Excerpt
The unmistakable smell of fae blood assaulted Zephyr's nose as she rounded a street corner and burst into Lincoln Park Zoo. The sky was pitch-black, the stars obscured by rows of wispy fog blotting out the flickering city lights surrounding her.
The park itself was lit up like a Christmas tree, devoid of any humans, as the holiday season surrendered itself to the bitter cold that was Chicago-style winters.
But none of that really mattered to Zephyr in that moment. The only thing she cared about was putting one foot in front of the other and avoiding being captured. Circling above her, just out of sight, three of her fellow winged shifters were stalking her. Scratch that, she thought as she dove into a bush to escape the talons of a swooping harpy.
They're trying to kill me, not capture me alive!
Zephyr rolled onto her back and got back to her feet, zigzagging through the winding curves of the free city zoo, pounding the cobblestone pavement so hard she was certain rocks were dislodging from the ground.
Her chest heaved, thin black shirt soaked in sweat, too-tight blue jeans cutting into her thighs, as Zephyr finally arrived at the zoo's swan pond—one of the many entrances to the Realm of the Nightshade. She leaned against the railing of the artificial oasis, astonished she'd made it that far with her head still on her shoulders. Slumping against the railing, all Zephyr could do was laugh at herself.
Who knew searching for scrap metal would ignite a cosmic war? she mused ruefully, imagining the trio of monsters chasing after her swooping in for the kill. I guess if you play cosmic games, you should expect cosmic consequences for your actions…
Zephyr wanted to curl into herself and rest. She didn't want to deal with whatever the hell she'd gotten herself mixed up in. Her knees threatened to buckle at the enormity of the consequences she was facing…
Alone.
If she wanted to live through the night, she had to get out of Chicago and into the Underrealm—fast.
However, her moment of peace was short-lived. Out from the shadows, a dark green goblin with matching bat wings sprung forward. It cackled as she gasped in shock, striking Zephyr in her solar plexus with a wooden stick as thin as a toothpick but as powerful as a sledgehammer. Zephyr yelled, chest and ribs aching from the impact of the goblin's staff as she was thrust up and over the ledge of the railing.
She sunk underwater, fighting to reach the surface, the pond stretching downward for what felt like an eternity. Usually, she could use her magick to whether the transition between realms, but as it was, Zephyr was unable to think rationally, panic overtaking her good sense.
She would pop up, then sink back down, never having learned how to swim without the aid of the supernatural. She was certain more daemons were lurking in the shadows, teasing her, waiting for their turn to inflict some unwarranted punishment, all because she mistook a key for some easy money.
As if on cue, the harpy landed, feathered body and head the color of a barn owl—sandy white and light brown. Her large, unblinking, black eyes glowed with malicious intent as the goblin shot up into the air and landed on her left wing where a human arm should be.
Next came the gryphon, who reared up on his lion paws and transformed into something almost human, his tail curling around himself to cover his exposed sex. The daemons laughed cruelly as Zephyr fought for air, unable to free herself from the clutches of the ice-cold, putrid green pond water.
"Bird brain doesn't know what she has stolen!" a feminine voice hissed, no doubt coming from the harpy.
"She'll die soon enough, and we'll take it from her. Her loss, our gain, and a win for the Nightshade!" a booming masculine voice chimed in, his hearty laughter bouncing off the freezing wind.
"Soon, very soon, but what if she respawns? What of the other we killed; will she come back for revenge?" the goblin chirped, dagger-like teeth gnashing together in a painful symphony.
The trio of shapeshifters continued to argue until Zephyr couldn't hear them anymore. Maybe it was for the best? Zephyr didn't want to hear them squabbling over how they'd kill her. She convinced herself to welcome death.
If she died, and they took the key, she would be released from any responsibility for what came next, Zephyr reasoned. It was a weak excuse not to fight any longer, but it was enough for her. Zephyr stopped struggling to breach the water's surface, instead sinking like a rock to the bottom of the bottomless portal.
