The Conduit (Gryphon Series) (27 page)

“Now then,” Barnabus said in a casual tone that goes along with being the squeezer and not the squeezee. “If you would like to plead for your life, now would be the time.”

Leaning in eagerly to hear my words, he eased up on his grip to allow me to speak. The air rushed back into my lungs. I sucked it in like a deep sea diver emerging from the depths. When the daunting darkness retreated from my head, I peered directly into the enormous eye of the dragon. My voice still came out a wheeze when I attempted to declare valiantly, “You won’t make it out of this theater alive.”

Barnabus’ alligator-
like snout crinkled into a snarl. “What are you hoping will happen?” he sneered. “Do you think your muscle bound brother and feather-brained sister are going to swoop in and rescue you? Perhaps you’d like to see what they’re up to?”

He swung his massive frame around, me in tow. With the flip of his wrist he turned me in the direction of auditorium. There were Gabe and Kendall, in the exact same spot Gabe fell. Kendall’s wings wrapped protectively around the fading lion. She glowed with her healing warmth, but my brother’s hacked open chest wasn’t healing. An ever expanding puddle of blood surrounded him. Kendall trembled from the strain. Sweat coated her flesh and soaked through her shirt. Still she fought. If she wasn’t ready to give up, neither was I. Barnabus wanted this image to destroy my resolve. Instead it strengthened it.

I craned my neck to look back at his ugly mug. “Like I said, you won’t get out alive.”

All the air rushed out my lungs in a gut wrenching whoosh as he
constricted me in his white-knuckled fist. “You infuriating little pest! You cannot comprehend when you’ve been beaten can you? This is it! This is the end of you! You can say whatever you want. It ends here!”

As he screamed, he shook me viciously. My head wobbled so hard it felt like it might snap off my neck. Soon his rants turned into nothing more than a ringing in my ears. One by one, my senses gave up. They retreated into the dark abyss and waited for me to join them there. I
hung on by a thread. My insides were squeezed by the agonizing death grip squashing me. But that paled in comparison to the panicked fire in my lungs as I tried in vain to gasp in even a whisper of air. The black spots returned. They bonded together to form a black curtain that blocked out the world. This time I couldn’t fight it. Everything went black.

CHAPTER 32

“Wake up! Wake up! Do you hear me, young lady?”

A familiar voice in the darkness, but the sleep is comforting. It takes away the pain. Movement means searing pain. Sleep, sleep is good.

“Celeste Marie Garrett! You have to wake up! You have to fight!”

Daddy? Is that you? Am I dead?

“No, not yet. But if you give up, you will be. You have to fight, Celeste. Too much depends on you.”

It’s too hard. I’m not strong enough. I can’t do it.

“Yes, you can! You have to! Now wake up Celeste!”

“Wake up
, Celeste!” My father’s voice gave way to Kendall’s urgent screams.

I pried my eyes open. The dragon’s rough palm still grasped me. Yet, something caused him to loosen his grip just enough that air could return t
o my lungs. Weak, dizzy and light-headed, I let my head loll back as I peered up at ole lizard face. His narrowed eyes glared down at the ground directly in front of us.

I followed his gaze and grinned weak
ly at what I saw. One perturbed-looking lion and an angry look-alike angel were in fighting stance at the foot of the beast. Between his teeth Gabe held the very barb that Keni extracted from deep in his chest. If it was made of the same substance as Barnabus’ skin, it should be able to penetrate his scaly shell. Judging by the smug look on Kendall’s face and the nervous expression Barnabus wore, I wasn’t the only one who made that conclusion.

“Killing the two of you is becoming a tedious task,” the dragon rumbled.

“Then stop,” Kendall shrugged. “’Cause we’re not crazy about it either.”

“Not a chance,” he hissed. His enormous body folded in half toward them as flames blasted from his jaws.

This time Kendall was ready for it. She rocketed up to meet the attack. With one wing curled over her head, she used it as a battering ram against the geyser of fire. The flames bounced off her. My scaly prison was another matter. The ricocheting flames beat against the dragon’s claws, which just so happened to be holding yours truly. If Kendall concocted this plan as a way to get Barnabus to release me, there was one crucial flaw—I was in the way. My skin blistered as it was scorched. It prickled in excruciating pain. My nose and throat burned. My lungs ached from breathing in the smoke and flames. My eyes watered so badly that my vision blurred. A wall of red and orange blazed up around me. I was going to die before this overgrown gecko even got uncomfortable enough to let go. Clawing and squirming became pointless. I couldn’t escape. I tried to scream for Kendall to stop but could only manage a hacking cough.

I am so glad I woke up for this. Would’ve been a pity to miss out on this whole burning alive experience.

For the first time all day, luck turned in our favor. The dragon screamed in agony and lost his hold on me. Our evil nemesis waved his hand frantically, blowing on it and screeching in pain.

I plummeted in a free fall, screaming my fool head off as the ground rushed up to meet me. My descent was short lived. Kendall swooped in and snagged me under the arms.

“You jumped off a building and landed without a scratch. What’s with the drama?” she asked calmly.

“Habit.” Without asking, I plucked one of her magical feathers.

“Ow!”

“Sorry, but after torching me up there you had that coming.” I rubbed the feather all over me. This was faster than waiting for my rapid healing to kick in. The results were instantaneous, leaving no visible signs I had ever b
een grilled to a perfect medium-well.

