DEDICATION
For the ladies of Blue Willow Bookshop, especially Cathy, Becky, and Valerie, for more reasons than I could ever list
CONTENTS
Dedication
Chapter 1 - Grace
Chapter 2 - Greer
Chapter 3 - Gretchen
Chapter 4 - Grace
Chapter 5 - Greer
Chapter 6 - Gretchen
Chapter 7 - Greer
Chapter 8 - Grace
Chapter 9 - Gretchen
Chapter 10 - Greer
Chapter 11 - Gretchen
Chapter 12 - Greer
Chapter 13 - Grace
Chapter 14 - Gretchen
Chapter 15 - Greer
Chapter 16 - Grace
Chapter 17 - Gretchen
Chapter 18 - Greer
Chapter 19 - Gretchen
Chapter 20 - Grace
Chapter 21 - Greer
Chapter 22 - Gretchen
Chapter 23 - Greer
Chapter 24 - Grace
Chapter 25 - Greer
Chapter 26 - Gretchen
Chapter 27 - Greer
Chapter 28 - Grace
Chapter 29 - Greer
Chapter 30 - Gretchen
Chapter 31 - Grace
Chapter 32 - Gretchen
Chapter 33 - Greer
Chapter 34 - Grace
Chapter 35 - Gretchen
Chapter 36 - Grace
About the Author
Also by Tera Lynn Childs
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Credits
Copyright
About the Publisher
CHAPTER 1
GRACE
The monsters are waiting.
As Gretchen, Greer, and I tumble out of the swirling crazy of the portal we created to bring us here, we are immediately surrounded by mythological beasts. There must be two dozen, at least. All sizes, all shapes, all . . . textures. Many I recognize from Gretchen’s lost monster binders: a furry Calydonian boar with tusks three feet long, a pair of massive birds whose feathers look like arrowheads, and a double-headed serpent monster that I think is called an amphisbaena. Others I’ve never even imagined, like the giant white worm or the hyena-like one with no mouth that I can see. They are all standing in a semicircle around the open space where the portal dumped us into the bleak, black abyss that the monsters call home: Abyssos.
When Gretchen described this place, I thought she was exaggerating. I couldn’t believe it was as horrible as the picture she painted.
I was wrong.
Between the slick-looking black stone and the nauseating combination of smells, sounds, and faint green light, I almost wish I could autoport back home and forget I ever saw any of this.
But I can’t. We’re here for a purpose, and I won’t abandon my sisters or our duty.
Tugging on my backpack’s straps to anchor it tighter against my body, I force myself to control the fear as we face down the waiting monsters.
Waiting . . . like they knew we were coming.
For half a second I think—I hope—that these are friendly monsters, the ones Gretchen told us she met when she came in here after Nick. The ones who want to help us.
But one glance at her—stance braced wide, a dagger in each fist, fangs on display, and a look of pure menace on her face—tells me to forget that idea. These monsters aren’t here to assist. They’re here to either capture us or kill us.
Neither option leads to a good ending for us or the world we’re trying to protect. I knew this was going to be dangerous. I just didn’t expect the danger to find us so quickly.
My already racing heart speeds up in my chest.
“Fangs down.” Gretchen inches forward, putting herself between me and Greer and the monsters. “They’re mortal here. They won’t want to tangle with our venom.”
I glance at Greer. Her fair skin and highlights shine like a beacon against the gloom. It’s her face, though, that stands out the most. Her expression is haunting, her cheeks are ghostly pale, her silver eyes are wide and staring straight ahead. She usually holds it together on the outside, even when she’s falling apart on the inside. Seeing the signs of her panic on prominent display sends my heart rate up another notch.
I curl my lips and let my fangs drop, hoping the gesture will make me appear stronger and more dangerous.
The boys fly out of the portal right behind us. Nick bumps into Greer, knocking her off-balance, but Thane manages to land sure-footed at my side. He reaches out to steady Greer before she hits the shiny black ground.
