Wilde's Army Read Online Free PDF Page B

with flames. The air smells so strongly of rust and mold, I find it hard not to vomit. Brit’s chest hurts as she holds her breath. She pushes the stench from her thoughts, but when she does draw in a deep, ragged gasp for air, it has to pass through her nose—starting the cycle again.
    “Brit?”
    “
Kate
? Kate!
Can you hear me
?” Even her thoughts sound frantic. She cringes; she needs to breathe. When she does, it takes everything in me not to let go of our connection.
    “
Is everyone . . . a-alive
?”
    “
Yes. T-the d-d-d-daemons are torturing people for information about you
.”
    I swallow hard. “
How many daemons are there
?”
    “
I-I don’t know.”
She scans the room, but I only see soldiers. “
I think I saw twenty? Are you coming for us
?”
    “
I’m trying. Who is the second person who betrayed us?”
    “I only know about Lann.”
    “There is someone else. Try to figure it out.”
    Tears well in Brit’s eyes.
“Please, hurry, Kate. I’m scared.”
    “Can you show me where everyone is?”
    Brit turns her neck. Sharp pains radiate from my shoulder up the back of my head. I want to rub the spot, but my hands won’t move. My wrists burn; rope is intertwined between them. She shows me Arland.
    My breath hitches in my lungs.
    He’s worse than when I saw him earlier. The bruises have turned purple. Arland’s shirt is gone, and his chest has multiple cuts. Blood stains the ground beneath his feet.
    I shake in my very core. “
Oh God! Tell me they haven’t poisoned him!”
    “No, b-but he’s been hurt the worst.”
    “I can’t stand this. Show me the others.”
    The children. Please God, let the children be okay.
    Brit squints as her eyes reach out into the dark cave. Tristan and Saidear are next to Arland. She stares across from where she’s tied, showing me Enid and all the children. Next to them are Mom, Gavin, Dunn, Flanna, Cadman, Ogilvie, and everyone else—they’re alive, but their heads sag and shoulders droop. Except for Mom; she stares at Brit.
    Hooves clap against the stone floor of the cave, echoing around us.
    Brit stiffens, and her stomach turns. “
Someone is coming
.”
    “
Stay calm.”
I’m not sure if I’m telling her or me.
    Two tairbs come into view. “Aengus was wrong about the affection the girl possesses for these pathetic Draíochtans. If she wanted to protect them, she would have been here by now. Kill them all. We will find another way to get to her.”
    The taller of the two daemons pauses and looks over at Brit. “Start with that one first; make it slow and painful. Maybe the girl will hear the screams from where she hides.”
    He smiles wickedly and walks away.
    The other tairb grins, turning his red eyes to my sister.
    This cannot be happening. Griandor, please stop this. Help me. Help them. Please kill the daemons for me. Give me the power I need to stop him
.
    Tears threaten to spill over Brit’s eyes. Thinking of her fingers, her toes, her heart, I search for a way to take control of her, for a way to take her place so she doesn’t have to feel the pain of death. I have to find a way to make this end.
    The vile creature walks up to my sister, licking his blackened lips. “I am going to enjoy this.”
    He rips open the front of her shirt.
    Trembling, she screams through her gag. Her heart races and sends so much blood to her head, it resonates as it throbs through her temples.
    The daemon draws a knife from a pouch on his back then cuts a small hole into his hand. “Do you know what my blood will do to you?”
    She doesn’t respond, but I do. I shake my head back and forth. Brit’s head moves with mine.
    “My blood contains a poison so strong, it will eat through your flesh in minutes and allow me to feed on the magic locked inside your worthless soul. One day, we will be powerful enough to overthrow the gods you so absurdly worship. You do not see the gods here now, do you?”
    He raises his hand and shows her the blood dripping from it.
    I