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Back The Shadow Arts
Chapters (46)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Epigraph
  4. HARD RAIN
  5. I.
  6. II.
  7. III.
  8. IV.
  9. V.
  10. VI.
  11. VII.
  12. VIII.
  13. IX.
  14. X.
  15. XI.
  16. XII.
  17. XIII.
  18. XIV.
  19. XV.
  20. XVI.
  21. XVII.
  22. XVIII.
  23. XIX.
  24. XX.
  25. XXI.
  26. XXII.
  27. XXIII.
  28. XXIV.
  29. XXV.
  30. XXVI.
  31. XXVII.
  32. XXVIII.
  33. XXIX.
  34. XXX.
  35. XXXI.
  36. XXXII.
  37. XXXIII.
  38. XXXIV.
  39. XXXV.
  40. XXXVI.
  41. XXXVII.
  42. XXXVIII.
  43. EPILOGUE
  44. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  45. About the Author
  46. What’s next onyour reading list?

Alex turned in time to see Beckman pulled screaming silently over the edge by a group of flailing gray hands that had appeared among the tentacles. Alex, his grandfather, Kingdom, the tall man, and Zia formed a huddle. Still fighting, they headed as one back along the path.

As he rounded the corner, Alex saw that Harry stood inside the gateway, light smashing against him as the portal tried to close. He was holding it open, but despite his efforts, even as Alex drew closer, the opening narrowed. The sparking light intensified. Kingdom sprinted forward, ducked through, and vanished.

Let’s go, Alex, his grandfather’s voice urged him on. They ran for it together.

No!

Alex halted as Zia’s simple, terrible cry pierced his mind.

Looking back, he saw the tall man fall. Zia’s flier flew slashing at the wing flapping above him. The flying creature plucked the robot from the air with a beak and disappeared upward with it. Zia stumbled in pain. Her father lay motionless.

Alex!

Harry’s voice. The gate was closing. Alex’s grandfather grabbed him roughly by the shoulders to push him through, then paused. The old man and the boy looked back. Zia knelt at the prone figure, uselessly trying to drag her father by his feet. She looked very small.

Alex and his grandfather exchanged a serious look. The old man nodded. Alex threw his flier into the air and built his bridge to it as another wing swooped toward Zia. He slashed the creature hard with his blade and hook, holding it off.

His grandfather jumped over the tall man, then bent to lift him by the shoulders. You two. Grab a foot each.

Zia balanced her plant in the crook of her arm and they took the man’s legs. The flower jiggled as they started moving. The tall man was heavier than Alex could have imagined. But together they shuffled closer and closer to the gate. A horde of figures came climbing onto the path behind them. Alex slashed at the wing again and called his flier back. Then light was crackling all around him, angry and intense, like a static electric field barring his way.