Chapters (132)
- COVER PAGE
- CHOSEN: LOST BOOK 1
- BEGINNINGS
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- INFIDEL: LOST BOOK 2
- BEGINNINGS
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- RENEGADE: LOST BOOK 3
- BEGINNINGS
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- CHAOS: LOST BOOK 4
- BEGINNINGS
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
All the while Johnis tried to think of a way out alive. He couldn’t give away the location of the book, he decided that much. As soon as Teeleh had the book in his claws, he wouldn’t need Johnis. The book would keep him alive, for a while at least.
Until the disease took him.
There was always the possibility that Silvie would find a way to save him. Silvie and the book, these were his only hope of living.
Another question crossed his mind: why didn’t the Roush just destroy this forest?
But the answer was found in the legends: the Roush were the subjects of men, not their masters. The Roush needed him as much as Teeleh needed him. Much more than he could imagine depended upon him, Johnis of the Middle Forest, doing the right thing at this moment.
A long, high-pitched tone floated over the stadium, and the bats hushed. Silvie’s horn. Then another long note. She’d blown the horn twice.
“They’re out,” Teeleh said. “Now tell me where the book is.”
Johnis felt a sudden surge of desperation, which was followed immediately by sorrow. His hopes faded. Silvie hadn’t doubled back to save him.
He would die alone with his secret.
“I can’t tell you where the book is,” he said.
“Don’t try my patience!”
“You don’t understand. I can’t tell—”
Teeleh roared, a crackling thunderous bellow that shook the stadium and made Johnis cower. His fangs jutted down like knives from gaping, bared gums.
If Teeleh’s intent had been to silence him, he’d succeeded. He’d stolen the breath of every living creature in the stadium.
The beast snapped his jaws shut with a bone-jarring crack. “Give it to me!”
“I can’t.”
Teeleh walked over, claws scraping on the wood planks. He leaned forward, breathing with long, noisy pulls of air. “You will,” he said softly.
“I can’t,” Johnis said breathlessly.
The beast moved faster than Johnis could. His paw flashed up and struck him on the side of his head like a hammer. Johnis felt himself fall. Felt himself land in a heap on the wooden platform.
Then his world faded.
TWENTY-THREE
TWENTY-THREE
Silvie lay on her back in the darkness, not sure exactly why she was here, or, for that matter, where here was. It was night—or was it?
Her skin stung. Her bones ached. The disease was overtaking her body quickly.
“Darsal?”
Someone grunted nearby, and she faced the sound. Whispering and hissing filled her ears. “Let’s kill her now,” the snakelike voice wheezed. “He’ll never know.”
“Billos!” Silvie cried.
“She’s awake, you coward! Make up your mind!”
She hadn’t heard the voice of the smaller Shataiki until now, but she couldn’t possibly mistake the similarity to Teeleh’s own voice.
Silvie remembered now. She remembered all of it, from the moment they left the stadium until . . .
Until now.