Nightmare urgently pointed toward a massive rock that appeared to be leaking an oil-like substance. “We must run.”

Storm bolted forward, her footsteps a blur as Nightmare chased behind. Leviathan’s raised claw cast a shadow over Darkness and me, poised to squish us at any moment.

“Go!” Darkness roared.

As Leviathan’s claw closed in, Darkness and I darted toward the massive rock for cover. Storm was there first, waving for us to move faster.

Adrenaline surged through me as the ground quaked from the force of his claw crashing into the side of the bridge, missing us by a solid thirty feet. We reached the rock and hid before Leviathan could see where we’d run to. We were lucky that the creature was slow. He released an ear-shattering cry as its entire body shook with frustration.

“That was too close,” Darkness said between sharp breaths as he peered around the edge of the rock. “I need rest.”

“We will get you out of here, brother,” Nightmare said, working to control his breaths.

“Is it coming after us?” Storm asked, her back pressed against the rock.

Darkness shook his head, uncertainty shadowing his perfect features. “I’m not sure it can leave the moat, or it would have by now.”

I peeked out, my breath catching as I witnessed Leviathan slowly slinking back into the putrid, murky water. Its long, razor-sharp fangs glistened with a sinister hunger, a ravenous predator denied its prey.

“We should keep moving,” Nightmare said.

“How are we going to get out of this place?” I asked, searching for one of the stomach-churning teleportation sheds. I hated them, but I would have jumped in if I would have seen one.

“That’s part of the problem with coming here,” Storm said, clenching her jaw. “They don’t want you to leave.”

With a resolute expression, Nightmare curled his finger. “Follow me.”

We moved cautiously, Darkness at my side just steps behind Nightmare and Storm. My senses were on high alert. The thuds of my pounding heart echoed in my head as I tried to look in every direction at once. The occasional whines from Leviathan rumbled along with the distant-like cracks of lightning.

We didn’t make it far before Nightmare looked up and pulled me behind a dead tree. With wide eyes, he tapped a finger to his lips.

“They’re looking for us,” Storm said, rage filling her eyes.

Silhouetted against the blood-red sky, a bird-like creature with massive wings stirred the air around us. Its head moved from side to side as it searched the area methodically.

“What the hell is that thing?” I asked, swallowing hard.

“Shh!” Storm said, grimacing.

“Ziz,” Darkness whispered. “It has good hearing.”

I pressed my lips together, giving a silent nod. Darkness glued his eyes to me for a long moment before shifting them to the medallion. He didn’t say anything before turning away.

Ziz’s long talons gleamed wickedly as he glided through the sky. Panic surged as I realized we were trapped under the tree’s thin branches with nowhere to run.

I wasn’t scared, but I was worried for not just my survival but for Storm, Nightmare, and Darkness too. Since the medallion was around my wrist, I felt as though I should have been able to do more for all of us.

“We have to get out of here!” Storm said in a hushed, urgent tone. “We’re not safe under this tree.”

“How does the magic from the medallion work exactly?” I asked, holding up my wrist. “Like, what do I need to do to save us?”

Darkness pressed his lips together. “The medallion is like a bank. The power to wield it comes from within.”

“That’s not possible,” I said, shaking my head. “I’ve used it before, and I have no power.”

“Use it now!” Storm

I shook my head. “I don’t know how. Tell me how!”

“Unfortunately, I am completely drained. When we’re strong, we can use our powers. It takes rest to rebuild our strength so that we can fully concentrate and do what needs to be done. Also, using them too often depletes us even more, which is why the medallion can be so incredibly powerful.” Darkness sighed as he met my gaze. “The medallion and other artifacts are essentially banks which can store extra energy.”

“How do I access the stored energy?” I asked, shaking my wrist.

Darkness frowned. “It hasn’t been fed. It’s empty.”

“Then what do we do?” I asked, biting my cheek as Ziz circled overhead.

We huddled closer under the fragile cover of the dead tree branches as Ziz swooped lower. I was almost certain he’d located us. Fear clenched my heart like a vise as his massive wings stirred the air, causing dust and dirt to swirl and pelt my skin.

How had the medallion helped me before, and why wasn’t it doing anything to help me now? I hadn’t done anything special… it had just worked. Ferociously, I tried once again to remove the bracelet.

“Here, take it,” I said, holding out my arm when I couldn’t get the medallion off.

“No,” Darkness said, shaking his head. “I can not.”

“This is ridiculous! I don’t have any powers,” I said, my hands clenching into tight fists.

Darkness placed his hand on my shoulder, and I tensed. “You will learn.”

“I won’t because we’ll all be dead,” I countered.

“She’s not wrong about that part,” Storm said, her eyes swirling as she followed Ziz’s movements.

Ziz seemed to have a sense of where we were, but the tree was enough to block us from view. But I had no idea how much time we had before he spotted us.

The air grew heavy with tension, and I could feel the strain in Darkness’s eyes as he watched the creature’s every move. Storm dug her fingers into the tree trunk as she ducked, staying out of sight.

Nightmare’s hand shot up, signaling for us to freeze as Ziz’s shadow passed closer than the other times. It seemed to have zeroed in on our location as its piercing beady eyes lasered through the branches, fixing on our position with unsettling precision.

“Oh, no,” I mumbled.

In a heart-stopping instant, Ziz plummeted toward us with its talons outstretched. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the world around us blurred, and dread surged inside me.

“Get down!” Nightmare’s thunderous command shattered the silence, snapping us into frantic motion.

I dropped closer to the ground, barely evading Ziz’s razor-sharp talons by a mere fraction of an inch. The rush of air from its deadly descent tousled my hair into my face. I furiously brushed it away, searching the sky to locate the flying beast before it could attack again.

“Find it within yourself,” Darkness said, taking my hand into his and closing his eyes. “Concentrate.”