The camp was nearly half-destroyed by the time Alex and ire sprinted free from the lodge. Ash and the smell of burnt wood wormed into the air, rapidly growing thicker. A buildingid in a pile of fragmented wood near the treeline, huge splinters from the logs that had once made it up jutted from the ground like stakes. Fire licked around the building''s remains, dancing as it swallowed the house.


    A shrill scream ripped through the air like a missile. Alex flinched as a wave of heat and force mmed into him. He threw his hands up and squinted as the forest lit up with a brilliant sh of fire. An explosion ripped through the air as a second house went up in mes.


    Huge chunks of debris spun through the air and fell back to the ground like burning meteors, shattering with loud cracks as they hit the ground.


    "That''s unfortunate," Orchid said. She and Aaron stood at the doorway; their expressions couldn''t have been more different.


    Aaron had frozen in disbelief. He stared at the burning remains of the building as if struggling toprehend the information his eyes were feeding his head.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Orchid looked bored.


    She lifted her gaze to a burning chunk of wood the size of a small horse. It sailed through the air — heading straight in their direction.


    Orchid lifted the white stick in her hand. She took aim at the piece of wood and gave her hand a slight flick. A wave of frost rolled free from the end of the staff. The air froze, crystals of ice glistening in the wake of a white crescent arc.


    The magic mmed into the falling wood. It snuffed the mes instantly, freezing the entire piece solid and flinging it to the side, where it crashed harmlessly to the dirt.


    Oh, hey. Orchid finally got her magic working. But where the hell did that attacke from? I don''t see the monsters that I heard roaring from inside the lodge.


    "Don''t expect too much," Orchid said, recognizing Alex''s thoughts before he could even muster them. "My synchronization with this new staff is abysmal. That attack used ten times more energy than it should have — and it barely had half the effect I was going for."


    "Fuck," Aaron breathed. He swallowed heavily, eyes darting around the camp before raising his voice. "May! May, where are you?"


    The only response was the crackle of burning wood and the screams of the people living in the camp as they scrambled to man their defenses against a foe than none of them could even see.


    A hastily constructed battlement copsed, the spikes set up around it no more effective than a no skateboarding sign ced on a long outdoor staircase with particrly smooth metal railing.


    "There," ire said, pointing into the trees.


    Alex followed her finger to the treeline.


    There was absolutely nothing there.


    "What?" Alex asked. "Where?"


    "There," ire repeated, thrusting her finger at the same spot. "Look closer. Right where I''m looking."


    He squinted. Theck of doubt in ire''s voice made him re-focus his gaze, trying to see what he''d missed the previous time. There were just trees—


    But something was off. There was a slight waver in the air. Details were off. Bark where there should have been dirt; leaves where there were no branches.


    It was an illusion.


    And as soon as Alex spotted the abnormality, the rest of it fell away in an instant. It was difficult to believe that he hadn''t been able to see it just a few mere moments ago. Standing several feet in front of the treeline,pletely exposed, was a monster of green scales.


    Its back end was the long tail of a snake, easily four feet in circumference, but that was where its resemnce to a normal reptile ended. The monster rose up instead of lying on the ground. It had a humanoid chest that split into two necks.


    It had two identical heads. Each was that of a massive lizard, full of jagged yellowed teeth and a flicking, forked tongue. The monster clutched a massive wooden staff in its wed hands. Sparks of yellow-orange light swirled around it like a horde of angry fireflies, fading in and out of existence.


    Nagaga (Initiate 5)


    "What the hell?" Alex asked, blinking in surprise. "How did I not—"


    "Camouge," ire said. "Only effective until someone sees through it."


    "You''ve got keen eyes," Orchid said. "I couldn''t see that myself and I have a magic-focused ss. Impressive. I suppose that should be expected from someone of your lineage."


    "Maybe we kill the monster first, then talk about how cool ire ister," Alex suggested. His eyes shifted to the shadows at the edge of the lodge. Glint still stood in wait — his orders had just been to protect Alex and ire, not to watch for a monster attack.


    "What do we do?" Aaron asked, clutching ire''s sword so tightly that his knuckles were starting to resemble bone. "That thing is fucking huge!"


    "You can see it?" Orchid tilted her head to the side. "What''s your ss?"


    "Why does that matter? May is out there somewhere! I need to help her!"


    "By what, killing yourself?" Orchid arched an eyebrow. "Pick better battles if you want to survive. That''s not the only monster here, kid. Find something your size — or preferably, about half of it. You''ve got a plethora of options to choose from."


    She was right. Monsters pushed through the treeline all around the encampment, flooding toward the log cabins. It was like the entire forest''s wildlife had been warped into twisted versions of themselves. The majority of the monsters were in the low Initiate or high Novice ranks, but there were enough of them that any remaining defenses the camp had wouldn''tst much longer.


