Of Witches and Wind Read Free Page A

thrumming.
    But Chase wasn’t hurt. The chimera leaped from the edge of the grass to the nearest dune. It had gotten past him.
    He sprinted after it. “I still got it, Rory!”
    The chimera glanced at Adelaide, Daisy, and the stepsisters, their arrows notched to their bows, and then closer to the water, where Ben just watched. His mouth was open. Mia peeked nervously around him.
    The new kid didn’t even have a weapon.
    â€œIt’s after Ben and Mia!” Lena cried, panicky, but I was already running, racing the monster as it bounded over the sand.
    The stepsisters recovered fastest. They loosed their arrows. The chimera’s lion head yowled as it dodged, but it gave me the extra two seconds I needed.
    I tackled Mia and Ben, knocking them to the sand an instant before the chimera pounced.
    Somebody’s bare elbow struck my cheekbone, right outside my eye, but the three-headed monster sailed over us—so close that its tufted tail brushed my neck.
    I scrambled to my feet as the chimera landed half in the water. Its goat head bleated angrily, and the back legs bent. It was ready to attack again.
    â€œRory, I said I got it,” said Chase, somewhere behind me. He still wasn’t close enough to do any slaying.
    The chimera leaped.
    My body knelt, and the sword’s magic guided the blade straight into the monster’s heart. Chase’s sword flashed above, and the beast gave a wet sort of roar-bleat. Two somethings thumped to the sand with a squish.
    The chimera collapsed on the beach, a couple feet away from its goat and lion heads. Gross, but definitely dead.
    I straightened slowly. “Is everybody okay?”
    â€œDo you recall those talon punctures?” Wincing, Ben reached into his red jacket. “I’m almost positive they have sand in them now. But,” he added hastily when I opened my mouth to apologize, “better sand than a chimera bite.”
    Mia gingerly sat up. Her skirt had a palm-size rip out of the hem, stained black at the edges, but otherwise she seemed all right.
    Lena ran over, biting her lip.
    Chase scowled at me. “What part of ‘I got it’ do you not understand?”
    I knew what he was really upset about. Whoever slayed the chimera got the most bragging rights. I smirked. “You were too slow.”
    â€œStill my kill,” Chase said.
    â€œNo, this round goes to Rory. When you’re beheading a chimera, you have to make sure you get all three heads. You missed one, Chase. It took a bite out of Mia’s clothes.” Melodie pointed a golden hand at the body. Between the fangs of the viper head, a plaid patch flapped in the breeze.
    â€œBut it was two-thirds dead by the time Rory got it,” Chase protested, and I snorted.
    â€œWho are you people?” Mia said, voice shaking.
    â€œIt’s okay.” Ben squeezed her hand. I bet the gesture would have been ten times more comforting if his fingers hadn’t been streaked with blood. “The chimera’s their leader. Hansel told us earlier that the ice griffins always scatter after the chimera is killed—”
    Something Jeep-size swooped down out of the fog, shrieking. Everybody ducked automatically. Except for Chase, who leaped up and sliced once at the monster’s white throat.
    The ice griffin thudded onto the sand beside the chimera. Its spotted tail twitched once and then was still.
    Chase grinned. “That one was definitely mine.”
    â€œThey’re coming!” Adelaide aimed her bow straight up. A dozen griffins sailed across the soccer field toward us. “God. Didn’t the eighth graders kill any of them?”
    â€œThey’re supposed to scatter. Why aren’t they scattering?” Ben said, eyes wide.
    â€œThe snake head wasn’t trying to bite Mia,” I said, realizing. “It was marking her.”
    Mia gasped. Ben shoved her behind him, which seemed equally gallant and useless.
    â€œArchers, aim