ly does. They had been dashing for the

bottom of their burrow. There was an enormous safe room there.

Somehow, Elena knew it.

But now, blurrily but definitely, Bloddeuwedd saw the ones she

had been after in the first place, the nest robbers, the ones who had

forever put out one of her huge round orange far-seeing eyes, and cut her

so deeply that the other eye was filling with blood.

Elena could feel it.

Bloddeuwedd could see they were the ones who had caused her to

smash her beak. The criminals, the savages, the ones she would tear to

pieces slowly, slowly, a limb at a time, switching from one to another as

she clutched five or six in one set of claws, or as she watched them,

unable to run from lack of limbs, writhing beneath her.

Elena could sense it.

Beneath her.

Right now…they were directly beneath Bloddeuwedd.

Bloddeuwedd dove.

“Saber! Talon!” shouted Sage, but Elena knew that there would be

no distraction now. There would be nothing but killing and tearing,

slowly, and screams echoing off the single lobby wall.

Elena could picture it.

“It won’t open, damn it,” shouted Damon. He was manipulating

Elena’s wrist to move the key in the hole. But no matter how he pulled

or pushed, nothing happened.

Bloddeuwedd was almost upon them.