Blue Blood (Series of Blood Book 3) by Emma Hamm (books to read this summer .txt) 📕

beneath a branch and called over his shoulder, “What am I supposed to be looking for?”

“A maze,” the Wisp called. She had shed her physical form. Only the barest outline of her body remained as she passed silently through branches and trees. “There should be a maze.”

“A maze made out of what?” he muttered. “There’s a lot of mazes around here, lady. It’s the enchanted forest.”

This place wasn’t particularly the Enchanted Forest that was always mentioned in fairytales, but it was damn well close. The trees could even uproot themselves and move to different soil if they so wished. Not to mention the great plumed birds and wild things that were leagues changed from what they had once been.

He brushed at a cobweb stuck to his armor. The air was clean here. It was fresh and cool, filtering through his lungs like a healing hand.

The sensations were nearly making him drunk. Giddy. He was fairly falling off his feet.

Jasper furrowed his brow. No, that wasn’t right at all. He shouldn’t be feeling like that. He blinked a few times to clear his vision before he saw it.

A bulbous vine slithered off a nearby tree. Bright pink petals unfurled one by one to reveal a sticky pale center. Yellow puffs of pollen drifted into the air.

“Damn it!” he shouted. “Get away from here!”

“What?” the Hellhound grunted as she snapped a branch.

“Nightshade!”

Roots pushed themselves from the softened ground and coiled around his feet. The ground suddenly mirrored the movements of waves. His arms shot out to steady himself as more roots burst from the ground to open flowers all around them.

Because he was part Fairy, the sleeping spell from the pollen wouldn’t work as quickly on him. He back peddled and used the precious moments to shout, “Run!”

They didn’t listen to him. The vines snapped out of the ground and curled around the soldiers waists and arms. Jasper beat his wings, desperately propelling himself backwards. There were too many. Vines lashed at his limbs, pulling him towards the ground.

The Hellhound gnawed at the sticky roots with elongated teeth. She howled triumphantly as she freed herself for a moment, but the sap was more potent than the pollen in the air.

Jasper stared down at the thickest root around his waist and pulled it apart with his bare hands. He made quick work of the rest to stumble away from the soft ground where the vines made their home. The soldiers were not faring as well.

Fire gushed from the Dragon’s mouth, igniting the plants which emitted a faint whining noise. This only caught the plants’ attention. He was the largest prey, and therefore, the one who would feed the plant the most.

A hand wrapped around Jasper’s arm.

“Come,” the Wisp ordered.

“The others?”

“They will figure it out. If they don’t, then they deserve their fate.”

She wore a hard expression. She was tall, thin, and her slanted eyes were rather beautiful. Her pale skin looked as though it were dusted with powder, and her dark hair made her seem more dead than alive.

She pulled at him, and he didn’t cast another glance behind him as he moved. He didn’t care if the other two lived or died. He only wanted this ordeal over with as quickly as possible.

Already, he had underestimated this forest. He didn’t plan on making that mistake again.

The Wisp urged him to move faster as they both avoided fallen branches and dangling vines. Jasper didn’t see the need to rush. He was keeping an eye out for Nightshade now, and rushing only made it more likely to stumble into yet more danger.

“What do you know that I don’t?” he shouted as they continued.

“Nothing!”

“Then why are we running?”

He could almost hear the gears turning in her head. They didn’t want to let him know too many secrets. He could understand that to some extent. However, risking all of their lives in another situation like the Nightshade would only slow them down more .

A long vine slithered as he moved past it, revealing glowing green eyes and a long tongue that flickered to taste his exhalation.

“If I know what we’re up against, I will be of more use,” Jasper said.

“I can’t say anything.” The Wisp brushed tangled webs out of her face as a spider larger than her head skittered through the branches above them. “You’re meant to know nothing.”

“That’s a little ridiculous, even you have to admit that.”

She hesitated. “This forest is not what it seems.”

Of course it wasn’t what it seemed. Nothing was as it seemed after the dimensions collided.

“One enchanted forest is the same as any other,” he responded, “in that no one knows what it contains and nothing inside can be trusted. You’re not telling me anything new.”

The Wisp swallowed hard. “You are correct. This forest is different than the others.”

Jasper growled through his teeth and stopped running. She immediately paused and stared at him as the sound of crashing undergrowth ceased. He crossed his arms over his wide chest and glared down at her. “I’m not moving another inch unless you tell me what is going on here.”

Her eyes darted back and forth over their surroundings. She remained completely still, listening for something. “This is no forest.”

As soon as the quiet words were spoken, the Wisp turned and ran. He was quick to follow.

“Then what is it?” he asked as he watched for movement in the shadows.

“A prison.”

He nearly stopped in his tracks again. A prison? He could believe an illusioned basement cave, but he had never heard of one that was an enchanted forest. What sort of prisoner needed such unconventional bars?

“You know what we are looking for?” he asked.

“Vaguely.”

“A person at the center of a maze?”

“Yes.”

“Good to know you have as little information as I do,” he grunted.

There was nothing to go off of here and something didn’t make sense. They were no longer attempting to collect a person. They were breaking someone out of what was likely a well deserved cage.

He didn’t like it. He didn’t like any