“Feel better?” Keni asked.

“Much, thank you. Now if you could kindly drop me off on the chest of the horrible, hell-spawned beastie, I’d like to kill him so I can go home and take a bubble bath.”

“No problem,” my pilot said. “Next stop, hell beastie.”

As she looped around the theater, making a wide arc back toward Barnabus, I sought out my weapon. “Gabe! Throw me the spike!”

Our cruising speed was a rapid one. We quickly closed in on our target. Yet Gabe hesitated. He eyed the dragon, then me
, and back again.

“Gabe! Throw it to me!” Despite my screams, he seemed undecided. We were almost to the point of no return. The moment to act was at hand—and my hands were still empty.

“Gabe, get your big, furry head out of your butt and throw me the friggin’ spike!”

The bulky cat heaved a deep, resigned sigh. With a flip of his head, he tossed the spike through the air and into my eagerly waiting grasp. I weighed it between my hands and turned it over to find the most comfortable, functional way to grip it.

We were close enough to see the light reflect off his swamp green scales when Barnabus regrouped. He spun toward us, flames tearing from his throat.

Kendall looped us under the flames
and skimmed up the dragon’s belly. “I believe this is your stop,” she said and released me. I grabbed on to his midsection with my arms and legs in a koala bear grasp. Quick as I could, I shimmied upward to my target. “I’ll try to distract him,” Kendall yelled as she flew off. The trail of the flames followed her.

I was almost to my destination when the dragon screeched. His body lumbered this way and that, almost causing me to lose my grip. I glanced down. Gabe had latched onto the dragon’s leg. He savagely scratched and bit into the scaly flesh. For a brief moment the lion lifted his mahogany head.

“
Go
!” he yelled remarkably clear for a feline.

“Gone!” I shouted back. I fought to hold on and wriggled my way up Barnabus’ abdomen. Directly above the thumping heart of the beast, I stopped. Anchoring myself with my legs, I grasped the spike in both hands.

The sensitive region I was positioned in didn’t escape Barnabus’ notice. His sharp talons flew at me, ripping layers of skin off my back as he tried to knock me away. Had his energies been more focused he would’ve succeeded, but Gabe and Kendall divided his attentions just enough.

I ignored the pain and arced the spike over my head. With every ounce of strength I had
, I plunged it straight down. I felt it cut through the rock-hard exterior of the beast, then plunge right into his soft, gooey center. An eardrum-piercing scream erupted from the dragon. His back arched, and he dug at his chest with panicked swipes. I dove off him and away from his feverishly racking claws.

Landing smoothly, I backed away from the towering creature. Slaying the dragon would seem less heroic if I got caught under him when he fell. Gabe and Kendall were soon by my side. No one spoke as we focused on Barnabus.

His frantic clawing faded fast, as did he. As the life slipped out of him, his shape shifted back. He shrank from the enormous, terrifying dragon back to the demented man that had sought out evil. Time finally got the chance to take its long awaited toll on him. All the centuries that had bypassed Barnabus came rushing back to him. He aged right before our eyes. His skin, muscle, and bone melted away until a pile of dust was all that remained of the deranged, mad man.

“I really wish I had closed my eyes for that,” Kendall squeaked.

“Uh-huh,” I agreed.

Even Gabe nodded.

We stood in silence for a moment. It was over. Really over. We actually did it. We exchanged wide-eyed looks of amazement.

“Holy crap! We did it!” I marveled as I reached back to tighten my loose ponytail.

“And only two out of the three of us nearly died,” added Kendall, the lucky one-third.

“We should probably work on those stats for next time.”

“Absolutely.”

Not all loose ends had been tied up yet, though. “Keni, Alec is outside. He’s hurt bad. The bottom of his face is…well, it’s pretty much gone. Could you go heal him? Then we’ll take him to the hospital to have him checked out.”

“I’ll heal him, but no way am I looking at his missing face. Ick.” She crinkled her nose as she turned to jog outside.

Gabe still eyed the space Barnabus occupied only moments ago. “Good to see you up and around. How’d that barb to the chest feel?”

He snorted and rolled his eyes.

“Seriously, that was scary stuff. You okay?”

His furry brow creased as he contemplated the dust pile. Had Kendall not regained consciousness when she did, he would be dead and he knew it. This was exactly the kind of deep emotional stuff my brother didn’t handle well. I decided to be nice and spare him.

“You know, it’s actually a really good thing you were in lion form when all this went down. Regular Gabe would’ve screamed like a little girl at the first sight of the dragon.”

The lion’s face pulled back in a grin as he swiped at me with his gigantic paw. It glanced off my shoulder and sent me stumbling forward. “Ow.”

His smile widened.

“You should head back to the truck and change just in case Alec wakes up after she heals him,” I suggested.

Gabe snorted his agreement then trotted off, his paws padding against the wood floor.

Left alone, I peered around the sprawling theater. The pile of dust, assorted scorch marks, broken flag pole, and rows of demolished chairs were the only remaining signs of what transpired here. To the outside world, it would look like nothing more than vandalism. No one would know it was where we had fought and prevailed over the forces of evil.

For now.

Somewhere out there, the Dark Army still longed for my head on a stick. A chill ran down my spine. I made a none-too-hasty retreat from the empty theater.

EPILOGUE