Arin's POV
Under my feet, the ground shattered like glass. The air in front of me twisted into a spiral of darkness, and I staggered backward.
I forgot to breathe for reasons other than the countdown timer on my evil twin's remote, which read eight minutes and forty-two seconds.
In reality, something was squeezing through the crack.
"What is that?" Jaxon took hold of my arm and whispered.
As if it were climbing out of a black hole, the thing dragged itself through the rift in the atmosphere. It had an excessive number of arms and legs, all of which were moving in ways that were painful to watch. It was taller than the trees when it eventually rose.
Count Aldric said softly, "Nobody moves. This is unlike anything I've ever seen."
The animal turned to face us. There were nothing but swirling stars where its face should have been. The words it spoke came not from my ears but from inside my head.
There is a lot of energy here. A lot of power to feed on.
