Aster Wood and the Blackburn Son Read Online Free PDF Page B

though hit with a wrecking ball.
    “Aster, help us!” came Rhainn’s cry, louder than before.  
    I opened my mouth to respond, to tell him I was coming. But no sound came out. My chest had collapsed again.  
    This time, when I tried to roll over, something sharp brushed against my throat, and I stopped dead.  
    “I don’t think so,” said a voice, calm, dangerous. “Who are you?”
    I opened my mouth again, this time to scream, but still no sound came. The sword, a long, thin spear, gleamed in the dim light. It jabbed at the skin beneath my chin. Then his face appeared, hovering upside down over mine. Black, seeping eyes stared hungrily down from a starved, skeletal face. The sides of his lips were crusted, and when he smiled they cracked wide. His head slowly turned until we were eye to eye, and I wondered absently if he were actually floating above me. I gripped onto the grass with frantic fingers, wishing for just a little of the precious night air to relieve the pain that was moving now from my chest to my throat.  
    Like a beast ready to devour his prey, the skeleton breathed in deeply, an action that made his body shudder. My chest stayed closed, refusing to unclench. His lips lifted into a snarl, revealing a row of sharp, jagged teeth.  
    “They are mine,” he whispered.
    Bright bursts of light popped in front of my eyes as I started to lose consciousness. He leaned back, tossing his sword away. He smiled, his intentions clear. He didn’t need a sword to do away with me. His teeth gleamed like daggers, and he arched his head back, his attack imminent.  
    A tiny space opened up inside my throat, and I felt cool, delicious air seep into my chest. Slowly, too slowly.  
    But as his ragged jaws descended upon my throat, I managed to gasp a single word, the word of power Kiron had attached to his link so many years ago.  
    “Forasha.”

CHAPTER FIVE

    I was alone. I flipped over, choking on my own lungs as I fought to suck in more air.  
    My skin felt frozen, but I was drenched with sweat. I had felt the beast’s body get blown back by the blast of the jump. He hadn’t been touching me, hadn’t needed to to keep me pinned down. My terror had been enough to hold me. So when I jumped, I had escaped alone.  
    But fear still pulsed through me as my throat still fought to open, so slowly. Finally, my airway started to relax. But the pain remained, radiating out from my chest into my arms, my throat, my head. I rolled onto my back, gasping now. Slowly, the dizziness faded and the popping lights dimmed.  
    Then, suddenly, I felt my throat closing again. I gripped it with my hands, confused and alarmed, until I felt the hot sting of tears in the corners of my eyes.  
    I let myself cry for a minute, let that part of me that was still a child bubble up to the surface. And in that moment I wished for my mother, wished for her voice telling me that everything was alright, that it was just a dream.  
    But it hadn’t been a dream. And here in this place there was no one to protect me from the viciousness of these worlds.  
    I angrily dried my tears and stood up, facing back towards the camp.  
    What were they doing now? Terrible thoughts of Rhainn, somehow now in pain, swirled with logic in my mind.  
    I wanted to go back, wanted to fight off the murderous warden of the children of Aeso. But I understood the difference between us. In a fight, I wouldn’t stand a chance. The only way for me to help now was to go.  
    I never should have tried to do it.
    The terror of this thought overcame me, and I realized my insistence to rescue Cait and Rhainn might have killed them both.
    I needed help.
    As I pointed the link over my shoulder, away from the army, I hoped with every cell in my body that Rhainn still lived.  
    I’ll come back. I’m sorry.  
    I jumped the whole night through. Each time I landed I was haunted by the face of the beast, white and ghostly. The Coyle . He had burned Rhainn’s village.