body was my own again.
Heart near to ripping out of my chest, I spun as the nightmare’s talons
lashed out. They gouged into my arm and shoulders, but I didn’t care. I could
move. I was free. But how?
I charged toward the monster’s sickening maw and dove beneath its
reach. Pent-up adrenaline surged through my body, and I hurtled forward
with a speed and strength that was far beyond me.
But the thing spun far faster than something its size should have been able
to move. Its jaws snapped open, and it screeched with a dissonant cry that
warped the air around me.
I dodged and dove across the pavement, screaming at the top of my lungs.
Pain burst from my knees and elbows as gravel cut into my skin, but that
didn’t matter. I just had to live.
Its savage claws gripped my flesh, and I felt my body rise into the air.
Then I slammed into the grass. Gasping for breath, I rolled to the side. The
ground shook as talons sank deep beside me, barely missing my skull. Half
crawling, I scrambled over the grass, desperately searching for any kind of
cover, but I was trapped against the side of a moonlit house.
Use your magic.
How?
The nightmare loomed above me and spread its glistening jaws wide.
Summoning every ounce of strength in my body, I abruptly turned and
charged back toward it. Its head snapped down, but I dashed beneath its
centipede-like belly and darted for our neighbors’ bushes. As I ran, I called
the darkness to me. Ice water flowed over my skin, and shadows and streams
of darkness wound around me, the only trick I knew.
As the thing spun, I crashed over the hedge and rolled across the grass.
Then I clambered to my feet and ducked into shadows cast by the adjacent
house. I called the shadows to me, every ounce of darkness the night had to
give.