HARPER POV
The moment the trees shivered around me, I knew.
I knew he was going to use fire.
The air shifted—heat rippling like a fever breaking through cool skin. Even before Moloch raised his hand, I felt it. The forest felt it too. The animals grew restless, the roots whispered their alarm beneath my feet. Then it came: a column of fire bursting upward like a geyser ripped straight from the pit of hell. It roared, devouring air, red and purple flames twisting like serpents fighting to outdo each other. It raced toward me fast, faster than thought, a tidal wave of searing death.
My lungs burned just from inhaling. The air tasted of rotten flesh, sulfur, smoke and iron.
I slammed my palms against the ground. “Rise!” I screamed, voice raw, and the earth obeyed. A wall of stone shudder
