Angeline stood frozen with Shay's hand over her mouth and his arm around her waist, holding her firmly back against his chest. From the corner of her eye, a large green blur rose up past the edge of the cliff trail.
"Goliath... don't look it in the eye," Shay whispered against her ear.
There was a low gargling sound from beside them and Angeline squeezed her eyes shut as her fear spiked. The ground shook from a tremendous stomp and she flinched as she struggled to control her breathing.
A slight breeze swept over them, and it occurred to her that she wouldn't be able to see death coming if her eyes were shut.
"Don't," whispered Shay.
She opened them, staring down the face of a colossal creature, head the size of her house. Each pointed tooth in its massive jaws was at least the length of one of her legs, and its large yellow eye was locked onto her.
Shay uttered a curse.
The creature's mouth opened and it moved back a few feet, tilting sideways as it wound up to strike.
"Jump!" He grabbed her by the waist and launched her into the air, straight into the Goliath's maw as it snapped toward them.
She screamed, covering her face as she rolled onto its tongue. "Shay!" The light vanished as its mouth closed around her. She flailed for something to hold onto, but everything was soft and covered in a layer of slime. Its torrid breath smelled of rot, making it hard to breathe.
Gravity shifted and the Goliath's tongue pushed up toward the roof of its mouth, drenching her in a gush of saliva and pulling her toward the back of its throat.
She dove desperately to the side, narrowly avoiding the swallow. The betrayal she felt made her chest feel tight — with anger or sorrow, she wasn't sure.
Light poured in as the Goliath's mouth opened and she scrambled toward its teeth, immediately thrown off balance as its head snapped forward. She fell to her hands and knees beside its tongue.
"Angel!"
Her heart skipped a beat and she looked up to see Shay near the front of its mouth, using his cloak like a tether with the hood caught over the point of a tooth.
"Grab my hand!" he called.
She lunged for him as the mouth closed again. "Shay!" she cried. A red flash of light lit the mouth for a split second, revealing where he was. His red eyes were just visible enough for her to keep struggling toward him.
He grasped her wrist firmly as the Goliath began to shake its head from side to side. "Hang on!"
She shrieked as the monster threw them back and forth. Her fingers slipped out of his hand and she was thrown in the air, landing against the Goliath's tongue with a grunt. It immediately threw its head back, tossing her down toward its throat.
"Shay!" she screamed. She dug her heels against the slimy flesh, desperately trying to slow her descent.
"Angel!"
She screamed again as she slipped off the back of its tongue and into the darkness.
YOU ARE READING
The Invisible Planet
RomanceA fugitive on the run for murder, Angeline escapes the core city planet of Midelian by hitching a ride on a transport ship to freedom. When the ship is ordered to stop for a routine search, she hijacks it to escape - only to crash land on a planet n...
