She expected some kind of lecture from him,
but he remained silent and continued to watch the Procul Mirror.
After a few minutes, he said, “Found someone.” He handed the mirror
back to her. “There’s another champion a few blocks from here.
Let’s go.” He turned and walked along the sidewalk, remaining in
the shadow of the building and obviously expecting her to just go
with him.
Aurelia raised her eyebrows. “Um … Gramps?
Motorbike might be faster? You can ride with me.”
He grunted in response and turned to follow
her to the bike. She watched him closely, still wondering what was
going on, and noticed him squinting in the sunlight, his face
twisted into a scowl.
He must have noticed her bemused expression,
because he turned to her and said, “Just got a splitting headache.
Light makes it worse.”
“
That sucks.” She eyed him
skeptically, wondering if there was something else that was
bothering him. But she had no real reason to doubt him – just a bad
feeling. Maybe she was overthinking everything, and he really did
just have a headache. He was old as the hills, after all.
A lot of help he’ll be if light bothers
him
, she thought disdainfully, jumping
onto her bike. “Okay, where to?”
He got on behind her and gave her a few
directions to get to the other contestant. He seemed to know the
layout of the city awfully well, and she frowned again at his
behavior. This city had been destroyed for ages. How did he know
where the streets went?
“
Did you live here before
it got wrecked or something?” she asked sarcastically, twisting
back to shoot him a glare.
He gave her a wry smile. “Let’s just say
this isn’t my first time in Manhattan.”
Turning her eyes back to
the street, she felt a chill creep down her spine. Something about
Vilk seemed … wrong. What was it, exactly? The feeling of looming
danger lingered, but she couldn’t figure out what was causing it.
He was acting weird, but was
she
over reacting?
The sound of shouting interrupted her
thoughts, and she jammed the brakes and brought her vehicle to a
halt. Unable to understand the language, she whirled to see who it
was. A boy with black hair, who looked about Connor’s age, stood
next to a motorbike in the middle of the street, aiming a wand at
her.
Recognizing him as the champion from China,
she called, “Hey! Relax!”
“
Ni yao shen
me?
” the boy demanded.
“
Huh?”
The boy repeated his question slowly.
Aurelia swung her leg over
the bike, jumped off, and walked toward him. “Okay, I know you and
me probably share some common ancestors, but I’ve lived in the
Triumvirate all my life. I know exactly two words of
Chinese:
ni
and
hao
,
which I think mean ‘hello’ when said together.”
The boy looked past
Aurelia, and his eyes widened with alarm. “
Lu huo!
” A green blast flew from the
tip of his dark brown wand, and Aurelia ducked instinctively and
glanced back just in time to see it hit Vilk in the stomach. The
older man fell, screaming in pain.
Shocked, Aurelia pulled out one of her
swords and faced the boy. “What’s your problem?”
He pointed at Vilk. “Skinwokah!”
Skinwalker? Where?
Sensing an attack, she spun again in time to see
Vilk jump to his feet. His eyes glowed unnaturally white, and his
face was horribly contorted, scowling, and ravenous. He charged at
her, his hands reaching for her throat. Raw instinct took over, and
she lunged at him, swinging her sword in a high arc. Her blade
sliced through his neck, beheading him before she could register
what was happening.
Vilk’s head tumbled to the ground, where it
quickly shriveled into something that looked like a skull made of
ground meat – dark red and mottled with black. The rest of his body
collapsed and shriveled as well, becoming a human-shaped
monstrosity of skinless flesh. Aurelia gagged. A human skin was
tied around the thing’s neck like a cape, its weathered arms
twisted in a knot.
She stared at the real Vilk’s empty face,
lying there like a discarded rag, and the truth struck her like a
blow to the head. So that was why he’d fallen behind. He’d been
attacked by a skinwalker, and she hadn’t even known. She’d never
heard of a skinwalker taking human form before, but obviously it
was possible.
She could only guess that the monster had
watched them long enough to be able to imitate his behavior … And
she’d been dumb enough to fall for its act. The idea about teaming
up with the others must have been the monster’s way of rounding up
its prey. She’d known that skinwalkers took the forms of pack
animals and waited for the herds to reassemble before attacking
them all at the same time. She’d just never imagined she would see
one try to do the same to humans.
Before she could explore that thought
further, a mixture of howls and roars surrounded her. She whirled
toward the sound and saw several sharp-toothed, snarling predators
running toward her. Wolves, cougars, and bears with luminous,
supernatural whiteness in place of their eyes – skinwalkers in
animal form. Their sharp claws flashed in the waning sunlight,
their hungry eyes fixed on her, and she knew that one of her
greatest fears had come to life. The skinwalkers had surrounded
her, and if she didn’t act soon, they’d devour her.
But she couldn’t move; the sight of Vilk’s
lifeless skin paralyzed her. Then, in the corner of her eye, she
saw the Chinese boy throwing blasts at the creatures, shouting the
magic words in his language.
A moment later he reached
out and grabbed her wrist.
“Kuai
pao!
”
He yanked her toward his motorbike and
jumped on. Though her mind was still too foggy to form any
meaningful thoughts, a sense of urgency spurred her to follow. She
jumped on behind him, and he revved up the motorbike’s engine while
she grabbed his waist with one hand, holding a sword aloft with the
other. There was no telling whether the skinwalkers would catch up
with them. Not that she’d be able to see them. Her eyes were
stinging and watering until the world around her was a blur.
It could have been the wind. Or it could
have been the sobs that rose in her chest.
The motorbike zoomed forward, but she
scarcely noticed. Now that Vilk was dead, only four champions
remained. Maybe it was time to beg for mercy. Seeing what remained
of Vilk frightened her like nothing had before. He’d been an
experienced Defender whose skill even she had to respect, and yet
it had killed him so quickly, he hadn’t even had the chance to cry
out. Which meant she hadn’t had the chance to help him.
