He felt out of control like this, and he hated being out of control. He hated being someone who had events dictated to him rather than making his own choices. Yet Briony did this all the time. Archer was circling now, and Josh guessed that he’d found something. A glance down confirmed that. The pale arch of a gate stood in the middle of a patch of open ground, not glowing with shining mist yet, but Josh knew that it would with a dragon around. And then they’d be able to go through. Hopefully. There was only one real problem. The creatures of Xylyx swarmed around the base of the gate, the darkness they carried with them swirling around them like waist high tendrils of mist. As Archer flew lower above them, Josh could make out more and more of them. They were grotesque. There were none of the strangest creatures from the chasm there, but the vampires there were enough.
