Portia Read Online Free PDF Page A

a dozen at once.
    Usually, demon patrol is frightening. This time, I can’t help feeling sad. The Void’s cries are pitiful. Desperation lurks in their empty eyes. They seem more desperate than evil.
    One hulking creature breaks off from the rest of the pack and heads right for me. Unlike the rest of the Void, this monster radiates menace. Flames blaze in its eyeholes as it closes in.
    Hundreds of battle lessons flicker through my brain all at once. I should take a defensive posture. Cast a fireball spell. Throw a nunchuk. Run for my life.
    All I can do is stand and stare.
    Moonlight glints off the monster’s talons as it slams a fist into the side of my head. Hurt explodes inside my skull. I curl onto my knees. The demon wraps its slimy hands around my neck. Pain spikes through my throat.
    I brace my muscles, expecting the creature to try snapping my neck. That doesn’t happen. Instead, magic wells inside me. It’s the same liquid power that usually clogs my tongue. Now, that energy rushes out of me and into the monster. My body freezes with shock. I did not see this coming.
    The creature speaks in a rasping gurgle. “I am the Scintillion. You feed me.”
    Pain burns my throat as more liquid energy rushes into the Scintillion. The monster’s gooey limbs solidify. The six-fingered grasp on my throat tightens. I claw desperately at my neck.
    Dad’s baculum sword appears in my peripheral vision. The flaming blade stabs between the creature’s ribs. The Scintillion roars with pain, but doesn’t release its grip. The monster’s body now looks gooey and slick again.
    Dad twists the blade deeper. “Release my daughter.”
    The monster only tightens his chokehold. My neck feels ready to snap.
    “Let go of her,” says Mom. She loops her long tail around the monster’s throat, yanking it backward with force. The Scintillion lets go of my neck and howls with rage. It glares at me as its body seeps into the ground. Air rushes back into my lungs. I hunch forward, sucking in rough gasps.
    Mom kneels beside me, her features tight with concern. “Are you all right, baby?”
    “I’ll be fine. That monster got away, though.”
    “We’ll get it next time,” says Dad. “Now that we know what we’re looking for.” He sets his hand on my shoulder. “You did well, Portia.”
    My heart could have wings, I’m so happy. I did well on demon patrol? Who would have thunk it? “Thanks, Dad.”
    Maxon motions to us. “You’ve got to see this.” We follow his lead to a clearing. My mouth falls open in shock.
    The Void have carved a huge crater into the middle of the cornfield. Massive tree roots sit inside, their surfaces shining with golden light. My heartbeat skyrockets. After all these years, I’m seeing it at last.
    The Firmament.
    Maxon points to the opposite side of the crater. “Check it out. That’s where the Void were chowing down.”
    Black bite-marks cover the gleaming root. I’d hoped the Void only made a small wound in the flesh of the tree, but that’s not the case. Their bites are poisonous. With each passing second, more of the tree’s life-glow sickens and fades. I carefully scan the light levels and run some fast calculations. I’d never imagined the Firmament being so dark. My heart jumps into my throat. At this rate of decay, the Firmament won’t last long.
    This is bad. Very bad.
    “The Firmament’s in worse shape than I thought.” I turn to Maxon. “You have to get us out of here. Now.”
    “You got it, sis.” With a wave of his arm, Maxon creates a cloud of smoke. The haze slowly lifts us above the ground. Ear-splitting cracks echo out from the crater. Boulders break loose from the walls and smash onto the gleaming roots.
    The crater collapses into the earth, leaving behind an even larger sinkhole. The dark hole is like a black eye on the landscape. All I can do is stare in shock. The world takes on a dreamlike gleam.
    “It’s happening,” I whisper.
    The after-realms are falling