TWENTY SIX: THE BIGGER MONSTER
“Blott!” Seraph called, cupping her hands around her mouth.
She was cold and wet, but alive. The journey had been dangerous, but there were fewer obstacles than she had anticipated. On the way, she had managed to avoid any patrol guards on duty. She hadn’t even heard them, and there were no blue fires, which she thought very strange. There had been no traces of the Nagafeles anywhere either. She suspected that the absence of both might be linked. That thought worried her. It meant her family could be in danger.
Entering the glade, she wrung her hands, glancing nervously at the trees that hung over her. The foliage was far richer up here than in the crater’s basin. She had almost forgotten the smell of lush leaves. Mud smeared her legs, soaking all the way
