To Tick’s relief, Sato buckled his legs and fell toward the roof, catching his captors by surprise. Though they didn’t let go, both fangen looked down at Sato, their attention diverted for an instant, their heads high enough to serve as a perfect target.

Tick yanked back and to the left on the handlebars, leaning hard to the left as the Windbike spun, slowing as the back end swerved around and slammed into the upper bodies of the two fangen. Tick felt a jolt of pain as one of the creatures bit at his right leg before it toppled over. Both of the horrible creatures let go of Sato, stunned by the sudden impact.

Tick steadied the Windbike and lowered it all the way to the loose rocks of the roof. “Get on!” he yelled. Dozens of fangen were charging right for them.

Sato was bruised and battered, his face still pale with the terror of being captured, but he crawled to the bike and pulled himself onto the seat, Tick helping him the last few inches.

Out of the corners of his eyes, Tick saw a blur of yellowed skin and vicious claws. He felt an icy touch on his elbow. Before anything could take hold, Tick shot the Windbike up and away from the sea of disgusting monsters.

A storm of fangen took flight in pursuit.

~

Paul had absolutely no idea what happened.

His mind had been fading, shutting down into a blissful state of unconsciousness so he didn’t have to feel the excruciating instant of pain when his body smacked into the ground. But everything changed in a sudden rush of intense cold and wetness.

Water engulfed him, filling his lungs as he instinctively sucked in air at the shock of impact. As he felt his feet slam into the river bottom—hard enough to almost break his legs—he sputtered and coughed, his instincts trying to prevent him from taking another breath and killing himself. The next instant, he felt a massive arm grab him around the chest and pull him through the water.

But not up—not toward air.

The arm pulled him to the side, skimming his body along the sandy river bottom.

Paul had one moment to wonder if he was dead before everything grew very dark.

~

Tick shot into the open air away from the castle, his blood freezing at the sight of countless fangen everywhere. The air was full of them, defying gravity as they flew with their pale, weak-looking wings. More crawled and ran across the grounds, an endless army of ants. Not knowing where to go or what to do, Tick frantically searched the sky and the ground for any glimpse of his friends.

A flash of red far below caught his eye. One of the Windbikes, in the river.

And no sign of anyone near it.

His heart sinking faster than he could ever fly, Tick slammed on the handlebars and catapulted toward the ground.

~