A twisted, storm-hardened tree clung to the eroding coastal bluff, its roots
framing a dark cave that looked like a hole leading to the heart of the earth. A
steady breeze blew onshore, smelling of kelp and fish, and Savannah shivered
as she stared at the entrance.
“I hate caves,” she said.
Sam snorted. “You and me both.”
But this place wasn’t just a cave. It was an entrance into something far
worse. I could feel the magic radiating from the opening—a low, hypnotic
pulse. I’d felt a similar pulse in the Dreamlands.
It was some kind of portal or rift between that strange realm and our own.
It had to be, and that must have been how Savannah was able to physically
exit the Dreamlands.
We began to move toward the cave, but I held up my hand and froze. A
sickly-sweet scent of rotting fruit burned my nostrils, and my adrenaline
surged.
I knew that smell all too well. A noctith demon.
In the darkness of the cave entrance, a shadow twisted and unfolded.
“Watch out!” I grabbed Savannah’s waist and yanked her aside as the
dark shape burst out of the cave.
Sam cursed and dove out of the way, while Neve launched skyward.
The monstrosity reared up on its six legs, and its head split open,
revealing rows of pointed teeth. A pink gas billowed from its throat and
spread across the ground.
I pulled Savannah along. “Sleeping gas! Run!”
Sam scrambled to her feet, but just as the gas was about to consume her, a
wind tore across the muddy beach.
Neve. She floated in the air, hands outstretched, and called a gale.
Flying sand and grit cut into my skin, and I had to brace myself to hold us
upright, but the gas dissipated instantly.
The noctith demon staggered back and dug its clawed feet into the earth.