My brother’s reflexes are lightning fast.
“What in Hades?” Nick asks, already swinging his backpack around to the front and unzipping the main compartment.
“They were waiting,” I say, my voice weak.
Greer adds in a tense whisper, “They knew we were coming.”
She says it like it’s more than a guess. Given her power of second sight, it probably is.
Gretchen flicks a glance over her shoulder, exchanging a look with Nick—a silent question, Did you do this? Does she still doubt his allegiance? Does she still think he’s spying on us for the enemy—well, for one of our enemies? We have so many it’s hard to keep track. There are the ones who want us dead before we can open the door, the ones who want to wait until after, and the ones who want us for the bounty on our heads—freedom from this awful place. We’re lucky anyone is on our side. Nick is supposed to be.
Does Gretchen think he might be the reason the monsters are expecting us?
His mouth tightens and he gives her a quick shake of his head.
She stares at him—studying him, evaluating him. Gretchen doesn’t trust easily, and I know she still has doubts about Nick. I don’t blame her. When he first showed up in her life, she had no idea he was anything more than a normal boy. Then she learned he was sent by the goddess of justice to protect us. And just when she started to believe him, she found out he was also working as an agent for the monster side. He insists he was a mole, and she believes him. We believe him. But still, there’s always room for doubt.
Finally, she nods in response before returning her attention to the monsters, who have started grunting and shuffling in anticipation of the fight. I guess that was answer enough for her.
“Circle up,” Gretchen instructs.
Adrenaline pours into my bloodstream and my hands start to shake.
I try to calm my fear and draw on my courage. I’ve trained for this. Between Gretchen’s and Greer’s lessons, I feel like I’ve earned a monster-fighting black belt in a few short weeks. But this isn’t a training exercise. I’ve never been this frightened in my life, not even when the two warring factions clashed in the gym at Greer’s school and we were caught in the middle. Then I didn’t have time to be scared.
“Get behind us,” Nick says calmly as he steps around me, taking position at Gretchen’s side.
Thane follows around to the other side, flanking Gretchen and setting me and Greer firmly behind their wall of defense. He’s here only to watch over me, to look out for his little sister. He’s not actually part of this war. He’s not equipped for what we’re about to face. He’s just a boy.
“Thane, no.” I tug at his shoulder. “We’re not helpless.”
When he glances back at me, I bare my teeth to display my fangs.
His eyes narrow slightly, as if he’s deciding whether my venom-spewing fangs are up to the task, and then he nods. It’s crazy how proud that makes me feel. For once, I’m the one who can protect him.
“Grace is right,” Gretchen says. “We’ve got the deadly weapons. Girls in front, boys as backup. Everyone, arm yourselves.”
As Greer and I step into position, Gretchen hands each of us one of her daggers before reac
hing behind her back and pulling another pair from the waistband of her cargo pants. She’s like a walking armory. I wonder what she has hidden away in her pockets.
Beside her, Nick holds what looks like a razor-sharp Frisbee in one hand, his fingers curled through a set of holes in the center. The object is part bowling ball, part discus, with a deadly blade-like edge. And from the way Nick is maneuvering it with simple wrist movements, it looks like he knows how to use it.
In a flash, Thane reaches behind his head and pulls out a sword I didn’t even realize he had. It must have been hidden behind his backpack. He grips the hilt in both hands, slashing it in front of him and looking more like a medieval warrior than my big brother. The blade makes a whoosh-whoosh as it cuts through the air.
I’m suddenly very glad he came with us.
Gretchen catches my eye. “Get ready.”
She nods, and that tiny bit of reassurance centers me. I shove my heart back down where it belongs and turn to the monsters, focusing my full attention on the enemy.
When I do, one of the monsters—a horrible-looking man with blue-black skin and glistening stains around his mouth—raises one arm and shouts.
“Epitithentai!”
