Return of the Ascendant (The Ascendant Series) Read Online Free PDF Page B

Avana argued. She tried to pull Kyra back down. “We should stay here. Sem and the Dem-Shyr are keeping them at bay.”
    What they were doing, Kyra thought as she fought to calm her rapid breathing, was widening the unprotected halo around her and Avana. Her gaze slowly moved up, where she knew the open stairwell rose for several flights, even though she couldn’t see more than a foot from her face.
    She fumbled in her purse for her iPhone. Pulling up the screen and hunting for her flashlight app, she asked, “Avana, how far can Shelvaks jump?”
    “I don’t know. Why?”
    Four shadows thumped down next to them. Avana shrieked. Kyra was too petrified to make a sound.
    The Shelvaks made barely any noise as they landed, which was really something in light of the fact that they were easily seven or eight feet tall. Kyra instinctively tried to back away, but she was up against a wall. Beside her, Avana scrambled to her feet and tried to position herself in front of Kyra.
    “Here!” Kyra said, hitting the right button on her phone to generate the flashlight and shoving it at Avana.
    When her friend took the phone and held it up, the Shelvaks retreated a step. Kyra got a terrifying glimpse of them as she bent down to pick up her shoes. The enemies were faceless, covered in some kind of clothing that seemed to absorb the light. They held long, dark weapons that she imagined could do more harm than just severing a limb. She wouldn’t be surprised if they could slice into a person’s very soul.
    Something passed near her head, nearly touching her hair. She bit back a scream. Avana shouted and brought the phone down closer to Kyra. The Shelvaks once again backed away.
    Kyra stood with her shoes, the sharp heels pointing out. They weren’t the most effective weapons, she knew, but they were all she had.
    “Kyra!” Sam shouted, turning to rush back down the stairs.
    He was grabbed from behind, forcing him to continue his battle away from them. The Shelvaks to Kyra’s right swung out with their weapons. Kyra and Avana barely evaded them, stumbling closer to the Shelvaks on the left. Something smashed into Avana’s hand holding the cell phone. She cried out, but the light didn’t falter.
    A dark, cold grip settled on Kyra’s arm. She reacted instinctively, swinging one of her shoes with all of her strength. Whatever it hit felt as solid as the wall behind her. The heel snapped. The hold on her arm tightened like a vise.
    Not knowing what else to do, she stopped resisting the hold and shoved herself into it. She forced the Shelvak off-balance. They tumbled towards the stairs heading down. In an instant, she was airborne.
    A light sliced through the darkness as she fell. An explosion of acrid dust blew around her as the hold on her arm disintegrated. She fell face-forward into a wall of muscle. Her momentum propelled them down, but they didn’t tumble and break their necks. Somehow, Ty managed to grab her in mid-flight and jump her down to the next landing as though it was nothing more than a short hop.
    “Are you all right?” he asked.
    “Yes,” she replied breathlessly. Outside of my heart nearly blowing up in my chest , she silently added. “Please help Avana.”
    “Stay with me,” he instructed, even as he turned and raced back up the stairs.
    She didn’t question him. After confirming he had cleared the lower stairwell of Shelvaks, she hurried to keep up. Avana had managed to pick up her cell phone. Between the two phones and some evasive maneuvering, she had avoided serious injury. Within seconds, Ty destroyed the three remaining Shelvaks.
    Sam raced down just as the last of the dust settled. His gaze ran over Kyra as though assuring himself she was okay. “Let’s get the hell out of here,” he said.
    She saw blood on his forehead. When she looked at Ty, she realized his forearm had been sliced open. Avana’s wrist was swelling where she’d been struck, and a dark bruise was forming near her temple.
    The