The Lost Siren: Rise of the Drakens Book 1 Raven Storm (books for 8th graders .TXT) 📖

I felt a blast of heat and heard tortured screams. The scent of burning flesh hit my nostrils, but I ignored it as the bodies on top of me went still. I fought and clawed my way out of the pile to find the forest a holocaust of destruction. Luci stood in the middle, her eyes blazing as everything burned around her—the trees, the bushes, even the ground. We were trapped.

The smoke thickened, making it hard to breathe, let alone see. Luci screamed her rage and fear at the world, the fires blazing higher in response. I grabbed her arm and Luci snapped out of it, her sharp eyes darting around to the destruction. She went deathly pale.

“Come on, move!”

I snarled, but she was rooted to the ground. I tried to throw her over my shoulder, but my injured wing throbbed from being overworked too soon, and I tugged uselessly on her hand. How did such a small little thing stay so rooted to the ground?

“LUCI MOVE!”

I yanked hard on her hand again, but where would we go even if she did move? Everything was black, thick rolling smoke—it was impossible to see where the flames ended and more began. I tripped over the body of a vampyre and went sprawling. With shaking hands, I retrieved my dagger from his throat, feeling around for the other body, and thankfully closing my fingers around the hilt of my second one. I’d be inconsolable if I ever lost the first gifts anyone had ever given me. I sheathed them back around my thighs with shaking hands, and yanked my short sword out of a dead, flaming chest. All around us bodies were turning to ash, and if we didn’t find a way out, we’d be next. It was almost impossible to get a clean breath.

“Can you stop it?” I yelled back to Luci, but it was like talking to a large, terrified doll. I seized her hand again and picked a direction. Flaming tree limbs fell from the sky, making it impossible to move anywhere with confidence. The urge to let out a distress call was strong, but I tamped it down. That would be the quickest way to draw the demon hordes to me, and they were clearly already searching hard.

I coughed, wondering if I could fly us both away while struggling to get air. I grabbed Luci and held her tight to me, shielding us both with my wings as I flapped them hard as a last resort.  I felt an odd tingle, then all the air vanished from my lungs. I was left sputtering and choking, releasing Luci as my hands went to my throat in blind panic. Where did the air go?

The flames around us instantly vanished, sucked back down into the ground and out of existence like they’d never been there to begin with. The forest around us went deadly silent, surrounded by blackened, charred remains and grey ash. Luci stuck her head out from behind my wing, and the air immediately returned. I fell to the ground gasping, relishing the feel of clean air returning to my lungs.

“LUCI! LUCI!”

A stoic, breathtaking woman with silver hair met Luci halfway, falling to her knees and seizing the small girl in a fierce embrace. Luci was babbling now, crying hysterically as she described the vampyres, lykos, and demons who had come for us. A group of women halted a few feet behind the first woman, stopping together in formation as one cohesive unit. They all had the same silver hair and wore the same white linen shifts. Luci’s red hair stuck out like a flaming beacon. I rolled again, trying to get my feet under me. The woman shoved Luci behind her and raised her hands at me in a threatening gesture. I flared my wings again, flinging off soot and debris as my fangs flashed. My body still ached, but I could probably fly if I absolutely had to. That would likely be my own defense against a witch. If their glares were any clue, it might be sooner rather than later.

“A female draken?”

The woman’s voice was a hoarse whisper of astonishment, sending those behind her murmuring and gasping.

“It’s Wren Grandmother, I told you about Wren.”

The woman’s eyes were pure silver. Her shocked gaze wouldn’t leave my face.

“I thought it was just another imaginary friend, like all the others.” Her voice was awed, while Luci huffed in indignation.

“I told you…” she muttered.

I stepped forward, lowering my wings and holding my hands out. My white scales were covered with black and grey grime; I must have looked awful.

“It’s my fault...there was a hunting party looking for me. I fell while we were fleeing the mountain.”

I had hoped this would explain things, but the women all stared at me as if I had just uttered complete gibberish. Luci’s Grandmother waved a hand helplessly.

“The drakens have left the mountain?”

The tone of her voice couldn’t decide between disbelief or shock. I nodded.

“We were fleeing to Lyoness, and I was injured and fell. Luci—” I smiled at the smaller girl—” fed me while I recovered. I regret I brought the hordes anywhere near your forest.”

My shoulders drooped, surveying the damage.

“No wonder there have been so many in our woods this past week.”

I shifted uncomfortably, her eyes never leaving mine. Luci drew them away, babbling as she took her grandmother’s hand.

“There were so many, and I was scared, but Wren told me it was an emergency so I used the fire—”

The woman shushed Luci’s frantic explanation, one hand smoothing over the girl’s hair.

“That was absolutely the right decision, my star. I’d rather have half the forest burn down than lose you.”

“It looks like it was half,” murmured a voice from the larger group. The woman