As one, the monster horde roars and charges forward.
Everything happens in a blur. The monsters descend on us, and before I can blink, we’re fighting for our lives—or our freedom. It’s not like they’re clarifying which side of the war they’re on as they’re trying to bite and claw at us.
A golden sheep runs at me, maybe sensing that I’m the weakest opponent here. I’m not so proud that I won’t agree with that assessment—I’m much better with a keyboard and mouse than a dagger.
The sheep seems harmless. I grab a handful of fleece and hold it away from my body, hesitant to hurt the little thing.
With my opponent under control, I try to keep track of everyone else.
Gretchen is taking on two of the biggest monsters, ripping a dagger through the chest of one and giving the other a side kick straight to the . . . groin, I think. It’s hard to tell under all that fur.
Greer does one of her crazy Tae Kwon Do jump-kicks at the head of a creature that looks like the opposite of a griffin—the head of a lion and the body of bird. She knocks it to the ground and pins one wing down with a dagger. I’m in awe. She acts so elegant and proper, but she can kick monster butt.
Nick sends his metal disc flying through the air—it slices through the arm of one creature and the shoulder of another, lodging itself in the chest of a third.
Thane is amazing. Like music in motion, he swings his blade in a rhythmic movement of figure eights. Infinity. He looks lethal and completely comfortable, like he was born to wield this weapon. Clearly my brother is keeping more secrets than I ever imagined. The monsters around him keep their distance, as if they can sense his deadly skill with the sword. My brother, the warrior.
“Grace!” Gretchen shouts. “Those sheep are poisonous.”
“Oh.” I turn back to the creature before me to find it trying to reach around and bite my wrist. “Shoot.”
Still reluctant to hurt the fuzzball—poisonous or not—I’m deciding what to do when Nick appears at my side. He grabs the fleece with both hands and flings the beast into the black.
“Thanks,” I say.
He gives me a quick smile before turning back to the fight.
Then I’m under attack.
A beast tackles me from behind, knocking the dagger out of my grip as I hit the ground. Stupid, Grace. I should have stayed focused on my own fight, instead of worrying about watching everyone else. I feel hot breath on my neck, saliva dripping onto the back of my tee—at least I think it’s saliva. If it were poison, it would probably be burning my skin already—I hope. I try to push up to my hands and knees, but the monster is too heavy. I spot my dagger glinting in the faint green glow about six feet away, out of reach.
Desperate, I scramble. My fingertips slip against the black stone of the ground. The beast’s weight is slowly squeezing the air out of my lungs. I’m trapped.
The monster makes noises against my ear.
He’s not speaking any language I’ve ever heard, but I don’t need an interpreter to know what it boils down to. He’s hungry, and I’m tasty.
With a roar of my own, desperate to not be a monster meal or a disappointment to my sisters, I shove up against the weight bearing down on me. My effort dislodges the creature just enough to give me some wiggle room. I quickly flip over.
It jerks back, like it’s stunned to meet me face to face.
That makes two of us.
Hovering just above me is a giant rooster head. Its body, the heavy part holding me down and keeping me in the cage of its legs, is that of a horse. An image from Gretchen’s monster binders flashes through my memory—a hippalectryon.
The thing outweighs and outpowers me by at least a factor of ten. I’m assuming its tiny bird brain isn’t terribly clever, though, so outwitting the beast is my only chance. I just need to keep my head long enough to make that happen.
While it blinks black, beady eyes at me, I stretch my lips in a wide grin, faking way more confidence than I feel and making sure to flash my fangs as I say, “Hey there.”
At first it doesn’t move, so I twist to the side, stretching my neck to reach my fangs toward its nearest leg.
That jars the creature into motion, and the whole thing rises up on its hind legs, kicking its front ones up like a wild stallion. Before it can stomp back down—and crush me with its massive hooves—I roll to the side, out of the way.
The beast lands with a heavy thud, letting out an ear-splitting crow.
