Isla shielded herself completely in energy, arms crossed in front of her. She called every inch of her force around her. Then, when Grim was close enough, she exploded.
Grim was launched off the mountain so quickly, he was just a streak of shadow.
And Isla was left smiling.
He was waiting for her at the bottom of the mountain, leaning against it, looking awfully whole for someone who had just been hurled off a peak. “Unleashed suits you, Hearteater,” he said.
She couldn’t agree more.
Grim woke her up early, with his lips against her head. “Wraith is getting restless. I’m going to take him flying. I’ll be back soon.”
She should take Lynx for a run too. But she needed to spend more time going through the book. So far, she had only collected a handful of skyres, without knowing how to use them. He couldn’t know about her research.
He left, and she returned to the library. The pages flipped over and over, revealing just a little bit more each time.
Most were pieces of skyres. A select few were whole. None had descriptions; not yet.
She was slouched in the chair, her cheek resting against her palm, as she flipped through and a sentence caught her eye. She’d hardly finished reading it before it settled, disappearing.
Slowly, she sat up.
It wasn’t a skyre...but it was something important. Something she would need, once she discovered the right marking.
It read, Bones hold more power than blood. The most powerful skyres must be formed with them.
If she was going to close the portal—if she was going to extend her life—she would need infinitely powerful bones.
She knew where to get them.
Snow fell weightlessly around her as she stopped at the mouth of the maze, still clutching the book in her hands, in case she needed a different skyre.
Uncertain, she took a breath. She had memorized the turns Grim had taken, as a precaution. Still, Isla wondered if she was making a grave mistake as she stepped inside the labyrinth.
Power hummed somewhere inside the hedges, smothering her own. She could feel it biting against her cheeks, her fingertips.
It was quiet. Too quiet, almost, as if all life had been stolen within its walls. She imagined what it would be like to be trapped forever, to go crazed inside, searching for the way out.
The book seemed to hum in her hands. She opened it as she walked, flipping through the pages, seeing what might be revealed to her.
Nothing.
Just blank parchment. Not even a single marking. She frowned. Closed the book again.
By the time she heard the growl, it was too late.
The creature was on her, its teeth sinking into her calf as she screamed. The smell of her blood filled the air, and she kicked as hard as she could, foot finding hard skin. It was enough to get the beast off her and give her a chance to run.
That was when she saw what it was—a snarling four-legged creature with a squished, angry face, and tusks coming out of its front. Something about it was twisted. Wrong.
A creature from the storm. From the otherworld.
