Page 149 of Taste of Thorns
These are demons – solid and gigantic. They howl as they charge towards us, the noise bouncing off the walls of the cave, echoing and amplifying into one horrifying cacophony. Their wings crack the air, and their razor-sharp talons are drawn and ready to strike. Their eyes shine a venomous red and horns twist around the tops of their head like distorted crowns.
“Demons!” Linny cries out, “how?”
And I understand her confusion. In all those books we read up about trials, in all the hours we spent scanning those pages, not once did they mention demons in a trial. Demons are banned from the realm. The shadow weavers risk their lives to drive them from the borders. It’s not possible for them to have infiltrated this deep into the realm. And yet here they are.
“Linny, run!” I yell.
But when we spin around to race the way we came, we find the tunnel sealed shut. Linny pushes at the space that was only moments ago an opening, digging her nails into the stone. But nothing gives and nothing happens.
We’re going to have to stand and fight them.
At least we have a hope of coming out of this in one piece. A shadow weaver and a light wielder. I think of all those ordinaries – of Fly and Clare. They won’t stand a chance. Not against demons.
“Come on, Linny,” I say, raising my hands, and blasting the light in my veins toward the swarm of demons. “What do we do? How do we fight them?”
She’s a shadow weaver. She’s been training for battles like this all her life (according to Beaufort anyway). The only monsters I’ve ever faced were Thorne’s, and those were not the same. I don’t know how to fight these creatures.
I expect Linny to follow suit, blasting her magic alongside mine, helping me to force back the demons. I can feel them struggling in the light, pushing against it and then they’re breaking through, swooping over our heads, and I’m forced to swipe at them again and again to stop them from diving down towards us.
Linny does nothing.
I curse so loudly and so crudely, I bet even my mother in her grave is blushing in embarrassment.
Is this girl for real? This isn’t the time for one of her hissy fits. I need her help. Does she want to get us both killed?
Or is she hoping that I’ll be the one killed? She’s waiting for that to happen before she steps in and saves herself.
I glance over my shoulder at her, ready to give her another piece of my mind. However, she’s not standing there, watching me with one of her catty expressions.
The girl has sunk down to the ground. She hugs her knees tightly to her chest, and her face is buried in her arms.
“Linny!” I yell. What the hell is she doing? Obviously, not waiting for me to die after all. She’s shutting down. There isn’t time for that. “I need your help!”
Then I think of Thorne. I think of what happened to me when the Madame verbally abused me that time in the classroom. Does this girl have demons like the rest of us? Is she paralyzed with fear?
“I can’t,” she sobs.
“Yes, you can, Linny. I know you can. Together, we can fight them off. Get up. Come on, you can do it.Wecan do it!”
She shakes her head from side to side, her body trembling. “I can’t help you.”
“Is that what someone told you?” I say, narrowly swiping with my light at a demon who swings so close, I see the hatred in its gleaming eyes and its forked tongue in its mouth. “Did someone tell you that you’re not allowed to help me? Was it the Madame? Or your sister? Because you have choices, Linny. We can work together. Help each other. You don’t have to do this.”
A demon comes hurtling right for her. She screams, scuttling backwards on her bottom, fear and desperation written all over her face.
“No!” I scream, driving a strand of powerful light right into the demon’s belly. Instantly, it explodes into flames and withers away, like flash paper caught alight.
And I understand.
It’s not that she won’t help. It’s that she can’t.
All the pieces slot into place. Clear as day. How had I never seen it before?
Linny has never used her powers in front of me. Not once. Not in class. Not that time on the field when Henrietta struck me. Not now in this trial.
Because Linette Smyte has no powers. She cannot shadow weave.
I swing my gaze back up at the remaining demons circling us in the cave. I know their weakness now. The soft undersides of their belly. I strike two quickly, obliterating them from high above us before they see what’s coming. Then they cotton on. Darting away from my strikes, weaving this way and that so that I can’t hit them, and every so often hurtling towards us. I’m so busy tackling one, I miss a second and its talons scrape painfully at my face before I react and blast it away. Another taunts Linny and I have to scream to divert its attention to me, before striking it too.