He’d been an ally. And she’d failed him.
If she’d been paying more attention, she
might have realized earlier that he wasn’t riding his bike beside
her, and she might have found him in time to save him from the
skinwalker. She hadn’t asked for his help, but he’d been on her
side, and in spite of all the not-so-nice thoughts she’d had about
him, that meant something to her.
But now, he was dead. The Challenge had
killed him. And if she didn’t get a grip, it would kill her
too.
The motorbike came to a sudden, screeching
halt, cutting her thoughts short, and Aurelia’s face banged against
the back of the boy’s head. The impact forced her to confront
reality, and she looked around wildly for the skinwalkers, raising
her sword. But they were nowhere in sight, and the tall buildings
around her were unfamiliar. Dark panels hung askew off the walls of
each, the jagged glass of their broken windows reminding her of
teeth.
For a moment, she was confused. Then she
realized that the motorbike must have outrun the creatures. A
slight trickle of relief loosened her taught muscles, but it was
short-lived. There had to be a reason boy stopped his motorbike,
and she had an uncanny feeling that they were being watched.
He jumped off and held up his hands in a
gesture that clearly said: “Wait.”
She nodded, then watched
as he pulled out his wand and approached the ashes of a burnt
building. What did he see? She’d always been good at sensing when
danger was near, but now her instincts were thrown by the shock of
seeing Vilk dead.
Wake up,
Firedragon!
If there was something out
there, she needed to know about it!
She jumped off the bike and moved to follow
the boy. “What is it?”
“
Yao
guai
,” he whispered, his voice
tense.
Aurelia didn’t need to
know Chinese to understand what he’d said.
Monster …
She pulled her other sword
out of its sheath and swung both blades by her sides, trying to
shake the tension away. This was what she’d been waiting
for.
Come on, focus …
In the distance, a black creature emerged
from behind the ashes, eyes and fangs glowing. It had the body of a
hound, but the hungry look in its feral eyes made it look fiercer
than any creature Aurelia had encountered before. Though it was too
far away for her to see it clearly, she knew what it was.
The fangbeast. It was here.
And it had spotted them. Yellow flames
erupted from the fangbeast’s body, and it disappeared in a burst of
flames. A split second later, a giant fireball appeared between
Aurelia and the Chinese boy. The flames vanished, leaving behind
the growling, ferocious monster.
Aurelia held up her
swords.
This is it.
No more searching. No more waiting. The ultimate fiend, the
favorite of the Lord of the Underworld himself, was crouched before
her. Waiting.
But before she could make
her first move, the Chinese boy raised his wand and yelled,
“
Bao zha!
”
A red explosion tore through the air,
sending Aurelia flying. She landed on her back, the impact knocking
the wind out of her, and scrambled to get up, inhaling deeply in
hopes of steadying her head. She couldn’t have chosen a worse time
to encounter the fangbeast. Right now, she was shaken and
distracted by what had happened to Vilk. It was the only excuse for
missing that first shot.
Now, she saw that the fangbeast had taken
things one step farther. It had rapidly multiplied and was
attacking the boy, who yelled a spell in Chinese and threw up a
green force field.
Her chest clenched and she had to
concentrate on her breath to keep it from freezing in her throat.
Realizing how tightly she was gripping her weapons, she forced
herself to loosen her hands. Any moment, those monsters could zero
in on her as their target.
The second she thought
that, one of the fangbeast clones turned away from the Chinese boy
and leaped at her. She automatically swung one of her swords and
hit its neck, but the hide was too thick to cut, and the impact
through the blade rippled up her arm. She yanked hard to get her
blade back and bent her knees to steady her stance. Then she
recalled a move she’d learned for this kind of situation.
Sky Three …
When the next fangbeast clone came at her
from behind, she spun, sweeping both swords to her right side, and
cut its throat with her right sword. She hit the same spot with her
left in a backhand strike as she swung the first sword over her
head, drawing a ring in the air. Then, quick as a flash, the first
sword sliced across the creature’s neck again, sending its head
flying.
The head dissolved in midair, along with the
rest of its body, and she allowed herself a moment of relief.
But another beast jumped
at her from the side and started to split into two. She turned to
it – an instant before it
actually
split – and used the same quick, three-stroke
move to behead the clone. The body vanished.
Her head was still in too much of a fog for
her to really think about what was happening, but her instincts
seemed to know what to do, and she obeyed. Instead of commanding
her body, she listened. She’d been told once that letting go was
the key to success in combat, but only now did she fully appreciate
what that meant. She couldn’t think – she just had to fight.
She had no choice.
Those instincts told her
to duck, and she did. No questioning – just action. She couldn’t
afford to get caught up in feelings and fear
now
. A beast flew over her head, and
she knew, as clearly as if it had happened, that if she hadn’t
moved when she did, it would have snapped its jaws around her
neck.
She sprang up, and before it could attack
her again, sliced its head off. Only one stroke was necessary this
time. She must’ve hit the sweet spot.
The heat of combat surged
through her veins, and she looked around for her next target. A
monster charged at her from the left, and she turned to face it
head-on. She could sense everything the fangbeast was about to do,
see its moves in her head before it made them. It was freakily
predictable – or maybe
she
was freakily predict
ive
. Seconds had probably passed,
but to her, time seemed to slow down. None of the physical strain
she was accustomed to bothered her; she felt as if she were a being
of pure energy. She leaped out of the way an instant before the
clone swiped at the spot where she’d been standing, then swept her
blades back and sliced through its neck.
“
Bao
zha!
” the Chinese boy yelled, and his
voice rang in her ears.