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Shrieking noises bellowed and echoed throughout the air. Oh, my scales, they were right above us. Belle stopped under a tree, hiding us to the best of her abilities. The Deathlies perched on the mountain's edge, hawk eyes out, waiting for movement.

We didn’t move.

We hardly even took a breath.

It was so much scarier in person. It was so much scarier in real life.

The patches of moss and life around its talons and body shriveled and instantly died, turning the color of death itself. The disease spread a few feet from where the Deathly was sitting until it came to a quick halt, stopping all movement of the plague.

The Deathly surveyed the area one more time with its lifeless black eyes, then jumped off the edge, flapping its wings and flying off with the other two it came with.

Damian and I both breathed at the same time, sucking in fresh air. “Holy scales, that was close,” I swore. I wanted to sob, throw up, and run away all at the same time.

“Let’s go end those sons ofHaxnau,” Damian whispered. I smiled, acknowledging that he only cared about killing them for me.

1.Ezu (Eh-ooh): Heaven

2.Maxz (Mahz): Ability

3.Meiinaraux (Mee-naw-raw-ooh): Loker’s dragon

4.Haxnau (Hah-nah-woo): Hell

Chapter fifty-three

AURELIA

After the attack from the Deathlies, we saw what they were capable of, the disease that coursed through their sickly veins and their webbed talons. We knew that it only took one touch for something to shrivel up and to die within seconds. We had little time before we had to go back to the castle, trained or not.

Landing back in our camped area, we embraced each other, fear still stricken in our bones from our encounter with the Deathlies.

“We need to find the nest. I think we need to get a look at it to know what we are doing with it,” Angie said, her arms folded together.

“How do we do that?” Loker asked, shaking his head to the side, his glasses perched on his nose.

The silence overtook the air as we all tried to catch our breaths, still trying to get our breathing to normal from the fear that sucked the air out of our lungs.

“We have to kill them off by finding where they originated. If they were created by magic from the Old Religion, then we have to find the medium that it’s tethered to,” I boldly stated.

If it had anything to do with my castle, then that meant it must be closer to the castle’s grounds. I remembered what Cora said. She said that she passed through Leveland and that it was one of the first cities with signs of the disease.

After packing up camp, we reached a new area closer to Leveland. It was about an hour's flight on Dragon. Everyone was wind-burned and exhausted once we arrived. It was the perfect patch of trees near another mountain. My castle was just on the other side.

As we flew, we saw many towns and cities blackened with plague. I wasn’t sure how much time we had left before the entire kingdom looked like that land. The memory of the Deathly touching the moss and how it shriveled up and became a deep oozing black filled my mind. It was a memory that I knew I would keep forever.

I wasn’t sure if they sucked the life out of objects itself or if they filled the life with poison. Either way, I wanted them sent toHaxnau1.

“Loker and Damian, could you find us some meat? Clemmy and Aurelia, could you find firewood? Luella and Angie set up the tents, and I will get this closed up and build some tables and chairs and the fire area.” Everyone accepted their fate from their chosen duties and started to make their way. Damian gave me one last glance as he headed with Loker to find us food.

Clemmy walked over, linking arms with me. Damian and Loker sauntered out into the woods in the opposite direction, disappearing into the darkness as Damian rubbed Loker’s head, making him trip Damian back. “Let’s go this way, princess,” she said, and I snapped my head back in the direction we were headed, away from staring at Damian.

After making our way a few paces into the forest, past some large luscious trees, with everyone else gone from behind us, Clemmy opened her mouth. “What’s going on?”

“What do you mean, what is going on?”

“You know very well what I mean.” Her gaze bore into me from the corner of her eye, sending a prickling sensation creeping beneath my skin. I crouched down, collecting twigs and leaves scattered on the forest floor, selecting each one with care to find the best ones for kindling.

I sighed, not wanting to talk about it. “It doesn’t matter,” I muttered, scavenging for more twigs and leaves around me, pulling the knife out of my boot to cut the attached ones free.