Vesuvius squinted at the clouds of dust and watched, heart pounding, as the creature made its way upwards, burrowing the tunnel on an angle. This was the moment he had been waiting for, had dreamed of for as long as he could remember.

As Vesuvius watched, waiting, breathless, peering into the darkness, there came a tremendous crash—and he suddenly found himself flooded with light. Sunlight. Glorious sunlight.

Sunlight from Escalon.

Dust swirled in it as the sunshine flooded the tunnel, lighting it up. The beast smashed through again, widening the hole above ground, sending rock and dirt and grass everywhere, like a great geyser emerging from hell.

Vesuvius stood there, too frozen in shock to move, hardly able to process what had just happened. With that final blow, the creature had finished the tunnel, had opened the gateway for the invasion of Escalon. The Flames were now useless.

Vesuvius smiled wide, it slowly dawning on him that his plan had worked. That he had outsmarted them all.

It was time for the great invasion to begin.

CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN

Aidan, still groaning in pain, braced himself as the man lowered his boot for his face, knowing his skull was about to be crushed. He would give anything to have his father by his side now, to have his brothers here—or most of all, to have Kyra here. He knew she would protect him. Now, he would have to meet his fate alone. If only he was older, bigger, stronger.

As the boot came lower and Aidan raised his hands, cringing, bracing himself, a sudden snarling noise cut through the air—one that made his hairs rise on end. Aidan looked over and was shocked to see White rushing forward. The huge, wild dog, somehow finding a reserve of strength, lunged and jumped onto the man’s chest, sinking his fangs into him before he could stomp Aidan.

The man shrieked as White snarled viciously and shook his head every which way, biting the man on his hands and arms and chest and face.

Finally, the man, bloodied, rolled to his side, groaning.

White, still snarling, mouth dripping with blood, was not done. He stepped forward, clearly aiming for the man’s jugular, preparing to kill him for good. But White then stumbled and keeled over, and Aidan realized that he was still too injured to finish the man off.

The man, sensing an opportunity, did not wait. He quickly crawled to his hands and knees, then stumbled to his feet and ran all the way back to the front of his cart, woozy on his feet. He pulled himself back up, and sitting unsteadily, lashed his horses.

They took off, Aidan was dismayed to see, at a gallop. In but moments the wagon disappeared into the night, leaving Aidan and White utterly alone in the black woods, days away from civilization.