For a second, it looks around, realizing it’s lost me. I do a quick scan for my lost dagger, but I don’t see it anywhere. I don’t have time to look. I’ll have to use my built-in weapons instead.
I scramble to my feet, ready to get my bite in before it finds me again.
“Grace, no!”
Gretchen rushes past me and dives onto the hippalectryon’s back. Before I can react, she sinks her fangs into the feathered neck.
Instead of disappearing out from under her, the thing simply sinks to the ground. It collapses into an unmoving heap, eyes open and unblinking.
Wow. It’s dead. Really dead.
I meet Gretchen’s gaze over the beast’s back.
“You don’t need to be a killer,” she says. Her eyes shadow—with pain or maybe memory. “Try to wound them or knock them out.”
She jerks her head toward the sea of monster bodies left in her wake. When I look closer, I can see most of them are still breathing. I know it really affected Gretchen when she realized she had killed her first monster. I’m sure she doesn’t want me or Greer to experience that.
I smile sadly. “You can’t protect us forever.”
She studies me for a moment before turning away. “I know.”
Then, she’s off, back into the fight, as another creature steps in front of me.
This one looks mostly human—a sickly pale woman with a mouthful of gnashing teeth. A pair of broad, dark wings rises up behind her, almost fading into the green-black of the world around us. But what catch my attention are the long claws extending from each finger, like a set of kitchen knives.
My gaze freezes on her hands. The rest of the battle fades away into the periphery until the only thing left is the dull grunt and clank of other fights and the glinting of green light on blade-like claws.
My dagger is lost to the dark. I have nothing but my fangs and my novice fighting skills to protect me—and what little courage hasn’t fled at the menacing look in her eerie orange eyes.
The winged woman moves toward me, and I have to fight the instinct to back away. Self-preservation is hard to overcome, and I’m on the verge of running. Fleeing.
I feel a hand at my back.
From the corner of my eye I see Greer standing at my side.
“I’ve got you,” she says.
I
nod. “Thanks.”
Together, we step forward. Some of my courage returns. With my sister at my side, I know I’m safe. And I’ll do whatever I have to do to keep her safe too.
CHAPTER 2
GREER
My heart stutters. This is the creature from my vision. Every detail is the same, like a memory come to life. Earlier today, sitting at Grace’s dining table, I saw this monster nearly slice my sister into shreds. My head throbs and my hands shake as Grace and I go after the hideous woman with blades for claws.
Seeing a vision and believing it’s true are two completely different things.
I didn’t want to believe it was true.
“You go right,” Grace mutters. “I’ll go left. Maybe we’ll confuse her.”
Sucking in a sharp breath, I start right.
The picture of my vision fills my mind: Grace, with this creature’s claws at her throat. I feel the same terror now as I did when I first saw this moment. Memory and reality blur until I can’t tell which is which. I only hope the rest of the vision comes true as well.
I glance around and realize Thane is nowhere in sight. The other fights have spread out beyond my range of vision in the faint light of the abyss.
In the vision, Thane saved her life.
Panic sets in. How can he save her if he’s not near enough?
My stomach heaves.
“Greer!” Grace shouts, tugging me out of memory and into reality.
And the reality is that I’m the only one who can help her now.
The clawed woman has turned to face Grace, leaving her back vulnerable to me. I watch, stunned, as the creature reaches out and wraps one hand around my sister’s throat. I stop thinking—stop remembering—and lunge forward. I grab a wing with each hand, ripping apart with all my might. My fear makes me strong—not as supernaturally strong as Gretchen, but strong enough. Beneath my palms, I feel the crack of bones snapping.
The beast turns on me with a howl. Without releasing Grace, it swings one arm wide, knocking across my temple and sending me stumbling back to the ground.
The world around me blurs and I squeeze my eyes open and shut in an attempt to clear the picture. I can’t save Grace if I can’t see.