Mountain Malice by Bronwyn Leroux

Author:Bronwyn Leroux
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
ISBN: 9781541121928
Published: 2016-12-25T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 5

Vaguely aware of his friends’ snorts of amusement following him, he continued regardless. Almost to the base of the tree, he felt the animal’s wrathful eyes and began to doubt it would do what he wanted. It seemed capable of reading his mind, knowing what he was after, but like a belligerent child was determined to do the opposite. Stopping just short of crashing into the tree, he was losing hope fast and breathing hard. He and the beast glared at one another.

Now so close Jaden could smell the fetid air rolling off the beast, he began to truly comprehend its immensity. And for the first time since his irrational decision to charge, he realized how foolish he’d been. What if it meant to do him harm? He wasn’t more than thirty feet from it!

Before he could consider his options, the monstrosity stretched out its scraggly wings. Colossal, they measured roughly twelve feet on each side, black as midnight and an even darker shade than the rest of its body. As the wings clicked open, Jaden perceived each wing wasn’t a whole piece; but rather four fingers of countless metallic feathers, each finger separate and distinct. No wonder they looked strange. How on earth could it fly with wings like that?

The beast leaned forward. Jaden took an involuntary step back as it glowered at him through enormous, luminescent amber eyes. For an instant, Jaden feared attack when it fell off the branches toward him. But with powerful strokes, the fingers on its wings each rotated up and then down, in turn, lifting the creature away from him.

Jaden took another precautionary step backward, his eyes never leaving the aberration as it ascended into the cloudless azure sky. He only relaxed when he was certain the beast wouldn’t come crashing back down again. Delighted it had finally taken flight, he yelled, “Look, look!” He faced his friends, enthusiasm brightening his face. But it quickly disappeared when he noted their expressions.

“Hey man, are you sure you’re not feeling the altitude today?” Stovan’s concern was obvious.

Shianna bounced the few steps necessary to reach him and stretched out a hand to his forehead. Realizing she intended checking whether he was feverish, Jaden thrust her outstretched hand away.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the feathered fiend etching lazy circles on the blank, blue canvas overhead. Jaden angled his face upward for a better view. Hard to tell at this distance, but it appeared to be smirking at him! Annoyed, he rasped, “None of you can see that, that thing, cart-wheeling up there?”

More blank faces and worried looks. Jaden’s mind worked furiously, factoring the possibilities. Clearly, the monster was up there, but irrationally, only he could see it. He knew he had not imagined the sense of doom he had felt earlier. But then again, could that have been a product of his overactive imagination? Add to that the dizziness he had experienced on their break. And the undeniable fact that he had

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