    The campers — at least, the ones that had been fast enough to rally in time — rushed toward the center lodge to try and form a defensive line.


    Alex''s eyes swept over the clearing in search of May. He didn''t fancy himself as some sort of savior, but he wasn''t about to leave a little girl to get ughtered by monsters if there was something he could do about it.


    Unfortunately all he could see was chaos. Haze and smoke from fire filled the air and the screams of man and monster alike rang in his ears. Metal shed and magic ripped through the clearing as the Outworlders rallied and pressed back against the monsters.


    A bulbous bird dropped from the sky with a screech, zipping straight for Aaron''s back. Abby lunged forward, driving her sword through the monster''s chest before it could connect with its target. She spun and pelted the monster into the ground like a wet baseball before driving her foot down on top of its head. The monster''s skull crunched and it went still.


    Aaron spun, staring at the monster in surprise. "Shit! I didn''t even see iting. I—"


    "Forget it," Abby snapped. "We need to find May! I''ll cover your back!"


    He blinked, then gave her a sharp nod. The fear didn''t leave his features, but it was tempered by determination. He thrust ire''s sword toward a cabin near them. "Right! She should have gone to Bethany''s. Let''s go!"


    They sprinted off.


    "Do you care if I deal with that?" ire asked, nodding to the Nagaga. "I haven''t had a chance to exercise recently. You''ve taken all the fun fights yourself."


    "All yours," Alex said.


    ire blurred into motion. Wings burst from her back as she bounded toward the Nagaga, each step covering a dozen normal paces. Her veins turned jet ck and she leapt into the air.


    The monster''s heads both snapped toward her in surprise. It clearly hadn''t been expecting to be spotted quite so easily. Letting out a roar, it swung its staff to bat ire out of the air.


    Her wings snapped down and she shifted directions in a split second. She shot right past the strike and mmed into the Nagaga''s chest with enough force to send it crashing into the trees behind it. The monsters roars faded into the forest as it vanished from view.


    Alex wasn''t concerned. ire could deal with a monster like that without any difficulty. They''d faced far harder in the Mirronds. He reached for his magic and summoned every one of his monsters.


    The shadows near the edge of the house bubbled as Princess rose up from within them. Spark arose beside her, bands of darkness binding his limbs and keeping him on all fours. Alex scanned the battlefield to see where they would be most useful—


    A new explosion echoed through the clearing. He spun toward the source of the sound just in time to catch the remains of a cabin hurtling through the air. They mmed into other buildings with loud crashes and rolled through the dirt, leaving deep furrows in their paths. Campers scattered and dove away from the falling debris.


    A second Initiate 5 Nagaga stood at the other end of the camp, smokey me still rising up from the end of its staff. Its mouths let out hissingughter as it turned to take aim at a new target — the cabin that Aaron and Abby had run off toward.


    "No!" A young voice rang out.


    A small form darted out from behind a smoldering tree trunk.


    May.


    "What are you doing, girl?" Rin yelled, her shadow suddenly darkening the doorway behind Alex. Genuine panic filled her words. "Run!"


    "You can''t break any more of our houses!" May yelled. "Go away!"


    "Go!" Alex barked. "Protect her!"


    All of his monsters lurched into motion.


    The Nagaga''s heads let out hissing noises that almost sounded like augh. The monster stepped forward and leveled its staff at her. A high-pitched whine filled the air.


    They were too far to interfere in time. Glint was fast — but May was on the other side of the camp. He didn''t have any magic that could gap that range as quickly as he needed it to. They needed at least a few seconds to make it there.


    "May!" Aaron burst free from the cabins behind her, his sword leveled at his side. Desperation twisted his features as the Nagaga brought its staff forward, preparing to release the explosive magic gathering at its tip. Aaron sprinted toward them desperately, but he was just out of range. "Run away!"


    "Dad said assholes like you can go fuck themselves!" May yelled, thrusting a hand toward the Nagaga.


    A brilliant crack split the air. Lightning boomed. An agonized scream rang out — not from May, but from the Nagaga. It lurched back, smoke rising from ckened scales near one of its eyes.


    Crackles of electric energy still danced across May''s fingers, buzzing like a nest of angry bees.


    Aaron''s eyes went wide in disbelief and he missed a step, nearly tripping over himself in surprise.


    Unfortunately, the Nagaga was less taken aback. It blinked its surprise away and shook its head. Then it let out a scream of fury. The monster had been injured, but it was far from dead. Fire twisted at the head of its staff as it brought it back toward May.


    Fire bloomed at the end of the Nagaga''s staff and a concentrated ball of fire exploded from its tip, streaking straight for May with a shrill screech.


    "May!" Aaron screamed. He lunged —


    The magic struck the ground at May''s feet.


    A wall of force mmed into Aaron and sent him skidding back, unable to do anything but watch as May and everything in a ten foot sphere around her was swallowed by a roaring explosion.