Displaced

Chapter 101

Sofie sprinted through the darkness, her lungs burning, her heart quaking, her legs on the verge of giving out. The featureless void surrounding her continued onward endlessly no matter how far she went, but she didn't stop. She couldn't stop. Even without looking back, she could see the glow on the very periphery of her vision, the light cast by the baleful blaze of the dragon's anger. No matter how far she ran, no matter which way she went, it followed. And it grew closer and closer with every massive, ground-shaking step.

She was going to die. She could feel it, the inevitability of it only growing stronger with each shuddering breath she took. Still, she pushed on. Something inside her refused to just give up no matter what.

It didn't matter.

A clawed hand, each finger larger than her entire body, reached out from the fires behind her and wrapped her entire body in its scalding embrace. The fingers constricted around her, squeezing her entire body like a boa constrictor. She screamed as her skin sizzled from the heat within its grasp.

Wreathed in its wrathful flames, the dragon was more lava made flesh than a truly living being. Its skin crackled and hissed, breaking apart as it shifted to reveal the red glow of melted stone before the surface cooled to black.

The dragon lifted her towards its snout, its maw opening to roast her with a wave of heat. She could feel its deep anger washing over her with every breath, an anger deep-rooted and seemingly implacable. But this was not some grudge against humanity. This was personal, a fury directed at her and only her. The monster's gaze bore into her, the rage she found within it focused like a blowtorch upon her very soul.

She was burning. She was melting. She was dying.

A voice rumbled through her—nay, through reality itself—its words felt more than heard.

"RELEASE PARI-CHILD!" it demanded, its words so overflowing with violence and malice that she could not even consider ignoring or rejecting them. But she could not comply, even if she so desired.

She just didn't understand what it wanted.

The grip on her intensified, crushing out what little air remained inside her.

"RELEASE PARI-CHILD, VILE FIEND!" it roared again, its order even louder this time.

Sofie's lips moved and desperate sounds—perhaps words, perhaps not—came out. But whatever she said was not what the dragon wanted to hear. Its jaw opened even wider, giving Sofie an unobstructed view of the back of the creature's throat, where she could see a new glow growing stronger and stronger with each passing moment.

"WRETCHED CRAWLER! ENOUGH!" it thundered.

Her death had arrived. She could feel it in her bones and in her soul as the stifling, oppressive heat spiked higher and higher and higher until in one final, massive blast-

Sofie shrieked as she shot upright, her body flailing about uncontrollably in her panic before she fell from her bed and landed awkwardly and painfully upon the hard metal floor.

It took her a good five minutes to calm down enough to get her mind in order. It had all been a terrible dream, yet the pain in the back of her head was all too real. Somebody had bandaged her head, wrapping the entire thing up tight like a mummy. Whoever it was, and she had a good guess, had chosen to err on the side of too much rather than too little and then kept going down that road for another dozen kilometers.

Letting herself cool down, she started unwrapping the cloth bandages as she pieced together her situation. She remembered turning her skitter around the moment that "Grandfather" had appeared, sending the car-sized vehicle scurrying south as quickly as it could go while Gabby and Blake put up a fight. That had been the plan all along, so she'd felt no guilt over her actions, only worry for their safety. But just minutes later, as her situation had spiraled uncontrollably downward, that worry had become the last thing on her mind.