Nova: Daughters of Darkness Read Online Free PDF Page B

started splitting the ground around them, bringing up spikes of rock, to prevent the beasts from getting closer. Branna called fire and lit up a ring around the split ground. Kyna called spirit to lend strength to their powers and protect them. The first beast easily jumped the split and fire, and came at them with dripping fangs, claws extended. Calling water, Nova commanded it to become a frozen spear and threw it. Branna called air to make sure it flew true and found its mark. The spear hit the beast directly in the heart, but it kept coming. Kyna jumped and spun through the air, driving her knife straight into the beast's throat. Branna lit him up; they all watched him burst into flames and become nothing but ash. Quickly reforming their triangle, they waited for the other beast to make his move. They didn't have to wait long, the beast transformed from a dog into a big black bull and charged at them, head down. As it leapt at them and they prepared to attack, a mighty roar came from behind them. They saw a flash of auburn hair as Seamus soared over them and took the beast's head off quickly and efficiently at the shoulders with the biggest axe they had ever seen. Immediately, the beast burst into ash, and they were left standing there wondering what the hell had just happened.
    "What were those things?" Nova asked, her chest heaving with exertion.
    "Phooka," replied Seamus. "They are goblins and usually present themselves in the dog form that you saw initially, but they can show as a bull or a horse, too. Not all of them are sided with the Underworld though; some choose to go against their very nature and fight for the light."
    "Wait, you said you saw their dog form? But you weren't here until the second one was in bull form. Unless... you stood there and watched us fight for our lives? But why would you do that? Not to mention, where the hell did your accent go?" Branna, who had yet to put her fire away, questioned with little flames licking her fingers.
    "I am terribly sorry, but we had to be sure you were the daughters of the prophecy and worthy of our assistance. Please allow me to introduce myself. I am Rían, the prince of the Tuatha De Danann." As he was speaking, a shimmery haze formed around him. The girls watched him elongate to almost six and a half feet tall; his auburn hair turned a burnished gold color and grew out to his shoulders, and the aged face and body became those of a well-muscled, gloriously handsome man. All that remained from his previous guise were the emerald eyes that seemed to look into your soul.
    The girls all took a step back, and when Branna realized she had been sorely mistaken, her fire went out in a puff of smoke.
    "Sorry to disappoint you, but we faeries prefer to be ourselves rather than, what was it? Oh yes, little winged freaks throwing our magic dust everywhere." Rían said, reading the expression on her face.
    Branna's face flamed with embarrassment and she dropped her eyes before he could see. Nova looked at her with a smirk and said. "See little sister, sometimes silence is a virtue." Branna narrowed her eyes. In a very adult move, she stuck her tongue out at Nova, spun around and stalked off toward their Granda's cottage. Nova turned to Rían and apologized for her sister's behavior, both earlier and now. "Branna seems to say what she is thinking regardless of the consequences."
    "Please, do not apologize for her rude behavior that is for her alone. Let us go to the cottage and confer on our situation." As they walked away, Nova looked up and thought she saw a man standing on top of the building watching them, but when she blinked, he was gone.
     
     

Chapter 10
     
    Back at the cottage, Branna had secluded herself in her room to avoid being in Rían's presence. Nova decided to leave her there for the moment; they had to deal with her dream issues first and foremost.
    "Rían, it's been a long time; how've ye been lad?" Decklin asked, grasping Rían's hand firmly.
    "Decklin,