Ander - Chapter 7, Subchapter 66
66 Banno didn't merely step through the door. He _unfolded_ himself through the door until his head was nearly brushing the ceiling. The fireplace cast his shadow along the wall; a misshapen abomination. "You should be dead..." James whispered, but...
Ander - Chapter 7, Subchapter 65
65 James jerked awake to the sound of someone hammering on the door. For a moment he had no idea where he was, and no way to look around, either, because there was something warm and fluffy pressed right up against his face. _Valery?_ She had one...
Ander - Chapter 7, Subchapter 64
64 Banno could see them up ahead; golden squares of light in the storm. Every snowflake falling past that light was transformed into a dying flame, as if her very presence was enough to make them real. "Don't worry, girl, we're almost there..." Banno...
Ander - Chapter 7, Subchapter 63
63 A stillness spread through the crowd. It lasted only a moment, but in that moment, there were no more screams in the distance. No shouts. No roars. No sounds of teeth sawing through flesh or arrows piercing skin. There was only the crackle of the...
Ander - Chapter 7, Subchapter 62
62 Sarah felt as if some horrible, sadistic demon had cut her open from throat to groin and scooped out all her insides, bones and all, leaving her completely hollow, numb to all sensations except pain. She knew she was crying, but she couldn't feel...
Ander - Chapter 7, Subchapter 61
61 "Who's still in there!?" someone shouted. Bethany did not know who. "For the love of the Cora, who's still in there!?" Voices. That's all they were. "Thoka, you and Ivio keep to the south side! Don't let those freaks get through! Denko, you stay...
Ander - Chapter 7, Subchapter 60
60 The flames had grown too high to even think about climbing over the top, so she threw herself down onto her stomach and pressed her cheek flat against the ground. Thank the gods the tree wasn't completely flush. A number of its own broken branches...
Ander - Chapter 7, Subchapter 59
59 With every gasp of air, she inhaled a lungful of bittersweet smoke, laced with the smell of burning leaves and something far more unpleasant, something almost profane: the stench of scorched fur and broiling meat. She could hear screams of pain...
Ander - Chapter 7, Subchapter 58
58 "Get up! Get the hell up!" The world came back in fits and starts; little pieces of sensory input that didn't make a whole lot of sense at first. Heat, and a dull throbbing in her temple. Something wet against the side of her face. Hard,...
Ander - Chapter 7, Subchapter 57
57 There was light all around her, but not a good kind of light. Not a comforting light. This light was heavy, runny, almost like melted cheese, dripping down the walls of this place in thick, goopy strands. Her head hurt. Bethany raised a hand to...
Ander - Chapter 7, Subchapter 56
56 There were feelings, but they were all dulled, muffled, as if wrapped in cloth... _No, this isn't a cloth. It's something else. Something warm and fluffy._ For a moment it felt like she was about to break through whatever thin membrane was...
Ander - Chapter 7, Subchapter 55
55 Dorin kept putting one foot in front of the other, tramping through carpets of scorched pine needles and red puddles of snowmelt and blood, knowing that if he fell now, if he gave up now, it would be the same as killing himself, and he had...