Chosen Sister by Ardyth DeBruyn Read Free Book Online Page B

the harpies in the air cackled.
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    Chapter Seven: The Clearing of Whispering Secrets
    The Gold Wizard’s jaw dropped, and they all stared at each other for a moment that stretched out unbearably long. Finally the snakewolves charged forward. The Gold Wizard drew back his staff, and the bushes closed up in front of them. He yanked Reina and Austyn around.
    “This way!”
    He yanked them back through the bushes and around the wall of vegetation, all three stumbling, before stopping so abruptly he jerked Reina’s arm. She hissed at the pain. The Gold Wizard glanced around wildly. Then he stamped his staff down hard on the ground.
    Reina opened her mouth to tell him they needed to keep running. She heard the howls of the snakewolves and the rustling of the bushes—they would break through at any moment. But before she could get the worlds out, a black hole opened in the ground right in front of the Gold Wizard’s feet, and she could only gape in amazement.
    “Down, quick!” he ordered.
    Released from her shock, Reina grabbed Austyn and stumbled forward. She found steps leading down and climbed into blackness. When she reached the bottom, she turned to see the Gold Wizard run down behind her. He hit the ground with his staff again, and the hole closed up, leaving them in complete darkness.
    Austyn started breathing faster; his hand squeezed hers so hard it hurt.
    “Where are we?” she asked.
    “Shhh,” hissed the Gold Wizard.
    They heard the pattering of feet above them and the howls of the snakewolves. Reina drew Austyn closer to her and wrenched her hand free from his, to put it around him and relieve the pain. It seemed like forever until silence came again, and she could only hear their breathing. A light appeared, and Reina blinked several times. The end of the Gold Wizard’s staff glowed.
    “Okay,” whispered the Gold Wizard. “It’s safe to proceed.”
    Instead of opening the tunnel like Reina expected, he squeezed past them and started walking further down it.
    “Where are we going?”
    “Shh, keep it down,” he whispered. “This is my secret back door. We’re going to my house. We both need that medicine before the poison sets in.”
    A million objections raced through Reina’s mind. Wasn’t the clearing full of snakewolves and harpies? How could they get to the Gold Wizard’s house safely? However, she didn’t want to stay down in this dark tunnel and die of the snakewolf poison either. She decided to wait and see how things played out for the moment.
    They reached a wooden ladder with a trap door at the top. The Gold Wizard turned and signaled to them to keep silent; then he climbed the stairs, extinguished his magic light, and opened the door. It thumped open, the noise loud in the silence, and pale light filtered down past him into the tunnel. The Gold Wizard disappeared up through the trap door a moment before his head appeared again, a dark silhouette against the light.
    “Come on up,” he whispered. “It’s safe.”
    Reina led the way and emerged into a cottage. It must be the one at the center of the clearing. She looked behind her to make sure Austyn was all right and saw his grimy face as he climbed up after her. She turned back to the Gold Wizard. In the fading light, she glimpsed the dark circles around his eyes. His clothing was encrusted in blood, and he had a snakewolf bite on his left arm. Sweat plastered his dark hair to the side of his face, and the hint of a dark beard grew along his chin, making him look younger than ever.
    “So long as we don’t make any loud noises or use magic, they won’t know we’re in here.”
    Reina glanced at the window and saw the dark shapes of harpies flit across the sky. She nodded, hoping the Gold Wizard could take his own advice. She let her eyes wander around the cottage. A bed, the sheets messy, took up one end of the room, with a fireplace and table with dirty dishes stacked on it at the other end. Dirty