Chapter 123

Chapter One Hundred Twenty-Three

Shivering came over Connor—adrenaline and stress combining in a nasty mix that shrank the outside world into a tiny pinprick. His heart pounded so loud, he couldn’t hear anything else.

He took a few steps away from the monster on unsteady legs and settled on a chunk of debris.

Slowly, the details of the world around him seeped in: the dry dust kicked up by the monster’s death throes; the stench of its dark blood; the absolute silence that had fallen over the big, shadowy room.

Elise was hunched over the serpent’s head, squinting.

That was a scientist’s curiosity. One second, she was running for her life from the thing, and the next she was enthralled by what its existence meant.

She turned, finger on her chin. “How did you know it had a brain in its head?”

“What?” He wasn’t just stumped by her question but needed to be sure he’d heard it right.