Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 44459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 222(@200wpm)___ 178(@250wpm)___ 148(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 222(@200wpm)___ 178(@250wpm)___ 148(@300wpm)
It must have heard her going or seen the blur of motion as she fled, because it let out a cry of anger. The screeching sound made me wince, but I tightened my grip on the rocks in my hand. I needed it to chase me and not her.
As it stormed toward us, my sprinter’s mind began to panic. It moved too fast. The head start I’d bought her wouldn’t be enough.
So I hurled one of the rocks at the wraith, beaning it right in its center. The impact didn’t stop the wraith’s approach, but it did slow it down, and it let out another godawful screech, seemingly in pain. Its glowing eyes settled on me, and I swear they drilled right down to my bones.
I missed with my second shot because it dodged out of the way, and that was my signal. Time to go.
I pumped my arms, using their motion to spur on my legs, my hands swinging like blades. Quick, fast, light, I repeated in my head. It was hard to keep my sights set on the finish because this wasn’t a flat track. There were fallen tree branches and rocks to avoid as I ran, fucking up my cadence.
By the time I cleared the forest, the wraith wasn’t far behind—tree limbs snapped under it as it barreled along. Chelsea wasn’t that much farther ahead. If I held this tempo, I’d pass her.
I needed to buy her a little more time. Eight seconds, ten at the most.
My gaze swung over the stalls and tents of the carnival, searching for—I didn’t know—something. There was an open toolbox on a booth up ahead, and I swiped the first thing I could grab without slowing down too much.
It had a handle and a long metal end—a flat-head screwdriver.
This is the dumbest fucking idea you’ve ever had.
It went against my nature to give up. I never let a runner behind me catch up. Every cell in my body screamed to go faster, to close the distance between me and her and win the race to the mirror. But instead, I slowed and turned, facing the charging wraith that looked like a demon sent straight from hell.
It took it no time at all to grab me, wrapping its clawed hand around my neck just as it had done to Josh. Its grip was so strong, my vision blurred.
“Tyler!” Chelsea yelled from behind me.
I was lifted off the ground, making the vise around my throat constrict my airway, and it was nearly impossible to speak . . . but I still managed it somehow.
“Go,” I ordered, putting everything I had into the single word. I had to hope she’d listen.
The wraith’s other set of claws snarled painfully in my hair, and it drew up to its full height, readying to relieve my head from my body.
But as it prepared, so did I.
I brandished the screwdriver and planted it with all my might right in one of the wraith’s glowing yellow eyes.
The howling shriek of pain it let loose was so loud, it nearly burst my eardrums. It recoiled, dropping me, and as soon as my legs hit the ground, I was off. I tore toward the carousel, weaving through the bobbing animals, and vaulted myself through the mirror.
Shudders racked my body as I hurdled through the glass and onto the other side. Going through it a second time was worse than the first, and more disorienting too. Everything was hot and orange and hazy—
Holy shit.
The castle hallway was on fire. Dark smoke clouded the ceiling, and bright orange and yellow flames blazed up the wall where I’d dropped my lighter earlier. I thought I had stamped out the fire, but apparently, I hadn’t done the job well enough.
“Oh, thank fuck,” Chelsea gasped behind me. I spun to see her standing beside the mirror, her hands on the frame. “Help me lift it.”
I coughed to clear the smoke from my throat and hurried to the other side of the frame.
The mirror was unnaturally heavy, and as we began to work it loose, the wraith started to bleed through the glass. It gave a new scream of pain as the mirror separated from the wall, wailing in agony as if it were being cut in half.
We both grunted from the effort and heaved the mirror down, dropping the bottom edge of the frame onto the floor with a thunderous boom. The mirror shattered, sending shards of glass everywhere as the whole thing tipped forward then fell on its face with a crash.
The wraith gave a final howl before disintegrating into a plume of smoke.
For a moment, we simply stared at the dissipating haze. We’d defeated the wraith, but now we had another problem. The hallway was engulfed in fire, much too big to try to put out, and it blocked the exit.